Choosing Titan weapons, pt 10 - The LSB

The Lasblaster

Ka-FREEM

The LSB is one of the most destructive weapon systems available to any unit in the game. It is a Heavy 3, 5" blast StrD weapon. It can destroy other superheavies in a single hit up to 96" away (Igneus Angelus killed a Stompa and Skullhamma with one shot from her LSB), and lay waste to enemy units with nothing but contempt.

Other comparable weapons include the Eldar Pulsar (only Heavy 2, shorter range - 60"), the Tau Heavy Railcannon (better range, better AP [which makes no difference against SHs], no blast, need a Manta), and the VLC (better range but single shot). In almost ever circumstance the LSB will be a better option.

Against mech and SH loaded armies it will put some major hurting on something every turn, and against hordes it will stack wounds up like crazy. On the offence it will ignore cover due to being StrD, and on the defensive it can easily take out heavy hitters early on. It is also the best choice against GCs, as it can put three wounds on them automatically.

The weakness of the weapon is that it is unwise to fire it too close as a bad scatter can end up with your titan shooting off its feet. The safe minimum distance is 11", the maximum scatter distance less BS plus the template's radius. Of course you can fire closer, but don't come crying to me ok?

I would suggest almsot every titan loadout should have these unless you are planning to engage at extreme ranges (+100") for the whole game. Priority targets are enemy SHs and GCs, and infantry. I say those above 'normal' vehicles as there are much better suited weapons out there for cracking open Rhinos and Russes. The exceptions to this are Monoliths (Living Metal this) and maybe Land Raiders.


Ultimate Jerkface Configuration

Take one Reaver, add two LSB and a carapace TTL - get eight 5" StrD templates a turn. Your opponent will hate your titan and throw everything against it, but you were expecting that already right?

Angels of Light

A story, part 1

The bell tolled once, slowly and mournfully, its peal rolling across the land. Then it rang a second and third time before falling silent. The people gathered in the dark below waited with baited breath, anticipation in their eyes as they gazed to the west. Then as a faint glimmer it came, the sky growing lighter, the stars dimmer. Soon the first rays of the morning light crested the horizon and the bells rang in joyous celebration.

--

Captain West ducked down low behind the smoking hull or a rhino, nodding to her command squad. All around was the noise of battle – the rapport of bolters, the crack of lasers, and the thunderous roar of artillery. The city was dark in the pre-dawn, save for the stark flash that came with every blast and explosion. Angles of light shot out from between ruined windows and doorways. The city was in the final stages of its death, collapsing upon itself under the weight of the slaughter. Half her company was dead, they were all wounded, and low on supplies. But all that concerned her was the far end of the bridge.


The hated Tau were dug in, defending their final bastion to the last. They were cut off and surrounded, but their position was as perfect as one could be in this situation: an island at the edge of the city that once housed the Governor’s palace. It was accessible by a single span some seven hundred metres long, and a maze of administratum buildings surrounded the palace. They were all smashed to pieces, the towering structures reduced to rubble for the most part. But the Tau were there, hiding one of their Etherals in there. Should he be slain the entire enemy effort would be thrown into disarray. They had to get across.


Casting a quick glance over the edge of the makeshift barricade West sized up the defences. Railguns blasted away from the far shoreline, delicate spirals of blue static trailing in the wake of their shells. Periodic bursts of pulse laser and rocket fire erupted before the shooters relocated to avoid counter fire. The bridge was wide, and could accommodate two vehicles either way. A number of ruined civilian vehicles littered the roadway, providing cover but limiting any armoured support. At the far end she could just make out a makeshift blockhouse through the smoke and gloom.


Looking back to her battle lines she saw troopers standing to fire bursts at the enemy, but more still sought cover. Too many were broken and bloodied, too many lay wounded on the ground, too many lay dying. Too many lay dead. Apothecary Varela was stooped over a fallen trooper, Hartner she thought, removing his geneseed. She frowned, Hartner had only made his stripes a few months ago. Turning away she looked at her remaining command section.

Sergeant McGarret was crouched low, the company standard in his gauntleted hands. Next to him was Sergeant Sztaba, his grim features partially hidden under a swathe of bloody bandages. Trooper Bruskott was trying to raise some close range artillery support on his vox unit. West watched as he held his hand to his helmet, the rainbow pattern blurring as his head bobbed up and down. Cho was there, his armour black, a grinning skull painted on his helm. But this was not the Cho she had served alongside for so long, who had risked life and limb with her on hundreds of worlds and campaigns. That Cho had died many years ago, but the honour of the chapter would never die, so Chaplain Cho lived on eternally.

She thought of all the names and faces she had fought beside over her life. Faulkes, Moon, Sonkkila, Nils, Bootes... all gone. They would carry the Light of The Emperor in eternity, heroes each and every one, but the weight of their loss was a heavy burden to bear. She suddenly felt very alone, desiring to see the sun rise from Council Hill once again, to smell the fresh bread of Mr Lusow in the morning, to see her parents. But she knew it would never be, that all that had been lost to her when she had chosen to walk the Rainbow Bridge to the Hall of Victors. She must honour her loss by honouring her duty.

“Bruskott,” she barked into her comm set, “where’s my artillery?”
“I’ve raised Skull One, Commander, inbound in five.”
She grinned, an old familiar face was coming.
“Sergeant Sztaba, rally the remaining troopers – we’re going to take that bridge.” The old warhorse nodded briefly before moving off to gather the attack. “Bruskott, get the Guard HQ on the vox and tell them we’ll have their breakthrough so they’d better be ready in four.”
“Aye aye Sir,” he nodded.
“Chaplain, how long until Sunrise?”
“Thirty four minutes, Captain.” His voice was emotionless as only a Chaplain can make it.
The captain looked to the east, sighing “Pity, I would have liked one more.”
“We will all have one more.”
“Aye, we will – in Victory!”


Switching to the company frequency she stood and looked at the gathered troops, huddled in the shadows of wrecked and ruined vehicles. Their once pristine blue armour was dirty and grey from the dust and rubble of the city. Pieces were missing or hastily repaired. Red soaked bandages held together mangled limbs. Every able hand held a weapon, and those who couldn’t walk leant on those who could. But each and every helm glimmered by the red glow of the fires. They were the light in the shadows.


“You are all my brothers and sisters, we are united by the blood of Dorn, the blood of The Emperor – together we shall prevail. Our strengths are many, and they fight as one. That is our creed and our glory. Today we shall triumph, we shall see our foes laid low and scattered before us. We will bring the glorious light of The Emperor and Mankind to these xenos scum, and cleanse them from this world!”
At this she thrust her fist out, and the assembled marines answered in kind, roaring their assent.
“Hoi!”
“Ready, my Soldiers of Sunrise!”
“Hoi!” They roared again, hammering fists to breastplates.
Above them a stream of flames shot across the sky, orange fires erupting in the Tau lines, the blossoming explosions lighting the waters blood red. Their artillery had arrived.


Thunderous footfalls shook the earth as the titan strode into view. It was a Reaver class, one of the smaller varieties, but it towered above the marines. West recognised it immediately, the Igneus Angelus, piloted by her old friend and ally Princeps Virgine d'Orléans.
“Well met Captain!” The commander of the mighty war engine appeared on the Captains HUD. Her long brown hair was splayed about her shoulders as always, a grin on her face. “The Angel is ready to follow you to victory!”
“Good to have you here Princeps,” West voxed back. The Princeps hadn’t aged a day since they had last seen each other a decade ago – the Mechanicus were hard at work. “Just keep them busy and don’t blow up the bridge.”
“Rodger that, starting suppression fire.”


