Warhounds 2 Warmasters

News from the front lines… A Traitor’s Tale by Taff, Emberlord Secundus

Welcome, everyone, and apologies that this did not come out straight after the simply wonderful event put on by Badger. Life has this annoying habit of getting in the way when you least expect it to.

Before we go any further, I want to thank everyone from both teams for being such good sports throughout the day and getting into the feel of the narrative event. An organiser can only do so much to galvanise the spirits of Princeps, but it’s the players who top everything off to make an event come alive.

However, without Badger and his team from his local club, there would be no event for us players to roll dice at, so caps off and war horns blasting loud in salute for the fine people organising and running the event. Thank you very much for an amazing day!

So. Diving straight in, what was Lost Legios 3?

The Lost Legios series of events is a narrative campaign set on the world of Treavanion Tertius. Marking the 3rd event in the series, the games played here captured the ever-evolving war between the loyalist lapdogs of the Emperor of Mankind and the Glorious Rebellion led by Warmaster Horus who Gloriu—BLAM.

Sorry, everyone, I got a bit carried away with the whole traitor rhetoric. It was indeed my first narrative event, and good gosh… WHAT AN EVENT.

Badger had gone all out for us: custom tables, custom missions, missile silos firing on other tables (more on those later), even air conditioning.

The tables were set out marking the three main regions of Treavanion Tertius: Northern and Southern Hemispheres, with a band around the equator to fight on. This allowed Badger to design three sets of missions:

• One highly narrative with complex rules (white-out blizzards, usable missile silos).
• A middle set with flavour but simpler rules (rock formations that could be shot to trigger difficult terrain).
• A third set similar to matched play with optional special rules, allowing players to stay familiar while adding a little flavour.

Flying the Warhounds to Warmasters (W2W) flag for the loyalists was none other than our amazing social media lead, Princess, who took along a Legio Solaria force headed by a Warmaster Titan. Jay and I joined the traitors, with Jay captaining the team throughout the day.

What was I, a staunch loyalist to the Imperium for over 20 years (despite the six months in Heresy v1 where I played World Eaters), doing on the traitors’ side in a narrative?

Well, you see, Badger had kindly asked me to fill in to even up the numbers last minute, and I’d quietly been beavering away on a secret project for the last six months, which was (drumroll please, editor…) Traitor Laniaskara!

Yes, you read that right. Hold on to your mechadendrites because it gets better. Not only was I running Laniaskara, but I was running a Fortis Maniple supported by a Direwolf (full list at the end).

What possessed me to run this? Simple: it’s a meme, and I wanted to learn how charging works in Adeptus Titanicus. After playing at competitions for the last 12 months and casually for six years prior, I had never really messed with the melee rules.

What then was my grand plan, going into a prestigious narrative event where showmanship is encouraged and meta is shunned?

To quote the greatest God of all things himself:

TURN ONE CHARGE! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! KILL MAIM BURN!

That’s right. My cunning plan (so cunning you could pin a tail on it and call it a grox) was to sprint at my opponents and punch them repeatedly. Ignatum BS for shooting? Don’t care. Regia shield sharing? Irrelevant, as melee bypasses shield rules.

The Games

Round One – FIRE ZE MISSILES!!!!!!

Matched against Luc running loyalist Fureans (my Game One opponent from Embers 3), I was on the defensive—a silly notion for a melee Legio, I know. I had to defend the great Ordinatus Maximus in the centre while Luc deployed along the two short board edges (Taff surrounded… EXCELLENT! Now I can charge in ANY direction!).

This was honestly my favourite game of the day. Luc is a delight to play and a true gentleman. Despite him blowing up my Princeps Senioris with his Warbringers Turn 1, I managed to hold on and secure the Ordinatus Maximus throughout, releasing a total of four missiles of UTTER ANNIHILATION.

Rolling an 8+ on a D10 in the end phase each turn, my team captain could pick a table and fire a blast template so large it would make a Magos Ordinatus weep. Unfortunately, our scatter dice had other ideas, and when the dust settled, only a single traitor Warhound took one pip of damage (yes… our own side. Lesson: don’t give blood-hungry melee Legios intercontinental ballistic missiles).

Result: Many dead engines on both sides, several glorious charges, and a win for the Traitors.

Round Two – Convoy Ambush

Next up was Ian Courtney with his beautiful Legio Ignatum, running double Ferrox maniples with supportive knight banners. Another rematch, as he had smacked my Xestobiax nicely at Embers 3. Could I get revenge for crimes against Xestobiax? Time (and dice) would tell.

The attacker (Ian) had to control a Mechanicus convoy marker and move it to my board edge. My job? Stop him or slow him down enough for a draw.

Problem: I’m Laniaskara. I don’t do objectives. I just charge everything (ok, I fire missiles too, but big explosions are cool). So my only real option was to kill all of Ian’s Titans before he could move the convoy.

What followed was four turns of utter carnage:

• Ian sabotaged my Direwolf Turn 1, stopping a crucial charge.
• My Warlord Titan used Warp Displacement and reactor pushes to leap across midfield and obliterate a Reaver Titan with a claw charge.
• I managed to charge and destroy the two Ignatum Warhounds holding the convoy.
• My Warlord fell to Ian’s Direwolf and Warhound but crushed Ian’s Direwolf in its death throes.
• Ian’s backline Reaver exploded spectacularly, taking out another Ignatum Reaver.

Despite this, Ian’s Questoris Knights and remaining Warhound cleaned up. It came down to a priority roll in Turn 4: if I won, I could charge and secure the win. I rolled a 5. Ian rolled higher. The Knights charged, finishing off my last Reaver.

Result: A draw. Ian tabled me, but the convoy was 30” short of my edge.

What. A. Game.

Round Three – A Good Old Punch-Up

By now, my brain was flagging, so I asked Jay for a simpler mission table. I faced Gregg with more Ignatum (a theme at LL3, it seems). Gregg, running a Regia, had a strong list, but we had a city map, and my Titans were hungry for charges.

To spare the word count:

Turn 1 Charge: Direwolf kills one of Gregg’s Warhounds, breaking Regia shield sharing.

I Sprint up the board, dive into a massive punch-up.

Gregg fought hard, taking down my Direwolf and Warlord with some very accurate Vulcan mega bolter fire

By Turn 4, all of Gregg’s Titans lay dead on the field.

We chatted after, noting that without sabotage, mines, or vox blackout, it was a tough match for Gregg on a terrain-heavy map. Full respect to him for fighting fiercely every step, for remaining steadfast and never giving an inch of ground without punishing me for it first. I look forward to playing him again at some point, no doubt with less cover for me to hide behind and more of my titans dead on the field.

Results and Reflections

2 wins and a draw on my first outing with Laniaskara—not bad considering my goal was to get a charge off each game and soak up the ambiance. Mission accomplished.

The final event result? The loyalists took victory by a single game win. What a day.

I even walked away with some beautiful 3D-printed Knight Lancers, a welcome painting project for the week.

Final Thoughts

Once again, massive thanks to everyone who organised, ran, and played at LL3, especially Badger, who was the driving force. I cannot recommend the event enough. If another one rolls around, seriously consider attending. It was a day full of laughs, many titan explosions, and eye-watering painting. Jim from Twisted Titanicus won “Best Painted” with his stunning Ignatum, and it was well deserved.

Anyway, with the word count now well over 2,000 and the day closing, thank you for sticking with me, and I wish you all the correct numbers on your dice for your next game.

DEATH TO THE FALSE EMPEROR!

Photo credits go to Lost Legios