I'm slowly starting to feel a little better. While recovering, I've been putting little bits of time into some brainless parts of my various 40K projects, and I'm hoping now I can get some more serious work done. But for this blog today, we're doing Titans!
Who doesn't love big stompy robots? And 40K has some of the biggest and stompiest! Titans, unfortunately, are usually relegated to casual games and often then only the largest scale ones. Even the smallest Titan takes over half your army to field in points, leaving only a few units to actually play the game with. And for all their grandeur, the 40K Strength/Toughness system does mean that they will eventually get shot down. Now at least, the vast majority of weapons will be wounding your Titans on 5s and 6s while still allowing your Titans a decent save against them.
Without further ado, let's see what the surviving Legios of the 41st Millennium can field.
DATASHEETS
Warhound Titan - 1100 pts
Costing over half of a Strike Force army, the scout titan of the Legios comes with 40 T13 Wounds, a 2+ Sv, a 5+ Invuln against ranged attacks, and two massive guns.
You might be wondering why such a massive piece of tech only gets an Invuln against ranged attacks. This is to represent both the main means of protection Titans have and their primary weakness in the lore. Titans are protected by a bubble of warp distorted space called a void shield. Void shields are fantastic at deflecting and destroying incoming projectiles and energy attacks, but they can be traversed by properly protected infantry and vehicles. They also take a tremendous amount of energy to power and can be overloaded. In past editions, void shields provided better protection but could collapse just as they do in the lore. For 10th edition, GW has decided to just represent this with a plain 5+ Invuln.
For our guns, we have the inferno gun: a 24" flamer that hits at S7, AP -2, and Dmg3. Averaging 10.5 hits, this thing will scoop even tough 5 man units and has a decent chance to pull 10 man units off the table too.
For slightly larger units, we have the vulcan mega-bolter. While not as good against elite infantry, even Space Marines will have to fear the shear number of shots it puts out. Anything not wearing power armour is going to take massive damage, obliterating many 10 man units.
For monsters and vehicles, we have the plasma blastgun. At an average of 10 shots and the BLAST ability, this thing is a serious threat to Infantry too. But even on its basic profile, it hits at S9, AP-3, and Dmg4. That number of shots means that even wounding on 5s, this thing can melt most vehicles.
Finally we have the turbo-laser destructor: D3+3 shots at S20, AP-3, and Dmg2D6. While outclassed by many anti-vehicle weapons in the game, that will still reliable reduce even the toughest vehicles in the game to scrap.
Let's not forget that as a Titan it has Towering and so it can strike nearly anything on the table with everything but the inferno gun.
The Warhound also comes with two abilities. The first is the second price you pay for fielding a Titan that we saw in the Faction Focus. If you want to use a Stratagem on a Warhound, you'll have to pay twice the CP for it. This effectively means you're likely not using any strats on it. The second is flank speed, which allows it an automatic +8" on an Advance, making it a pretty fast piece of tech. However, you're likely going to just put two plasma blastguns on it, stand it where ever you can fit it in your deployment zone, and use every turn to blast away with it.
Now here's the part where you're expecting me to tell you that despite all of that, it's just now worth it. Except . . .
Here's the thing, most opponents will have enough fire power to bring this thing down. Especially with other Towering and Titanic units being so potent right now, every army has to have an answer to something like this. But this thing has twice the wounds of many of those rival units. More than likely, it will survive the first round of firepower, after which it will remove two threats from the board. That makes it more likely to survive the next round and allow it to scoop up two more threats. There will definitely be games in which this thing earns its points back before your opponent manages to bring it down, if they even do.
The main problem is that this is over half your army. It will be sitting in your deployment zone, scoring your backfield objective, and that's it. You likely won't have a lot of units to play Tactical Missions, so you'll be relying on Fixed for Secondary scoring. And you'll have to hope the units you're blasting off the board are enough to make sure you're winning on Primary.
There is legitimately a world in which you can play competitively with a Warhound Titan, but you're definitely going to have to work for it.
Reaver Titan - 2200 pts
The only Titan I've faced across the table in an actual game of 40K, many moons ago in the days of 2nd Edition, Reavers are definitely scary. Reavers go up to T14 and have 60 Wounds to the Warhound's 40. They come stock with an apocalypse launcher and can pick two other guns to fire with. We'll start with that apocalypse launcher.
Like the Basilisk, this gun has the range to hit your friends army on the other side of the LGS. It's an INDIRECT FIRE weapon, but that doesn't really matter. Unless you're on a board specifically designed to allow units to hide from Towering, you're going to be direct firing this. Still, it allows a little proof against terrain. With 3D6 BLAST shots at S7, AP-1, Dmg2, it's a serious threat to all light infantry.
