40K Titans - let the wank/antiwank begin - (long post here)

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2006-04-04 01:43pm

Considering the sheer size most Titans supposedly have, I'm not surprised that some would be equipped with welded-on defense turrets on their legs; those would definitely be useful against Tyranids, for example. As they wouldn't really be useful except against troops trying to climb the Titan's legs or inside the minimum range for its secondary weapons, they wouldn't be included on the weapons list for Titans, I don't think... at least, I've heard of Imperators having that kind of thing. I wouldn't be surprised if Warlords do as well.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2006-04-04 05:05pm

Titans are capable of generating electrical arcs to fry anything trying to climb their legs, unless that's been retconned into oblivion. Warlord Titans commonly mounted a few heavy bolters or multilasers as infantry killers.

Steel · Post by **Steel** » 2006-04-04 06:32pm

Lazarus wrote:On the topic of chainfists, are these subsitutes for longer ranged weapon arms, or do they deploy somehow? And also in the log there is a reference to 'carapace rocket launchers', and 'all other weapons cycle auto loaders...'. The turbolasers and volcano cannon don't use kinetc rounds, and 'all other weapons' could hardly apply only to the starboard weaponry.

Doesnt the chainfist have some form of dirty great autocannon attached to it? I seem to recall from my epic armies book that the chainfist has a firepower and range listed (similar to big tank guns)

andrewgpaul · Post by **andrewgpaul** » 2006-04-04 07:51pm

That may have been the Ork Gargant's weapon.

Mind you, according to the latest playtest draft of the Titan Legion army list for epic (here), it does have "assault weapons" built in; these represent anything with a range equivalent to 24" in WH40K - small arms, smaller heavy weapons, etc.

Oh, and that article has a quick description of Titan classifications; Basically, you have your Emperor, Battle and Scout Titans. Each of these has various classes (eg Imperator and Warmonger class Emperor titans, Warlord and Reaver class Battle titans, Warhound class Scout titan). Within each class, there are various patterns, basically the different styles of titan built by different Forgeworlds. For example, Mars pattern and Lucius pattern Reaver titans. Finally, there are the various Weapon Configurations - simply, the number and type of weapons mounted - the Standard weapons configuration (also known as a Deathbringer ) for a Mars-class Warlord, for example, is 2 Turbolaser Destructors in the carapace, a Volcano Cannon in the left arm and a Gatling Blaster in the right arm; a Nemesis configuration has two or more support weapons - one-shot missiles, Plasma Destructors, etc.

Azazal · Post by **Azazal** » 2006-04-04 08:14pm

Steel wrote: Doesnt the chainfist have some form of dirty great autocannon attached to it? I seem to recall from my epic armies book that the chainfist has a firepower and range listed (similar to big tank guns)

Some of the chaos titans had upgunned chainfists, the not imperials

white_rabbit · Post by **white_rabbit** » 2006-04-05 04:27am

Azazal wrote:
Steel wrote: Doesnt the chainfist have some form of dirty great autocannon attached to it? I seem to recall from my epic armies book that the chainfist has a firepower and range listed (similar to big tank guns)
Some of the chaos titans had upgunned chainfists, the not imperials

the "Banelord" chaos titan class had the most over the top hand to hand weapon in existance.

Combination power fist and chainfist, with a battery of multi-melta cannons !

the "Doomfist "

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2006-04-05 04:38am

HTH weapons are used inside of power/void fields, so they get to directly fuck up a titan without interference. I know some of the other versions of the epic game had additional heavy bolter emplacements on power fists so you could kill more infantry with it while trying to close to a range where you could use it on titans.

Lazarus · Post by **Lazarus** » 2006-04-05 01:14pm

In the description of the Battle of Tyrok Fields in the guide to the 13th Black Crusade Leviathan Command vehicles are described as having grappling hooks and boarding ramps to board other such giant vehicles. This seems a bit yarrgghh, avast etc to me...
And is it just me, or are giant close combat appendages kinda silly? With such powerful main weapons, why close to close range? Couldn't the other Titan just make mincemeat of you whilst you move closer? They just seem rather cartoon-ish.

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2006-04-05 01:25pm

Lazarus wrote:In the description of the Battle of Tyrok Fields in the guide to the 13th Black Crusade Leviathan Command vehicles are described as having grappling hooks and boarding ramps to board other such giant vehicles. This seems a bit yarrgghh, avast etc to me...
And is it just me, or are giant close combat appendages kinda silly? With such powerful main weapons, why close to close range? Couldn't the other Titan just make mincemeat of you whilst you move closer? They just seem rather cartoon-ish.

