Twisted Titanicus On Tour: Clash of The Titans 13.01.24
- Twisted Titanicus
- Jan 22, 2024
- 36 min read
The other weekend, our intrepid team headed up to Birmingham to take part in their first AT event of 2024 – Clash of the Titans!
Up until a few days prior to the event, we were all banking on it being a Matched Play event that would allow us to hone our minds back into tournament mode prior to Beachhead.
However, fate had other ideas and dropped an event pack on us on the Thursday beforehand that was Open Engine War (OEW). Old-school stratagem rules, shared primary objectives and battlefield effects. Things were about to get interesting…
The Planetary Effects would be the same all day, but new Battlefield Effects would be drawn for each game. The TO also put the following house rules into effect:
● No dominant strategist
● Vortex missiles limited to 1 per army
● Acastus banners being limited to 1 per army
● Warbringers carapace weapons have the front arc
So off we trundled to the Midlands, the six of us from Team Twisted, along with our good friends Adam from Lost Legion, Jonny from Battle Bling, and Duggie & Dan from South Wales AT, for a day of Titan-based shenanigans.
The setup for each game was as follows:
This is how we got on.
Jim
Up until the last minute, I was pretty undecided on which Legio I was going to take, and having never been to Board in Brum before, I was unsure what the local meta was like, and so erred on the side of caution and decided to take a variation of my tried and trusted tournament Audax list rather than a meme-y Gryphonicus Warmaster list.
Said Audax list was a mildly corrupted Canis/Dire Wolf Ferrox combo with some lancers. Nothing too outlandish, but very utilitarian and well capable of punching above its weight. The particulars of which are below:
The List
Legio Audax
Allegiance: Traitor
Canis Light Maniple
Warhound Titan: Princeps Seniores, Exemplar of Fear, Reinforced Plating, Plasma Blast Gun, Vulcan Mega Bolter & Preternatural Grace
Warhound Titan: Reinforced Plating, Plasma Blast Gun, Volkite Eradicator & Preternatural Grace
Warhound Titan: Reinforced Plating, Plasma Blast Gun, Vulcan Mega Bolter & Preternatural Grace
Ferrox Light Maniple
Dire Wolf Titan: Princeps Seniores, Favoured by Fortune, Reinforced Plating, Ardex Defensor Mega Bolter, Neutron Laser with Hardened Casing
Warhound Titan: Reinforced Plating, Plasma Blast Gun, Volkite Eradicator & Preternatural Grace
Warhound Titan: Reinforced Plating, Conversion Beam Dissolutor, Graviton Destructor & Frozen Soul
Cerastus Knight Banner
Cerastus Knight Lord Scion Lancer
Cerastus Knight Scion Martial Lancer
Imagine then my surprise when we arrived to find there were only 2 locals playing in the event, and both were (as far as we could surmise anyway) relatively new players. Hopefully they were up to the task as despite it being an OEW event, Team Twisted were taking it as serious business and using the day as Beachhead prep!
Game 1
In Game 1 I drew one of the local players, a chap called David who was running a rather lovely Krytos double Warbringer Precept maniple.
Brilliant. Facing Krytos Game 1 with 3 tough to kill engines and a speedy Reaver, all armed with some sort of quake weapon. It probably couldn’t have been a worse matchup for Audax.
The Forge World planetary effect (extra clade dice per titan plus 2 extra stratagem points to spend on battlefield assets) which would be in effect all day, would be a boon to my list. I opted to use the asset points on an Apocalypse Missile Strongpoint, as did David. For my secondary objective I took Preserve the Past (pick a Princeps and keep it alive, in this case my Dire Wolf). Unfortunately, I can’t recall what secondary David had.
After quickly running through each other’s lists, placing our objectives and the other pregame stuff we got down to it. The table setup wasn’t particularly conducive to the Canis’ forward deployment, so I opted to put everything within my deployment zone, with the exception of my Dire Wolf, which I did manage to sneak forward a bit along my right-hand flank.
After deployment, we rolled off and we were away! David got priority and I steeled myself for the inevitable use of Krytos’ Civilisation’s Ruin stratagem…….
It never came. Instead, he popped Cursed Earth and in response I popped Unhallowed Ground to try and keep those big engines moving.
Turn 1 was a guarded affair, I grabbed my objective swiftly and my opponent sent his Reaver after my forward-deployed Dire Wolf. A lucky neutron shot soon nullified the Reaver threat with a shutdown and that was about it. Except for the Shutdown and some lost void shields on both sides, not a lot else happened.
Turn 2 I got priority. I played Concealment Barrage to give me a bit of extra cover to start moving up the board, but David opted not to play anything this turn. Moving onto orders I issued First Fire on my Dire Wolf, then David issued a Charge on his Reaver and some first fires on everything else.
Into the movement phase, I First Fired my neutron laser into the Reaver and shut it down a second time. The rest of my movement phase I spent positioning to land the coup de grace on the Reaver and begin pushing up the board to try and out manoeuvre the lumbering Krytos engines. Meanwhile David moved one of his Warbringers into the concealment barrage whilst the other went for his objective, his Warlord remaining steadfast in the rear.
During the combat phase I opened up on the stricken Reaver with everything I could and dispatched it efficiently, causing it to go nuclear, meanwhile David melted one of my Lancers with a volcano cannon fired by the Warbringer holding the objective. A few more shots were traded by both sides where we managed to plink off some more shields and that was that.
Turn 3 I again won the roll off for priority, but again opted to refrain from using any strats. David decided this would be the turn to pop Civilisation’s Ruin. Orders-wise, nothing from me, and he again went for First Fires. Into the movement phase and I was either out of arc or in the carapace shadow of both of his Warbringers, so he could only bring his Warlord’s Mori Quake cannon to bear when it came to Civilisation’s Ruin. Lucky for me, but not so much for my opponent! Having said that though, he still managed to wing one of my Warhounds, quaking it in the process. I repositioned my Dire Wolf to keep it out of LOS and keep it alive to secure my secondary objective, whilst the rest of my force began surrounding the Warbringers.
