Welcome back to Goonhammer’s series for aspiring Titan Principes. We here at Goonhammer’s own Collegia Titanica know that Adeptus Titanicus can seem intimidating to players unfamiliar with its particular quirks, but this series aims to equip you with everything you’ll need to play out epic clashes on the battlefields of the far future with your very own Titan Battlegroup. In this series, we’ll be taking a more in-depth look at the various Legios of the Collegia Titanica – exploring their origins and how to use them on the tabletop, from maniple selection and their loadouts, through to how to command them on the field of battle to secure ultimate victory.
The Legios of the Collegia Titanica are as varied as any of the forces of mankind in the 31st millennium, whether in their culture and war doctrine or just wargear they fit to their God-Engines. Many of the established Legios have already been given their rules, but you might want to tell the tale of your own Legio or an offshoot of an established one. The Crusade Legion rules give you all the tools you need to tell your own stories of titanic combat.
Table of Contents
Mustering Your Titan Legion
Crusade Legions were originally introduced in the 2019 White Dwarf, but these were a little bit overtuned and have been significantly overhauled and expanded in the Defense of Ryza supplement. The way you create your legion remains the same, though: choose four different options of wargear, stratagems and traits from the lists in Defense of Ryza. You can only pick up to two from each category and have to be mindful of your allegiance when making your choices as there are some restrictions.
This framework provides flexibility to create flavourful and interesting combinations to let you field the Titan Legion you’ve always wanted. This is great for a Princeps who wants to forge their own narrative, or if you just feel like trying something different with your existing battlegroup. Thankfully, some of the more egregious combinations no longer function – in particular, the Elite Magos trait has been toned down to be much more manageable.
However, while AT is often a primarily narratively-focused game, some of these traits wind up being more effective than others. Others of them don’t really come into their own until combined with other traits. This article aims to help you build the legion you want to build, while giving you a sense of what works and what doesn’t. Just because we think a particular option here isn’t great doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take it – several of the less effective options could be a lot of fun if played right. However, keep in mind that some of these options may not pay off as frequently as others. At the end of the day, these rules are here for you to build the legion you want to build.
Legio Traits
Dark Reputation
Auto-shaking Knight Banners that are within 3” of you at the end of the movement phase is some nice utility, as the -1 to hit in the combat phase will reduce any incoming damage from within your voids and stop them from running away from your inevitable reprisal. This also has the happy side effect of hurting Knight Households further, as this will remove their Combined Strikes orders, drastically cutting down on their combat effectiveness.
Elite Magos
The auto-include in the original iteration of the Crusade rules is back again after being toned down to allow a single repair dice in the damage control phase to be rerolled. This isn’t nearly as strong as it once was, but remains a useful effect. Servitor Clades can be fickle when your reactor is going critical or you need to reignite your voids, this is always going to be useful.
Bair: Basically a toned down version Astorum gets, so happy they made this change from the White Dwarf.
Engines of War
Are you a big fan of Warlord, Reaver or Warhound chassis? This lets you substitute a mandatory engine with one of these, giving you some serious flexibility with list building. Several maniples abilities aren’t keyworded to specific chassis, allowing for some fun combinations such as the Ferrox, Corsair and Extergimus.
Fury of the Fallen
Fury of the Fallen is a two-fer, with two abilities which complement one another nicely. When a Titan is activated in the combat phase, it can fire each of its weapons twice. After resolving all of these the Titan immediately dies and rolls on the Catastrophic Damage table. In addition, in any round you’ve lost a Titan, all survivors of the maniple get +1 to their armour rolls this round.
It’s interesting that this sacrifice ability isn’t limited to one per round, so you could in theory use this multiple times in one turn – going as far as sacrificing all of your engines in one turn for a Pyrrhic Alpha strike. We certainly don’t suggest that be your first option (or really even your last), but in a battlegroup with numerous Warhounds you could make use of this ability a few times per battle.
Gunnery Command
This trait gives engines a +2 to all command checks to First Fire or Split Fire. If you want to run a “stand and shoot” maniple, this may not be flashy, but it’s powerful.
Loci of the Cause
Grants allied Knight Banners a +2 to command checks in the strategy phase when issuing the same order that has already been passed on one of your Titans. This allows for some great synergy in combined forces – Questoris with RFBCs and Acastus Knights can follow their larger cousins to first fire. This ability has some nice synergy with the combined activations found in a Janissary Maniple, allowing for potent First Fire or Charge activations, potentially making this the best use for a Janissary we’ve seen yet.
Motive Mastery
This trait gives engines a +2 to all command checks to Charge or Full Stride. Charge orders are often make-or-break for your game, and having consistency on these can be crucial.
