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LOYALIST TITAN LEGIONS
Legio Ignatum
Title: The Legio Ignatum Ordo Titanica
Militaris Grade: Primus (Maxis)
Patent: Pre-Imperial, Martian Mechanicum
Warden Domain(s): Mars (Forge World)
Cognomen: The Fire Wasps
Allied War Houses: The Anaktor Mors and the Freeblade Host
Allegiance: Fidelitas Exemplorum
The Legio Ignatum boasts a proud lineage that few other Titan Legions can match, for they are one of the Triad Ferrum Morgulus, the first of that illustrious brotherhood. It is by the fire of their weapons and the steel of their resolve that Mars was safeguarded through the long years of the Age of Strife for, by their ancient oath, while any warrior of Ignatum still stood no harm would come to those places left in their charge. It is this stubborn defiance, the bitter intransigence in the face of impossible odds, that would be the cornerstone of Legio Ignatum’s fame, for never in the history of that Order had they chosen to retreat in the face of the enemy. This ironclad loyalty was to be both a blessing and a terrible curse – at once the pride of the Legio and also the reason for their exile and near- destruction at the dawn of the Horus Heresy.
Where the warriors of Mortis and Tempestus knew no creed other than death and destruction, the Titans of Ignatum often came to the aid of those isolated forges all but overrun by the monsters that roamed Mars. Many of these lesser forges would pledge fealty to Ignatum’s masters, seeking to gain in perpetuity the indefatigable protection of those warriors and their Titans. Only in defence of their forge-fanes were the warriors of Ignatum truly roused to open anger, boiling forth to give battle with a ferocious zeal when those fastnesses were threatened. To those who dared to trespass upon the ground they had sworn to defend, they offered none of the courtesy for which they were otherwise known. On many occasions, the Princeps of the Legio Mortis would mistake the forbearance of Ignatum for weakness and seek to dominate them by force, only to be met with defiant fury, and many credit the principal reason why the otherwise rapacious warriors of Mortis did not fully conquer Mars to the steadfast valour of the Legio Ignatum. From this came their cognomen, the Fire Wasps – named for the ancient predator of Old Earth whose nests none would dare defile lest they woke the beasts slumbering within.
With the coming of the Emperor to the Red Planet and the signing of the treaty of Mars, the Titan Legions that made up the Triad Ferrum Morgulus would be granted new roles in the unified Mechanicum. Where Legio Mortis were bound to be a tool of utter destruction brought down upon Mars’ foes and Legio Tempestus were crusaders carrying Mars’ will to the stars, Legio Ignatum became the protectors of the Mechanicum. The Fire Wasps would stand sentinel over the domains of Mars, both the sacred fanes of the Red Planet and those key installations scattered across the Segmentum Solar and beyond. For much of the Great Crusade, they would fight only in defence of those worlds reclaimed in the name of the Mechanicum, fending off xenos incursions and crushing rebellions among the thralls.
Among the most famous of their battles was the defence of Ultrecht Magni, one of the first worlds invaded by the Orkoid warlord Urlakk Urg and the beginning of the campaign that would culminate in a historic battle on the world of Ullanor. There, on the very edges of Segmentum Solar, a dozen Titans of the Legio Ignatum stood sentinel over the seed of a new Forge World sown at the edges of the Red Planet’s domain. Perhaps seeking to reap the wealth of technology within the enclave’s walls, Urlakk Urg would unleash his hordes against them as part of a wave of conquest, the last desperate onslaught of the only remaining Orkoid empire of note within the borders of the early Imperium. More than a hundred lumbering Orkoid scrap- constructs led the assault, backed by uncounted swarms of crude gun platforms, a force large enough that the defenders could never hope to withstand them unaided.
Indeed, the warriors of the Fire Wasps would not win glory in victory, but would instead be immortalised for their heroics in defeat. Over the course of four long days of fighting, the 12 Princeps would sell their lives and their Titans dearly, stubbornly refusing to abandon the defence and evacuate their Titans while any of the ground crews remained at their stations. The Warlord class Titan Perditus Existimamur was the last to fall, its final battle captured on pict by the evacuating magi, its guns firing even as the shambling Orkoid monsters pulled it down. When the Legio Ignatum took the field at Ullanor, to see the final end of Urlakk Urg, it was to the fanfare of the war horns of those Titans gathered, a salute to the fallen and a call for vengeance.
This fame, the renown for a loyalty that even the most fearsome of odds could not shake, would seal the fate of Legio Ignatum. On Mars, a new order was slowly and quietly taking power, the servants of Horus having fully suborned the leadership of the Mechanicum and turned them to the service of the Warmaster. The Legio Mortis and much of the Legio Tempestus had already sworn their loyalty to this new master, leaving only the incorruptible Fire Wasps to stand for the Loyalist cause, unaware of the treachery that surrounded them. What would follow, the battle for Mars and the destruction of Magma City, are well known to history. The Traitor Titans and their allies turned on the few Loyalists left on Mars, obliterating them from ambush and burning the cities they had protected for centuries, with those of Legio Ignatum fighting to the last in defence of the forge-fanes they were sworn to protect.