The image vanished and a moment later the mighty weapon mounts opened fire. Bolts of pure energy wracked the enemy positions, sending masonry and entire facades into the waters below. The assault was answered in kind by a barrage of Tau firepower. The void shields of the Angelus shimmered an electric blue against the night sky, but did not falter. West looked out over the bridge, which seemed to grow longer with each passing second. Standing atop the wrecked rhino she drew her sword and raised it high. One last attack, one last battle and in victory she could return home to rest.

“Angels of Light...” The blade came down. “Charge!”


--


Jula jumped out of bed as soon before the first strike of the bell had started to fade. She quickly put on her shoes, being already dressed for the day. Running down the wooden stairs and across the long hall to the front door she bolted out into the cool morning air before the second strike had sung out. Behind her came her parents, much more slowly, likely not already up for several hours. Her father helped her mother, who was heavily with child, after their eager daughter to the top of the Council Hill.

The hill was the highest part of the village, and stood on its eastern side. Turning back Jula looked over the dim grey of the village, a few windows illuminated by candles, streets marked by the movement of bobbing lanterns. As the bell rang a third third time the whole village was gathered on the hill. All around her was a great press of excited bodies. Two great hands reached down from above and scooped her up, setting her on a pair of broad shoulders. She wrapped her arms around her father, nestling her head in his mane of thick brown hair, bright blue eyes fixed to the west and the coming dawn.

Blast Weapon Deviation Charts

This is the preferred outcome

Titan weapons, being mostly 5" or greater blasts, are very accurate weapons. Imperial titans have a BS of 4, so the greatest deviation they can get (rolling double six) is 8". When you consider the size of the blasts (up to 10" diameter) and the likely size of a target it becomes easy to see just how easy it is to hit.

Click for a larger version

The tables above show the numbers you'll get with each roll of a 2D6. The second part shows the modified scatter roll with a BS of 4. The three other tables show the scatter roll required for the blast to miss the centrepoint completely. By this I mean that when the blast is first placed, the centre hole must be over one model, or point on a vehicle. The table shows what has to be rolled for the template to miss this point entirely, and by how much it will miss.

Below is a Baneblade with a Litko template sitting over it. The bands are in half inch increments (the numbers indicate diameter, not radius).

Click for a larger version

The template is slightly off centre, but it shows that a final scatter of 2.5-3" from the edge of the template would be required for a miss in the vast majority of scatters. Applying this to the tables you can see how likely a scattering shot is to hit.

Firing a MTC for instance (10" blast) would need an eleven or twelve to miss entirely with its blast (1/12 chance). Given it is better for the MTC to score a direct hit, a base scatter of 2" less would be preferred - this still has a 15/36 chance (about 3/7) due to the Baneblade's massive footprint.

This plays into what I said earlier about the VLC against the LSB. The 5" LSB shots will hit 30/36 shots, while the 7" VLC(R) will hit with 33/36 - pretty even odds. The 10" blast VLC carried by the Warlord would hit around 35/36 times, and only miss if the arrow was pointing to the narrowest part of the tank. Hitting 97% of the time on a 'miss' is pretty good if you ask me.


That's pretty much the basic theory of it all - since Baneblades are the most common superheavy out there I use this as a way to crunch the numbers on weapon effectiveness / likelyhood of scoring kills. Stompas have a roughly 6-7" body diameter so work pretty much the same. Eldar SHs are longer but narrower, so it depends on which way the arrow ends up pointing. The same can be said for Tyranid and Daemon GCs, though work out with your opponent beforehand if hits need to be applied to the body of the creature or its base.

Other applications include working out the best place to bomb groups of infantry or massed light vehicles.

Or you could just try and roll more hits ;)

Choosing Titan Weapons, pt 9 - The VLC(R)

The Volcano Cannon (Reaver)


The stats for the Reaver Titan's VLC are slightly different to those found on the Warlord in the Apoc Books so will be discussed seperately.

The VLC is a bit of a connundrum to me - on the one hand it is StrD, with a 7" blast up to 180" away. However it is only Ordnance 1 and is somewhat inferior to the LSB in terms of sheer destructive output. It does have the advantage of double the range, but unless you are playing a colossal game like they do at Siegeworld it's not really going to come into play very often .

The larger blast does mean that there is a smaller chance to miss on the scatter, but it is fairly negligable.

Overall the VLC is not worth it unless you're fighting on a board with starting seperations over the 100" mark (that's a 10' long board basically). At closer ranges the LSB does everything the VLC can do, only better.

Finished some RMM minis

Finished a pair of models recently for the RMMC (been slacking off on it due to needing to strip a heap of them) - first is Svala from Hasslefree:




Second is Svala from Hasslefree:



They were both really nice to paint, with lots of little details and a whole lot of character. As the second is the 'experienced' version of the first I painted them simultaneously to ensure the colours came out the same.

The clothes are Khemri Brown base with Snakebite Leather washed with Gryphonne Sepia and Ogryn Flesh. Young Svala has a touch of Devlan Mud, while Experienced Svala has a heavier going over to weather her more. Gloves are Dark Flesh washed with Ogryn Flesh. Belts in black, trimmed with Shining Gold and Dwarf Bronze. The pattern on the clothing changed to suit the figure's shapes and pose better, and is inspired by a Jersey Caramel (though I added some black lining to spice things up).

Chainmail is Mithril silver washed with Devlan Mud. The hammers are a Mithril Silver head (with Burnished Gold inlay), Boltgun Metal haft, Shining gold at the base of the haft, Bestial Brown grip, and Burnished Gold pommel. The whole thing was washed with Devlan Mud.

Young Svala's hair is Iyanden Darksun washed with Gryphonne Sepia. To age her a little Experienced Svala's hair was done with Bleached Bone and washed with Sepia and a little Ogryn Flesh.

Skin tones were a base of Elf Flesh, lips in Dwarf Flesh. The whole face got a glaze of Sepia, and the lips, around the hairline and base of the neck and jaw were carefully washed with Ogryn Flesh. Eyes are simply black and white.


Very happy with how they both turned out - I'm leaving the bases black on purpose as I find it best for display models and it transfers to every gaming environment easily - no taking the wild woods with you into the dungeon.

Apocalypse- Rules to Be Aware of and Dirty Tricks

Apocalypse has alot of new rules, and not everyone is as familiar with them as they are the main rulebook. There are also a number of different ways superheavies and gargantuan creatures interact with the existing rules.


Strength D vs GCs and eternal Warriors - it only causes 1 wound per hit. Many people assume it causes D3 due to the statement in the GC entry that weapons that would normally kill a model outright instead inflict D3 wounds. Sounds like StrD, right?

Well unfortunately the StrD entry specifically states that if a target is immune to instant death, StrD "inflicts one wound as normal". I have a feeling it was meant to be D3, but I could see them changing it to avoid one-shotting Ghaz and Marneus with a LSB.


Line of Sight - Obviously it is going to be hard to get cover saves, but remember that cover is determined from the firer. Most times a titan can easily see over terrain features and negate cover saves.

This is especially important to remember when firing big template weapons at large groups. The line of sight is measured from the titan's perspective, so often the shot won't be passing through another infantry unit, so no 4+ cover save for them. Similarly when firing at tightly packed vehicles they will need to be really close to count as obscured.


Firing order - All firing is done simultaneously, so a superheavy must declare what each of its weapons is shooting at before the first die is rolled or the tape measure touched. This can be frustrating as you may want nothing more than to turbolaser open their transports then bomb the cargo with your AML. Unfortunately it is not to be.

That said you only need to declare targets, not in which order weapons are fired. For example a Shadowsword could declare it is firing its two lascannons and volcanon cannon at a warhound (with one shield), and the heavy bolters at various infantry.

Fire the lascannons first, and hopefully take down the last shield, then follow up with the Str D on the hull. No point wasting the D on the shields first up as should the lascannons fail against those they wouldn't be damaging the hull anyway.