Condit: Consistent charges make me green with envy.
Plaything of the Gods
Gives a Traitor legio the ability to repair structure tracks that haven’t taken critical damage on a 4+. If it has taken critical damage, you can repair one point on a 6+. Generally speaking, when you’ve started taking track damage things are looking dire for a Titan, but that’s only because of the modifiers – this gives you the chance to shed them and stay in the fight for a little longer. You can’t remove those modifiers until you repair off any critical damage, but that’ll help keep you in the fight longer as well.
Duty and Honour
Duty and Honour allows Loyalists to use Adaptive Tactics once per turn instead of per round, leaving your opponent always guessing to your true intent. This opens up creative orders shenanigans such as using Charge in the movement phase and changing to Full-Stride or Split-Fire once you’ve dropped your target.
The Path to Ascension
The only Blackshield specific option, allows Titans from the Legio to re roll command checks whilst within 12” of at least 2 other Titans from the same Legio. Also allows the Titans to share shields with a Titan on Shutdown Orders. This makes choosing to go on Shutdown a lot safer to cool that heat (looking at you Extergimus) but the first half works best for lighter maniples, when you want to stick together in the first place. This makes Shutdown possibly worth taking. Still not great, but much less risky than it normally is.
Noble Lineage
Diet Vulcanum. Allows 2 Reavers from the same Battlegroup to be paired together and at the beginning of each round they may choose to act as a Squadron, however they cannot share shields. Great for making those lower strength weapons such as Gatling Blasters and Mega Bolters hit a little bit harder while having the flexibility to have more activations if needed.
Bair: Super super good, as a Vulcanum player Reavers are one of the best options to pair together to make them hit harder for sure.
Towering Exemplar
The Princeps Seniores works as a mentor as much as a leader, using their knowledge to help the Titan’s in their Battlegroup; this allows one Titan from the same Legio within 6” of the Princeps Seniores each Strategy Phase to gain +1 to Command Rolls as well as re-roll hit results of 1 for the entirety of the round.
Condit: RAW, you could probably use this on the Princeps itself, though it’s unclear whether this is intended.
Blood-fuelled
For you close combat fans out there – any Titan equipped with a melee weapon increases their WS by one at the expense of 1 BS. Reavers are the best melee platform, so field a Ferrox or Corsair Maniple to close with the enemy. The Gatling Blaster’s a great choice, as its high volume of fire will work at range with the modifier but also be great once you get in melee range to perform called shots to finish a target.
In addition, one per round you can add 1 to the dice value of all Smash attacks or a melee weapon when under a charge order, on top of any dice gained from the charge itself.
Forwards to Glory
Ideal for a maniple that wants to get close to its prey, this trait gives a +1 bonus to command checks when within 8” of an enemy Titan. If they are scale 3 larger than you – so if you’re a Warhound facing a Warbringer Nemesis or Warhound – you can make an order without passing a command check. This will help you get consistent orders when you need them in close with your opponent.
Vanguard Fighters
Thematically this trait is awesome, providing scout Titans with lone wolf bonuses as they work independently. It applies to all Titans with scale 7 or smaller, which makes it only Warhounds for the time being. Unfortunately, as written it’s rather broken.
The first benefit is that if Titan has no friendly Titans within 6” of them during the Strategy Phase they can issue Full Stride or First fire orders without making a command check, which is useful and helps negate a Warhound’s poor command value at the cost of being unable to share shields in a squadron.
The other benefit is that you get a flat +1 to all to hit rolls. Bonuses to hit are quite hard to come across in this game, requiring the use of a stratagem or getting within optimal range for a weapon. This one just applies all the time, making called shots less risky and allows Plasma Blastguns to be used at any range. It’s really hard to overstate how good this is – Legio Praesigus, who are famed for their expertise in gunnery have to spend 2SP on a stratagem to get +1 to hit at long range for one turn.
When fielded in a Lupercal maniple all of a sudden you are getting +1 to hit and +2 to armour rolls on coordinated strikes, being able to topple the largest of engines in a hail of accurate firepower.
Soggy: Part of me thinks that maybe the intent of this rule was that the +1 to hit should only apply when a Titan also has no friendlies within 6” which would work with the theme of the rule – still incredibly strong but not as oppressive.
Bair: This is just way too powerful and might be the only thing here that is, so well done for only having one at least. A house rule on this will be necessary, what Soggy suggests is probably best, but still strong.
Masters of Defense
Hate it when those pesky Vulpa Warhounds keep charging you with S9 smash attacks? Well here’s a solution, sort of. Allows the Titans to move within rear arc at full speed and after being on the receiving end of a Charge order (after attacks are made) can back up a full 3” and take one point of heat. Simply means that if your Titan has already activated it moves out of melee range for the Combat phase and far enough away for the shields to be useful.
