Welcome back to Goonhammer’s series for aspiring Titan Princeps. 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.
This week, we’re looking at Legio Damicium, an undersupplied Legio who had to make do with what they had and whose rules reflect them making hasty repairs to their Titans to get them into battle like so many 30-story tall MacGuyvers.
[Editors’ Note: This article was last updated November 22, 2021, and includes rules from the Loyalist Legios and Traitor Legios supplements, as well as the FAQ that accompanied the Loyalist Legios supplement.]
Who are Legio Damicium?
The Unbroken Lords hail from the Forgeworld of Urdesh, which lost the ability to create more God-Engines during the Age of Strife and had to resort to maintaining their precious few Titans in unconventional ways. After their unification with the Imperium, they were supplied infrequently with new Titans from Mars in exchange for their loyalty – the other Forgeworlds declining to share the means of production to keep them dependent. The Unbroken Lords would follow the Fabricator of Mars in declaring for the Warmaster and fight throughout the Belt of Iron.
Soggy: Keen observers will note that Urdesh plays a part in the Gaunt’s Ghosts novels, providing for the Blood Pact war effort.
Painting Legio Damicium
Legio Damicium is a great force to be adventurous with your conversions to reflect their rag-tag nature. We asked jarringwharf664 (IG @jarringwharf664) to share his Battlegroup and the approach to paint them up with us.
Firstly I base the entire Titan with Leadbelcher and then wash it with Nuln Oil. I added a few patches of Agrax Earthshade in places, just to dull down any bits that are still a bit shiney. I purposely left the trim brighter as I wanted it to be silver. Next I base coat all the armour panels with Rakarth Flesh and paint the white ones and the panels that will have checks with Pallid Wych Flesh. Next up I painted the purple panels and checked panels, I used Vallejo purple (70.959) as it has great consistency and is really vibrant.
Next I weather the white panels and checked panels with Burnt Umber oil paint. Apply it with a cotton bud and smudge it all over, I wipe off the excess with another cotton bud and then add streaks of oil paint. I didn’t weather the purple armour with oil paints as it dulls the colour down too much so I just washed the edges with Agrax.
Next I painted on the details, the Legio badge on the shoulder, and symbol on the carapace weapon and knee are all freehand but the half cog on the other knee is a transfer. I used the artwork in Crucible of Retribution as reference.
Finally I sponge on Typhus Corrosion for extra weathering. The eye lens are orange as it contrasts nicely with the purple. Add an optional weapon glow of your preference and base. Done! Tried to keep it simple but striking, the Vallejo purple is incredible. The hardest bit is the checks and freehand. DM me on Instagram if you’ve got any questions or comments. Happy hobbying!
Damicium in Adeptus Titanicus
Tactical Overview
The Unbroken Lords are aptly named, refusing to break and shrugging off the most grievous of damage with the Trifling Pain trait, which allows Damicium Titans to ignore a single Critical Damage effect from the start of the movement phase until the end of combat phase. Due to the restrictions on timing this reduces the number of different effects this will apply to – for instance it won’t protect you from a Reactor Leak, which happens in the end phase. It will, however, let you shrug off the effects of damage to your legs to get to an objective or fire at full effectiveness with wounded moderati in a final act of defiance. This is very similar to the Unholy Vigor corruption which doesn’t have the restriction, although this does give you the opportunity to look at more interesting options. And if one gets through, you can repair critical damage on 4, letting your Titans stay standing that much longer.
Legio Damicum were Envious of peers in the Collegia Titanica, stoking their machine spirits and giving them +1 to all command checks made when they have line of sight to an enemy Titan of equal or larger scale. This ability is a nice to have which should be active most of the time on your Warhounds and Reavers, giving them some more reliability during the strategy phase. This can help offset the command penalties on some of your corrupted Titans as well.
