On the topic of the Shadowsword variants

The Shadowsword kit comes with six possible variations (datasheets on the GW site here). Each has various sponson options, mostly lascannons and heavy bolters, but a few have some specialist kit (noted ineach entry). I'm not discussing points as there is very little difference with upgrades, at least at an Apocalypse level. Here are my thoughts on them individually (in alphabetical order):


Banehammer

This beasty is one of the two that can carry 25 dudes (ten of whom can fire) but still has a nice big gun. The gun on the Banehammer has a good 60" range, Str8, AP3 and a 7" blast, so good for annihilating enemy infantry. It is also Ordnance so can be used against armour with some reliability.
It also features the nifty earthshock ability, where a 4D6 "size" (it isn't clear on diameter or radius, but most measurements seem to be diameter) area becomes difficult terrain, with one less dice for the test. It is also dangerous terrain for vehicles.

Quite useful as a mid line support vehicle - use the cannon to tie up enemy units and load the boot with heavy weapons or other support assets.

Rating: 7/10



Banesword

The artillery version of the Shadowsword, the Banesword features the Quake Cannon as its primary gun. This beast fires a barrage 24-180" away. That's a Str9 AP 3 10" ordnance barrage. It's a 10" blast so even the guard can hit something, and if you feel insane you can still fire at things directly under 24".

Depending on the table layout you use the Banesword can be very, very good or very, very, mediocre. If it is a nice big table and you have some cover you can park this sucker behind some nice big cover and blow up scads of infantry and light vehicles with it - you're still hitting with a Str5 hit with the main blast, and get to re-roll the armour penetration dice don't forget.
If it's a long thin table or not much cover the long minimum range will hurt, as the main benefit of the Quake Cannon is its indirect fire ability.

Rating: 8/10 or 6/10 depending on the table.



Doomhammer

The Doomhammer instantly wins point for being able to bring dooooom to your foes. Also, it has liquid hot mag-ma.

The other 25 body transport, the Doomhammer is a hybrid Shadowsword/minibus. The Magma Cannon fires 60", with Str10, AP1 and a 5" (large) blast. Again it is Ordnance, so the primary duty here is anti-armour - Land Raiders, other SHs, GCs etc.
However it bears the Imperial Guard's wonderful BS of 3. With the smaller blast it will be harder to hit a target at all let alone with the centre, unless you're firing at something big.

The Doomhammer has a few good parts, but suffers for trying to do too much without doing anything particularly well. Which is a shame as it has the greatest comedy potential.

Rating: 6/10.



Shadowsword

The grand-daddy of them all, the original superheavy that isn't the Baneblade, the Shadowsword exists purely to kill armour, and big armour at that.

The Shadowsword's Volcano Cannon is the smallest of the guns to bear that name. It has a massive range (120"), but that generally doen't come into play. Its main drawcard is StrD - the only pure Guard vehicles to have it I believe. Compared to titan VCs, the Shadowsword has the smallest blast at 5" (large blast). Coupled with the IGs middling BS, it is a bit more risky than the Titan mounted weapon systems to score a hit.

The Shadowsword does have the advantage that it comes with integral void-shield busting lascannons, but the BS3 firing them strikes again. Basically only take a Shadowsword if you know there will be other SH vehicles to kill, otherwise there are things that kill tanks better for cheaper.

Rating: 8/10 or 4/10 if they don't have superheavies.



Stormlord

"It has All Power to the Weapons!! It has 30 shots!!!"

But, the cynic replies, it has Str6 and BS3. I have ranted against the VMB before, and this does not change when it fires more with a lower BS. The damage output is lowered by the BS to counter the high rate of fire so there is no significant change in kills.

Also, when firing 30 times you can't move. So the mighty assault vehicle can't move anywhere, and even if it does it only moves 6" a turn. You can assault out of it, but it's not likely to get anywhere anytime soon.

There is a popular idea of cramming 20 or so heavy weapons teams in the back. This often falls down as few people have 20 weapons teams, or if they do they need them for their squads. If you want to do something that stupid you'd better have the models to back it up.

Suffers similarly to the Doomhammer - an assault vehicle that moves slower than infantry (no run move), and a massive gun that's not very good at killing things. The best use anyone can come up with is a mobile pillbox. When the best use for a superheavy is as a bunker for other things that can actually kill things, it's time to go back to the drawing board.

Rating: 3/10 - yes, I have actually used one in a game. It's great as a tank or movable building, but as a superheavy it fails miserably.



Stormsword

One of the oldest variants on the Shadowsword hull, the Stormsword carries no troops, just a giant assault gun.

The gun has a short range (36"), but a massive Str10, 10" ordnance blast balances that out. It also ignores cover so you can kill anything nearby with impunity. Good against all infantry and a large number of vehicles, the cannon only suffers that you need to get in close.
In that regard it is the inverse of the Banesword - if you play on massive boards you will need to flank march to get the best out of it, but on a close in board it will murder your opponents.
Downside is that the 10" blast doesn't care who it hits, so friendly infantry need to be wary of standing too close.

The default sponson loadout is a bit odd, with heavy flamers in place of lascannons, due to the Forge World version coming with them by default. You have to pay points to upgrage to lascannons, and to upgrade the hull heavy bolter to twin linked. However I'm not so sure that's a necessity (maybe the hull bolters) as the Stormsword is designed to be in the thick of it killing the bejeezus out of the enemy - the goal of any superheavy.

Rating: 9/10, or 4/10 on a sparse map.

Divisio Investigatus: Corvus Assault Pod

The Corvus Assault Pod (and its wierder Assault Head varient) is originally from Adeptus Titanicus, an expansion part that allowed a Titan to carry boarding troops.

Here I present some ideas for how to represent it in games of Apocalypse. My first though was to give it a transport capacity, and have it loaded with other units. This wasn't a very elegant solution, as it would be rather complicated and not fit with the fact all other Titan weapon systems cost the same number of points.
What I've decided on is a system 'pre loaded' with a special assault unit of Skitarii.


Game Stats

Range: Close assault
Strength: 8
AP: 1
Special: Melta

During a round of close combat a Titan with a CAP can decide to use the embarked troopers to attack in lieu of the Titan's normal attacks. This is resolved as a single attack using the Titan's WS as normal.
If the attack is successful roll a D6 - this is the number of hits the pod makes with the above profile.


The balance of the possibly large number of melta hits is that it first requires the Titan to hit with WS2, and it isn't a primary weapon (to represent the more fragile nature of the guys inside). I have thought of special scenario rules allowing the guys inside to get out into buildings (IG vets w carapace and meltas/hvy flamer) or to flame transports/bunkers (like the siege dreadnought assault drill in IA2).


Modeling Ideas

The current plan is to use a Rhino or two for the main part of the pod, with the Elysian Lascutter guys inside. Nothing too fancy, just have to find time to do it.

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.

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.