Condit: Not cool. Not cool at all.
Legio Stratagems
Marked Prey (3)
Very straightforward. Pick enemy Titan, kill enemy Titan easier. All Titans from your Legio gain +1 to all hit rolls AND armour rolls against the chosen target. Getting to play this at the start of any round, not just the first, gives it more utility as well since you can choose a key target based on the game as it develops.
Opening Salvo (3)
As the name suggests, play this during the fist Strategy Phase of the game and fire all guns with all of your Titans immediately. The big downside is here that unless you really build around this and take mostly lasers, and volcano cannons, most of your weapons won’t even be in range. Nice to help strip shields but is it worth the 2 auto heat for firing? Probably. Apocalypse Launchers love this and it can be built around for great effect. However, you also give up the first turn automatically to your opponent, so make sure you’ve built to get maximum value out of it.
Blistering March (3)
Close combat and short ranged Titans going on Full Stride turn 1 just makes a lot of sense. We’ve all done it, but we’ve also probably wished we could have fired the weapon that was in range at something to help strip shields a bit. Any Titan on a Full Stride Order the turn this is played can still fire one weapon, but increases its Reactor by 1 for doing so. A dangerous game to play on smaller engines like Warhounds, but fantastic for Reavers with chainfists and power fists.
Fuelled by Hatred (3)
Played AFTER an enemy Engine is destroyed by a Charge order specifically. That Titan is then allowed to make another Charge move immediately with a maximum of 1 turn and cannot move any more than 5”. This is a tough one to use and is expensive, but when you get to use it oh boy is it tasty.
Condit: If I could choose one thing to lift from this book for my Legio Vulpa, this’d be it. It may not be the best stratagem in the game, but when it goes off it’ll be fantastic.
Target Lock (3)
Pretty much what it says on the tin, this makes one of your Titans act as a targeting node for the rest of your Legio. Not playing this during the Strategy gives this a bit of flexibility at least: activate a Titan in the Combat phase to pick any enemy unit within 12”, and for the rest of the Combat phase all of the rest of your Titans do not suffer any modifiers for obstructed shots or for targeted attacks. This uses up the Titan’s activation, meaning it doesn’t get to shoot this turn, and if the Titan that was acting as the targeting matrix is killed mid-combat phase then the effects are lost.
This is best used with a Warhound in a squadron of 3 to get a minimum of 2 Titans shooting out of it before being killed. Interestingly, it does not require line of sight so you could just hide a Warhound behind a piece of blocking terrain so it can’t die mid-phase.
Enduring Gods (2)
Reactors too hot? Need to repair that weapon or critical hit? Take this strat. Auto pass Emergency Repair order on all Titans once per game and then roll a command check, if passed the order is then removed allowing your titans to activate in the movement and combat phase as normal but can’t go on any other order that turn and any Titan that didn’t use this also can’t be issued a different order. Consider using if Warlords are your jam, keeping these hulking beasts alive a little longer and still able to move and shoot is incredibly useful, especially for an Extergimus.
Reactionary Fire (2)
When an enemy Titan on a charge order is activated during the movement phase, play this and choose a Titan from your legio that has not yet activated this phase and fire with one of your weapons against the enemy unit; fire with 2 weapons if acting under First Fire order instead. This counts as that unit’s activation for the phase so might be tricky to pull off if the enemy has more activations than you.
Condit: Overwatch comes to Titanicus. Just great.
Electromagnetic Overload (2)
One of those “very cinematic but maybe not great” stratagems, this allows a Titan with active voice shields to burn them out to force save rolls on all nearby enemies within 3” equal to the number of shields that the titan had left. So if a Warhound with full shields uses this, it would cause enemies within 3” to roll 3 shield saves each. Unfortunately, it doesn’t end there – the Titan that burnt out its own shields for this also takes a Critical Hit to the body putting itself in a terrible position and likely to be killed immediately after.
Vindictive in Death (2)
Titan goes boom. Very simple. When one of your Titans suffers Catastrophic Damage, use this and it automatically suffers a Catastrophic Meltdown instead of rolling. Boom.
Condit: Hell yes.
Eye for an Eye (2)
My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my Titan, prepare to die. When one of your Titans is killed (I know I know, unfortunately this does happen, apparently) all of your Titans then reroll hit rolls of 1 for the remainder of the round.