Into the combat phase and I took out the Warbringer with the objective, which subsequently fell over and squished my remaining Lancer. The other Warbringer that had been sitting in the concealment barrage on the previous turn was also dispatched quickly, but left silenced. David fired at the Warhound that had gotten the kill on the silenced engine, before getting a lucky scatter onto the silenced warbringer which caused it to fall over onto the originally targeted Warhound and doing a decent amount of damage to its body and tracking it out!
Turn 4 and again I won the priority roll. Clearly David must’ve recently done something to upset Nuffle! No strats were used, and David again went for a First Fire. I didn’t bother with any orders as I wasn’t well placed for First Fires and didn’t really need to go hell for leather up the board.
In the movement phase I picked up David’s objective marker (which had been dropped by the Warbringer when it died the preceding turn) and began moving with purpose towards the warlord. David fired onto my quaked Warhound and I pushed the reactor for rerolls on my shields, only to be rewarded with double heat which put me into the red. Uh-oh, not ideal…
In the damage control phase, the inevitable then happened and I rolled a 10 on the reactor check and my poor Warhound became a mushroom cloud!
Another Warhound and the Warlord traded shots, but unfortunately David missed with both the Mori Quake Cannon and the Bellicosa it was armed with, both shots scattering harmlessly way from the target, and I had again managed to get into the carapace shadow so his apocalypse launchers were useless.
By this point I had secured both objectives for maximum points on the primary, and the Dire Wolf was safely out of arc hidden away and completely undamaged, scoring me full points on my secondary objective.
At the end of Turn 4 we rolled to see if we continued the game (the event was using random game length) and lo and behold, we managed rolling to continue into Turn 5. I again won priority (David must have REALLY annoyed Nuffle!) and we both dismissed the strategy phase. Into movement and I got a hound behind the warlord within his shield bubble, whilst protecting everything else.
In the damage control phase, I managed to cook off another of my Warhounds, whilst David replenished his Warlord’s shields.
During the combat phase, my sneaky hound opened up proceedings by maximal-firing a plasma gun into its back and tracking it out, followed up by some targeted mega bolter shots at effective S9 due to the existing damage and being in the rear arc. They managed to track it out on the crits. One more point of damage to the body and that’d finish it off. Cue the Hail Mary smash attack. I rolled my D3 and scored a 2. Not ideal, but it was as good as I could hope for now. I rolled to hit and got 1 hit and 1 miss. This was it, a single 2+ now would close proceedings, but would Nuffle bless me or do me over?
I rolled the die and waited… There it was, the 2+ I needed and that was the game. I felled the Warlord and with that, removed David’s final engine, leaving me with a 40-0 victory.
It turns out that this would be the last we would see of David at the tables that day, as it transpires he was a stand-in player and the person he was covering for arrived during the lunch break between Games 1 and 2 and took up the mantle going forward for the rest of the day.
For Games 2 & 3 I played Jay and Jake respectively, so I’ll let them regale you with the tales of our battles in full further on down the page. I’ll give you a summary of the important bits from my side though.
In Game 2 I took Hold the Line as my secondary, along with the Apoc Strongpoint again, but despite dominating the game for most of it I fell agonisingly short and Jay snuck a win. However, the highlight of this game for me was a Turn 1 deletion of a plague reaver in a single activation thanks to a perfect plasma salvo!
Game 3 against Jake was an altogether cagier affair due to the Pitch Black battlefield effect, and which ultimately ended up in a draw. I had taken Plant the Standard as my secondary and managed to max that out after clearing out all of Jake’s titans in one of his deployment zones. Shout out to my warhound Canis Brutalis for executing a perfect flying headbutt to kill Jake’s Reaver too! For my bonus asset, this time I went with Titan Hunter Infantry, and shout out to Dan for the loan of some appropriate markers following me forgetting mine!
Jim's Final Thoughts
Overall, I had a good time at the event. The venue was good, all of the locals were friendly and there was generally a good atmosphere there. At the end of the day, I ended up with a win, a loss and a draw and placed 6th, so overall not a terrible performance.
I do have some minor gripes with the event format however, mainly based around OEW and how that system works. In my opinion, battlefield and planetary effects should be used for narrative games/events only as they remove far too much player agency for matched play. Additionally, the TO banned the use of Dominant Strategist at the event, yet went for the now-obsolete method of stratagem selection where you secretly selected your stratagems based on your opponent’s battleforce which inevitably leads to the dreaded “Gotcha” moments and negative play experiences. The current Stratagem Hand method outlined in the Matched Play Guide is far superior.
So, I guess the question is would I go to another one? And my honest answer at this time is “Maybe”. It would really depend on what type of event it was. If it was another OEW matched play event with the same/similar restrictions that we had at this one, then probably not. However, if it was a standard Matched Play event using the rules from the Matched Play Guide then yes, I would, as like I say the venue and hosts were great.
Jay
It is 5.15am on a cold and wet morning in Berkshire. A lone shape moves groggily about the downstairs of a darkened dwelling. Its movements are not-quite awake but not still so asleep as to disturb the sleeping form buried beneath blankets piled high against the cold. A small Dachshund sleeps fitfully in a miniature bed on the floor. Even the usually excitable nature of the animated sausage muted, knowing better than to awaken so early on a Saturday.
As the form bundles the last carry-case into the boot of a car, face lit up by a phone screen as routes and times are checked one last time. This had better be worth it.
TL;DR:
It was.
After picking up fellow Twisted team-mate Alex and partaking of the almost-traditional pre-event McDonalds with some of the rest of the team, we arrived in due course at the venue and for many of us from Team Twisted, this was our first visit to Board In Brum.
There was some lingering concern and trepidation. This event had initially been booked on the basis it could provide a decent testing ground for our lists ahead of the hallowed Maximal Fire Beachhead 2024 tournament, but the 11th hour release of the Event Pack had thrown those plans into disarray. The event was going to be played using Pre-Matched Play Guide rule so none of the relevant Primaries or Secondaries, no Stratagem Hands and somewhat oddly, no Dominant Strategist Princeps traits.
Finally, although I don’t believe this actually presented itself, no stacking penalty for running multiple Legios. Given these late developments, I switched the list I was taking to try something out and to have some unpressured fun.