This does lead to the interesting conundrum of what happens when one weapon is yet to fire, but its target is destroyed? I am of the opinion that if it is a blast weapon (as most titan weapons are) that it should be resolved on the same spot as the previous attack. Attacks of the scale of titan weapons deserve to be played out. It is definately something worth discussing with your opponent though.


Superheavy and GC Tank Shock - Did you know a Heirodule can tank shock? Well it can. It can even tank shock non SH vehicles out of the way. I have no idea how this is supposed to work. With a SH on non-SH tank shock it could be a ram, or simply move the other vehicle out of the way (probably the best idea).

It also means that should a heirodule choose to tank shock through an infantry unit they could technically Death or Glory it - potentially usefull if it is low on wounds or you have some way of dealing D3 wounds to it (say it shocks Wraithguard or a Librarian). However unless it is killed it will not be 'imobilised' so the attacking model will be instantly slain.

I am of the personal opinion that SHs and GCs should simply move 'lesser' vehicles out of the way and infantry have the choice to Death or Glory regardless. Still, something worth a pre-game discussion.


Assaulting a Superheavy - requires a successful morale check, or the unit cannot assault. Not a big thing, but worth remembering just in case.


Harridans Aren't Fliers - They move 24", ignoring intervening terrain, but do not fly like a flying vehicle. Their Type does not contain the word flier - as a Thunderhawk is a Superheavy Flyer, and the Nightwing is a Flyer - the Harradin is a Gargantuan Creature. It can be targeted by blasts/templates and there is no range or 'to hit' modifier either.


Battlefield Assets are Destructable - Disruptor Beacon and the like all count as AV12 targets that can be destroyed, negating their advantage. A lot of people miss that (its in their sub-section's header text).


Dirty Tricks

Abusing Assets is by far the easiest way to make your superheavy a super-duper pain in the ass for your foe.

My favourite ones are Careful Planning to keep your titans off the board should you loose first turn. You want to be up the back anyway and there is no penalty for moving and shooting so there is no real downside.

Reinforcements from Reload is a bit over the top (4+ roll to bring a pre-nominated unit back from the dead that turn). I've used it on Igneus Angelus one time, and got the response that a unit is infantry only, and I can only make the roll once (I failed the first time). Both wrong, you can keep trying and the rulebook describes a unit as prettymuch a catch-all for vehicles, infantry and everything else. This was due to it being an Apocastrike game, and the Planetstrike asset for reinforcements being infantry only leading to confusion.

Flank March is dirty, especially when you bring a Stormlord filled with Death Company Furioso's or a Heirophant right into the enemy's back line. I've heard of alot of groups banning or restricting its use (can't come in 12" from an enemy unit for example).

Allies can be used to ruin your opponents day - the old Inquisitor and Mystic combined with a Titan will really make Deep Striking nearby a risk. If the allies rules are completely fast and loose take a Big Mek with Kustom Force Field to give your Titan a 4+ cover save (or stand it on a Skyshield platform).

Stompas suffer from a lack of force field (outside the Big Mek Stompa). The custom Stompa rules from White Dwarf don't have the option to take them either. Stompas can carry infantry, so take a Big Mek with KFF and sit him inside - instant 4+ save! Not proof against StrD as it ignores cover, but better than nothing.

A few things there to consider, some more useful than others. There are plenty more out there of course, but this is a good start I think.

Choosing Titan Weapons, pt 8 - the MTC

The Melta Cannon


I'm not going to lie - this gun rocks. It can kill hordes thanks to its 10" blast. It can kill MEQs due to Str10. It can kill Terminators due to AP1. And it will absolutely ruin anyone in a tank's day with 3D6+10AP. Even under the blast it deals out 2D6+10AP, regardless of range!

Using this gun is quite simple, point it at something and watch it die. Tightly grouped transports and heavy tanks will all crumble (AP1 remember!). The catch is to not point it anywhere near your own forces - one bad scatter and you'll be scraping barbequed Skitarii off the pavement for weeks.

An interesting peculiarity of this weapon is that it is Ordnance Melta - so technically you should be able to roll each AP die twice and pick the highest result (as per the Ordnance AP rules). This would make it ludicrously good at getting through armour (roll two blue dice, roll two red dice, add the highest red and blue to 10 and compare to the vehicles AV). However the rules for the gun have an explicit explaination of how to work out AP, not mentioning the Ordnance classification of the weapon. I personally think it comes down to how much you like your opponent as to which rules you should bat for (or in seriousness I think ignoring Ordnance re-roll is probably the best idea).


The other downside is that as a single blast any eternal warriors, MCs, and GCs will only be taking one wound regardless. 72" range is ok, but nothing too spectacular.


The ideal situalion is a Land Raider with rhinos close by (or Leman Russ and Chimeras). Target the LR, to use the 3D6 on the AV14 vehicle. The massive blast will clip several of the transports and have a very good chance of busting them open. One blast can potentially lead to alot or wrecked vehicles and infantry in the open (a death sentence in Apoc).


The MTC is a great all-rounder. It can clean up infantry (and lots of them), vehicles, and has a good chance to damage other SHs. It's only weak point is high toughness, multi-wound creatures, so if facing an all carnifex army load up with something different, but against anything else somebody's going to get a hurnting.

Intel for Titans - Pre Game Planning

What you need to know before you field your engine of death.

There are a suprising number of variables when fielding a superheavy in an army list - weapon loadouts the most common - and there are a few things that need to be brought up when planning an Apocalypse game. Yes, you really do need to plan these sorts of things thoroughly - you don't want to make your battle plan up and discover that the other side has a completely different idea of how reserves are working (in Apocastrike or Cities of Apocalypse especially). It's happened to me, and while no big deal really, it is a pain in the rear at the time with everything else going on.


D Limits - some groups limit SHs to one StrD weapon per unit (or player) - no Ultimate Jerkface Configuration for your Reaver then...


SH or Structure Point Limits - maximums of SHs and/or structure points per player or per team. If it's a per team limit how are they to be divided up. If it's a number of SH units cap you may need to re-think the all Baneblade army idea. Personally I favour an even(ish) number of SHs per side, as one side being outnumbered by alot will lose like they've never lost before


'Counts as', WYSIWYG & Proxying - Is this allowed? Does your Titan need to be armed with what it has or can that VMB count as a good gun? Is it necessary to have all sponsons on a Stormshadowbladelordhammer 100% accurate?

I personally avoid this in mega-battle type games, as there is so much happening that having to remind everyone every five seconds what weapons you have is an unnecessary distraction.


House Rules? - If playing as a guest are there any peculiarities of that gaming establishment? Are all explosions Apocalyptic with max radius? Do StrD weapons cause D3 wounds on GCs?


Loadouts - Do they need to be declared when army lists are submitted or can they be decided on the day? Obviously a big tactical consideration if you don't know what enemies you'll be facing.


Other important factors are how tables will be layed out, their dimensions, objectives etc etc. Working these out beforehand will allow you to make a much more informed army list choice, and see that your Titan (or Stompa or Heirodule or Scorpion) make as big an impression as possible.

Choosing Titan Weapons pt 7 - the GBL

The Gatling Blaster

First off on the Reaver Titan section of this series is the giant multi-barreled cannon that gets bigger with each titan size upgrade. The GBL is the upscale of the VMB, but far outstrips it in destructive power.

The GBL fires six 5" blasts, at Str8 AP3 and up to 72" away. It can Instant Death marines with no save, and chew through hordes through the sheer number of templates landing on them.

One important thing to note is that it is Heavy 6 - so the blasts can all potentially scatter far and wide from the target point, or all stack a ton of wounds on one unit. It is important to measure scatter accurately - I use a Litko Raised Template to mark the centre, and roll the scatter dice on the top of it so the arrow is as close to the aiming point as possible. Litko even conveniantly makes a 5" diameter version.