Locomotive Override (1)
This is good for the big guys. A Titan scale 9 or 10 can use this in the combat phase to turn up to 180 degrees and then suffers 1 point of Critical Damage to its legs. Important to note that it’s only a Critical Damage, not a Hit so you don’t advance the track making this less of a drawback than it could be. Nice and cheap and helps get that Warlord into corridor arc when it really really needs to kill that flanking banner of Cerastus Knights or Warhound.
Directed Radbursts (1)
Play during the Movement phase and start by increasing your activating Titan’s reactor by 1. Plop down a 5” template with its central hole within 2” of the Titan. For the remainder of that round, any Titan (friendly or enemy) under that template rolls an extra dice when making void shield saves and Knights count incoming shots as 1 strength higher than usual when working out Void Shield saves. This is very dangerous as it will always affect the Titan using it, increases the Reactor by 1 straight off the bat, and also counts as that Titan’s activation for the phase which means you can’t even move it into place first. Can be taken multiple times if you have a list that’s built towards using this, maybe with a large number of Warhounds, but if that’s the case you might not need this strat to help take down shields to begin with…
Scouting Run (1)
After both players have deployed all units and before rolling to see who is the first player, use this so that a single Titan of Scale 6 or lower (AKA Warhounds at the time of writing) can make a normal move of up to 6”. This only affects a single Titan, but you are allowed to take it multiple times. Best served with a Ferrox to get those hounds in range quickly and early and being an immediate threat to draw fire from the Reavers working their way across the board.
Power Reserves (1)
Before rolling the reactor dice to push the reactor play this stratagem and count the roll as a blank instead, automatically. Allowed to be taken multiple times but restricted to once per engine per phase. Extergimus loves this, Corsair loves this, anything with a reactor loves this. Get Warhounds on faster movement without going into orange reactors (because you only roll a double reactor when you push Warhounds on turn one).
Reactor Surge (1)
Sort of the opposite of the last one, and definitely risky to use. When pushing the reactor for a Titan you roll once and count that roll for all further rolls you would normally make the remainder of the round, for that Titan. Unfortunately you use this BEFORE rolling. So it could as well be a double result making it harder or impossible to push your reactor any further after the first time. If you roll a machine spirit awakened result the stratagem is simply discarded and you roll normally for the rest of the phase.
Legio Wargear
Ablative Ceramite Plating
Ablative plating allows you to ignore the modifiers on a chosen structure track for 30 points. Typically this you’ll always be putting this on your body as this is the most commonly hit location. A great upgrade for all chassis, although particularly good on a Warlord as many maniples will count on the bonus from successive hits to bring one down.
Armour Spikes
A thematically fun item of wargear with some great modelling options, armoured spikes gives you D6 instead of D3 smash attacks for 20 points. Unfortunately, this isn’t as useful as we would have liked as it doesn’t improve the strength of the smash attack ala Disruption Emitters and also can suffer from high variance of the die.
Auxiliary Shield Capacitors
Shield Capacitors gives a Titan the ability to Voids to Full! Once each round without having to push their reactor. Voids to Full! is often vital for keeping your voids on the 3+ value. This is a godsend on Warhound Squadrons, where you only have to push once but often wouldn’t risk it due to their temperamental reactors.
Blind Missiles
Obscuration Barrage on a stick that you can use in the Movement (when first firing) or Combat phase, allowing you to completely negate their combat phase if they have already moved. A Corsair maniple equipped with these would be a nightmare to play with insane board control.
Crusade Banners
Crusade Banners are a great modelling opportunity, giving all Knight Banners within 6” immunity to being Shaken for 15 points. This is a solid complement to any mixed battlegroups such as a Dominus or Janissary Maniple.
Macro Magazines
A solid upgrade, which can give a Titan weapon with the rapid trait an additional 2 shots at the cost of 30 points per weapon. This volatile ammunition also has the chance to cook off, adding +2 per upgraded weapon to your roll on the Catastrophic Damage table. Giving another 2 dice to a weapon with the Rapid trait is a serious threat to voids anywhere on the table. This wargear becomes oppressive when combined with the Vanguard Fighters trait but is fine on it’s own.
Multiple Warhead Launchers
This upgrade adds 5 dice to an Apocalypse Missile Launcher and gives it the Rapid trait at the cost of making it Limited (2) and 20 points. This is a serious threat to voids anywhere but you will have to make your limited shots count and build around this more than you would normally. There is the option to go all in with Autoloaders to provide more ammunition although this is a hefty investment.
Plasma Rifling
Plasma Rifling is a global upgrade on a Titan, applying to all Laser or Plasma weaponry for 15 points. It allows you to push to give +6” to the short and long range of those weapons.
