Adeptus Titanicus: Heavy Hitters
Let’s take a look at some of the Heavy Hitters of the Grim-Dark!
Last time we talked about Titans, it was all about the Biggest of the Big Guns. This week we want to take a step down and look at the next biggest hitters on the battlefield. These Titans of War are by no means tiny – in fact these are more common than their Oversized Cousins. These are the Heavy Weights of the battlefield!
Warlord Titan
We have to start with this Titan. The Warlord Titan is the largest Titan that has ever been made by Forge World in the Warhammer 40,000 Scale. It’s an Icon weapon of war and has the firepower of an army at it’s disposal. There are lots of different weapon load-outs and variants running around.
The Warlord is by far the most widely employed, numerous and versatile class of Imperial Battle Titan deployed by the Collegia Titanica; it is second in power only to the rare Emperor Class Titans. Some Warlords date back to time of the Great Crusade or even the Dark Age of Technology. The sheer longevity of the Warlord means a variety of different patterns and variants have been built, some mounting unusual upgrades such as landing platforms for aircraft, siege rams to batter down walls and assault pods to disgorge infantry into the enemy’s strongholds. This also means the design’s capabilities and tolerances are well-known among the Mechanicus, making the Warlord an ideal test-bed for new devices conjured up by the Divisio Investigatus.
The primary role of a Warlord is as front-line combatant where the fighting is heaviest. Its primary line of defense are six Void Shield generators which intercept enemy fire before it even hits the war engine. So powerful are these shields that a Warlord can withstand continuous bombardment from over five dozen armored vehicle and artillery platforms with no loss of shield strength. Beneath the shields are meters of adamantium armoured plating, which themselves can ward off a regiment‘s worth of firepower with but minor scarring.The weaponry the Warlord mounts is similarly stupendous, with four primary Titan-grade systems and numerous secondary armaments for fighting in built-up areas. So powerful are these weapons that Warlords can level entire cities with them. A Warlord can easily destroy a Warhound Scout Titan in a matter of seconds, and will handily defeat a Reaver Battle Titan in a one-on-one duel. Warlord Battle Titans do have one weakness in that their plasma reactor is located in the abdominal cavity, making it susceptible to heavy weapons fire if the armour is breached. For this reason many Warlords are geared towards long-range fire support.
Phantom Titan
The Phantom Titan and it’s Seer/Warlock piloted cousin the Warlock Titan are two of the largest and most devastating Titans on the battlefield. We considered putting them in the same class as the previous article especially considering the Warlock is a legitimate threat to even the Emperor Class Titan. However, just based on pure size, we felt it was a better fit in the “Heavy Weight” category. If you’re looking for a Heavy Weight that swings like a Super-Heavy Weight, then the Warlock Titan is the one for you!
The Phantom Titan is the largest of the Eldar Titans, graceful constructs with superior agility and speed compared to other Titans. The pinnacle of Eldar warpcraft each one is constructed around a Wraithbone core, a psychic material which allows the souls of deceased Eldar contained within Spirit Stones to move freely throughout the machine. This gives the Titan a consciousness of its own, which merges with that of the Phantom’s crew and help guide them. Some Phantom Titans will have a single Steersman pilot them, while others will instead be guided by twins or triplets, but regardless when their consciousness merges with that of the Titan’s they create one sentience able to think, react and move with the speed of an Aspect Warrior. The Titan’s crew control their war engine from the head cockpit, giving them a good view from 25 meters above the ground.
The Phantom’s primary arm mounts can be fitted with some of the Eldar’s largest and deadliest weapons. These include twin Phantom Titan Pulsars, Distortion Cannons or a special Power Glaive known as the Ashuna-Valcry’le. Secondary weapons mounted in its shoulders include Phantom Missile Launchers and either a Pulse Laser or Titan-grade Starcannon. It is also protected by a Titan-grade Holo-Field projected by the large rear fins.
Phantom Titans do not participate in the Eldar’s normal warfare operations of raids and surgical strikes, but are instead reserved for when the Craftworld must engage in pitched battle. Only during these desperate times are the Webway portals opened wide enough to allow the Phantom Titans to stride upon the battlefield and wreck terrible destruction upon their foes.
Banelord
The Banelord is the Chaos counter-part to the Warlord Titan. These are the Titans that turned traitor during the Heresy and after 10,000 years in the warp have become twisted reflections of the Chaos God of War – Khorne. So corrupted by the warp it’s hard to tell if these Titans are still “Titans” and not creations of the hellforges of chaos.
The Banelord Chaos Titan is a huge war machine – the Khornate counterpart to the Imperial Warlord Battle Titan – armored with a carapace of semi-organic shaped armour. Banelords were among the Traitor Titan Legions which took part in the Horus Heresy against the Imperium. With the defeat of the rebellion, the Titan Legions that followed Horus were driven into the Eye of Terror, which has become their exile and safe haven.
Over the thousands of years spent in the Eye of Terror, the Banelords have been altered to such an extent that it is no longer clear whether the Banelords are corrupted Warlord Titans or creations from the hellish forges of Chaos themselves. The Banelords have taken on the appearance and colors associated with Khorne, the Titans’ heads have been reshaped into daemonic visages, and flags, kill banners and pennants fly with the symbols of the Blood God. No one knows whether the Chaos Titans are still piloted by their original crew, their lives made eternal within the Eye of Terror, or by something far worse.
Banelords embody the nature of Khorne, making furious advances against the enemy, and are strengthened by the amount of bloodshed during battle, their destructive power increasing when the tides of battle are in favour of the Khornate army. They are also under the protection of Khorne, which gives them resistance to psychic attacks.
Banelords carry weaponry which is unique to their type. Like the Warlords, they carry immense weapons on each arm – however, they also mount a large assault cannon protruding from their mouths, a heavy weapon on their back carapace (usually an enormous version of the Havoc Missile Launcher more often found on smaller Chaos Vehicles), and a sinuous, prehensile tail tipped with a large battle cannon. Due to the nature of the Blood God, the Banelord is geared towards close combat, mounting a unique weapon known as a Doomfist – a combination of monstrous Chainfist and power fist, additionally mounting a pair of melta cannons for close range firepower.
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Great Gargant
What the Orks lack in ingenuity they make up for with scale. The Great Gargant is just that – a larger version of a Gargant, much the same way the Mega Gargant is an even larger version. “If you build it bigger, you can put more dakka on it.”
Great Gargants are more powerful versions of the OrkGargant, being larger in size and sporting more weapons and Kustom Force Fields. They are somewhat rare as the amount of bullying required to get them built ensures that only Ork Warbosses can raise their massive bipedal forms. Great Gargants are a potent threat to any enemy force.
AdvertisementGreat Gargants are heavily armoured and can sport a wide variety of weapon-systems. They often double the amount of ‘Soopaguns’ found on smaller Gargants, sometimes by a form of crude twin-linking that seems to involve huge amounts of rope, chains and nails. As well as a battery or two of artillery pieces, Great Gargants often feature fearsome ‘belly-guns’ and high-powered energy weapons mounted in the head section. Such a weapon emplacement is often referred to as the Gaze of Mork, Mork being one of the Ork Gods. Another notable weapon often found mounted on Great Gargants is the Lifta-Droppa, a fearsome application of Traktor Beam technology.
There you have it folks. These are the Heavy Weights of the Titans. Next time we take a look at the Middle Weights of the Battlefield!
