Warhounds 2 Warmasters

Hello everyone! Jay and I were having a conversation the other day and he suggested I write something up about Beachhead. Now I didn’t think an article about me going through my games or the event itself would be that interesting but what I thought might be interesting would be for me to go through my approach to list building, the list itself and how it works.

The approach

So firstly, my approach to writing a list, this is probably the dullest part in that I try to write a balanced all comers list, I don’t often write lists that skew into doing a single “thing” exceptionally well. I want to be able to respond to any situation, mission or opposing lists which might mean I struggle in certain match ups but I am confident I can still compete.

When building a list I generally ask myself what I want to include, what I think I need to include and most importantly what would I need to paint for it, I’m not Jay so I won’t be painting an entire force in a week, so I’ve got to choose which legio I want to take from the ones I own and whether I’m prepared to paint any additional engines or weapons.

This would be my fourth Beachhead, each one I’ve been to has had a different points limit or restrictions in play. This year was a blend of Open Engine War missions mixed with Matched Play Guide deployments with a points limit of 1850. This is the first event to try this and it looked like it would provide an interesting challenge. Surprisingly, of all the events I’ve been to, this would be the first 1850 event I’ve attended.

So firstly, I knew I wanted to take my Legio Victorum as I didn’t want to paint a brand new legio for Beachhead again, I knew I’d likely add an engine or two for it. My Victorum were built to run a Crusade Legio originally but I decided when I did them that if I wasn’t allowed to run them as a crusade Legio then I’d run them as Praesagius, as it turned out I played two events with a Crusade Legio and then stopped, it wasn’t a fun experience for either player. I knew I wanted a mix of mobility and firepower, I expected that anything more than a single Warlord would be inefficient on points and would adversely affect overall mobility, Open Engine War has lots of objectives markers so every titan might be required to get on to them, with the Wrath and Ruin mission almost certain to come up (I wound up practising this mission two or three times), I couldn’t afford the mobility penalty a second Warlord would bring. I knew I wanted at least a pair of tournament pattern Warhounds and a Reaver but probably two as I suspected they’d be doing a lot of work. I was allowed to take vortex weapons again after Jay decreed I was banned from using them for the 2025 season after demonstrating how unpleasant a double vortex lost could be (fun story, I sent Jay a video of me getting the box of with the vortex templates out on New Year’s Day when he was aggressively hungover, I could almost hear the groan) (Ed Note: Simon is the monster responsible for introducing 2 Vortex Missile lists to the competitive meta – something for which he must introduce 100 new souls to play Adeptus Titanicus to make amends )(Note to the Editor: working on it.). I also wanted to set myself a challenge and not take either a Regia or Ferrox maniple.

The list

Perpetua Battleline Maniple (Legio Praesagius)

• Warlord titan: Conversion Beamer Extirpator (Hardened Casing), Mori Quake Cannon, Apocalypse Missile Launchers, Tracking Gyroscopes. Princeps Seniores – Favoured by Fortune
• Reaver titan: Gatling Blaster, Volcano Cannon, Apocalypse Missile Launcher
• Reaver titan: Gatling Blaster, Melta Cannon, Warp missile Support Rack (Vortex Payload)

Lupercal Light Maniple (Legio Praesagius)

• Warhound titan: Swarmer Missile Pod, Swarmer Missile missile Pod, Bastion Shielding. Princeps Seniores – Dominant Strategist
• Warhound titan: Plasma Blastgun, Plasma Blastgun, Bastion Shielding
• Warhound titan: Plasma blast gun, Plasma blastgun, Bastion shielding

Stratagem Hand

• Precision Volley (2SP)
• Concealment Barrage (1SP)
• Blind Barrage (1SP)
• Iron Resolve (1SP)
• Sabotage (2SP)
• Vox Blackout (3SP)
• A Quick Kill (1SP)
• Justice for the Fallen (1SP)