The obvious use for this is the laser blaster, which can now be pushed to fire without penalty out to 22”. This is particularly useful on a Warbringer-Nemesis, giving it a solid mid-ranged punch with its premier called-shot delivery system. However, there are also a few other use cases that are worth considering. A fire-support Warlord could bring carapace-mounted turbo-laser destructors and shoot out to 38” with no penalty, letting you put out some strength 8 firepower at range. You could also bring a Sunfury with 30” range, letting you build an interesting all-rounder Titan. Finally, if you’ve got some way to manage your heat, you could slap this on a Warhound to fire its plasma blastgun out to 14”. This is super risky, but if you want to live dangerously, it’s an interesting choice.
Ranging Auspexes
If you’re new to the game and aren’t used to games with no pre-measuring, this 10-point upgrade will help ease you into the game until you can develop an intuitive feel for the ranges. However, once you get used to the game (or if you’re a carpenter), you won’t get much use out of this.
Reactor Fetters
This may seem a bit underwhelming at first, but it’s actually pretty handy. For 25 points, you can vent heat on a 3+ rather than a 4+, but can’t voluntarily push its reactor more than once per phase. The key here is that you can’t push more than once per phase, but there’s no limit on how many times you can voluntarily take heat. If you’ve got a lot of plasma or are running an Extergimus, this will help you keep heat manageable and keep your Titans in the game. It will cut down on your abilities to make big plays with Warlords, but how often are you really doing that?
Secondary Shield Generators
Once per game, roll a D3 to take that much heat and reignite collapsed voids by that many points. This is incredibly strong, letting you extend your Titan’s survivability by at least one more shot, sometimes more. At 25 points, this is a steal. If you’re looking for a 4th option and don’t know what to take, this should be in consideration.
Autoloaders
Increase the Limited (X) trait of a carapace weapon by 1 for the base cost of the weapon +5. You can take it more than once, but each time after the first costs 10 points more. This opens up some interesting gimmicks, but given how few Limited (X) options there are, it’s not likely to see play often. With Opening Salvo and First Fire orders, a Reaver could fire 3 Warp Missiles in the first round, though it’ll cost you 50 points for the weapon and the upgrades. You might be able to sneak in a VSG Burnout effect, but at the end of the day warp missiles are unreliable, and your opponent will probably just heal it off before you can close with them anyway.
Macro Charges
Macro Charges upgrades weapons with a 3” Blast to have a 5” template and increase its strength by 1 for 20 points per weapon. It also increases the strength of any detonations suffered by 2, making your weapon a liability once your voids have been dropped.
This is a really interesting option for plasma blastguns and melta cannons in particular. It also makes Reaver volcano cannons strength 11, letting you field the Diet Belicosa for 10 points less than the original. Consider this in a Lupercal for strength 13 coordinated strikes with your blastguns.
Tracking Gyroscopes
A great option for Warlords, Tracking Gyroscopes changes the fire arc of your carapace weapons to be the full front arc for 10 points. This makes dodging your Warlord’s potent carapace arsenal all the harder to make and less reliant for the Swift Killer trait on your Brawler Warlords. Probably the best wargear in the game for Warlords, particularly at this price. Solid on a Warbringer-Nemesis as well, though not quite as necessary due to its second turn.
Fusion Missiles
An interesting choice on Reavers, this gives your AMLs the Fusion trait within 30” in exchange for reducing the number of shots. This lets you bring missiles to bring down larger Titans as they start to close. The obvious use here is in a Corsair, where all your Titans can take advantage of it, but consider using it in a Venator as well – between the d10 within 30” and the Barrage trait with a 360-degree arc, this will let you put a few missiles into any target that loses its shields with a decent chance of causing damage.
It’s also somewhat interesting on a Warlord, especially in an Extergimus. While you only pick up one extra die over a Reaver, the Extergimus can push them to strength 6, which makes them a serious threat to any target.
Gravitonic Stablisers
On a 2+, you can ignore Concussive or Quake, but still takes away your ability to push for speed. Essentially, you’re cosplaying as Mordaxis, fundamentally changing the way your force plays and giving you consistency that only the real deal can beat. At 10 points, it’s inexpensive, and if you have a Titan that you do want to push for speed, you can just not give it the upgrade and it works as normal. Worth considering, but not incredible. Consider putting this on Warhounds in a squadron, who are normally vulnerable to a Mori’s Concussive trait. Even better if you shove it on a Titan equipped with Hunting Motives – you’ll lose the ability to push for speed or movement, but you very rarely want to do that anyways.
Diabatic Warheads
A dark-horse choice for wargear upgrade, these little beauties trade the ability to deal damage for just overheating your opponent’s reactor. Used against a Warhound, this will let you take away its ability to push without overheating with a decent roll. With the First Fire order and Opening Salvo, you might even be able to force a reactor roll in the first damage control phase, potentially causing it to lose shields out of the gate. Not the greatest upgrade, but potentially a lot of fun and certainly worth taking out for a trial run.
