Adeptus Titanicus: Room For Growth
Adeptus Titanicus has the potential to have a really impressive range of models. There’s nothing more EPIC than massive god-machines going toe-to-toe and there is lots of room for expansion.
I have been pretty excited about the return of Titans on the Tabletop. I love the look and scale of Adeptus Titanicus and I really hoping that it gets more love in the very near future. We know the Reaver and the Warhound are on the way already – it’s just a matter of time for those kits to be released. But as a game and a model range, Adeptus Titanicus has plenty of room to grow.
More Titans, Please
The first and most obvious area of growth is the addition of more Titans. I’m not just talking about more weapon options or a re-boxing of the Warlord Titan. But NEW Titans to the range. Let’s start with the big-daddy of them all:
The Emperor-Class Titan
These are the largest type of Imperial Titan that was produced by the Imperium. It’s not just a Titan, but a mobile fortress – as in it has a freaking FORTRESS on it’s back. Ridiculous? Yeah, but it’s also one of the most iconic images from all of the Grimdark.
There are actually two different variants that were know to have existed – the Imperator and the Warmonger. As a model kit, GW could certainly construct a dual kit and include bits for both. In terms of scale, that’s the real question. The art work can be a tad misleading due to perspective and a lot of the background lore is conflicting in terms of height. But in the tabletop, I think if you took one of the larger 40k Knight kits (like an Acastus Knight Porphyrion or even a Knight Castellan) and stood it next to a Warlord, you might be in the ballpark.
We know GW and Forge World can make BIG kits. Even though the Warlord is about as large as they want to go (for now) there is still the possibility they could go BIGGER.
Chaos Infusion
The current setting of the game is the Horus Heresy. Personally, I think choosing to start there was probably a good call. It limits the amount of risk because you only need to focus on one set of miniatures to start – traitors and loyalists both used the same Titans. That said, how long do you really think it’s going to be before we start to see some Chaos Tainted Titans pop-up?
The skeleton of the Reaver is done – all GW would really need to do is create some new armor plates and weapon swaps and BOOM – Chaos Reaver option. What’s preventing them from doing the same thing for the Warlord or Warhound? Time and resources, yes…but it’s certainly not a tech issue.
I really don’t think fans are giving the designer enough props for the way they laid out the sprues for this game. If you look at the three Warlord Sprues, it’s clear to see a lot of fore-thought went into them. If they “Chaosified” the above sprue then they could easily repackage it as a Chaos Warlord. Same with the weapon sprues. It’s brilliant.
“What about the setting? It’s still during the Horus Heresy” – You’re 100% correct. They could always advance the timeline and go past the Heresy-Era as they add new kits. Look at how they have branded the “game” vs the “setting” of the game. The next expansion could be “Adeptus Titanicus: Age of Chaos” or whatever they wanted to call it. Speaking of which…
Bring On The Xenos
While it would more technically complex than just swapping out Sprues in the box, I think a Xenos expansion is a pretty obvious next step. Just as advancing the timeline allows for the addition of Chaos the same can be said for Orks, Eldar and even Tyranids.
Tommy is already getting started…
Again, a minor timeline jump and BOOM, we have “Adeptus Titanicus: Rise of the Beast” – now we have a perfect reason for Gargants, Great Gargants, and Mega Gargants running around. Oh and let’s not forget the Stompa (which are basically the Knights of the Orks in that scale). Or Gorkanauts if you wanted a “smaller” unit. And I’m not 100% sure, but I’d bet money that both the Stompa and the Gorkanaut kits could be converted from whatever CAD file they have to the Adeptus Titanicus Scale…
The Eldar can pop-up pretty much whenever, timeline wise. And the Tyranids can appear anytime after Behemoth shows up on the scene.
As far as the rules go, each race would probably need rules and play-testing. I’m not under any illusions that it would be a fast turn around. But that doesn’t mean it’s not feasible. The core concept of the game – managing your giant robot’s mobility, defenses, and firepower – all translate over. The Command Consoles would need to look different and the naming would need to be converted – but again, all those things are doable.
An Ork Mek’s Mock-up of the Gargant Command Console
Adeptus Titanicus is a game that could very easily have some legs on it. If it gets the support it needs, it could be a thriving force on the tabletop.
These might all be pipe-dreams for now, but it’s sure is fun to think about where GW can go from here…Where do you think they can take Adeptus Titanicus?