The List
Legio Mordaxis
Allegiance: Traitor
Venator Maniple
Reaver: Princeps Seniores, Beast of Aeons, Volcano Cannon, Laser Blaster, Apocalypse Missile Launcher, Frozen Soul & Chitinous Carapace
Warhound: Conversion Beamer, Swarmer Missiles Frozen Soul & Chitinous Carapace
Warhound: Conversion Beamer, Swarmer Missiles Frozen Soul & Chitinous Carapace
Ferrox Maniple
Reaver: Princeps Seniores, Distorted Form, Gatling Blaster, Volcano Cannon, Conversion Beamer, Warp Conduit, Chitinous Carapace & Preternatural Regeneration
Warhound: Plasma Blast Gun, Vulcan Mega Bolter, Warp Conduit & Chitinous Carapace
Warhound: Vulcan Mega Bolter, Vulcan Mega Bolter, Warp Conduit & Chitinous Carapace
The basic premise of the list is that the Venator holds my own table edge and works on stripping voids shields and delivering armour-busting shots to set targets up for finishing shots from the Ferrox. The Ferrox, meanwhile, roves up-table to secure objectives and get in some close-range kills.
I personally dislike secret Stratagems (pre Strat Hand) as I feel specifically building your Strats to counter an opponent is hugely open to ‘Gotcha!’ moments and prior to the Matched Play Guide (MPG) being released, Stratagems represented an open-sore of resentment about the game-system for me. For these reasons, and generalised laziness I simply took Vox Blackout, Concealment Barrage and Score to Settle for all 3 games of the day.
When the Planetary Effect Forge World was drawn - and that it would be in play all day – I was somewhat smug. This gave all titans an additional Servitor Clade for repairs, which was particularly welcome to my tanky list.
Game 1
Given that the hoped outcome for the day was to gather some experience against more players ahead of Beachhead, it was a little unfortunate to draw a Twisted team-mate for the first game! I was matched with Jake and his, frankly stunning, new Tritonis force. If you find yourself in the presence of these bad boys, set aside 10 minutes or more to just admire the dioramas that populate each base – the attention to detail and skill is absolutely top tier.
I had the Secondary mission to kill one of Jake’s Princeps – which I selected as his Ferrox’s Reaver – which would provide 10VP.
Turn 1 was left purely to movement and some tentative shots as I had priority and immediately played Vox Blackout – knowing that Jake was going to start dropping Stygian Veil as soon as he had opportunity, a prospect I wanted to delay as long as possible as it would allow him to pick and choose how to engage me.
Jake pushed forwards aggressively and started laying shots into my Ferrox Reaver, dropping his void shields but failing to inflict any lasting injury. For the remainder of the game Jake had priority and, as predicted, he was not sparing with his Stygian Veil play. The early turns had seen me rolling poorly and Jake having a decent hot-streak but Turn 3 saw the dice betray him.
I made a series of shield saves and he rolled ‘Weapon’ locations on more hits than anyone deserved – Turn 4 saw Jake’s last titan, his Warlord, fall and one of my Ferrox Warhounds then swept in to secure the objective. As I had Score to Settle, my scores were Primary: 30VP, Secondary: 10VP, Tertiary: 6VP.
Additionally, points killed were also tracked, so I scored 1750 here.
Game 2
I somehow drew that same table as Game 1, which was a little disappointing. It didn’t have the best of the terrain on offer for the day and it wasn’t ideal at all for my list. Still, one can’t always have what one wants! I can’t recall what the Battlefield Effect in play was for Game 2 (Jim: It was Unstable Ground), it cannot have been as much of an interference as Game 1 had been or Game 3 would be! The Primary objective was basically push forwards – 25vp to get within 6 inches of the enemy table edge with a bonus 5vp if you could keep your own edge clear up to 12 inches. I had the Secondary to kill a Princeps again – so took aim at Jim’s pride and joy: Syrgalah.
Fate continued to vomit in my kettle by matching me with another teammate! None other than Twisted’s fearless leader, Jim. Jim’s Audax are well known on the tournament circuit and we’ve faced one another across the table a couple of times previously – Jim plays aggressively and is a master of controlling arcs and generally kicking people across the table.
With Jim’s Canis deployment, he was up and on my deployment from the start. I spent the entire first turn pouring everything I had into Syrgalah until she popped like a beautiful, explosive zit. In turn, Jim deleted my Ferrox Reaver with an exceptional Plasma Blast Gun volley and proceeded to systematically delete my titans from the board. Keeping my mind on the objectives, I ran my double Vulcan Mega Bolter hound up to Jim’s table-edge and focussed on one titan at a time with everything else and tried to get a couple of kills to buff my score through Score to Settle.
I only killed 2 (maybe 3?) Titans all game and Jim had MORE than enough left to finish me when the game ended – but as it turned out, when we came to tally up the VP I had actually won (no one was more surprised than Jim or I – sometimes AT do be like that).
Game 3
As I noted, without too much enthusiasm, that I had once more drawn the same table, I waited for what I presumed was going to be another Twisted team-mate to arrive at my table.
Given that Simon had won both of his games – it looked likely that we were going to be fighting it out for a podium placement. As I reset my terminals and munched on some Hula-Hoops (BBQ Beef, if you are interested), I was delighted to see that none other than Battle Bling’s Resin-daddy, Jonny Corps was my next opponent.
For those of you not ‘in the know’ – Jonny is an astoundingly nice fellow and a genuine pleasure to play against. He has a cavalier attitude to his Solaria Warhound’s heat-management that borders on the concerning and his titans always draw the eye and comment whenever they are seen. Also, he’d blown up my Warmaster titan at a Narrative event last time we’d played and I owed him for that.
The Battlefield Effect for the final game was Pitch Black. As we all read the card, much groaning was heard – this was one of three cards in the OEW that were usually vetoed. For the entirety of the game, you could not fire outside of 12 inches unless your target had fired OR vented heat already that round. The Primary objective was Death & Destruction (kill X% of enemy force to score vp) and my Secondary was to keep a Princeps alive. I selected my Venator Reaver and placed him directly in a corner, trusting he would be the last to fall if it came to it.