That said, what is the best thing to be aiming this gun at? Fighting smaller, elite armies such as Marines, Eldar and Tau it works best focussed on small bunches or defensive positions. Here you'll generally be hoping for low scatter as the enemy won't likely be close to each other or forced to bunch up due to numbers. Not much can really be done aside from hoping the Dice Gods favour you. Heavy targets like Crisis Suits, Wraithlords, Wraithguard and high toughness / save infantry (and characters) can be targeted to stack wounds on in the hope they fail their save.

The Str8 is high enough to warrant bombarding light vehicles such as Rhinos, Chimeras, Wave Serpents if there are no better targets.


Against horde and horde-ish armies (Orks, Guard) just pick a dense concentration of troops and blast away. If the unit sizes are large (30+ boyz mobz, 'gaunt swarms etc) a tight scatter can kill entire 'big mobz', while a wide pattern will likely hit something else and damage it severely. MCs and GCs can also be targetet, their size combined with the Titan's good BS means that an average scatter will still likely hit and the blast's Str is not halved as it would be against a vehicle.


The one downside is the relatively short range of 72" when compared to some of the other Reaver systems, but it's not a huge disadvantage really.


Overall the GBL is a good choice if you either have no idea what force(s) you will be facing (and are required to lock in armament beforehand) or against horde armies. If you know you'll be up against Marines or an Elite Mech type army, there are better choices.

Glorfindel - Lord of the West

He's based on an Iron Halo Wyldewoode base, with a bit of bracken from Hasslefree (which I promptly bent when moving him to photograph). A nice change from 40k stuff, I'm pretty happy with how he turned out.

Cities of Death Mega Battle - Da Hill vs Parramunda

Played an epic mega battle against Parramunda last weekend - it was a 10,000pt a side CoD battle, with two 3,000pt a side planetstrike tables. The main table was two 12x4' tables joined by a 2x4' bridge. Each team had an edge on the bridge side, and the back of the other table. So we were both starting off sandwiched between each other in dense urban terrain.

The Planetstrike tables each had a pair of massive gun batteries firing an Apoc 3 S9 AP2 blast onto the main table. The attackers were trying to knock those out in addition to capturing the objectives (two guns and three others per table).


There were 15 objectives in total for the CoD team - six per table, and three on the bridge. My strategy was to take a fortified building, bolster its defences with a Techmarine, and use it as a gunbase to rain fire on my foes.

How did it go? Read on and more pics after the cut



My objective building is on the right of frame (the tall grey one) - it has a Thunderfire and lascannon section in it. Tac Squads in red, Assault in yellow, Ironclad in green.

The rest of my army was three Tac Squads (the other half of the lascannon team lead by Captain West), an assault squad with Chaplain Cho and an Ironclad. I was up against Sisters and Tau - a fairly formidibal combo. There was also alot of Guard down the other end of the board (who would periodically try to bomb me to little effect).

My plan was pretty simple - rush em and kill em all. It got off to a good start, with the Thunderfire breaking a sisters squad, who almost fell back off the table. The rest of the army barrelled forward with smoke. The return fire did little more than shake my Ironclad (Ven Trp Baer), despite three railcannon hits on my vehicles!

My assault squad jumped a Sisters squad an wiped them out, despite their invulnerable save thanks to their faith (Mst Sgt Bootes' power fist got all its wounds through). Captain West was charged by a reserved unit of Arcoflagellents, and the combat bogged down with my guys wiffing their attacks, and West resisting their blows back. The rest of the squad suffered a bit worse, leaving only Sgt Sauveaux standing by his Captain...

Sgt Sonkkila's squad beat down a Sisters squad thanks to some lucky hits with her powerfist. My other squad to the top of the deployment pic got bogged down in HtH with the last remaining Sisters squad, Sgt Nils not being able to best their Faithed 3++ save.

At this point there were two squads of Fire Warriors, a lone Broadside and an Inquisitor left and the building would be mine.


But then a player on our side we thought wasn't coming arrived... so he came on to my left with 1000pts, so my foes got another 1000pts to even it out. Unfortunately they brought on two more squads of Arcos, who crashed into my Assault squad and wiped them out save Cho, and Sonkkila's Tac Squad. Sgt Sauveaux went down and West was wounded. And a Demolisher came on as well.

To add insult to injury my Grey Knight re-enforcements didn't fare too well. The scattered off target, and were shot down by Firewarriors. The Grand Master was then vapourised by a railcannon shot :/

Well things were going well for our defenders at least.

Ven Trp Baer entered the fray, the Ironclad finishing off one squad of Arcos while a Penitent engine ganged up on Sgt Nils and his men. Cho fell under the weight of the Arcos attacks, as did West. This turn also heralded the arrival of a squad of Seraphim in the middle of my building. They scattered out of cover under the floors, into the centre of the building. They fired on my lascannon team, killing two. My return fire killed two in return, the Sisters making their saves against the Thunderfire and massed bolter fire.


Meanwhile Sgt Sonkkila and the lone surviving member of her squad forced their way into the Tau held building, wiping out the Blue Tau squad. They just had to hold on for one or two turns to contest as time was running out...

The brown Tau descended and rapid fired, the two marines making six saves successfully to survive into the last turn. In my objective Vet Trp Varma's section engaged the Seraphim, the fire killing one more. The jump troops killed teh lascannon trooper then assaulted, killing the last marine. Vet Trp Varma held on and it was a stalemate.

Sgt Sonkkila assaulted the last Fire Warriors and before her power fist hit home, rolled snake eyes on her armour save... the Tau barely held the building. Ven Trp Baer smashed into the last of the Arcos, wiping them out. He needed a three or more to enter the Tau objective and contest it. He got a 1.

The battle in the Rainbow Warrior's building was still going, and I was hoping that Varma could successfully break so the Tunderfire could target the Seraphim, but it was not to be.

The Tau took a few potshots at Baer, but he made his cover saves, though it was to no avail as he was only touchign so not contesting.


Our Planetstrike defenders got a massive victory of 5-0 (though they completely failed to give me any artillery support at any point during the game, which would have helped to thin out the Sisters earlier). Our attackers scored 1-3 to Parra, which I am happy with as they mis-interpreted the Drop Pod rules and assaulted Dreadnoughts out of them to knock out the Parra guns by turn two.

Our overall score was 8-9, with a Parra win. In the end a large number of CoD objectives were contested or simply unclaimed due to there being almost nothing left on the board by the end.

The game was great fun and all the guys were good sports and fun to play against, but these big battles are alot of work, and there is often mis-communication between our store and Parra about the nature of the game, so they are often somewhat confused about the setup etc... I don't know if I'll go in the next one - maybe if it was a campaign of some sort, but we'll see.

Rainbow Warriors - The Terminator Corps, pt 2

A discussion of the organisation of the Corps, and a mission for Space Hulk.




Corps Organisation and Disposition

The Corps is split into four groups, divided amongst The Heart of Stone on Prism, a relay station near Forbett III and two mobile cadres.

The smallest contingent is based on Prism, with 15 troopers at the most stationed there. This is the off duty posting, though the marines are naturally always on standby.

25 troopers are based on a station in a synchronous orbit with Forbett III. This gathers shipping data from the sector and compares it with inbound shipping to do look for any suspect vessels. It also acts as a long range sensor post to direct the other cadres.

Two fast strike cruisers - the Star of Judgement and the Dawn of Final Doom - carry 30 troopers each, and travel in various interdiction patterns, looking for pirate shipping, smugglers and alien raiders. Should a hulk be sighted both cruisers move to intercept, and the other cadres are mobilised.