Useful for Tyranids and their swarm tactics. Also, void shields will soak a lot of the damage; presumably close combat will do a lot more damage. It's best not to try to rationalize stuff like that, though... it's purely game stuff for the most part.

Black Admiral · Post by **Black Admiral** » 2006-04-05 01:58pm

Lazarus wrote:In the description of the Battle of Tyrok Fields in the guide to the 13th Black Crusade Leviathan Command vehicles are described as having grappling hooks and boarding ramps to board other such giant vehicles. This seems a bit yarrgghh, avast etc to me...

Thing with Leviathans, is that once their void shields are online, they sorta can't do anything to each other aside from boarding.

(a Leviathan can't bring another Leviathan's shields down by gunfire)

andrewgpaul · Post by **andrewgpaul** » 2006-04-05 02:01pm

Is this the Imperial Guard Leviathan? Doesn't it have a huge fucking howitzer on the front? It could most assuredly bring down void shields.

Black Admiral · Post by **Black Admiral** » 2006-04-05 02:03pm

andrewgpaul wrote:Is this the Imperial Guard Leviathan? Doesn't it have a huge fucking howitzer on the front? It could most assuredly bring down void shields.

Well, apparently:

The 13th Black Crusade, page 18 wrote:It is a fact that Leviathan armament is primarily devised to destroy infantry. Once another Leviathan has its shields raised gunnery will not conclude the issue.

andrewgpaul · Post by **andrewgpaul** » 2006-04-05 02:21pm

Gah! revisionism. I was thinking of this, with at least 8 weapons comparable to a tank's main gun or bigger.

Black Admiral · Post by **Black Admiral** » 2006-04-05 02:29pm

andrewgpaul wrote:Gah! revisionism. I was thinking of this, with at least 8 weapons comparable to a tank's main gun or bigger.

Same source, describing the Leviathan's main gun:

From all along the Volscani line the Leviathans opened fire. The huge forward macro-cannons were heard in Kasr Valtoss some fifty miles away. Each Leviathan was rocked back on its treads by the recoil and the swarms of infantry surrounding them fell to the ground, unable to stand this close to the discharge. The ten-yard long cannon shells could scarcely miss the Leviathans of the Cadian command barely a mile from them.

Currald · Post by **Currald** » 2006-04-05 09:00pm

Lazarus wrote: And is it just me, or are giant close combat appendages kinda silly? With such powerful main weapons, why close to close range? Couldn't the other Titan just make mincemeat of you whilst you move closer? They just seem rather cartoon-ish.

It's not rare for Titans to engage each other in urban areas, either. You could find yourself at close quarters quite unexpectedly in such a situation.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2006-04-05 09:29pm

One should remember that void shields regenerate very quickly compared to most sci-fi shield systems. Titans regenerate several void shields every combat round and in Battlefleet Gothic ships regenerate all their shields every round. Against a Titan or Leviathan having enough firepower to bring down a void shield or two isn't sufficient. To hurt them you've got to drop shields faster than they can recover them or close to inside the void shields.

18-Till-I-Die · Post by **18-Till-I-Die** » 2006-04-06 03:40am

Excuse the off topic but where can a guy find this 13th Black Crusade guide book. Is it available from like Amazon of Barnes and Noble, over the net? Or does it come with soem specific model or something? It sounds very interesting and i've never heard of it.

Teleros · Post by **Teleros** » 2006-04-06 08:24am

GW Online Store Codex: Eye of Terror

You could also try:

BL Out of print hardback 13th Black Crusade background book - I'm not sure if they have a softback version etc in print or not

...

18-Till-I-Die · Post by **18-Till-I-Die** » 2006-04-06 08:56am

Thanks much,

Lazarus · Post by **Lazarus** » 2006-04-06 02:16pm

I loved the Black Crusade book, one of the best source books I've ever bought, and so I've just ordered the latest one in that series about the Sabbat Worlds crusades. There's also an Armageddon version, but Black Library were sold out

Concerning the close combat arms, as we've seen in IA3, they really aren't very useful against nids, you're just negating you're long ranged weapons advantage and doing exactly what you need to to get taken out in the only real way they can harm you: in close combat. If the Princeps in that battle log hadn't been an idiot and gone all righteous fury he probably could have just blown the hierophant to hell.