Jonny promptly surrounded me and began picking my force apart. He held an activation advantage and with the Pitch Black effect was able to use his own activations on titans that I could never reach and once I was out of activations, move in for the kill. It was merciless and well played. Jonny took the win and I consoled myself with 10vp for keeping my Princeps alive and 2 for Score to Settle kills.
Jay's Final Thoughts
I like the location and the guys running it were all very welcoming. I really liked the ‘pick-up boards’ which you put your titan terminals on and then you just carry table to table at Board in Brum.
I don’t really like ‘pre-MPG’ event play and will avoid events which aren’t either Narrative or MPG aligned in the future. They aren’t my cup of tea and I have no nostalgic tinglings for things that, in my opinion, have been vastly improved upon.
While I like OEW cards for a change of pace in friendly games, I don’t feel they are of benefit to non-narrative events. As far as my list goes, it is tanky and it’s a nice change from the more specifically geared lists I run to serious events but I think this event provides proof enough for me that Venator maniples (excluding Audax) just aren’t competitive.
I have two lists to choose from to submit for Beachhead, and a few weeks to playtest them. The road to Beachhead continues and Team Twisted hope not to disappoint.
Jake
This was my first tournament outing with my Tritonis after crunching to get them ready in time, the paint was still wet as I packed them up ready to travel. This is roughly what I’m planning to take to Beachhead next month so I was keen to get some practice in for that.
Turns out we were going to use the OEW cards, who knew that it pays to read the event pack?
The List
Legio Tritonis
Allegiance: Traitor
Ferrox Maniple
Reaver: Princeps Seniores, Leader of Arachnus, Melta Cannon, Gatling Blaster & Apocalypse Missile Launcher with Radiative Warheads
Warhound: Vulcan Mega Bolter & Incisor Pattern Melta Lance
Warhound: Plasma Blast Gun & Vulcan Mega Bolter
Ferrox Maniple
Warlord: Princeps Seniores, Favoured by Fortune, Tracking Gyros, Graviton Ruinator, Bellicosa Volcano Cannon & Apocalypse Missile Launchers with Radiative Warheads
Warhound: Plasma Blast Gun & Vulcan Mega Bolter
Warhound: Plasma Blast Gun & Swarmer Missiles
Being an OEW event, Board in Brum ended up being a fun and weird day with planetary and battlefield effects in play for all games. We were fighting on a Forge World so we got 2SP to spend on battlefield assets and I ended up taking Titan Hunter Infantry each game because I thought they would be the most useful. We also didn't have to pick a strat hand until the start of each game, which was interesting. I still used Stygian Veil in almost every game though.
Game 1
I drew fellow Twisted Titanicus-er Jay and his corrupted Mordaxis. We played Acquisition with a firestorm in the centre of the board that gave our titans inside it heat at the end of every turn (after the game, we realised we read the card wrong). A combination of Vox Blackout, extra heat and Jay’s tough as nails titans meant I ended up getting tabled scoring 3 points for my secondary, Pride in Precision.
Game 2
I played Iain who was running a Psi-Titan and a Tempestus Ferrox. We played Breakthrough and my secondary was Hold the Line. Stygian Veil kept his Psi Titan from giving me trouble for two turns while a squadron of my melta and tourney hounds ran up the board to kill it with a combined strike in the side on turn 3. Meanwhile on the left Iain’s outflanking Reaver whiffed its charge into the back of my Warlord and was then destroyed by my Reaver and swarmer Warhound. In turn 4 his squad of 3 Warhounds made a desperate run for my deployment zone but couldn’t stand up to shooting from my entire battlegroup giving me the win.
Game 3
In the last round I played Twisted Jim with his Audax. The objective was annihilation with the chance engagement deployment and the thick fog battlefield effect meaning we couldn't see anything further away than 12” unless they had already fired or vented plasma. This game had a lot of cat and mouse antics while we were trying to outfox each other with our activations so we couldn't get shot at and vice versa. My poor long range warlord didn't do too well in this game. It was a perfect draw though. We both scored max on our secondary (I had Secure Ground) killed 69% (lol, nice) of each other’s stuff and we both scored 5 on “A Score to Settle”. Was a great way to finish the day.
Jake's Final Thoughts
Overall this was a fun event. I didn't get a podium but I did win my first ever best painted award! The terrain was good and the games were fun, a positive experience all round.
Alex
So, time for my first event of the year! I’d not been to a Board in Brum event before, but had heard positive things. I’d also never been to an event that was using the OEW cards, having come to the game near the advent of the Matched Play Guide-so the pregame nerves were making themselves known.
I was bringing a list with a new style to me; melee.
I like to hold back and shoot in AT, which makes it harder to score some objectives. However with the extra movement with Astorum in the first two turns I felt I might be able to get this to work-if I can figure out this charging business. I also wanted to field test some new Warhound toys that had been brought to us by the Legions Imperialis release.
The List
Legio Astorum
Allegiance: Traitor
Ferrox Maniple
Warhound: Pinceps Senioris, Favoured by Fortune, Conversion Beam Dissolutor, Swarmer Missiles
Warhound: Conversion Beam Dissolutor, Swarmer Missiles
Reaver: Chainfist, Gatling Blaster, Vulcan Mega Bolter & Overwhelming Rage
Ferrox Maniple
Warhound: Princeps Senioris, Beast of Aeons, Vulcan Mega Bolter, Turbo Laser Destructor & Preternatural Grace
Warhound: Vulcan Mega Bolter, Incisor Pattern Melta Lance & Preternatural Grace
Warhound: Vulcan Mega Bolter, Incisor Pattern Melta Lance & Preternatural Grace
Reaver: Chainfist, Gatling Blaster, Vulcan Mega Bolter & Overwhelming Rage
After a little confusion finding the place, we arrived at what looked to be an industrial building with a simple sign above the door. Once we were in, I was pleasantly surprised- a good sized event room full of a fair number of gaming tables as well as a very well stocked shop (though maybe a little less so after some of the Twisted crew spotted the available LI stock).
Once we were in, we were each directed to deploy our battleforces to the 2x2 boards covering one end of the standard 6x4 tables-and then told that we could use these to carry our models and terminals around that day- a genius idea, that would also provide the humourous sight of grown men inching past each other with these oversized trays of models.