The Unbroken Lords can use the Endurance Beyond Limit stratagem for 3SP at the start of the combat phase, giving each of their titans a repair roll with half of their repair clades. This is a very expensive stratagem at 3SP, but it’s a good one. Essentially what it’s doing is letting you multiply your Damage Control phase by 1.5x without a roll or any downsides. While it is expensive, there are any number of nasty tricks you could pull with this, from repairing away critical damage to bringing weapons back online to potentially re-lighting voids for one round after ignoring a VSG Burnout result with Trifling Pain. It’ll take a bit of finesse to get the most mileage out of, but essentially multiplying the effectiveness of your Damage Control phase by 1.5 is pretty good as it turns out. Due to the stratagem rounding up the amount of dice, it’s probably best used on a Reaver as it’ll be rolling as many dice as a Warlord, at a crucial time when you weren’t able to get enough shields back or vent enough plasma in the damage repair phase, allowing those shields to persist a little longer or at least to give you the ability to more freely push for Voids to Full one more time than you might have.
Condit: As a final note here, the timing on this is interesting – since it’s used at the beginning of the Combat phase and not during the Damage Control Phase, you have the opportunity to see how your first repair rolls go before you commit to this. A Mordaxis player whose Titans take a few crits early in the game might be tempted to burn Unstoppable early to ensure they’re able to get back in the fight, but if a Damicium Battlegroup is able to repair to full off of their standard repair, they don’t have to commit to the strat. You pay for this by making it less effective for Warhounds, but the certainty that you’ll have it when you need it is great.
Bair: Not sure how I feel about it other than a bit meh. Yes it’s a great ability but to get the most out of it you need loads of titans, which means less clades and most of the time people focus fire anyway.
Soggy: It’s a shame that Preternatural Regeneration doesn’t interact with this ability giving you even more dice to bring voids and other systems back online.
The Unbroken lords specialised in making do with what they’ve got – up-armouring engines with Secondary Plating, allowing them to downgrade their first Critical Hit for 10 points. This upgrade is a bargain, giving your God-Engines a bit more longevity while being priced to move. It’s a great use of those last few points you’ll often find yourself with.
Soggy: I’d go as far as saying this is an automatic include on Warhounds, who will often suffer a Critical hit before reaching the end of their Structure track from anti-armor weaponry.
Bair: This really is a no-brainer upgrade. The first damage you’re likely to take on smaller engines especially is a Critical from large guns like Melta and Volcano Cannons, so taking away that first point of critical damage can be big. And it’s cheap. Take this upgrade always.
Soggy: Additionally, if you are looking to take corruptions, pair this with the Chintinous Carapace corruption for some extra tankiness.
The Princeps Senioris of Legio Damicium knew how to push their God-Engines beyond the limits, getting everything they had to give, and their Princeps’ Personal Traits play to this strength.
Once per game, a Princeps with the Limitless trait can fire any and all disabled weapons during the Combat phase. Quite often Battlegroups with smaller Titans will find themselves against a Warlord which they can drop the voids on but are unable to penetrate the reinforced armour – making called shots to weapons the best option for the opponent, to disable as many as possible and shoot for weapon detonations. This trait lets you play aggressively on a Brawler and not worry too much about losing voids. Not necessarily great, but could have its uses.
Princeps with the Bitter Soul trait get to shrug off the effects of weapons with the Quake and Concussive trait, staying put and moving at full speed the following turn. This is a useful effect on two very different ends of the spectrum – Melee Titans need the consistency of movement to ensure they can make their charges, and First Firing fire support Titans enjoy not having to worry about getting knocked around if they don’t move.
When things inevitably do go wrong, they make it count with the Princeps Senioris trait Beyond Death – which instead of rolling on the Catastrophic Damage table, you go D6 in the direction of your choice and immediately suffer a Magazine Detonation. A fantastic pick on any Titan that’s trying to get close to the enemy, preferably a Reaver with a Melta Cannon or Warlord with a Sunfury.
Condit: Oh dear.
Maniple Choice
Smaller Titans, such as Reaver and Warhounds will tend to benefit more from the Unbroken Lords’ abilities. Due to their relative fragility, they’re more likely to make use of Trifling Pain and will more readily benefit from the improved durability of Secondary Plating. Likewise, they should also be Envious most of the time in your games, giving them more reliable orders and opening up more options as a result.
The Beyond Death trait is begging to be used on a melee or brawler Princeps Senioris, as being able to guarantee a Magazine Detonation (hopefully within voids) is very powerful and will lead to some heroic last stands.