Each Cadre is lead by a Commander, who is ranked Lieutenant or higher. Squads are organised on a needs-must basis, so will frequently be of variable size. The standard squad consists of five troopers, with a Sergeant in command and a special weapons trooper (a heavy flamer normally). One trooper is usually equipped with a chainfist in place of a power fist. Close combat specialists are usually fitted with lightning claws over thunderhammers.



Alone In The Dark

This mission for Space Hulk 1st Ed recreates the final mission of the TDATC. There are two sections, one each for the Marine and Genestealer players. This scenario also uses some special rules, presented below.


Unseen Enemy

This is a special playstyle, originally published in the Citadel Journal. I'm presenting a slightly modified version for this game (the original can be found here)



Board Construction and Set Up

To represent this suspenseful situation of not knowing what is around the corner or if indeed there is a corner, you need to play Space Hulk on a special table marked out with a grid consisting of 30 x 30mm squares, the same size as those used on the Space Hulk board pieces. This grid represents the holo display of the Space Marine Terminators. Use two or three sheets of black mounting card and draw the gridlines on with a gold or silver marker pen. Down each side of the board you should write numbers starting at 0 in the corner, so you can obtain grid references to help you mark out where the corridors should be. On this grid are placed the blips where they should be but without the corridor sections.

NOTE: In 'stealer vs Space Marine games the 'stealer player should act as GM as she will know the layout of the hulk by using the Genestealers' brood telepathy, only in Space Marine vs Space Marine games should an independent GM be used.


Playing the Game

Now you are ready to play, the GM should take the Terminator deployment zones, corridors rooms or whatever and place them on the grid board in the relevant places that correspond with the sections' location on the map. These corridors represent all the Space Marines can see with their armour lights at the start of the game.

As the Space Marines move or expend APs or CPs the GM (the stealer player) places more corridor sections and rooms on the grid-box in places that correspond with their location on the map. A Space Marine can normally see the section he is standing on and any adjacent section within his LOS. So when a marine moves into a new board section, any ajoining sections within his LOS are placed. New sections are placed as soon as they enter the marines LOS. Thus a marine would not see an adjacent board section if a stealer, door or other LOS blocking object were in his way.

The 'stealer player moves her blips around the grid board without the corridor sections, rooms, etc. being in place. But she must still move around the board as if the corridor sections were in place. She can't, for instance, cut straight across the board heading for the nearest Space Marine if there is a wall in the way. The 'stealer player will find it easier if she plans her moves on the map then moves the blips on the grid board to the relevant grid locations. If a corridor section is placed on the grid board and the 'stealer player is found to have made a mistake, then those blips outside the corridor are lost.


Removal of Board Sections

An optional rule which both players must agree on to use if the removal of any sections which are no longer in the LOS of any of the Space Marines. At the end of the Space Marine turn the GM should look to see which corridors the squad can no longer see. The GM should take Space Marines' LOS as 180° for these purposes. I would only use this rule after playing a couple of games to gain experience.



Blind Firing

Space Marine players may expend APs or CPs on shooting at blips which they may think are in their Line of Fire. The Space Marine player nominates which blip he is firing at. Normal rules for range count, as normal simply count the number of squares to the target using the squares on the grid-board. The GM should then look on the map to see if the blip can be hit or if another target is in the Space Marine's Line of Fire.

Even if there is no target the Space Marine player still rolls to hit. The GM rolls the tells the player if he has caused a kill, if he hasn't then the GM should simply say "Nothing happened" and let the Space Marine player draw his own conclusions, as there are a number of circumstances which might lead to the shot doing no damage. The shot might have bounced off harmlessly, or there could simply be a wall in the way. The GM rolls the dice without the Space Marine player seeing them as it would be a giveaway to roll a 6 and be told you didn't cause a kill.

It is important, if the suspense if to be maintained, that the Space Marine player be told only of his kills and not the reasons behind the misses. Sustained fire bonuses don't count when firing blind. If a blip is killed then so are all the models that blip represents.



Accidental Obstruction Destruction

Sometimes when shooting at blips as explained above, it is possible to destroy intervening terrain like doors, bulkheads, cargo, etc. If a piece of terrain lies in the Space Marine's Line of Fire then the GM should count the shot as if it was fired at the terrain. The Space Marine player rolls to hit as normal. If he achieves the correct score on the dice then the GM should inform the player that they have destroyed a door, bulkhead, cargo, etc. If the player doesn't roll enough then the GM should simply say "Nothing happened" as before. Any board sections that the terrain is on are revealed in the blast, the GM should place the relevant sections on the grid-board. This may result in rooms or corridors being placed on the board without the intervening connecting corridors.



Section Effect Weapons

If the Space Marine player fires with a section effect weapon (such as a flamer) into an unexplored area then the Space Marine player should be very careful. If the section next to the one currently explored contains a wall or bulkhead which intervenes in the Space Marine's Line of Fire then the firer suffers a 'back draft' as the grenade or flamer blast hits the obstruction.

Treat the shot as being fired upon the closest clear square from the target area. For the case fo a door this will generally mean the square on the Marine's side of the door. Resolve the attack on the appropriate board section as normal. This means it is possible for a marine to accidentaly kill themselves with their own flamer.

The board section hit by the blast is placed on the board in the same manner as for accidental object destruction.


Blip Conversion

Blips may no longer be converted to models voluntarily, they can only be converted when they enter Space Marine LOS (involuntary conversion) or when they are on a revealed board section (this is not compatible with removing board sections outside LOS however).



Overwatch

When on overwatch Space Marines are ordered to fire upon anything visible that moves, to therefore Space Marines on overwatch may only fire at models that are on the board sections.


Specific rules for this mission are:


Drones

Drones have 6APs, and are initially deployed as blips (following all the same rules). Each blip is a single drone, and they cannot combine, stack or move through each other. As they are a single unit per blip, the drone can be converted outside of LOS, though this reveals the board section it is on and any it then moves through.

When converted the blip moves and assaults like a genestealer, but attacks in close assault with only 1D6.


Airlocks

Airlocks are matched sets of doors. When one is opened others close, and vice-versa. On the map the open doors are shown by a red circle with a white centre. Closed are marked in solid red.

It costs 2APs to open or close an airlock (but otherwise follow the standard rules for doors), and when one is opened all closed airlocks on that board section open, and all open airlock door on that board section close.



The Mission


Marine Player

Forces: One marine with storm bolter and power fist
Objectives: Move to the exit point.


Stealer Player

Forces: Eight drones
Objectives: Kill the marine

Special rules: The drones only enter play after one of the airlock doors is activated. The 'stealer player may then place three drones at the entry points, but only one per point. They may bring one more drone on every second turn after that.

The drones may not operate the airlock doors.

The Marine player draws CP tokens as normal.


Deployment : The 'stealer player should place the marine deployment tile, and its ajoining corridor section. The exit point should also be placed. Once the drones enter play, mark each entry area, even those not used.


Map: Obviously the marine player shouldn't see the map, so it is linked to here: Map v1
Same, but with the grid marked on it, for planning moves: Map v2

Titan Archives

Divisio Militaris
Rules Discussions and Tactica

Is the Phantom worth 2500pts? - Thoughts on the Phantom's advance release rules.

Arena of Death - Phantom vs Warlord - Pitting giant robots against each other in brutal combat.


Titans in Assault - How to deal with being assaulted, when to assault and what to look out for.

Pre Game Planning - What you need to work out before the game has even begun, and why it's important.

Apocalypse Rules & Dirty Tricks - A few bits and pieces many people miss in the Apoc rulebook.

Blast Weapon Deviation - How likely are you to hit your target? A bit of mathammer to help you out.

Is the Phantom Worth 2500 points? - Analysis and thoughts on the experimental rules.

Arena of Death: Phantom vs Warlord - The two giants slugging it out in no-holds barred combat!


