Adeptus Titanicus 2018: What’s old is new again.

by Brian Sherry

The Engines Walk

This past summer, Games Workshop released a new version of the old warhorse, .  Originally released in the late 80s, the game simulates mighty battles of the gigantic war engines of the 40th and 41st millenniums of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

Like the original game from the old days, this one concerns the battles of Titans during Horus Heresy, a seminal turning point in the history of humankind.  Brother fought brother, and for the first time, the mighty war engines of the Adeptus Mechanicus known as Titans turned their massive guns on one another in the name of the Emperor of Mankind, or his treacherous son, Horus.

Author’s Collection-Legio Mortis, Traitors to the Imperium of Man.

Engines: Starting

For those familiar with Battletech or the old Adeptus Titanicus rules, the premise will be familiar: pilot your massive war machines to victory over your rivals by skillful use of manuever, firepower, and the ability to carefully manage your engine’s reactor heat and shields.  Like Battletech, this game is crunchy and detailed.  Each war engine comes with a “terminal” card that shows heat level, shields, and damage, as well as all the basic stats.

Unlike Battletech, you don’t track ammunition, nor need to calculate “to-hit” numbers based on movement speed.  Your war engines come in three flavors: the mighty Warlord, the stout Reaver. and the agile but fragile Warhound.  War engine weapons loadouts are customizable, making it possible to kit out your engine for maximum firepower, melee prowess, or anti-personnel (really anti-Knight) work.  As this is a game about massive war engines, your smallest unit will squads (“banners”) of Knights, which are massive war machine compared to the average human, but in this game serve the role of skirmisher and harasser.

Make no mistake, however, ignoring the Knights can be fatal for an engine that finds itself outmaneuvered and flanked by the smaller machines.  Combat is handled in a fairly standard GW fashion: d6 dice rolls to hit, then the target makes shield saves, then roll damage amount and location.  What’s different is each titan can take a real pounding, and will only die once it loses either its head, torso, or legs to 3 critical hits.

That is unless something weird happens, like say a reactor overload.  There are also D10s used in this game, for initiative and overheat rolls.  Game sizes are typically involved a “maniple” per side, of which there are several kinds.  For example, the most common maniple, called the “Axiom”, consists of a warlord, two reavers, two warhounds, and knight support.

Legio Mortis Deploys.

Engines: To Full

Managing your reactor is vital to playing the game well.  You can “push” your reactor to increase speed, power up special weapons, and strengthen your shields.  You roll a reactor die when you do this, which means the reactor might be fine, might increase your heat by one or two pips, or might awaken the “machine spirit” and cause your engine to go out of control for the turn.

If you push your engine into the orange or the red levels, you can have a reactor overload.  This can do interesting things like damage your shields, fry your “Princeps” or pilot, or even destroy your engine outright.  In addition to managing your engines, the usual tactical considerations are all present here.

Cover comes in two flavors: partial and full. Weapons have defined arcs and so does your titan.  Rear attacks are more effective, etc.  The kind of crunch that is missing from most Games Workshop designs these days is back, with a vengeance.  Make sure your carapace-mounted missile launcher has a firing solution to the target, or you will be unable to strip their shields for the kill-shot!  Knights have their own simplified terminals, as well.  Gamers tired of the current trend to simplify games will be happy with the level of complexity in Titanicus.

Legio Gryphonics defends the Emperor.

Engines: To Maximum?

So is it fun?  Yes, I think so.  First off, the models are fantastic.  They are of very high-quality plastic, very detailed, and durable.  The weapons are easily magnetized, which is good because the models are also not cheap.

All the components are of a very high quality.  The Titan control terminals are nicely designed and come with plastic components to track the various statistics.  Having two painted Titan Legions battling on the table is a joy to behold.  The rules are very solid.  As mentioned above, there is enough crunch to satisfy a detail-oriented grognard.

But there is not so much detail as to bog down the game and make the record-keeping tedious.  The rulebook includes a kind of “generic” scenario where the two sides generate random objectives, as well as “historical” scenarios representing some famous titan engagements.  I feel some of the objectives are objectively better than others, so players might consider house rules to make the random generation more balanced.  I have not had a chance to try the “historical” scenarios yet, but they look interesting.

Titan Terminal

 

Currently, with three titan types and the Knights in the mix, there is not a large variety of forces available.  The basic rulebook comes with some special rules for the most famous Titan Legions, and a future supplement, “Titan Death”, promises more legion rules, as well as more scenarios and campaigns.

So, if you are hungering for dozens of titan variants, they aren’t here yet.  In addition, many people have asked if the game will feature infantry or smaller vehicles like the old “Epic” rules did.  I highly doubt it.

To date, GW has emphasized that this game is about Titan combat, and the Knights seem to function as infantry.  Indeed, it is hard how to see how GW could implement a unit that would be weaker than the Knights, which are already very fragile compared to their larger war engine brothers.  So, if you are looking for a combined arms game like the old Epic, Adeptus Titanicus is not it.

Engaging the enemy.

Critical Resupply

One frequent question about Titanicus is: how to buy into it?  This past summer, GW initially released a “Grand Master” edition, which included all the rules and templates and enough Titans and terrain for two small starter armies, or one decent-sized individual army.  It was a pretty good deal, especially if bought at the common discounts available online.

But that box is out of print. Currently, if you want to buy into the game you will need to purchase the rules and basic templates, etc., which come in one set. The Titans and their various control panels and cards are sold separately.  It is not the cheapest game GW has on the market, with a single Warlord costing $110 USD at retail.  Supposedly, the Grandmaster Edition will be reprinted, so that would help ease the entry costs once it returns.

Engine kill!

Reactor Overload

Personally, I really enjoy the game and would recommend it to anyone who loves giant robot battles, especially within the Warhammer 40k universe.  At present, the Titanicus Facebook group has almost 5000 members, so interest is significant.

The original run of the “Grandmaster edition” sold out.  The evidence would, therefore, indicate that players are out there.  The models are top-notch and the rules are a strong re-implementation of the original Titan-on-Titan concept.  However, as the focus on robot battles is narrow, and the price of buying an army higher than average, the game is not going to be for everyone.

Adeptus Titanicus is a boutique game in the best sense of that word: high quality specialized and focused on a particular type of miniatures gaming experience. In that sense, it succeeds admirably.

Legio Mortis stands defiant as Gryphonicus closes in…