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Writer's pictureNicholas Smith

Adeptus Titanicus


Greetings one and all,

So yeah, it’s been a while. I’ve sort of had an unintended break…for a year…yeah…


Right, so. Anyway, Onto the review.


Adeptus Titanicus




What is Adeptus Titanicus?


Adeptus Titanicus is a game set during the dark days of the Horus Heresy, where you take command of the mighty God Engines of the Adeptus Titanicus and it’s various Legios and Knightly Allies.


This basically takes the form of a number of Titans, ranging from the mighty Warmaster Class down to the Warhound Scout Titan, backed up by Banners of Knights, as you and your opponent use tactics and skill to destroy the others' God Engines.


There are a number of different God Engines available in the game which are;


Warhound



The most common class of “Scout Titan”, Warhounds do not have the void shields, armour, or weapons of their larger counterparts. However, what they lack in strength and size, they make up for with their manoeuvrability and their team synergy by hunting in packs. Woe betide a Warlord Princeps that doesn’t take the threat of outflanking Warhounds seriously, as they can strip void shields with ease and leave their prey open to attack from allies.


Reaver



Being the smallest tier of what can be considered true Titans, a Reaver can carry one of the most diverse weapon loadouts of any of the Titans. It also works very well in supporting their smaller and much larger kin. That said, it would be unwise to leave a Reaver open to attack because while they have more void shields than the Warhound, they’re not as heavy as the shields on a Warlord. Top this off with lesser armour than its much larger ally and they can be brought down very quickly if forced to go toe to toe with an opponent.



Warbringer



Serving in the “Heavy Fire Support” role (which to my mind is as redundant as the “Scout” class), the Warbringer packs two Reaver Titan class weapons, as well as a carapace weapon that would usually be seen on a Warlord Titan. Though slow and under-armoured, the fact it can destroy anything - up to and including a Warlord - can make it a really useful asset on a battlefield.


Warlord



The mainstay to the Titan Legions, the Warlord is a Titan truly deserving of the title God Machine. With a total of 6 void shields, plenty of armour, and some of the biggest and most powerful weapons of the Titans, it’s fully capable of laying waste to anything smaller than it. However, Warlords aren’t invulnerable. Its large size can leave it very open to smaller Titans or Knights getting up close to it, and being so large it’s very hard to hide it on a battlefield.


Warmaster



This thing is an absolute powerhouse of a unit, with more void shields, armour, and heavy weapons than any other Titan, including the Warlord. This is the biggest Titan currently available in the game, but sadly Warmasters do not have the range of weapons available that other Titans do, only being able to mount Plasma Destructors, Desolator Chainsword, Krius Siege Drill, or Krius Grav Imploder on their arm hardpoints.


Allying with these God Engines are the Banners of Knights, which while far less powerful and far, far, far smaller, they're a very fast-moving and flexible force that can pose a serious threat to Titans with their superior speed, giving them the ability to outflank their opponents with ease.

And with their added potential to cause mass damage in close combat, these Knights can be a very mighty force to be reckoned with indeed. But I'll talk about the Banners of Knights in more detail in a future article.


Why play Adeptus Titanicus?


At the time of writing, Adeptus Titanicus is one of Gamesworkshop's most “balanced” games (having not suffered too much from power creep or bloat). It is a game where positioning and tactics matter as much, if not more, than lucky dice rolls. It has a low model count (compared to 40K armies), and each model contributes significantly to your collection. The models themselves are highly detailed and wonderfully posable, with a large range of weapon options in the core boxes and even more from Forgeworld. Third parties also provide a wide range of additional weapons, bases, and Titan accessories, which really help to flesh out the models, with a lot of the classic designs getting a 3D print version for reasonable prices. And to further improve the pose-ability and versatility of the Titans, some third party sellers such as BattleBling even provide arm upgrades that come ready-shaped for magnetising your Titans weapons, so you don’t have to permanently limit your team of God Machines to only one particular loadout.


Overall, Adeptus Titanicus is, in my opinion, one of the better specialist games from Gamesworkshop. It's fun to play, easy to learn, and really lends itself to narrative play.


Also who the hell doesn’t want to play big stompy death mechs?


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