Choosing Titan Weapons

Part 1 - Intro and mission purpose
Part 2 - The Vulcan Mega Bolter
Part 3 - The Inferno Gun
Part 4 - The Plasma Blasgun
Part 5 - The Twin Turbolaser
Part 6 - Equiping a Warhound (also includes some modeling advice)
Part 7 - The Gatling Blaster
Part 8 - The Melta Cannon
Part 9 - The Volcano Cannon (Reaver)
Part 10 - The Lasblaster
Part 11 - The Apocalypse Missile Launcher
Part 12 - The Vortex Support Missile


How to Kill a Titan

Part 1 - The basics
Part 2 - Space Marines


Other Superheavy Articles

Shadowsword variants I - The six made from the plastic kits

Divisio Mandati

Background and Painting

Igneus Angelus and Praedecatio - Picture gallery

Unforgiven - Igneus Angelu's knee art step by step

Igneus Angelus - Solo gallery with full completion

Phantom Titan Build

Preperation:
Part 1: Inventory and cleaning
Part 2: Trimming and dry fitting

Magnetising the Tertiary Weapons.

Divisio Investigatus

Concept Rules and Scratchbuilding

Corvus Assault Pod - Rules ideas for the Titan mounted assault system

Closing the Gap - Changes to the Superheavy rules to bring them into the same durability level as Gargantuan Creatures.

Rainbow Warriors - Background Archive

Organisation:

Command Structure - Ranks, duties and titles within each company.

Uniforms and Identification - Colouration, badges and designations.

Chapter Variances - Philosophical, geneseed and other non-codex divergences. Also details on the chapter's homeworld and its populaces.

The Terminator Corps - The Training Methods of this elite unit.

The Terminator Corps, pt 2 - Disposition and deployment, and a mission for Space Hulk

Battle Companies - The core of the Chapter's forces.



History:

Founding and Early History, pt 1



Angels of Light

New Dawn
The Chosen Few
Journey part 1 - part 2 - part 3 - part 4 - part 5
Awakening - part 2 - part 3


Pictures

Gallery 1

-

Rainbow Warriors - The Terminator Corps

"Get some"

The Terminator Corps is the Elite of the Rainbow Warriors, a force almost exclusively dedicated to tunnel fighting and ship boarding actions.

The 1st Company

While most chapters maintain their 1st company as a bastion for their elite veterans, the Rainbow Warriors terminators are not all hardened veterans of dozens of campaigns.

Entry into the company comes one of two ways - either into the Terminator or Specialist Corps. The Specialist Corps contains expert recon, assault and combat engineer units and is more in line with other chapter's veterans. However that is for another article.

Entry into the Terminator Corps is at once more and less prestigious than the normal line companies. On one hand it is an elite fighting group, trained to a razor sharp degree, that undertakes one of the most dangerous missions available. On the other it is highly specialised, and limited in its focus, and not every trooper will aspire to that station (prefering to take to war in all its guises). Similarly an officer candidate does not need to have undertaken a tour in the Terminator Corps to attain high rank. Only 24 of the chapter's 83 Chapter Captains have borne Terminator Honours, though they will be trained in the use of terminator armour. The chapter believes that it is not necessary to risk a valuable officer's life simply so they live up to the expectations of other chapters.

The Chapter Captain is nominally the 1st company's Captain. This is usually more of an honourary title, as his duties give little time to directly manage a company. The 1st Company is also frequently broken up into smaller battlegroups to better cover the Rainbow Warrior's patrol areas and intercept any suspect shipping.

Due to this dispersed deployment and the elite nature of the work the company will have a second Captain, known as the Terminator Captain, or Corps Captain, who directs the efforts of the battlegroups. Under him will be either another Captain (sometimes more than one) and several Lieutenants. Sergeants lead their squads as normal, though they are often deployed in smaller groups, as will be discussed later.

Terminator Veterans are respected as fearless individuals of great skill and determination, and regardless of a trooper's aspirations towards the Corps, they respect that skill. The Crux Terminatus is not won lightly.


Terminator Honours - The Corps' Training Process

To win the right to wear the Crux Terminatus badge a trooper must complete the Tactical Dreadnought Armour Training Course, then a full tour in the Corps. The trooper can then display the Crux Terminatus on their powered armour (either a shoulder/knee design or pendant) and thier off duty uniform (on the left breast).

The Tactical Dreadnought Armour Training Course (TDATC) is not a set program as such, but a test of aptitude and skill, and various tests and trial designed to acustom the candidate to moving in the armour, as well as in the dangerous confines of a hulk. The first training is undertaken at the 1st company's base on Prism. This is located far to the north east of the Storm of Wonder on a desolate, rocky penisular. The base tunnels deep underground and covers a large area, with underground hangers and storage facilities, and its own manufactorum. The base is known as The Heart of Stone.

The Corps will accept any potential recruit, with the only minimum barrier on experience being 5 years of service as a full Trooper. This is to ensure the candidate is fully versed with the Chapter's tactics, methods and equipment. It is also so that any skill can be identified through combat rather than waste time training seemingly potent recruits to no avail.

When a potential recruit arrives, they are stripped of all rank back down to Trooper, and placed with a training squad. The training squad can be any size up to ten, though three to five is most common. A Sergeant leads the squad, assisted by his own Corps squad in the training when necessary. The first step is to get the recruits used to moving in the new set of armour. This is done in the training halls of The Heart, and any Corps personel on base usually watch the recruit's first steps from an observation gallery with much amusement.

After learning to walk in the suit without falling over the recruits are taken outside to handle rough terrain and basic maneuvers. This is a fairly quick process as it is re-adjusting known skills to a new situation and normally only takes 24-36 hours to complete.

The second section moves quickly ahead, taking the recruits to the wreck of the Sarstus Lady. The derelict ship has been converted into an orbital relay station and observation post for the most part, but a section has been left untouched. Several of the vast cargo bays are used as the second stage training ground, teaching the recuits to maneuver the bulky suits through narrow, often damaged corridors. The training is also performed in a hard vacuum to fully simulate the likely conditions that will be encountered on a hulk. Combat operations are simulated against simple drone targets under the command of the Training Sergeant.

The Sarstus Lady's hull is not entirely holed however, and the final test of this phase is for a candidate to successfully navigate from vacuum to presure to vacuum again through a well mapped course. The map will be inaccurate, and training drones will be sent into the course to test the candidate's reactions to a sudden change in mission parameters. The candidate has to then fight their way out of the maze to pass.

Failure in this section does not mean automatic removal from the course. Should a candidate be 'killed', the instructors will review the circumstances and in most cases a second attempt will be allowed. The course will be different, and often the map accurate. This test will be tailored to the individual candidate to see that they have learnt from their previous error.

Should a candidate fail again (and not simply due to misfortune such as a weapon jam or a gantry falling) they will be dropped from the course and returned to their company. This stage of the course has a 64% failure rate. Candidates who flush out here are not necessarily out for good, and may be offered another attempt should they so wish at a later date.


Further training intensifies the pressure, with more (and smarter) drones, missions having numerous suprises thrown in and a non-stop routine. Further trials are undertaken at the base on Forbett III and in the hives there. Veterans comment that it is to make the real thing seem easy, and this is only a half joke. The training has a one in ten casualty rate, with a tenth again of those fatal. These are mostly due to falls through ancient stairways or pitfalls hidden in wreckage, but as live ammunition is always used friendly fire incidents do happen. In an unit running at a 35% fatality rate there can be no room for laxity in training, and the Corps is well aware of this.

When a recruit is deemed skilled enough they are posted to an active detachment, and sent on combat missions. They form part of the reserve group, performing mop-up operations and patrol/defence of the boarding areas. Once they have aquitted themselves in this role they are considered a full member of the Corps, and assigned to an active squad. This descision is made by the Corps Captain at the recommendation of the recruits instructors, and the time served varies from recruit to recruit. Once graduated from the TDATC the recruit will be presented with a silver skull pendant, engraved with the name of the final engagement they undertook.