As the day started, we were told we would be drawing one planetary effect for the day, but the battlefield effect would change with each game. So today's planet was ... a Forge World. Every titan getting an extra servitor clade and every player getting an extra 2 stratagem points to be used for battlefield assets. I was very keen on the extra repair dice, but I think most people went for Titan Hunter Infantry for the battlefield assets and just spent the game negating each other’s placement-mine certainly had no real effect on any games.
Game 1
I’ve heard it said recently that in competitive play you either win or you learn. I learnt a lot in the first game.
I drew Simon with his Ignatum Regia, a Legio I had not faced before. t. For my secondary I chose Cut Off the Head; Simon had only one Princeps Senioris, so I thought I would go for a rush on the Warlord with a Reaver, and go for the kill. Then hold my objective with my pair of Conversion Beamer Warhounds, trying to hide them as much as possible.
Unfortunately it did not go to plan. I placed the Concealment Barrage to hide the Reaver I had given Experimental Locomotors to during turn one badly (lesson one), and it did nothing to protect it from the ranged ire of the Fire Wasps. Lesson two came with learning that, yes, I can fail Awakened Entity checks multiple times on the same Reaver throughout the game, resulting in him spending two turns moonwalking towards the back of the battlefield. I managed to bring him up to the centre of the table for a turn 5 charge, and when I pushed for movement…..I did it again and he stood there to be blasted apart.
I got my corrupted Warhounds up the table, at the cost of one of their members left lifeless halfway down one flank- but eventually they were in a position for a squadron charge on two enemy Warhounds. Then one had his charge order sabotaged into a First Fire-okay, ill charge with the other. And Simon proceeds to play Punish their Folly, leaving nothing more than a burning husk left. Never charge Ignatum head on-lesson number three. The sole remaining hound was surrounded and cut to ribbons.
The C-Beamer hounds towards the rear lasted a little longer, but with nothing in front of them, they had to choose between trying to hide from the enemy Warlord's Conversion Beamer and two Warhounds chasing them down. By the end of the game they had also been destroyed, and Simon had my Objective as well.
Final Score 0-40 win for Simon.
Game 2
Right-time for a fresh air break, some crisps and a drink. With a short lunch period there wasn't time for much more, but it couldn't hurt.
Game two I was unsurprisingly down at the bottom table, facing Simon W and his Atarus Perpetua along with a supporting Warbringer and Questoris banner. II went for Hold the Line as a Secondary as I felt this went well with the Primary. With how poorly I had rolled during game 1 I was not hopeful on my chances with the selected battlefield effect for this round, but to score I would have to get up the board-and if I could get close I would run rings around the bigger, slower titans. So after careful consideration I adopted my favoured “Sod It” approach and just decided to go hell for leather.
On my right flank the larger maniple faced off against the Warbringer and a Reaver with a Melta, with the other maniple facing down a Warlord, the other Reaver and the banner of little anklebiters. My plan was to kill the Reavers and Knights, with the C-Beamer hounds placed to take on the Questoris if they managed to take down a Reaver first. Foreshadowing…….
The right flank I left one Reaver to deal with-giving him Experimental Locomotors and a better placed Concealment Barrage he was in position for a turn 2 charge into the Melta Reaver who crumpled under the assault. In the following turns he managed to get inside the scale of the Warbringer, before finally charging him in turn 4. However, he was actually the last enemy to fall to the Warp Runners in that battle, as all the action was happening on the left.
The other Reaver was thoroughly abused by long range fire during the first two turns, leaving him shieldless by the start of turn 2. As his brother charged on the other side of the battlefield, a First Fire from the enemy Warlord left him Quaked. Unable to get into contact with the other Reaver, he was swiftly surrounded by the anklebiters and brought down. I underestimated Knights on the charge. Not for the first time.
In recompense, the C-Beamer hounds opened fire and destroyed two of the knights, leaving just the Lord Scion shaken. Coming to his senses in the next turn he advanced closer to the paired Warhounds, as if to offer himself up as a target. One I was happy to take-its very satisfying to delete knights.
The other three Warhounds had been busy- two turns of full stride had brought them across the board and into the Warlords flank. On turn three they went for a squadron order charge-two of them into the warlord, the other into the wounded Reaver. It was here my dice rolling returned to form-rolling ones and taking hits to the legs for two of my three hounds. Thankfully they could still get into range (which I realise means I didn't even need to take the risk in the first place). While nothing was killed on the charge, the following combat phase finished them both off, giving me the full 5 points for A Score to Settle.
Final Score 45-0 to me.
Game 3
So for my final game of the day, and knowing I wasn't about to disgrace the team by not winning a single battle, I felt a little more confident. And the universe saw my confidence and rewarded me with a match against Dan (@darkrust_minatures on Instagram) and his stunning Laniaskara Ruptura. Check out his instagram and you’ll see- I had spent time earlier in the day drooling over them, but had said to Dan that while I loved to see them I hoped not to see them across the table from me.
I started to feel nervous again while setting up. Laniaskara are arguably more deadly in melee, with a weapon attack and a smash on the charge they would be able to almost guarantee an engine kill. I had not always been able to secure this on my charges, even with the Ferrox bonus to strength and my extra dice from my increased movement. I hoped I could use the battlefield effect to my advantage and kill some Reavers early on, then I might stand a chance. I realise as I type this up that Dan and I played the deployment wrong-should have been in diagonally opposite corners, but both used the corners on our own side.For Secondary I went for Preserve the Past, choosing my C-Beamer Princeps Senoris. I reasoned that if it all went wrong in the first 2 or 3 turns I could run away from the Reavers and hide them more than 12 inches away for the rest of the game.
Turn one was a very cagy turn- everyone moving forward ever so slightly, wanting to stay outside of 12 inches and not firing anything. That is, until Dan Warp Displaced his double chainfist Reaver Princeps Senoris forward and charged into one of my Reavers. As his chainfist brought my titan to near death, he rolled for his smash attacks and I prepared to lose a reaver. Then Nuffle smiled down upon me as Dan rolled all 2’s and 1’s. As my Reaver was also on a charge I struck back, then killed him in the combat phase as I had priority. Apart from that, a very quiet first turn as everyone hid in the dark.