How it all fits together

First off, we’re going to look at the legio. Praesagius has an amazing toolkit available to them. Their first trait, Pinpoint Accuracy allows you to reroll the location die when at long range, this is an incredible ability, allowing you to fish for the result you want, especially useful for getting out of hitting a weapon with a high strength attack. It’s also useful for attempting to land shots in damaged locations instead of targeting them, allowing for more hits since you don’t have to make targeted shots. The next trait is ‘Fluid Command Structure’, where if a Princeps Seniores titan is destroyed then you can designate a new Princeps Seniores in that maniple, the original still counts as destroyed for objectives, the new one doesn’t get Seniores trait but does get the +2 to command checks when issuing orders, this will come in useful for the Lupercal maniple. Their final trait, ‘Against the Impossible’ is incredible, once per game a single titan can undergo an emergency repair when it suffers critical damage from a weapon attack. This will save a titan from being destroyed or get it’s shields back. They have a single stratagem, Precision Volley which gives all Praesagius titans +1 to hit at long range for a turn. This will be useful for alpha strikes and targeted shots. They have a princeps trait that is a twisty objective, Tim took that in his Beachhead list. I’ll admit I forgot it existed but I wouldn’t have traded either of my traits for it.

Next up we’ll discuss the maniple choices as they’re not the most common. They were both chosen as they fit with what I could fit in to the points. I could have taken a Ferrox or Venator maniple but as previously stated, I didn’t want to take one. The second maniple would then have had to have been an Axiom which isn’t bad but I can’t get the most out of its trait in a minimum maniple when I take a second maniple. Taking a Fortis maniple would have allowed me to share shields and potentially reduce incoming damage but at a cost of limiting my board presence as I will need to keep a reaver with the warlord or the reavers together. The Perpetua is an underrated maniple that I really enjoy, it’s got the same base composition as a Fortis maniple (the full maniple is a warlord and four reavers) the traits aren’t something you’ll always be using but they can come in clutch. The ability to issue emergency repairs on an unmodifiable 2+ means a reaver goes from a 70% chance to get the order to a 90% chance so the likelihood of needing an Iron Resolve for it is reduced. For the warlord, this matters less as it’s a Seniores anyway so is on a +2 to it’s 3+ Command anyway. The next part of the trait is more situational but has the potential to be help out much more than most people think, getting an extra repair dice in the Damage Control phase has the potential to be game defining in a single turn on reavers it boosts their repair ability up to that of warlords and mitigates some low rolls on other dice. The downside is you have to stand still that movement phase. For the warlord, it represents the ability to keep it firing that conversion beamer, it’s going to keep the heat under control, if the enemy starts targeting it, it’s going to keep the shields in that wonderful 3+ save bracket. For the reavers, if I have to put them on Emergency Repairs, they’re likely standing still so they can shoot. That’s going to help them get their shields back or repair crits. Also remember that the Praesagius ability allows me to make an additional Emergency Repair once per game, meaning a reaver could roll 10 repair dice in a single turn (I almost put Martian Servitor Clades into my hand as that would give me an additional 2 clade until the end of the next strategy phase) (Ed Note: I am disappointed you didn’t, I would have found it hard to not laugh when any of your opponents found that out!). I wanted to try and keep titans alive and functional for as long as possible as so many of the missions have objective markers to control.

Now, on to the loadouts! The Warlord, I love Warlords, they’re just wonderful models. It’s a standard artillery platform with the Princeps Trait ‘Favoured by Fortune’ for accuracy. It’s got a Mori Quake Cannon, it’s cheap (too cheap), it has good strength, which I figured at 1850 most lists would be focussed on Reavers or Warhounds, it has large Blast for dealing with Knight Banners and finally Quake and Concussive to ruin people’s mobility, positioning, plans and general day. The Conversion Beamer Extirpator is there to remove problems, at long range with Maximal Fire the weapon is S14, allowing for the rapid removal of Acastus banners and putting very large holes in enemies, no matter their scale. It has a Hardened Casing as I had 5 points leftover, it can be useful to prevent it being shot off by anything of S5 or lower. Then it’s Apocalypse Missile Launchers with tracking gyros. They’re the best warlord carapace weapon and can contribute in all situations, they don’t really need any more explanation.

