After a bit of a delay we got back to finishing our game. During the interlude we did find some cotton balls. The cotton did work as a damage marker but I think they need to be a bit more deliberate so they can be attached to specific locations. Also a bit of paint wouldn’t have hurt.
Anyway, Turn 4 started with a rundown of all the damage each titan had sustained in the first three turns. This was a good recap and perhaps should be done during a normal game as well, but more on that later. Most of this turn was the titans firing away at each other with lots of structural and critical damage being taken but no titans were completely destroyed. Of note this turn was the charge by the small banner Knights against the right most Warhound. The Knights managed to attack from a blind spot and thanks to the extra attack from the charge managed to land some critical hits on the Warhound. The larger Banner of Questoris Knights were not so lucky and were annihilated by two other Warhounds.
Turn 5 saw my Reaver and the Red Hounds disengage from each
other. I suppose both titans thought
they were in danger of being charged by the other and finished off. While on my
right flank the Warhounds tried to deal with the pesky Knights but thanks to
the activation order the Knights were able to stride out of arc of one and into
melee with the rear Warhound. One Knight
would later be obliterated by the Warhounds flame thrower but the other would
cause some damage. Otherwise the shooting between Titans caused lots of
critical damage but no killing blows.
Turn 6 sensing an immanent reactor meltdown all the hound got as close to the enemy as they could, planning on selling their lives dearly. The Warlord had to push its reactor to turn and engage the Warhounds on its right but managed to knock out its legs with a direct hit from its volcano cannon causing the Warhound to topple to the ground dead. By this point the Warlords reactor was almost orange, good thing it didn’t need a second shot. Otherwise there was more firing and two titans, one Reaver and one Red Hound detonated in the end phase.
Final thoughts. Wow
Titans are hard to kill, although this might have been us. By the end of the game only one Titan had
died from shooting and another two had melted down as a result of un-repaired
critical damage overloading their reactors.
A couple thoughts come to mind. Firstly, targeted shots. I don’t remember any Titan taking targeted
shots all game, partly because we were new and partly because our big guns were
template weapons. Secondly know the
status of your enemy. Finally don’t ignore the Knights.
I think in Adeptus Titanicus there are three (maybe four) types of weapons. The first is the shield stripper this has a minimum strength of four and as many dice as possible or the shield bane trait. In this battle both sides had ample of these types of weapons. And, except for some fantastic rolls by my enemy, shields dropped quite fast. The next are the weapons designed to break amour and cause structural damage, like volcano cannons. For these it doesn’t matter where you hit, and in fact templates are great because it can give you two hits in the same location. Then once a location has taken damage it loses amour and this is where the killing blows come in. I think it is fair to expect a +2 – 3 on the damage roll from the damage the titan has caused or perhaps a flank shot, when you are ready to finish an enemy Titan. This means that a well-aimed strength 7 weapons can potentially finish your enemy, this is what we didn’t have or perhaps think to do. The fourth are the melee weapons. The knights showed how dangerous even the smallest melee weapons can be, unfortunately you do have to lose a range weapon to take one… I am not sure it is worth it on a bigger titan, although the Warhounds can close the gap very quickly.
Also, knowing the status of your enemy titans and concentrating your fire on the closest to death seems very important, especially if you can eliminate them before an activation. During our game the titan data cards were kept behind us and it was difficult for us to see each other’s. I think next time a dedicated shared space should be used so we have a better idea of what is going on with each war machine. The smoke was useful in reminding us to ask our opponent but didn’t provide enough detail to plan around.
Knights. The
advantage of these guys is their 360 degree arc and an extra activation. This makes them so nimble and versatile. The knights on both side were a pain for
their enemy and did require a turn or two to deal with, which bought their friendly
Titans a turn or two of respite. Also once they were destroyed it made that
battle group more predictable by eliminating an activation. It seems like a mistake not to take a banner with
each battle group, but perhaps I need to play a few more games.
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