This first turn was the turning point of the game. If my Reaver had died, I would have had to use more resources to handle the three Reavers on my right flank. As it was, Dan did everything right and was just plain unlucky.
Turn two I went for a charge with my other reaver into his brace of Warbringers-only to be sabotaged into a First Fire. Curses! I ended up Warp Displacing him toward the Warbringers, happily landing him in melee range and killing one. During the next turn I charged the other Warbringer from short range, using Unbridled Hatred to get an extra dice, and killed it-only for Dan to roll a wild fire result. The direction it had to turn caused it to collide with my Reaver, which was enough to wipe out my Reaver. One Reaver for two Warbringers-I'm happy with that exchange.
With my remaining titans, I went Reaver hunting. Using a Concealment Barrage I kept the critically damaged Reaver alive for a turn while I tried to repair some of the damage-only to lose it in turn three to another charge.
However that left me 5 Warhounds to take out both reavers. The corrupted squadron moved up and got into the rear of one of the Reavers, managing to kill it in turn 4 while Dan wisely retreated with his remaining titan. The game then ended on turn 4, due to rolling to see if there is a turn 5 and then 6. This still left me with full points for my primary and my secondary, and 4 points on A Score to Settle. Dan had killed enough of my titans to score himself 10 points on his primary.
Final score 44-10
Alex's Final Thoughts
Well that was a day of two halves-I definitely could have played better, but was starting to get into the melee mindset by the end. I think the Melta lances are a fun new weapon, but the short range hampers them quite a lot-I only got a few shots off with them across the day and they did damage, but feel for 5 points more you can’t beat a Plasma Blast Gun. The C-Beamers on Warhounds was a nervy prospect for me all day, not being willing to risk pushing for the longer range at multiple points due to bad rolls game one.
As for the event? The venue was good but is a little lacking in food options-but next time I'll bring lunch and that's that problem solved. Doing an OEW event was fun, but I wouldn't want to do it often-the battlefield/planetary effects could result in a negative play experience (NPE) if drawn badly. My suggestion for future events would be to maybe tailor these in advance to each battle.
I also wish there were stratagem hands, as per the MPG. Choosing stratagems secretly before each game leads to “gotchas”-my single biggest pet hate in wargaming. Would I have made the same mistakes if I knew what strats were available to my opponent? I mean I probably would have made some of them as I’m not the best player-but I found myself falling back into bad habits and not putting as much thought into my stratagems as a result. It also allows people to tailor Stratagems to counter your force.
On the whole it was a great day and I had a lot of fun. There were some gorgeous battle groups on display and some brilliant moments(including the group singing happy birthday over video call). My opponents were all great fun-particularly credit is due to Simon as I was really struggling with the doom and gloom of game one getting away from me. I’m keen to return to Board in Brum in the future as it’s a good sized venue that I feel could handle more AT players, and I always enjoy OEW play on some level.
Now for a cup of tea and ponder about Beachhead on the horizon…
Frazer
After preparing the mighty Metalica for their first outing on the battlefield, we were for a change playing with using OEW cards.
I chose titan hunter infantry for 2pts each game to keep it simple and an extra servitor clade when making repair rolls was going to be fruitful. Reavers with 4 dice and Warhounds with 3; yes please!!
The List
Legio Metalica
Allegiance: Loyalist
Ferrox Maniple
Reaver: Princeps Seniores, Swift Killer, Chainfist, Melta Cannon & Apocalypse Missile Launcher
Reaver: GatlingGattling Blaster, Melta Cannon & Apocalypse Missile Launcher
Warhound: Plasma Blast Gun & Vulcan Mega Bolter
Warhound: Plasma Blast Gun & Vulcan Mega Bolter
Warhound: Shudder Missiles & Vulcan Mega Bolter
Auxiliary Auxilliary Knight Banner
Acastus Porphyrion Lord Scion
Acastus Porphyrion Scion Marshall
Game 1
First game and my opponent was Duggie and his Kulisaetai Regia.
A quick roll on the secondary table and my objective is Preserve the Past - basically keep my Princeps Seniores alive and gain 5vp, undamaged as well is max 10vp.
Battlefield set up and missions selected, titans deployed by both players and we're ready to roll dice. Both players move up with Warhounds and retrieve their objectives. I managed to move into cover and protect my carrier from most attacks, however Duggie makes a fatal move and doesn't quite get his own Warhound secure.
Target acquired, I set to removing said Warhound as quickly as possible. Whilst Duggie is afraid of the Porphyrion knights I have taken he decides to concentrate on them leaving my other titans open to attack his remaining Warhounds and attempt to strip the shields from his Warlords. The game ends at turn 4 and I manage to scrape a 27-21 win.
One down, two to go.
Game 2
Second game is against the legendary Jonny Corps and his gorgeous Solaria (8 Warhounds is nothing to sniff at.) Pride in Precision is my secondary which scores me 3vp for each enemy titan destroyed by an attack without the melee trait. To a maximum of 9vp (+1 extra for a Seniores.)
Jonny must have learned from game 1 and deploys his THI's in the same buildings as mine effectively wiping them out. (That extra bit of shield stripping was sorely missed) he then manages to destroy my forward observers meaning I'm now hitting barrage weapons on 5+ if I don't have line of sight which is a bummer!
A lot of back and forth between us and I'm slowly gaining the centre of the board and pushing up on these pesky hounds. Turn 3 and I'm about to delete a Princeps Seniores Warhound and potentially push past the centreline into Jonny’s side of the board and he hits me with Agile Minded, which is a trait from Solaria that lets him interrupt after being hit. My already suffering Reaver is turned into a smoking crater mid-activation and that folks is where the game was lost.
My squadron of hounds were swiftly taken care of via Jonny's own squadrons and co-ordinated attacks leaving him open to push forwards into my zone and gain max points. His secondary mission was Secure Ground, where he had to select a piece of terrain in his deployment zone and keep me away from it, gaining the full 10vp for that also. 35-9 loss for me.
Two down, one to go.