For heavier armour, you've got the gatling blaster. Firing 12 shots with SUSTAINED HITS 1 at S8, AP-2, and Dmg3, even Terminators are going to need to worry about this thing.
The laser blaster is next with 8 shots at S20, AP-3, and DmgD6+2. This is probably the go to weapon for the Reaver, as this will allow you to deal with most armoured threats, including enemy Titans, but still has enough shots to deal with Infantry.
Next is the melta cannon: D6+2 BLAST shots at S13, AP-4, Dmg6, or Dmg10 at 24". Honestly this is just such an odd duck. While the high AP is nice, you're going to want to stand back in your deployment zone and blast across the board, so you're never really going to get much use of the MELTA rule.
Then there's the volcano cannon, which you might have seen on some other kits. It can still hit the next table over with 120" range, D3+1 BLAST shots at S24, AP-5, Dmg14. Honestly, if you're in a game where you can bring a Reaver, you probably want at least one of these.
Finally, you can give a Reaver a power fist, striking with 6 S20 attacks at AP-4, Dmg14, or sweeping with 12 S12 attacks at AP-3, Dmg6. You're not going to do this though. Not only are the guns better, but this hits on 4s. Even if it hit on 3s, I still wouldn't take this. Those big stompy feet will punish anything that tries to tie this up in melee, and the Reaver can Fall Back and Shoot and Charge.
Unfortunately my calculous for the Reaver doesn't work out as well as the Warhounds. Basically, this is a Warhound that has a better chance of lasting through the game. But you're going to be removing, at most, a third unit off the table each turn. And honestly, that's not going to happen very often. You may still want to bring this in truly massive games where you know there will be other Titans. But unless that's the case, this just isn't worth the cost of two Warhounds. And even if there are enemy Titans, we have another challenger to consider on the next datasheet or so.
Warbringer Nemesis Titan - 2600 pts
For only 400 pts more than the Reaver, the Warbringer has 20 more wounds and can bring all the same weapons, other than the apocalypse launcher and the power fist. But instead of the apocalypse launcher, the Warbringer brings 2 anvillus defence batteries, 3 ardex-defensor maulers, and either a quake cannon or volcano cannon. Let's start with the small guns.
Both the anvillus and ardex-defensor are statted for anti-infantry, though the anvillus can also do pretty well against light flyers. You get a total of 34 shots between them, but crucially it's 5 different guns so you can split their fire as you need. This gives the Warbringer some automatic ability to deal with infantry, allowing you to focus the rest of its weapons on removing armour.
And I just got a massive sense of deja vu there . . . Did they preview this bad boy earlier? Oh well! On to the big gun!
For the Warbringers carapace weapon you can take either the quake cannon or an upgraded volcano cannon. The volcano cannon is the same as the one you can get for its arms, but strangely doesn't have HEAVY and gets 2 more shots. Honestly, this makes it only moderately better than the arm cannons, which will normally be hitting on 2s.
The quake cannon is more general purpose, firing D6+6 BLAST shots at S16, AP-4, Dmg4. This makes it good against nearly all targets, though you'll miss the higher damage against enemy Titans. It also has INDIRECT, though again, you have Towering. Finally, it has an absolutely silly range! 480" That's 40 feet! Most local game stores won't have a room that big!
But wait! There's more!
It has the rule Titanic Fire Support! This lets you pick some lucky unit that survived this things Shooting and grant your army improved AP on Critical Wounds. It's honestly not much, but it will still help. And if your army has a lot of ANTI-X . . .
This thing is so much better than a Reaver. And in any game where you'd field a Reaver, it will just purely outclass it. If you're playing a massive game where you know your opponents will have Titans, this is what you bring. Otherwise, you're probably still better with a pair of Warhounds.
Warlord Titan - 3500 pts
Finally we arrive at the big boy, the mightiest unit you can field on the table.
At least until we get an official model for the Warmaster.
And then maybe one day the Imperator.
But for now, this is the largest single model in the game. Also, it's ironically the one you're most likely to have? Although this thing costs as much as some used cars, if you're going to save up for a Titan, you might as well save up for this one. Also, the NOVA Open Charity raffles have given one of these away at least once a year for a bit now. I think they're technically giving two away this year, though as a diorama.
But that's 3500 pts! That's more than even an Onslaught game of 40K! Can this thing possibly justify itself?
