Warhammer 40K: Lost Titan Weapons of EPIC
Today we look back 30 years at the exotic titan weapons that blasted and stomped across Warhammer’s EPIC tabletops in 1993, and may one day return.
EPIC got it’s start with the very early Adeptus Titanicus from 1988 . That was a titan-only affair soon to be reinvented by Specialist Games. EPIC quickly grew into a full GW franchise with two editions of EPIC Space Marine in the very early 1990s.
The game was well balanced, and thrived. It spawned four boxed expansions covering all of the Grimdark’s factions:
- Armies of the Imperium – Space Marines & Imperial Guard
- Renegades – Chaos & Eldar
- Warlords – Ork and Squats
- Hive War – Tyranids
It was a wonderful era of EPIC-scaled creativity and all manner of minis and equipment appeared, many of which have disappeared into the mists of time. Today we take a look at a set of very non-standard titan equipment and add-ons that let you really expand what your God-Machines could do on the tabletop.
Who still has some of these bits lying around your dusty shelves?
Onto the EPIC Weapon Rules
Now let’s dive into the background and rules for all that stuff up there. You can ignore the rules, as the background is great enough. Who knows, one day Forge World, Adeotus Titanicus, or a future hinted at EPIC, may bring some of these exotic pieces of kit back in either modern 2023 Adeptus Titanicus scale or full 28mm scale!
EPIC Sneaky Favorites
Here we see two of my favorites, the Barrage Missile Launcher – bane of massed infantry formations. I once saw one of those unleash a full 7 blast templates on a full IG infantry company caught on the open field – most satisfying! Next up is the funky Carapace Landing Pad – which came with a free Land Speeder. The teensy speeder looked cool atop a Warlord, then could dart out to allow non-LoS firing solutions to its host titan. Lots of tricks to be had when city-fighting with that one.
Best of the Best – Corvus Assault Pod
There is a lot of coolness on this page, but you can read all of it AFTER we talk about the Corvus Assault Pod. Only the Imperium would devise a titan arm/giant mouth/assault ram full of 20 Terminators just waiting to get shoved into a building. Needless to say, there were very, very few defenders who could fight off such a force – making the Corvus one of the most nail-biting risk-reward systems for capturing that enemy objective in a well-defended distant building. It also looks AWESOME – scroll up and see. Now read the Harpoon Missile – YIKES!
The Fire Control Centres were interesting choices as they used up a critical weapon spot but gave you a +1 to hit for all to-hit rolls. Rules as written, you could be super ballsy and mount two up top on a Warlord, and take a pair of the scariest arm weapons with a +2 to hit. Just make sure you stay back as you will be dead meat if anything can get into melee with your gunslinger titan.
Some Returned Favorites
Here we see the dreaded Trident, a favorite for close-combat equipped titans. Seeing a massive ranged weapon-only titan get its head ripped clean off foe by a canny foe with a Trident is really worth your time! These have seen a rebirth of a kind by Legio Audax in modern Adeptus Titanicus. Then we can move on to the highly feared Warp Missile. You only get the one shot, but it ignores shields, and if it hits… watch out – there will be fireworks! Modern Titanicus has also brought this one back, so there’s hope for others.
Finally we get to the Wrecker. The only thing better than operating a wrecking ball is attaching a giant one to a titan and letting it swing! There really is no better way to take a building down in style than the Wrecker.
Who knows what tricks that Warlord has up it’s sleeves.
The Modern Day – Legions Imperialis
First Adeptus Titanicus returned, and in time EPIC in the all new Legions Imperialis. It’s been over thirty years since the craziness of the original EPIC titan weapons were rampaging across tabletops, and if GW wanted to, they could return. My EPIC fingers are firmly crossed.
~Thanks for this trip down memory lane folks. What are your favorite memories of the old EPIC?
If the Adeptus Titanicus/Legions Imperialis team is reading this… CORVUS ASSAULT POD – CORVUS ASSAULT POD – CORVUS ASSAULT POD!