Game 3
Game three and I'm playing Iain, one of the locals and his Legio Tempestus supported by a Psi-Titan.
Secondary mission is “Preserve the Past” again and I need to keep my Princeps Seniores safe. Stratagem phase of turn 1 and I get and absolute belter of a scatter with quake shells and hit 2 of his 3 squadroned Warhounds, causing collision damage to the lead hound and causing a critical hit.
Later in the round he moves the squadron and I hit it with shock mines, shutting it down. Now that the hounds are dealt with for a turn I concentrate on the Psi-titan and Full Stride my Reavers into the fray. I'm within 12” now and Iain manages to hit me with a Death Pulse from his Psi-titan but luckily other thanthat a single structure point not much happens.
My shooty Reaver strips the shields, disables the Psi weapon and manages to get a decent hit in causing some damage to the body. Next up is my melee Reaver and he's ready for a fight making a charge, getting 4 attacks and decimates the body causing an engine kill. The rest of the game is very one sided with my titans stalking and picking off Iain's unlucky hounds and Reaver. Maxing out on the primary and scoring 5vp for my secondary as my Seniores was structurally compromised I managed to win 35-0.
Frazer's Final Thoughts
Overall it was a great day's worth of gaming and the guys made us all feel welcomed. Unfortunately I didn't get a podium but I managed a respectful 5th place. I'd definitely play there again and who knows, because of this event I might play more of the open engine war scenarios!
Simon
I’ve played at a few events at Board in Brum over the years and have had a decent amount of success there. This time however it was the turn of Legio Ignatum to take to the battlefield.
The List
Legio: Ignatum
Allegiance: Loyalist
Regia Maniple
Warlord: Princeps Seniores, Favoured by Fortune, Conversion Beam Extirpator, Bellicosa Volcano Cannon, Apocalypse Missile Launchers, Tracking Gyroscopes & Ignatum Gravitonic Sensor Array
Warlord: Sunfury Plasma Annihilator, Macro Gatling Blaster, Apocalypse Missile Launchers, Tracking Gyroscopes & Ignatum Gravitonic Sensor Array
Warhound: Plasma Blast Gun, Vulcan Mega Bolter, Bastion Shielding
Warhound: Plasma Blast Gun, Vulcan Mega Bolter, Bastion Shielding
Warhound: Shudder Missiles, Shudder Missiles, Ignatum Gravitonic Sensor Array
Game 1
Game 1 I was paired up was against my fellow Twisted Titanicus contributor (and team member for Beachhead next month) Alex. My secondary objective was to keep my Seniores warlord alive. Alex was bringing something I’ve not faced before – Traitor Astorum comprising of a pair of Ferrox maniples, with nearly all the titans being corrupted with the reavers having Overwhelming Rage and three of the five Warhounds with Preternatural Grace.
Deployment was lines of battle, and I placed my Seniores on my left flank with a swarmer missile armed warhound and a plasma hound, the brawler warlord deployed in the centre and a plasma hound was deployed on my right flank.
I elected to go second, Alex decided to full stride most of his force towards me, bar the two long ranged hounds with conversion beamers and swarmer missiles. Unfortunately for him one of the reavers failed its command check, he also played War Lust meaning his hounds moved a terrifying 16” each and the reavers could move 13” thanks to the Astorum trait. I knew Alex was coming for me, so I decided to play a reactive game and give ground to make him keep moving. Unfortunately, one of Alex’s reavers failed its command check for awakening the machine spirit, being corrupted he rolled on the Awakened Entity table and wound up moving 2” backwards, this would be repeated in the next turn too, and turn 4. This made the game much easier for me as I didn’t have to worry about this reaver for some time.
On turn 1 I managed to destroy one of the three strong squadron of hounds, leaving it silenced. The aggressively moving close combat reaver was also destroyed by the combined fire of my swarmer hound and Seniores warlord. Alex also picked up his objective on turn 1.
Turn 2 I now had to deal with the two hounds pressing my left flank, since I was going second, I decided to sabotage the front warhound that was in front of one of my hounds and in arc of the brawler lord. I was lucky and rolled a first fire for it, which did very little. The second hound charged my plasma hound, I reacted with the Ignatum specific stratagem Punish Their Folly allowing me to fire at him before he had the opportunity to attack. I managed to land two maximal fire Plasma Blast Gun shots on his body, each one a crit destroying the warhound with its wreck falling on my hound and causing moderate damage to its legs.
The rest of the game was me pushing up against the backline hounds destroying both (the one holding the objective I narrowly managed to kill using titan hunter infantry) and Alex’s other reaver finally getting to the middle of the board only to be engaged by two warlords and the swarmer hound who managed to dispatch it with ease. Finally, I managed to secure Alex’s objective.
The game ended 40-0 in my favour with no engines of mine lost.
Game 2
Next up I was up against Dan and his incredible Laniaskara, Dan is an amazing painter and is well known for his rusty and decayed style. Each of these titans had been lovingly converted and are an incredible sight on the battlefield. My secondary objective once again was to keep my Seniores warlord alive. Dan’s force was a full Laniaskara Ruptura maniple including three corrupted reavers each with overwhelming rage.
I deployed my two plasma hounds on the right flank facing down two of the three reavers with my brawler lord on the left but able to move to the centre and my swarmer hound and Seniores warlord on the left corner. Dan deployed the two Warbringers opposite my warlords, as well as his Seniores reaver. The other two reavers were both deployed on the flank opposite my Warhounds Dan played quite cagily and moved most of his titans up the field hugging cover.
I managed to damage one of the Warbringers on turn 1. On turn 2 I decided to try and bait him with a warhound on each flank, Dan didn’t fall for this on the left flank but did try a warp displacement and charge with a reaver on the right going for my warlord, unfortunately he rolled a 3 for the warp displacement and didn’t get very far. This left him in the open and he was promptly taken apart by a warhound.
Turn 3 and Dan’s reaver on my left flank was still hiding behind a building, as it was his Seniores I presumed he had the same secondary as me, keep it alive. I had one hound on a full stride run up into a concealment barrage on the right flank, ready to score the main objective. The reaver on my right was destroyed by combined fire from the warlords and other plasma hound.
