The Titanic Post

It's not going to be that big, but the title seems appropriate nonetheless.

I finally got a game of Titanicus in, and since I also had a few models painted and it's been far too quiet around here due to the pressures of work etc. I thought I'd give my take on the game so far. I'm not going to give a run-down of how to play it, box contents etc because that's been done elsewhere by people with more time, more knowledge and less sloth, but here're my impressions.

The Models
For the most part, I'm really impressed by the Titanicus models. What we have here, unlike the very compromised models from old-school Epic, are basically fully-featured 40k models, just smaller. The change of scale is obviously annoying for us old-timers (I have two Imperator Titans standing on my fridge) but it's allowed for some truly impressive miniatures. The only qualifier there is the lack of options. The Warlord, out of the box, is as you see here with no customisation options at all other than the carapace armour and head. (The box build is the classic 1440 point Nemesis, for us beardies*.) Presumably upgrade kits are coming, but especially when the kit is designed for magnets it seems odd to not have them from the start.

House Raven banner. Click to see on DA

It's particularly noticeable with the Knights, who really have no options and don't come with the Stormspear missile launcher despite it being pictured in the book. The datasheet for the Knights allows them to have two guns or even two melee weapons, but since many players are using half a box they're going to be reluctant to mess with the configuration, especially since a Knight with two Reapers isn't usually a thing.

I can't really talk too much about the buildings since I've, er, not built mine yet, but from seeing other people's they're pleasingly modular, if maybe a bit small. I need to have a rummage in my loft and see if I have the old polystyrene city blocks from the original Titanicus game, which a Warlord might have some chance of hiding behind. The other plastic accessories are great, though the markers that go on the consoles could do with fitting a little more snugly. I also painted and magnetised my Opus Titanica so I can wear it on a pin badge, but that's a bit Etsy for this blog.

The Game
If the models basically simply lived up to my expectations, the game itself, I must admit, exceeds them. I was expecting the 'box' game- i.e. a Warlord and three Knights on each side- to be a fairly simple dice-fight, but that turns out not to be the case at all. This is mostly due to the Reactor mechanics, which are great fun, and the extremely ponderous nature of the Warlords compared to the Knights. In the test game I played, I managed to eliminate one of the opposing Knights in the first turn with a Volcano Cannon shot, and my own Knights pressed the advantage, staying out of the arc of the Warlord and ultimately getting the kill with a Reaper hit, though their opposite numbers had whittled them down to one model by then.

The Command mechanic is really interesting, and adds another level of risk vs reward. It was amazing how often in our game we failed 3+ Command rolls on a D10, and since orders stop as soon as one fails (usually) we often found ourselves issuing risky, but important, orders to our Knights first when the Warlord was in a decent firing position. Every order has a valid use, but a Titan without one is far from helpless.

Burning Ambition
It's the Reactor, though, that really makes Titanicus interesting. Most players pick up quite fast that firing at a shielded Warlord with the Volcano Cannon is a poor deal, and yet the Apocalypse Launchers on the carapace are more than capable of stripping all the shields from a Warlord in a single volley, so firing everything first turn can pay off. Once the Reactor starts to get out of control, though- which can happen very fast if the Reactor dice is unkind- the fact that it hits the Titan's Body means that a worsening chain reaction is a very real possibility, meaning that often an unshielded Titan is still more concerned with venting plasma than getting the voids back up. This made a big difference in my game, with my Knights hitting the body of the enemy Warlord when its reactor was already in the orange and causing more damage, which led to more reactor strain.

Legio Metalica Warlord Call of Ktulu. Click to see on DA.

Oddities
We did find a few strange things in the rules, mostly to do with Knights. It feels odd that Ion Shields are affected by the strength of attacks, whereas in 40k they aren't, but even more strangely, they can be used against all attacks, even those made from within 2" (i.e melee range.) This even applies to melee weapons, meaning the save can be taken against Reapers or Titan slams. Possibly even stranger, though, is that melee weapons can always make called shots on Titans, targeting a specific location rather than rolling randomly, meaning a Knight can attack a Warlord's head or even its carapace weapons. I'd expect, at some point, a rule limiting this based on the Scale of the attacking and defending models.

I had to come back and add this part, but the other thing that's a bit strange, though understandable from a game-design standpoint, is the very limited fire arcs of the Warlord. The arm guns can only fire in a 45 degree arc and the Carapace weapons are even more limited, only firing straight ahead. This makes the game more tactical, but given the fact that the Warlord's waist rotates, seems strange, especially since there's a scenario in which the Legio Mortis have rotated their torsos 180 degrees to fire backwards. Presumably the waist actuators are just glacially slow. Certainly when the Reaver enters the field, with a 360 degree arc on its Carapace weapon, life is going to get a bit more interesting for Knights.

The Future
It goes without saying that Titanicus has a lot of potential. Obviously first we have the new Titans, Reavers and Warhounds, followed presumably by the weapon upgrade packs. After that we should probably expect to see at least Gargants and Stompas for Orks, as well as Phantoms, Revenants and Wraithknights for Eldar. After that, who knows? Proper Chaos Titans (eg the Banelord) probably don't make an appearance until after the Heresy, so whether we'll see them is anyone's guess.

The Final Question
Will the Titan Owner's Club be gaining lots of new members?





*I don't actually have a beard, but hey.