So in case you didn't check out the reveal, let's start with that wound count. The Warlord skips over T15, and goes straight to T16 and 100 Wounds. Plasma will only be wounding this on 6s. Nothing but a dedicated anti-tank gun will wound it on better than 5s. Even at 3500 pts, an army is going to struggle to bring it down.
And this thing brings some truly frightening fire-power!
You start with two of either the apocalypse launcher or the laser blaster. Interestingly enough, the laser blaster on the Warlord is completely inferior to the Reavers. But still, you get two of them. The apocalypse launcher is all upgrade though, firing 20 attacks at S8, AP-2, D2. So you're scooping two 10 mans a turn.
The Warlord then gets a pair of those ardex-defensor maulers the Warbringer has. So there's even more anti-infantry you can use to deal with smaller threats. It then gets two ardex-defensor lascannons. These are just normal, single shot lascannons that can poke at a bigger target each round. Now, let's get to those arms.
The Warlord can take an arioch power claw. You're probably not going to, but this is an all around better option than the Reaver's power fist. First, it doesn't cost you a gun, firing 20 attacks with SUSTAINED HITS 1 at S6, AP-1, and Dmg2. Again, you can kill a lot of infantry with that. And should something be stupid enough to get close, it sweeps with 12 attacks at S12, AP-3, Dmg8, or strikes at S20, AP-4, and Dmg24! There's not much in the game that can survive that.
Still, you've got big guns you can put on this thing, and that's probably what you're going to do.
The macro gatling blaster puts out an eye watering 30 shots with SUSTAINED HITS 1 at S9, AP-2, Dmg3. This will take out nearly any infantry unit and most vehicles too.
Next is the mori quake cannon: 3D6 shots with BLAST at S16, AP-4, Dmg 6. Another decent all purpose weapon that won't kill huge blobs of infantry but will wreck most other things on the table.
Then we've got the sunfury. This one is another all rounder, firing 2D6+6 shots with BLAST at AP-3. Its standard shot hits at S10 and Dmg5, while supercharging it goes to S12, Dmg8. Any of these guns would be extremely useful on the table.
But let's face it, if you've got a Warlord there's a good chance your opponent is bringing something big. So you know you're going to take at least one belicosa. This absolute beast fires D3+3 shots at a whopping S32, AP-5, and Dmg18!!! An invuln and some extremely lucky die rolls is your only chance to survive this.
So despite being a massive 3500 pts, if you're play games with Titans a Warlord is actually your best pick.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
So while I was writing this up, Exile Con started. I stopped working on this to relax and enjoy the live stream. But my head started plucking away at the numbers. And, well, when my head starts doing that . . .
So between presentations and during ones I was a bit less interested in, I pulled out my damage calculator, looked up the units that have been dominating top tables at the big events recently, and plugged the numbers. Then I saw how good they were at taking down these bad boys. I then tested the Titans against each other. I had to fudge some things, like Unparalleled Foresight and Lay Low the Tyrant. I've still got a more sophisticated method for doing these calculations coming. But for now, these numbers should be close enough.
And honestly, I was really surprised!
GW said they had come up with new methods for determining pts that should provide more balance, and for Titans they actually seem to be working!
Each Titan saw an increase in efficiency and survivability roughly in line with their points cost. So a Reaver is actually roughly equal to two Warhounds, Warbringers are just that little bit better than Reavers, and Warlords do make up their massive points cost. They're still not as good as the best units in the game, but they're honestly not bad either.
You've got some real threat to deal with if you try to bring one though. Aeldari and Custodes in particular just laugh these things off the board. Necrons and Tau are also a really serious threat, especially Doomsday Arks and Broadsides respectively. For Knights, it really depends on their loadout. Beast Snaggas were the real surprise for me. They've actually prompted a future blog in which I look at my worst calls so far. They're almost as good point for point at taking these down as Eldar units are!
And then, of course, there's Shalaxi.
But overall, I was really pleased with the theoretical performance of the Titans.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Titans unfortunately don't have a place in competitive play. Competitive games of 40K are nearly always fought at 2000 points, so Warhounds are your only option. The games use dense boards with ample cover, and many events have begun making sure some of that cover provides resources against Towering. You'll be struggling to fit your Warhound's massive frame in your deployment zone, and you won't have the units to score the objectives you need to win. And if all that wasn't enough, there are other units out there right now that are way better at dealing damage then the massive guns a Titan brings.
But if competitive play isn't your thing, there's no reason not to enjoy some casual games where these big boys come out to play. They're honestly not bad units, just not the best ones. And if you and your opponent have agreed to setup a game where they can be fielded, you can make sure the terrain allows you to actually deploy and move them. Any such game that includes an epic duel between two God Engines is sure to be memorable.