After completing a full tour of duty (signified by one boarding action against hostile forces), the trooper is awarded with the Crux Terminatus, the cross added to their skull pendant earnt previously. The new member's name is added to the 1st Company's roll of honour and they are counted among the greatest warriors of humanity.


The Esprit De Corps

The Corps is known for its seemingly relaxed nature and larrikin attitude of many of its members. This is in stark contrast to the ice cold professionalism displayed in the field. The attitude is adopted due to the increased risk of death the Corps' members face. While every marine faces death every day, the risk is greatly magnified in the Corps' duty. Even stepping foot onto a hulk can be a death sentence should it suddenly fall back into the warp before the troopers aboard have time to evacuate. Similarly many hulks are booby-trapped by previous visitors, and many of course contain alien menaces such as Orks and the dread Genestealers. Vast areas are exposed to hard vacuum and intense radiation, and even a marine's heightend phisiology would be harded pressed to survive in such an environment.

The nature of the organisation, with individual groups scattered and relatively isolated leads to a closer bond than those within a full company may find. One common practice is to give each trooper, on completion of the TDATC, a knickname. This is usually derived from the trooper's name or something that happened during their training. Obvious examples include Trooper "Grey Dog" Graeham, and Sgt "Ding Dong" Bell. Other, more esoteric, names include Tk Sgt "Stone Cold" McKenzie, Trooper "Wideload" Traeger and Sergeant "Standup" Nand.

Each trooper is fully prepared to lay down his life for the honour of his chapter, but now also for the honour of the Corps. They undertake the most dangerous, and often most vital, missions of all - failure is not an option.


Terminator Corps Identification

The armour of the Terminator Corps is painted in the same dark blue as the rest of the chapter. The chapter badge is worn on the right shoulder in white, the Crux Terminatus on the left in silver. Rank badging is shown either on the right shoulder or on the knee or shinguard. The rainbow design is usually shown either on the helmet, the powerfist, or left shoulder.

Helmet colour is not always changed for Sergeants, and is left up to personal preference.

Specialists display their speciality in the same way as in the line companies.

Off duty the uniform is the standard, with the company colour being white. The Crux Terminatus badge is worn on the left breast, and is also displayed on the epaulettes.

Choosing Titan Weapons, pt 6 - Equiping your Warhound

or Getting the Bang for your Buck

First, give the other parts of this series a read:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Now look at Forge World's den of temptation.

Notice you now choose the arms seperately. Until relatively recently the Mars pattern only had the option of the PBG and VMB, the Lucius had all four. Then the option of buying the Lucius TTL and ING seperately came up, and now the option for Mars versions of the same so they will match properly.

If you're thinking of buying a Titan it is alot of time, effort and money to get one finished (though I still recommend it as it is a greatly satisfying experience). Choosing the right arms is a vital part of the equation.


The Modelling Part

One option is to magnetise. I did this to my Reaver but not my Warhound, and that is somethign I regret. It was partly due to lack of experience working with resin and partly lack of availability of the other arms when I purchased him. When I next buy a Warhound I will magnetise the arms, and buy multiple options. This is the more expensive path obviously, but not hugely so. The magnets also make storage and transport easier. It also allows to have cool looking, but game weak weapons on show (ING, VMB) and stick on two TTLs for busting heads on game night.

If you don't want to magnetise and simply want a cool model, just pick the two that look th ebest to you.


The Game Part (also for 'counts as' and proxy)

Should you have a magnetised Warhound, or running a proxy, or have opponents allowing 'counts as', it is all about the mission.

When sending your titan for a walk it should have a task to perform. This will be killing as many of the enemy as possible 90% of the time (sucking down enemy fire is the other 10%). The specifics depend on the enemy and table layout, as well as the allied forces and general game plan. Just dumping a titan on the board and hoping for the best with no plan will do suprisingly well, but having a plan will make it work great.

If your team is playing defensive and trying to outshoot the enemy TTLs and PBGs are the order of the day. Playing defensive vs an assault army? PBG and ING may be better. Against an armoured division a pair of TTLs will be your best friend. Below I present the combinations of weapons and when/where/against who to use them on:

TTL + TTL - Guard laying on the superheavies, that guy with five Stompas, Marines, Eldar, Tau, Nidzilla - one of the best choices, only weak vs hordes, simply as you may have trouble killing them all.

TTL + PBG - Highly versatile, able to kill horde and MEQ infantry with ease, and poses a significant treat to SHs, GCs and armour heavy lists. The best if you limit vehicles to one StrD weapon too.

TTL + ING - Good if you are expecting a close battle or to be flank marched. Also good if there is lots of cover on the table and you're advancing with an assault army (remember StrD ignores cover!). Fire the TTL well away from your own guys though.

TTL + VMB - Similar to the above combo, but with better range on the anti-infantry. Not terrible, but not the best use of points.

PBG + PBG - Infantry killer, pure and simple. Great against Dark Eldar and swarms of Trukks. I'd only really advise this layout if you have some other dedicated SH killers (Shadowswords for example), but is a quite good setup.

PBG + ING - Not one I'd take unless I knew I would be up against lots of infantry in dense terrain. A titan is best for dishing out a major hurting on their big things, and this lacks that.

PBG + VMB - Got an old Mars pattern? This guy will be mostly confined to taking out infantry. The PBG can nuke vehicles, but it isn't a guarantee so unless there's nothing better to shoot at stick this layout on infantry. Use the VMB to mop up any survivors in depleted units and leave none standing.

ING + ING - This would be a scenario specific layout for me. An urban Apoc game or a jungle fight. Not recommended outside that.

ING + VMB - Not unless they have no superheavies. Or vehicles with AV13 or more.

VMB + VMB - No. Just no.

Choosing Titan Weapons, pt 5 - the TTL

The Twin Turbolaser

This is the big boy of the Scout class weapons, but is it all that and a bag of chips?


Strength D

The TTL is a Destroyer. It auto wounds (inflicting Instant Death), auto pens (with a +1 on the chart) and is AP2 ignoring cover. And it does this for the whole template, not just under the centre. It will instantly kill anything it hits unless it has an invulnerable save. Sounds great right?

The downside is, like any gun - don't point it at anything you don't want to die. For close fire support it can be risky as one bad scatter can really help your opponent out. Also close range fire is a potential trouble as having your titan shoot its own foot off would be rather embarrasing.

There is also the slight contradiction in the rules regarding GCs. The GC entry states that if they are hit by a weapon that would kill them outright (ie Instant Death, D-Cannons etc) they take D3 wounds instead. Not too shabby, what's the catch?

Well the StrD rules entry explicitly states that if the target is immune to instant death, StrD "inflicts one wound as normal". Another reason to hate GCs for your titan. Bummer.


But all is not lost! It's just a matter of support and mission priority. Get your foot sloggers and allied armour to deal with the Heirodule, use those TTLs to smash their monolith phalanx to pieces (living metal this!) or nuke his Skullhamma.

Another point to note is that should you get a Chain Reaction damage result the second roll gets all the same modifiers. So each roll has a one in three chance of a further chain reaction! My Reaver, Igneus Angelus, felt this personally by loosing five structure points to a single D hit.


So, about those Turbolasers...

On a Warhound, one set is pretty much a no-brainer. It's Apoc, so there will be something you want to hit with StrD. The TTL has the extra T for a reason - two 5" StrD templates a turn. It is one of the most deadly weapon systems out there. The downside, if there is one, is the comparatively small blast - but we can't have everything.