Seismic Auspex
Put this on a Warbringer’s weapon to give it the Barrage trait and reduce the penalty for using it to -1. You can’t move or turn to do it, so you’re going to want to bring Tracking Gyroscopes along with it, but if you want to field a Warbringer, this’ll make it much more effective. Probably better in a Ruptura, but might also work well in an Arcus to take advantage of the d6” scatter.
Bair: I think this was probably intended to only work on the carapace weapon…maybe a house rule to only work on that, but RAW can do it on your Melta Cannon arms…
Hunting Motives
Hunting Motives lets a Titan with scale 6 or smaller increase their speed by 2” for 20 points and prevents them from pushing for more turns. Warhounds often can’t risk their reactor going into the orange for that extra speed on turn one. With this upgrade you are nearly moving at your boosted movement risk-free and will be able to close the gap reliably to surround your foe. The loss of Power to Stablisers isn’t that significant as a Warhound will rarely need to push with it’s base 3 turns.
Unguis Stablisers
Warbringers and Warlords can take this upgrade for 20 points to become immobilized but gain the ability to take First Fire or Split Fire orders without rolling. Risky, but interesting. Pairs particularly well with Tracking Gyroscopes so you can hit with your carapace weapons without turning. In any event, you’re likely only going to want to take this on a fire-support Titan.
Vox Screech
Pay 30 points to let your Titan remove all orders from Titans within 6” once a game in the movement phase. It counts as its activation for the phase, which drastically limits its utility.
Condit: Diet Interfector. I like it, even if it isn’t incredible.
Soggy: Unfortunately it doesn’t affect Knights, leaving you vulnerable to charge or Combined Strike orders
Putting it into Practice
It would be rude not to give an example of what a Crusade Legion Battlegroup, so we’ve created a few of our own legions and, as usual, a 1500 point list for each for you to try out at home. These are just a few of the many options that can be built with these rules, and you should feel free to make your own from scratch.
Condit’s Legio Obscurum – “Shade Stalkers”
- Legio Trait: Duty and Honour
- Legio Trait: Noble Lineage
- Legio Specific Stratagem: Marked Prey
- Legio Specific Wargear: Blind Missiles
Legio Obscurum Battlegroup – 1500 pts
Corsair Battleline Maniple – 1,305 pts
Reaver Titan – 330 pts
- Gatling Blaster
- Melta Cannon
- Apocalypse Missile Launcher
- Blind Missiles
Reaver Titan – 325 pts
- Laser Blaster
- Reaver Titan Chainfist
- Apocalypse Missile Launcher
- Blind Missiles
Reaver Titan – 330 pts
- Laser Blaster
- Volcano Cannon
- Apocalypse Missile Launcher
- Blind Missiles
- Princeps Seniores: Dominant Strategist
Reaver Titan – 330 pts
- Gatling Blaster
- Melta Cannon
- Apocalypse Missile Launcher
- Blind Missiles
Acastus Knight Banner – 185 pts
- Acastus Knight Lord Scion
- Porphyrion
Legio Obscurum fights its battles with a “divide and conquer” strategy – the Reavers all stride into battle with Blind Missiles, which lets them carve up the board with line-of-sight blockers, preventing their opponents from engaging them except as they dictate. Once they’ve isolated a key target, the Shade Stalkers mark their prey and pair off into ad-hoc squadrons that allow them to tear apart even their most heavily-armored foes with contemptuous ease.
Their Duty and Honour trait allows me to play around with my activation order, allowing me to First Fire to get a Blind Missile down on the table, then follow up by switching to Full Stride if I still need that Titan to move. It will also let me play a little more aggressively, since I’ll have more options available to react to unexpected plays by my opponent. If that’s not enough, Dominant Strategist allows me to take the Opus whenever I want it, giving me a potent way to tilt the odds in my favor on demand.
All in all, this list allows me to control the battlefield and deny my opponent clear shots when they would normally get them, while I pick apart their force on my terms. The support from the Acastus is a nice bonus, giving me some serious ranged firepower to help melt away armor so my Titans can put in the finishing blow.
Soggy’s Legio Novacula – “Cutthroats”
Soggy: It took all my willpower to pick something that didn’t include Vanguard fighters. ?
