Adeptus Titanicus: Kings of Battle
When it comes to Titans of the Grim-Dark only two of them reign supreme – Behold the Kings of Battle!
With Adeptus Titanicus on the horizon we thought it would be a great time to go back and look at some of the Big-Boys on the battlefield. So when you want to talk about the most EPIC Titans there are really only two contenders: The Emperor-Class Titan and the Mega Gargant! Lets take a look at these two massive weapons of war.
Emperor-Class Titan
The Imperator
Emperor Titans are immense, mobile fortresses, mounting veritable arsenals of weaponry, protected by void shield generators and armour so thick an Emperor Titan would not be out of place on a planetary defence installation. Emperor Titans are among the largest mobile battle units that can be deployed on a planet’s surface. It forms a vital role, employed against the most formidable and overtly powerful enemies, providing massive, destructive and directed power. Emperor Titans employ the same technologies as other Titans but on a massive scale, relying on huge plasma reactors to supply their colossal requirements.
The most noteworthy feature of an Emperor is the fortified castle-like structure which occupies the entire upper half, sporting ornate features like spired towers and stained glass viewing portals. The building is heavily-armed, and more than capable of contributing to combat. Due to its prominent position, the Titan’s head is situated lower than normal on the body, almost at the same level as the arm weaponry.
The most famous variant of the Emperor-Class Titan is The Imperator.
The Imperator is one of the larger examples of an Emperor Titan. Only the most battle-hardened Princeps are given command of an Imperator. In comparison to Battle Titans of all classes, Imperators are rare with most Titan Legions only able to field three or four Imperators in a campaign. The Grand Masters of Titan legions often use Imperator Titans, modified to a greater or lesser degree, as mobile headquarters. From here they issue commands to the whole legion or even lead vital assaults personally if the situation warrants it.
AdvertisementImperators are employed most of the time as vast mobile fortresses to strengthen vulnerable sectors of the battlefront or to act as a reserve force behind the front-line. When a major offensive begins, Imperator Titans spearhead massive assaults of men and machines, their terrifying firepower blasting a path through enemy lines. A complete company of infantry plus supporting troops can be housed on board the Imperator to guard it against infantry assault or be transported to a vital objective.
The Imperator is configured to deliver salvos of devastation at all ranges, the fire intensifying as the Imperator closes with its target. However, Imperators are not normally equipped to fight other Titans in close combat. Instead they rely on their deadly firepower to cripple opponents before they get too close.
While the Warmonger is built of the same chassis, it provided a different role in combat.
The Warmonger is very similar in structure and appearance to the Imperator Titan. Which was designed first is now lost to the mists of time, and all that is known for certain is that both Imperators and Warmongers have served in the Titan Legions since well before the Horus Heresy. However, while the two types of Emperor Titan are similar, they perform different functions of the battlefield. The Warmonger’s weaponry is configured to provide long range fire rather than the more flexible configuration of weapons found on the Imperator. In battle, Warmongers will usually be held back to provide long range support, bringing down devastating salvos of missiles and defence laser fire on the enemy, while other units forge ahead and drive into the heart of the enemy.
The size of the Emperor-Class Titans has been debated over the years. Different novels sources have listed different heights ranging from 43 meters tall (Dies Irae) all the way up to 100 meters tall (Fallen Angels). The artwork of the Emperor-Class Titans has also varied in scale over the years as well. However, there is one thing everyone can agree on: They are MASSIVE.
Mega Gargant
This Ork monstrosity is something every Mek Boy dreams of…and every Imperial Guardsmen has nightmares about. Standing as tall as the Emperor-Class Titans (and thus, the scale is also hotly debated) these are the largest class of land-based Gargants the Orks have constructed:
Mega Gargants are the largest class of Ork Gargants, colossal Titan-class machines of war that the Ork race considers effigies to their Gods Gork and Mork. Dwarfing even Great Gargants, Mega Gargants rival the size of an Imperial Imperator Titan, bristling with enormous guns, missiles, and other types of outlandish weapons of mass destruction. By Ork standards, Mega Gargants are extremely complicated machines that only the most brilliant Mekboy can engineer, and are among the most devastating Ork weapons, deployed only for the largest Waaagh!‘s. Though they can be equipped with advanced equipment like Gaze of Mork, Skullkrusha Mega-Cannon, Kustom Force Fields and Lifta-Droppas, just like most Ork technology the Mega Gargant is extremely crude and lack the scientific sophistication of human or Eldar Titans.
pic via epic40k
While the Mega Gargants might not be as technologically sophisticated as the Emperor-Class Titans, it more than makes up for that with it’s raw firepower. More Guns = More Dakka after all!
Not as technologically advanced as their Imperial and Eldar counterparts, Gargants are still fully capable of destroying the Titans of other races. Like many products of Orkoid military engineering, the Gargant relies on a combination of comparatively simple technology and devastating heavy firepower, an attitude summed up by Boss-MekBadlug One-Leg in his oft-quoted dictum “S’gorra be dead shooty, wiv loadza gunz all over.”
Ork Gargants do not have sophisticated mind impulse units like Human and Eldar Titans. Instead, the Gargant’s Kaptin must rely on bellowing his orders down a speaking tube so that his officers will move the Gargant and fire its weapons as he wishes. Repair crews are composed of Gretchin, whose small build suits them to crawling through cramped spaces armed with wrenches and oily rags.
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Want to learn more about these Warmachines? Check out Lexicanum for more:
Ork Gargants
Imperial Titans
That rumble you feel…that’s the Titans on the move.