It's not a weapon for going up against a mass horde of infantry. It will take out the big boys supporting them very nicely though. Against Guard, Marines, Tau and Eldar it is great. These armies can be relied upon to have lots of transports who won't like being shot up. On an Apoc board they will usually be bunched up so the lack of Str modification for the main section of a blast is especially deadly here. If they're packed close enough you can hit three or even four vehicles with one template. Add in a second template and it can be a massace. But that's life on an Apoc table!

StrD is also very addictive: just roll the scatter and take squads off the board - firing a demolisher cannon will never seem as powerful ever again ;)

Choosing Titan Weapons, pt 4 - the PBG

The Plasma Blastgun

The PBG is one of the most versatile of the 'scout' class titan weapons, and a very good all-rounder choice. It has two modes, which I shall discuss seperately, then their commin points.


Rapid Fire

This mode fires two 7" templates at Str8 AP2, with a good 72" range it is suitable for most circumstances. The two templates are good for stacking wounds on higher toughness blocks of infantry (ie Nobz or Tyranid Warriors) and the AP is a good bonus. They are templates and can scatter, so accuracy isn't great, but with two huge templates you'll likely hit something. This is the mode I use most often.


Full Power (Single Fire)

A single 10" S10 Ap2 template out to 96"? Tell the Techpriest to turn the reactor up to 11 baby! This mode is in some ways weaker than its 'lesser' brother, as it can only do one wound per hit. With the higher Str you'll likely be shooting at higher T units who have multiple wounds. Is the more likely wound worth more than two potentials? One in the hand worth two in the bush or never tell me the odds? The choice in the matter is up to you. The longer range may well factor into it if you happen to be playing on a large enough board, but the rapid shot is usually superior.

Even with the larger template the two have the potential to cover a larger area with a good scatter. So why would you use the Full Power mode? Read on...


Ordnance (or the importance of reading the weapon entry fully)

The PBG is an ordnance weapon - Ord2 for rapid fire, Ord1 for Full Power. This means it rolls 2D6 and picks the highest for AP vs vehicles. Against light vehicles Rapid Fire has two potential penetrating hits, and Full Power can put a S10 hurting on pretty much anything.

Against blocks of light vehicles (Rhinos, Trukks etc) a Full power shot can potentially hit a whole bunch on the side and rear with a good chance to get some glances (remember Str is halved for the blast, but S5 with D6/D6 AP isn't too shabby) when all else fails or there's nothing better to shoot at.


The PBG offers good all round capabilities vs heavy infantry, swarms, vehicles and MCs. It is primarily and anti-infantry weapon however, so should be used as such - I wouldn't be using it to try to blow up a Land Raider unless I had to.

Rainbow Warriors - Founding and Early History pt 1

The Rainbow Warriors founding is a somewhat unusual one, in that they view themselves as a Third Founding chapter, but are officially from the 6th. The following comes from the Rainbow Warrior's histories, and are part of The Chronicle of Founding.



The Death Strike

During the Third Founding the Death Strike chapter was created, their uniform blue with a winged lightning bolt in yellow as their icon. They were created from Imperial Fist geneseed, and were to be based in the south of Segmentum Ultima. As the fleet bearing the new chapter to its homeworld it was struck by a great warp storm, and three ships were broken from the main fleet and presumed lost in the warp by the rest.


Adrift

The three ships were not lost, but were caught in a strong current in the warp and only through the great skills of their captains were they able to keep together and avoid destruction. The three ships were the Storm of Wonder (a mighty battlebarge carrying three companies of marines and their equipment), the Sarstus Lady (a cargo hauler carrying equipment for the fortress monastary and many labourers) and the DV-183 (a light frigate of new construction).

Aboard the Storm of Wonder was Captain De Viers, an Imperial Fist veteran and survivor of the ordeal at Iron Cage. With him in his company was Loremaster Irmo and Chaplain Cho. The master of the vessel was Captain Rugal Finnigan, a man fair but stern.

Captain Finnigan ordered the ships to drop from the warp as soon as the disturbances lessened, lest they restart in full fury and destroy them. It was a risky tactic, as the navigators had no idea where they were and the raging warp-tide around them obscured the holy Astronomicon. They warned that they could emerge inside a fires of a star or in the middle of an asteroid field. The captain prefered to chance death in the empty of space than sit blind and wait for the storm to claim them, so the order was made and all aboard hoped that luck was with them.

As the ships emerged from the warp they proved lucky indeed, as they were dangerously close to a planet, and staring down the prows of a trio of alien ships over the night side of the unknnown world. Reacting quickly the Imperials opened fire, not waiting for identification of the unknown craft. The Eldar (as they turned out to be) also acted with their trademark reflexes and maneuvered sharply out of orbit, crippling the Sarstus Lady's drives and breaching the Storm of Wonder's hull in several places. It cost them dear however, as the Imperials had caught them by total suprise (their approach shielded by the warp storm) and the Eldar had not raised their defensive screens fully. One of the raiders exploded under the battle barge's fire, and a second was crippled by the DV-183, its hull venting out to space, but not before a direct hit vapourised its foe's bridge.

The remaining Eldar craft concentrated on the only moving Imperial vessel, and the two traded a brutal series of blows, each rendering the other rudderless in the void. They were not without thrust, though it was of an unwilling kind, and the two ships plunged towards the planet's grasp below.

Deperate heroics on the part of the Imperial crews restored some degree of control, and Finnigan brought the ship in for a crash landing. The Eldar vessel was less fortunate and split apart. The fires of its demise spread wide over the planet's night sky.


Marooned

Finnigan wrestled with the titanic bulk of the battle barge as it plunged like a flaming comet towards the ground, but neither would give out. Screaming metal sheared from the hull and bulkheads groaned as the atmosphere grew thicker, and land approached. The crew braced for impact and sent prayers to the Emperor and Dorn to watch over them, and there was a final crash and all was darkness.

The marines were the first to wake, battered and bruised at best, but many were dead in their harnesses. The fearsome construction of the ship had preserved them from the worst of the impact, being re-enforced around the cargo holds and crew compartments. The cunning strikes of the Eldar proved fortuitous, as most of the damage was confined to the rear of the vessel - had the prow taken more hits the whole ship would have been ripped apart and all aboard slain.

Picking their way though twisted and slanting decks the marines made haste to leave the ship, lest fire errupt and it become their tomb. They gathered as many of the crew as they could find, and took them through emergency bulkheads and many great tears out of the hull. The surviving Apothacaries worked ceaselessly, tending to the injured by they navy rating or marine, and the techmarines (of who there were many) worked at great risk to make the great gun batteries safe and the engine rooms dormant.

De Viers surveyed the land from a position of height on the ruin of a cannon barrel that jutted from the ground. The ship had come swooping in over a great sea, and rent a great channel through the sand and earth into the side of a steep jungle covered hill. The Storm of Wonder sat embedded in the hill, its aft lifed up into the air as the prow dug into the earth. Behind it was a great beach of white sand, blue by the light of the stars. The sea lapped gently at the shore as if the earthshaking impact had never happened.

On the beach the marines gathered, the sound setting watch over the injured, their bolters at the ready. It was than the Loremaster Irmo approached the Captain with the other surviving officers. He said unto him that they had suffered greivous losses and that ninety four of their four hundred and fifty marines were slain, including the other Captains, and that almost that number again would likely sucumb to their wounds. A great numbr of the ship's crew, including all the Astropaths, Navigators and Captain Finnigan were also layed low. Captain De Viers ordered a moment of silence in their memory, and another for Finnigan alone. Once the silence was ended the order was given that Chaplain Cho would tend to the spirits of the dying with Chaplain Bruthing. Loremaster Irmo was to take a honourguard and bury the slain officers and Captain Finnigan as befit them. To the Lieutenants he ordered thm to gather those fit enough to form up into squads and report for duty.

They were lost, crippled and marooned - but they were the Emperor's Angels of Death, and would do His duty.