The Vortex Reaver, this is a standard brawler with a Gatling Blaster and Melta Cannon. It also has a Warp Missile Support Rack upgraded with Vortex Payload. Vortex Missiles are not the most reliable weapon, they have the potential to be exceptionally destructive but they also might just whiff. This is mitigated slightly by Legio Praesagius, if I’m at long range, I can reroll the location on the initial hit. With Precision Volley, it has +3 to hit at long range, effectively mitigating cover or other sources of negative ‘to hit’ penalties. The idea behind bringing the Vortex Missile is to put pressure on an opponent and attempt to dictate their positioning. The presence of a Vortex Missile means that it is incredibly risky for an opponent to have titans in close proximity while titans in base to base contact will be my priority targets.  This may manifest as an opponent staggering their deployment or leaving warhounds exposed which means the Warlord will be focussing on those targets of opportunity. Other than that, once the missile is expended this reaver’s job is to go forwards and brawl with enemies. I believe that Praesagius Melta Cannons are scarier at long range than at short due to the rerolling location die as you can reliably damage consistent locations as opposed to potentially getting a pair of D10 rolls against a weapon.

The second Reaver is arguably the most unremarkable loadout in the force. Armed with a Gatling Blaster, Volcano Cannon and an Apocalypse Missile Launcher. This titan, I would say, is the lynchpin in the force as it can contribute in every aspect. It has an Apocalypse launcher for First Fire orders to strip shields or finish targets. The Apocalypse launcher is the best all round carapace weapon due to its cost, number of shots, long range accuracy and  having the ‘Barrage’ trait. The Volcano Cannon allows for high strength attacks at long range, the Melta Cannon only has a 24″ range whereas the Volcano Cannon has a 60″ range. The Volcano Cannon is *only* S10 compared to the S11 of the Melta Cannon but the ability to engage targets anywhere on the board cannot be underestimated. Finally the Gatling Blaster provides medium range shield stripping and finishing. The Gatling Blaster might not always get to fire if the reaver is staying at long range but that’s an acceptable trade off for a truly versatile titan. It also will benefit most of the time from the Pinpoint Accuracy trait, however the Volcano Cannon and Apocalypse Launcher might at best get one or two uses out of it due to their 30″ short range. This titan is the hidden gem in the list being the unassuming all rounder that might be ignored. I planned around this titan going on First Fire for turn 1, maybe 2 but then moving up or going on Full Stride in later turns. It is very easy to underestimate this titan and it will cause people to have a bad time.

The Lupercal maniple; this is a slightly more popular maniple among Warhound enjoyers but isn’t seen that often at Events, it had the unfortunate position of being overpowered when it was introduced and when (rightly) rebalanced it has never had the same appeal to many. It is still a very powerful maniple with a great trait, the ability to dynamically squadron hounds each turn can yield you an activation advantage, potentially allow you to deliver a large alpha strike, reliable orders through squadron orders, or a mobility advantage by moving all hounds at once, including on Full Stride or Charge orders. The downside in this format is that I’d have one of my Princeps Seniores as a Warhound, meaning that one of the secondary objectives would mean people would likely be hunting for it, which I could flip to an advantage as it is easier to hide a warhound and I’m not losing too much firepower by doing so. Warhounds don’t have the best command value but the Lupercal gives me reliable orders, even if I do lose the Seniores I can appoint a new one in the maniple, meaning I always have access to reliable orders in the maniple.

Let’s look at the loadouts in the Lupercal maniple. The Seniores has two Swarmer Missile Pods for long range shield stripping, if I play Precision Volley, these are hitting on 2s (in the open at least), this gives me a lot of potential shield stripping, or finishing. It also has Dominant Strategist, unfortunately this is a trait that can be needed to be competitive in order to counter certain plays by an opponent. The next part is the most unpleasant part of the list, it’s two Warhounds with two Plasma Blastguns each, we know about PBGs and we know how good they are, by taking four I’ve got a lot of front loaded firepower, potentially in a single activation. With Precision Volley I’m hitting on 3s at long range instead of 4s and I can reroll the location thanks to Pinpoint Accuracy. If I’m doing a Coordinated Strike, those weapons are effectively S11 with Maximal Fire. This is not subtle, it is designed to unleash as much firepower as possible in a single activation. With the combination of Precision Volley and Pinpoint Accuracy, the hounds will inflict a lot of damage. I might put heat in the reactors firing the PBGs on Maximal Fire continuously but it’s worth the risk, if I don’t want to risk it, non Maximal shots with Coordinated strikes are still S9 which is very respectable when there’s a lot of shots. Finally all of them had Bastion Shielding, I used to believe it was an auto take for hounds but now I don’t, I took them because I had the points and it had the potential to keep the hounds alive just that little bit longer and helps with the fact I’m likely to generate heat from all those PBG shots. I have found that one between two hounds is normally sufficient. The other great thing about warhounds is their speed, they can push for 12″ of movement which is needed for some objectives.