- Legio Trait: Blood Fuelled
- Legio Trait: Motive Mastery
- Legio Specific Stratagem: Fuelled by Hatred (3)
- Legio Specific Wargear: Ablative Ceramite Plating
Legio Novacula Battlegroup – 1500 pts
Corsair Battleline Maniple – 1,330 pts
Reaver Titan – 340 pts
- Ablative Ceramite Plating – Body
- Gatling Blaster
- Melta Cannon
- Vulcan Megabolter
Reaver Titan – 325 pts
- Ablative Ceramite Plating – Body
- Princeps Senioris – Will of Iron
- Gatling Blaster
- Reaver Titan Chainfist
- Vulcan Megabolter
Reaver Titan – 325 pts
- Ablative Ceramite Plating – Body
- Gatling Blaster
- Reaver Titan Chainfist
- Vulcan Megabolter
Reaver Titan – 340 pts
- Ablative Ceramite Plating – Body
- Laser Blaster
- Volcano Cannon
- Apocalypse Missile Launcher
Cerastus Knight Banner – 170 pts
- Cerastus Lancer x2
Legio Novacula don’t do subtlety and prefer the direct approach as opposed to Legio Obscurum. Their core battle doctrine states that applying a titanic chainfist will solve most problems. This single mindedness works well with the Blood Fuelled trait. Their increased WS makes the Gatling Blaster very likely to land called shots at point blank range if the chainfist fails to find it’s mark.
Motive Mastery ensures that Full Stride and Charge orders will go off on a 2+, allowing them reliably close on their quarry. Once they close the gap, their martial prowess is on show through Fuelled by Hatred, allowing them to charge multiple targets in one phase, leaving none standing.
Ablative Ceramite Plating is applied to the centre of mass of their God-Engines, helping them keep moving towards their foe under fire that would make others wither. The Princeps Senioris embodies this tenet with their Will of Iron trait, refusing to halt while the enemy lives.
I’m in two minds to bring the squad of Lancers or to drop the armour plating on the volcano reaver and change them for an Acastus Knight, giving the Battlegroup some more long ranged punch. I do like the idea of going all in a Legio who uses Melee Titans and leaves the ranged combat for the pitiful Knights to do.
In terms of allegiance, melee forces work best with the traitor stratagems and allegiance ability but can feel a bit samey after a while so I should try this as a Loyalist or a Blackshield. It’s not exactly the most sophisticated gameplan, but then again neither am I.
Bair’s Legio Ullamcor – “Stone Bears”
- Legio Trait: Masters of Defence
- Legio Trait: Towering Exemplar
- Legio Stratagem: Enduring Gods
- Legio Wargear: Crusade Banners
Legio Ullamcor Battlegroup – 1500 pts
Dominus Battleline Maniple – 1500 pts
Duty’s Warden- WarlordTitan – 510 pts
- Sunfury Plasma Annihilator
- Macro Gatling Blaster
- Paired Turbo Laser Destructors
- Crusade Banners
- Princeps Seniores – Swift Killer
Counsel of Strife- Reaver Titan – 330 pts
- Gatling Blaster
- Melta Cannon
- Vulcan Mega-Bolter
- Crusade Banners
Macabre Crusade- Reaver Titan – 315 pts
- Laser Blaster
- Gatling Blaster
- Vulcan Mega-Bolter
- Crusade Banners
Cerastus Knight Banner – 175 pts
- Knight Lancer- Seneschal
- Knight Acheron
Cerastus Knight Banner – 175 pts
- Knight Lancer- Seneschal
- Knight Acheron
Legio Ullamcor has a reputation for honour and mentorship. The Legio work closely with the Knight Houses that support them in battle, pulling the best from their ranks to become Titan crew and eventually Princeps’. Knight pilots of the surrounding worlds hold competitions to gain the right to fight alongside Legio Ullamcor in the hopes of one day becoming Princeps and those mighty God Engines. The Princeps Seniores acts as a beacon of strength as well as a teacher to his Maniple, guiding the Titans in their command as well as reminding the Knights around them of the Legio’s might. During the Great Crusade, Legio Ullamcor often supported elements of the Imperium’s Solar Auxilia and rarely fighting alongside the Legiones Astartes, however during the dark days of the Horus Heresy the Legio stayed true to the Emperor and the Imperium, helping to push back the advances of the Traitor Legions and Dark Mechanicum.
The Traits I chose reflect the Legio’s nature of guidance with the Trait Towering Exemplar and the upgrade Crusade Banners. This upgrade works well with a Dominus Maniple since you already want to keep the Knights close to the Titans so keeping them immune to being shaken, especially by Quake weapons, will keep them fighting and useful longer. The Knight Banners want to keep pace with the Reaver Titans, which want to be close to the enemy but not to close as to be hit with enemy melee weapons, so using the Knights as a buffer for the Reavers while having the Masters of Defence trait to help keep the enemies at bay is very effective. Being allowed to move full pace in their rear arc for the Titans makes them far more maneuverable. Suddenly Retrieval isn’t a mission you loath rolling! Taking only a few Titans means you want to keep these alive, so Enduring Gods showcases the Legio’s stubbornness to die, being able to once per game automatically go on an Emergency Repair Order with the potential to remove the Order (which Towering Exemplar makes easier as well for one Titan) and act normally the rest of the turn with no restrictions.
