The warhorns blared, echoing Princeps Tethys’ command for Legio Mortis to walk. Their first outing against the loyalist defenders had been less than successful. Tethys’ own engine had been badly damaged, keeping him from the field of battle for several months as it underwent repair. He thanked the Lord of Decay for the winds of pestilence that had prevented the enemy from recovering or scuttling Deodand Rictus that day. Now he strode at the head of his Mandatum Maniple, Rictus repaired and all engines intent in exacting revenge on Legion Metalica. Yes, the resources of this world were an important prize, but honour demanded they revenge the earlier insult. The enemy’s engines responded to their warhorns… taunting them with a cacophony of sonic blasts seeking to disrupt physical and neural systems. Mortis were steeled to this, their Great Father blessing them with the fortitude to ward off such weak sensory assaults.

John and I gathered our titans for a 2000pt battle pitting his Legio Metalica against my Legio Mortis as a follow up to our game from earlier in the year. My objective was Glory and Honour, his Princep’s Warlord being my target) and his was Hold the Line. Our respective secondaries were to hold table quarters and to kill the enemy. This was a fun and tight battle… here’s how it went.

Deployment

We had the Stand-Off deployment. As we placed our titans, squadrons and banners, I kept a close eye on where John placed his lead titan, my target. My plan was for the knights to move quickly up the flank while everyone else took shots at the focus of our revenge!

Early and Mid-game

This progressed quite well, though Deodand Rictus’ shields fell quickly, while my target’s stayed mostly intact. This wasn’t a good sign as I was advancing to close the range under a hail of increasingly deadly fire. Thankfully, the knights weren’t the focus of John’s attentions and the proceeded up the flank as planned.

A pair of John’s knights intercepted my lead Warhounds, but they didn’t delay me for long. The focussed fire on my lead titan paid dividends and a magazine explosion blew it apart, causing some damage within my lines and removing the opposing knights. I thought all was lost, though I had to hope my Reaver and Warhounds could stay in the fight long enough to gang up on the enemy.

End Game

My knights swarmed in, surrounding their target and they began to focus their strikes on the enemy’s head. They did significant damage to it, which was followed a well-aimed shot from a Warhound with a plasma weapon to bring the enemy warlord to the brink. The supporting titans focussed on removing the knights, but the warlord’s haughty machine spirit had different ideas. The knights were whittled down to one, but it was determined to fell the enemy. A final stab at the head bringing it down, the scrambled signals causing a Belicosa Cannon to explode, taking out the last brave knight.

My remaining force now engaged in a titanic game of hide and seek. It wasn’t enough to save my Reaver, but it was enough to win the conflict. Legio Mortis got their revenge and occupied most of the battlefield.

Aftermath

That was a 16:9 win to me in what was a really closely fought game. It felt very dynamic with the Warhounds ranging across most of the battlefield. One mistake I made was not repairing critical damage when I had the chance. It possibly cost me the Reaver. Adeptus Titanicus is a really fun game… it gets across the ponderous scale of the titans, whilst impressing with their destructive might.

I look forward to playing it again soon!

Until next time,

Owen