Now, let’s discuss the Stratagem Hand, this is a pretty standard affair, I’ve taken two Tertiary Objectives as the event allowed these to be added to primary or secondary scores they’re essentially an auto take especially in Open Engine War. There’s both a Blind and Concealment Barrage for the typical control they bring both offensively and defensively. A single Iron Resolve is present, with the reliable Orders in the list through the maniples, one Iron Resolve should be sufficient. There is also Sabotage and Vox Blackout for some added control and Charge-defence. I’ve been experimenting with taking Sabotage instead of Earthshaker Mines, there are some pros and cons to both and it’s down to the individual user as to which they prefer. It wouldn’t be a competitive hand without Vox Blackout, I shan’t explain here why it’s necessary (Ed Note: As Simon mentioned earlier in relation to the Dominant Stratagist Trait, this Stratagem is a standard in hands at the competitive level to provide a counter to, otherwise, game-winning plays from some skew-builds). Precision Volley is up next, it’s the Legio Praesagius specific stratagem. It gives me +1 to hit with all Legio Praesagius titans in the force at long range for a single turn. It’s best used when you have First Fire issued to two or three titans but isn’t strictly necessary. It can also be useful for turn 2 by after that it’s value drops significantly. Finally we have the two Tertiary Objectives, A Quick Kill and Justice for the Fallen. A Score to Settle is the go to Tertiary but that was banned for this event. A Quick Kill is if you kill a scale 8 or advice titan in turns one or two. This is useful if I expect I’m going to take a lot of casualties. The second is Justice for the Fallen which rewards me points in case my force loses less titans than the enemy. Given how difficult securing max points is in some missions having these available is vital.

How it fared

As per the title of the article, I placed first which was no small feat. I also got the award for most kills, which is an award that I’ve only earned a few times previously and is normally fiercely contested. This list was very challenging to play, I’m not overly familiar with 1850 lists as this was my first 1850 event. The Lupercal was typically run as a single squadron of three, this essentially giving me a four activation list which is generally quite challenging anyway as it doesn’t give you much flexibility. The Plasma Blastguns on multiple occasions failed to kill their target when all directed to it. The Volcano Cannon ranger was a real star and secured me several victories. The warlord as expected put out devastating firepower. The Vortex Missile was fine, its presence did as intended and limited some player’s positioning. It did do some damage and the one time my opponent put titans in base to base, I forgot to fire it first resulting in it getting shutdown by a Neutron Laser. It subsequently died and wild fired into an enemy Warhound and did minor damage. I used Precision Volley and a Tertiary Objective every game. In total I dropped 6 points (NR shows 7, we misreported game 5, we did report the error but a one point difference wasn’t going to make a difference). This was a very high skill ceiling list, it isn’t point and click and requires careful play as despite having six engines it was typically played as a four activation list due to the Lupercal maniple. It was interesting to use, I thoroughly enjoyed my practice games with it but unfortunately when attending Beachhead I had come out of an exceptionally stressful week, I’d barely slept and caught a bug on the Friday, so running this list in a very loud environment on limited sleep made for a stressful experience. The games themselves were fantastic, especially as I’d not played any of those opponents before. So thank you to Seb, Will, Mark, Liam and Benjamin. Benjamin also had a particularly interesting list that really showcased Legio Vulcanum’s unique abilities. Overall, I really rate this list, I think this is an optimal Legio Praesagius list but it could potentially be played very interestingly by Legio Defensor but I doubt other legios would get similar mileage.

If you’ve gotten this far, thank you for reading, I hope you’ve found it useful or interesting. Writing this article has been a novel experience for me and has been surprisingly fun even if I have subjected those that read this the unedited stream of consciousness that was my approach to building this list.

Cheerio!