Legio Mercurii – “Warlords of Wednesday”
- Legio Trait: Elite Magos
- Legio-Specific Wargear: Tracking Gyroscopes
- Legio-Specific Wargear: Fusion Missiles
- Legio-Specific Stratagem: Enduring Gods
Legio Mercurii Battlegroup – 1485pts
Extergimus Battleline Maniple – 1485 pts
Warlord Titan “Tractuosus” – 510 pts
- Wargear – Tracking Gyroscopes
- Wargear – Fusion Missiles
- Apocalypse Missile Launchers
- Belicosa Volcano Cannon
- Mori Quake Cannon
Warlord Titan “Brevis Ursa” – 475 pts
- Wargear – Tracking Gyroscopes
- Wargear – Fusion Missiles
- Apocalypse Missile Launchers
- Mori Quake Cannon
- Mori Quake Cannon
Warlord Titan “Johnus Conditus” – 500 pts
- Princeps Senioris – Devoted Servant of the Machine
- Wargear – Tracking Gyroscopes
- Paired Gatling Blasters
- Macro Gatling Blaster
- Sunfury Plasma Annihilator
Our joint legion from our Defense of Ryza Review, we built Legio Mercurii to make use of the Tracking Gyroscopes wargear, which improves the firing arcs legion’s Warlords’ carapace-mounted weapons to 45-degree arcs. This lets their fire-support Warlords set up in the backfield and take First Fire orders nearly every turn without having to worry about anyone hiding from their AML barrages, and helps their brawler Warlords get the most use out of their shorter-ranged carapace armament.
The Extergimus Battleline Maniple lets us bring 3 Warlords to get the most use out of this wargear, and has the added bonus of letting us spend heat to pump the strength of the AMLs and gatling blasters up to strength 6 and 7 respectively, making them legitimate threats even after voids drop. As an added bonus, mori quake cannons can be pushed to strength 11, macro gatlings can go up to strength 9, and if you want to all but guarantee a critical, a belicosa can fire at an impressive strength 14 (though you’ll have to take a heat on top of rolling for the Draining Trait).
In order to make the additional heat from the Extergimus’s trait more manageable, we’ve taken Elite Magos. Even though it’s been reined in from the version that appeared in White Dwarf, it’s still useful, particularly when you need to be all but certain of venting at least one heat every round.
In order to get the most use out of the AMLs, we’ve also added in Fusion Missiles, which lets you choose to either fire them as normal or fire a smaller volley with the Fusion trait. Ideally, you’ll get the +1 to hit the first round or two to maximize the number of void saves onto your chosen target(s), then try to keep your opponents in the 10”-30” range band to drop 3 strength 6 shots that roll d10s on the armor roll.
Finally, we’ve chosen the legio-specific stratagem Enduring Gods. This list is going to run hot, and with only 3 Titans, we want to make sure they stick around as long as possible. Being able to guarantee Emergency Repairs on a crucial turn will let you vent the heat you’ve built up from the Extergimus maniple trait and repair your brawler to keep its voids up and remove critical damage. Then, if you pass a 3+ Command check (or a 2+ for your princeps), you’ll still get to both move and shoot as normal.
This is just one of the many options you can build from these rules, and if you wanted to try something similar, you could tweak these to your taste. Instead of Enduring Gods, Opening Salvo would give you a very powerful opening turn, albeit at the cost of making your Titans run even hotter than they already were. Or you could take the Duty and Honour legion trait to have one of your fire-support Titans switch from First Fire to Split Fire each turn to help optimize where you’re putting your AML fire. Instead of the Fusion Missiles wargear, you could take Reactor Fetters to help vent off your excess heat, although you’d have to re-tune the list to make room – replacing one or both of the belicosas with a mori would be one way.
We are Legion and so can you
The Crusade Legion rules give you a ton of options that will help you build the legion you want to play, whether it’s a stand-and-shoot force like Legio Mercurii, an aggressive close-combat legion, or anything in between. We’re happy to see the changes they’ve made since the original rules in White Dwarf have reined things in*, and we anticipate that the combinations you’ll be able to build will be closer to on par with the existing legions. We’re excited to see your custom legions, so let us know what you’ve come up with!
*Soggy: With the exception of the Imperator-sized elephant in the room that is Vanguard Fighters