Soggy: I’m all about Pyrrhic victories, so I think this is one of my favourite personal traits in the game.
With that said, all Titans in any role will benefit from Damicium’s tenacity, giving you freedom to play them the way you want to. Consider a force centered around Reavers with a few Warhounds – this includes some familiar suspects: Corsair, Ferrox and Lupercal maniples.
There are some other options that are interesting, though, and we’ve decided to build a list that’ll make the most of the Unbroken Lords’ ability to push through staggering amounts of damage and keep fighting in the face of overwhelming odds.
Legio Damicium Battlegroup – 1750 pts
Perpetua Maniple – 1750 pts
Reaver Titan – 400 pts
- Princeps Senioris – Beyond Death
- Vulcan Megabolter
- Chainfist
- Melta Cannon
- Wargear: Secondary Plating
- Wargear: Bastion Shielding
- Wargear: Singular Purpose
- Wargear: Unholy Benedictions
- Corruption: Overwhelming Rage
- Corruption: Daemonic Ichor
- Corruption: Organic Protrusions
Reaver Titan – 345 pts
- Vulcan Megabolter
- Gatling Blaster
- Melta Cannon
- Wargear: Secondary Plating
- Wargear: Bastion Shielding
- Wargear: Unholy Benedictions
Reaver Titan – 345 pts
- Apocalypse Missile Launcher
- Laser Blaster
- Melta Cannon
- Wargear: Secondary Plating
- Wargear: Bastion Shielding
- Wargear: Unholy Benedictions
Warlord Titan – 660 pts
- Paired Gatling Blaster
- Vokite Destructor
- Sunfury Plasma Annihilator
- Wargear: Secondary Plating
- Wargear: Bastion Shielding
- Wargear: Tracking Gyroscopes
- Wargear: Focused Capacitors
- Wargear: Unholy Benedictions
- Corruption: Preternatural Grace
- Corruption: Preternatural Regeneration
The Perpetua’s Stand Firm trait works on a few different levels with this battlegroup. First of all, it works thematically with the Unbroken Lords’ theme of making do with their limited resources with the bonuses to repair. Secondly, with so many Reavers with a 360 carapace arc you can afford to stand still to First Fire and also get the extra repair die during the repair phase. These First Fire orders should also be easier to pull off thanks to the Envious trait, you’ll note that the two fire support Reavers are uncorrupted to keep this realistic. And in a pinch, guaranteed 2+ Emergency Repair orders will let you get rid of a ton of critical damage all at once.
The Princeps Seniores’ Beyond Death trait pairs nicely with the chainfist Reaver, as the guaranteed Magazine Detonation on the Melta will be felt when you are already in the middle of the foe’s ranks. This is amplified by the Daemonic Ichor trait, which means it will be as potent as a Warlord cooking off.
The Warlord Titan is equipped as a brawling beast, running the center and making short work of your foes. This Battlegroup is possibly too heavy on upgrades, although these all combine to make each Titan a durable monster as per their lore.
Stratagem-wise, Warp Displacement is the order of the day to help ensure the melee Reaver finds their mark. Otherwise, choose depending on the opposing forces, objectives, and table on the day. Good candidates include Experimental Locomotors, to help move up the field, along with other classic hits such as Concealment Barrage, Vox Blackout and Profane Blessing.
Playing against Damicium
Legio Damicium Titans will require a bit more effort to put down thanks to how tough they can be. Don’t count on critical damage to the legs on slowing them down thanks to Trifling Pain, and keep in mind that you’re probably going to need to deal two crits before they even have to ignore one in the first place. Don’t count on that damage staying there for long, either – their 4+ to repair critical damage means you’ll need to be able to deal as much critical damage as possible to the same location if you want to have a chance of taking something down. Be very concerned if they have a Princeps Senioris with Beyond Death – keep away from it as much as possible and try to focus it down at range.
Never Say Die
The Unbroken Lords’ durability is a huge asset on the battlefield, allowing them to make the best of a bad situation in a way few other legions can match. As one of the most resilient legions in the game, they can play around damage that would be crippling to any other force, giving them potential for a comeback from even the most dire situations. If you’re looking for a force that can stay standing no matter what your opponent throws at you, look no further.