On turn 4 I managed to kill one of the Warbringers and get within 6” of Dan’s board edge, which if kept alive would max out my primary objective. On turn 5 I killed his Seniores with a lucky Plasma Blast Gun strike and ran my hound up his board edge to get into range of the final warbringer if there was a turn 6. There was turn a 6 and I managed to destroy the warbringer with combined fire from the entire maniple.
Final score for the round was 40-0 to me with no losses suffered.
Game 3
For the final game I was facing my good friend and long-term opponent Adam. Adam is a great chap to play and will always come up with something novel and leave you thinking. My secondary objective was to kill titans with targeted shots and an extra point for killing a seniores with a targeted shot. Adam was running a double ferrox Tritonis, one of which had a warlord in. The reaver was corrupted with overwhelming rage to guarantee a charge order.
Deployment was difficult, Adam didn’t squadron a single hound so was trying to bait me into a trap with my deployment, which I decided the only way around was to fight my way out of it. My Seniores warlord was once again in the corner facing Adam’s deployment zone on his side of the table, my brawler lord was facing Adam’s deployment zone on my side of the table. One plasma hound was alongside the brawler lord and the other behind the first hound. The swarmer hound was deployed in the opposite deployment zone. Adam had three hounds in the deployment zone on his side of the board and on my side of the board he had a warlord, reaver and his final warhound. We were 24” away from one another.
On turn 1, Adam went first and caught me completely off guard by playing Quake shells. This hit my brawler lord and caused him to make six shield saves and then moved him D6 '' in a random direction, Adam was hoping to throw it into the hounds. As it happened it passed most of its saves and was moved to hit the table edge. The warhound was slightly less fortunate and was thrown into a building however it took no damage from the five collision hits inflicted. Adam, not content with this, he then played Earthshaker Mines on it. It took a direct hit to the legs and was moved 5” in a straight line back avoiding any other collisions. Adam had just spent 4 points and had only caused a direct hit. Adam moved up with everything. I tried to have my warlord move up to meet him but the machine spirit rebelled and I rolled a stalwart result, venting some heat and repairing a shield lost earlier. I forgot that this vent would light me up like a Christmas tree for all of the titans he was facing off against. My swarmer hound started its lonely walk towards the rest of the fight in the hopes of contributing before the game was over.
In the combat phase, Adam unloaded into my Warlord and he survived, keeping his shields intact. In response I destroyed Adam’s warlord with the combined fire of my titans, we rolled up a magazine detonation. Adam had a bellicosa on the warlord, this was not going to be conducive to the long-term prospects of his reaver stood 1” from it. The reaver suffered three effective S13 hits as he was side on. All of these were crits on the body. Turn 2 Adam issued a charge order to his reaver, I issued a charge order to my warhound opposite it which Adam had used Blind Barrage on. Fortunately, I was going first this turn. I started the movement phase by playing Sabotage on his reaver and naturally, I rolled a charge order. My hound then charged and with six attacks, missed.
Adam then charged my hound in return, by simply twisting in place, I used Punish Their Folly and missed again. Adam then attacked and managed to place it at the end of both its tracks but couldn’t kill it. The Seniores warlord faced down the warhound swarm coming for it but there was no fire exchanged so the Warhounds wouldn’t be revealed. The brawler warlord and other plasma hound faced down the reaver and its accompanying warhound, the warhound was destroyed but the reaver lingered on. The swarmer hound continued its march home.
Turn 3 I dropped a Concealment Barrage on my brawler lord so I could emergency repair it and raise its voids as it was side on to two Plasma Blast Gun Warhounds so I thought it better to repair it now and get it into a position where it could contribute on the next turn. The reaver was finally destroyed this turn. And there was a standoff between my Seniores warlord and warhound against Adam’s warhound blob. Adam fired first and I returned fire destroying one of the hounds. My warhound tanked the shots against it by sharing shields with both warlords. Turn 5 saw my remaining plasma hound get behind Adam’s hound and destroy it and the swarmer hound finished off the final hound. With my opponent’s battlegroup destroyed the game ended. I then played my final stratagem, which was a Score to Settle, gaining an extra 6 victory points. Final game score was 46-10 to me. It was an incredible game and I got very lucky at the start which kept me in the game. Pitch black was brutal, I don’t think I got to use the long-range profile on my conversion beamer once.
Simon's Final Thoughts
I had a lot of fun at the event and was fortunate enough to win the event. I’ve been to Board in Brum twice before, for their first AT tournament back in 2020, which I also won and again in 2022 where I came third. I liked Board in Brum as a venue, it’s got a great local community and supports them well. Previously at events we got fish and chips for lunch included as part of the ticket price, but unfortunately this didn’t happen this time, which was disappointing, but I don’t begrudge them for it. Lunch was only half an hour and we wound up missing most of it so most of us didn’t eat anything aside from crisps we bought in the shop, since the venue is on an industrial estate it was a little inconvenient.
As for the event format, I don’t mind their house rules, I actually quite like playing without Dominant Strategist, we seldom use it for our friendly games at my local club. I don’t think Planetary and Battlefield Effects should be used in tournaments, they’re a bit too random and swingy for competitive events. It was certainly an experience and I had fun, but I wouldn’t want those effects outside of a narrative event where it’s expected. I genuinely disliked the old way of selecting stratagems, I found it far too easy to tailor my hand to my opponent whereas selecting a hand for the entire event requires some careful forethought about how you’ll be playing each game.
Unfortunately due to the limited turnout they didn’t have trophies but they did give all the winners a gift voucher. I received a £20 voucher to spend in store which I appreciated.
Overall, I had a lot of fun that day, I got to play Dan and Alex for the first time and I got to play Adam for the first time since October.
So there you have it, the first of many write-ups coming your way this year. We had a great day and did really well as a team, with Simon winning, Jay coming 3rd, Jake snagging Best Painted and the rest of us filling in 4th-7th.
The final standings for the event are below for information, and now we’re all off to continue preparing for Beachhead as it's approaching at pace!
Until next time!
Clash of the Titans Final Standings:
Simon S.
Jonny
Jay
Alex
Frazer
Jim
Jake
Adam
Duggie
Dan
Iain
Simon W.
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