It is held by Legio Ignatum as a mark of bitter honour that none of their brethren stationed on Mars would survive the treachery that began the Horus Heresy, each and every one dying in battle against those that had forsaken their oaths. Those that survived in distant posts about the Segmentum Solar took heart from this sacrifice, for though the Imperium was now riven by war their oaths remained unbroken and their name unsullied. Their course was clear in the face of such perfidy, for oathbreakers could not be allowed to remain unpunished, but with the fall of the Master of Ignatum on Mars there remained no single leader to guide the Fire Wasps. Each individual detachment chose for themselves to either hold to their stations or to seek out the Traitors in the name of vengeance. Despite the division within this once mighty Titan Legion, each warrior was determined to fulfil the oaths they had sworn.
The traitorous Fabricator General had removed from Mars the one force he could not turn but had failed to strike a lethal blow. In doing so he had gained only a short respite, for now awakened to fury, the Fire Wasps turned their every thought to revenge, bent their every action to the defeat of those that had forsaken their honour. For those they had once called brother, the warriors of Mortis and Tempestus, they reserved the deepest hatred, seeing in them a twisted reflection of themselves and taking every chance to meet them in battle to prove once again the strength of their loyalty, a loyalty that would be repeatedly tested until the bitter end of the Horus Heresy.
Materiel Strength As one of the Triad Ferrum Morgulus, the Legio Ignatum was a Titan Legion of the first order. Within its ranks could be found Titans of every class and size, including Warmaster Heavy Battle Titans and several Apocalypse class machines that rarely left the central forge-fanes of Mars. In total, they numbered almost 200 engines of war, with the greater number stationed on Mars and the remainder spread across the Segmentum Solar. Most common amongst their ranks were Warlord class god- engines – and Legio Ignatum were noted for their comparative lack of smaller Scout Titans. When committed to the attack they were preceded not by a wave of lighter machines as was the standard doctrine of most Titan Legions, but by a phalanx of the heaviest Battle Titans, relying on the strength of their guns to carry the day.
A long-standing belief among the warriors of Legio Ignatum stated that the fate of a battle was foretold by the first shot fired. If that shot struck a telling blow it would bring them victory, while a miss signalled a hard trial to come, and as such only the finest of marksmen would be allowed to make such a strike in the opening moments of battle. An oft re-told legend tells that in the opening moments of the betrayal on Mars, the Princeps of the Fire Wasps were so shocked that the first shot was fired by a neophyte Princeps and hit an allied Titan in error – an omen of the tragedy that would befall the Legio Ignatum on that day.
Legio Ignatum (Fire Wasps)
Legio Trait: We Loyal Few Considering themselves the last remaining true Titans of Mars, the
Fire Wasps hold a deep loathing for those Titan Legions that renounced their oaths and sided with the Warmaster.
Legio Ignatum Titans may re-roll Hit rolls of a 1 when making attacks against an enemy Titan within 12" of them during the Combat phase.
Legio Specific Stratagem: Punish Their Folly (1)
Possessed of an abiding hatred for the Traitor Titan Legions, the Fire Wasps were quick to adapt their tactics to exploit the Traitors’ apparent lust for blood, formulating overlapping fields of fire to punish the overeager.
This Stratagem can be purchased by any Legio Ignatum player. Play this Stratagem when an enemy Titan ends its move within 3" of a Legio Ignatum Titan as part of a Charge order. Before any attacks are resolved, that Legio Ignatum Titan can immediately make an attack using their Ballistic Skill with a weapon without the Melee trait.
Legio Specific Stratagem: Guard the Gates (2)
Loyal to a fault, the Fire Wasps were often chosen to guard key worlds in the certain knowledge that they would never abandon their duty.
This Stratagem can be purchased by any Legio Ignatum player. Play this Stratagem at the start of the first round’s Strategy phase. Until the end of the round, friendly Legio Ignatum Titans can be issued the First Fire order without the need to make a Command check.
Legio Specific Wargear: Gravitonic Sensor Array As befitting their status as one of the Triad Ferrum
Morgulus, the Fire Wasps had access to technology less illustrious Titan Legions did not. These included sensors that enabled Fire Wasp Titans to effortlessly track their targets even when obscured.
Any Legio Ignatum Titan may take a Gravitonic Sensor Array for +15 points. Apply a +1 modifier to all Hit rolls made by a Titan with this upgrade against a target that is at least 25% obscured.
Legio Specific Personal Traits A Legio Ignatum Princeps Seniores’ Personal Trait can either be generated from
the table in the Adeptus Titanicus rulebook, or by rolling a D3 on the table that follows:
D3 Personal Traits 1 Death before Dishonour: For the Princeps, the only true defeat is to dishonour their oaths and so they will never surrender, even if it leads to their death. The Princeps’ Titan may re-roll failed Hit rolls if their Titan has suffered Critical Damage. However, during the Damage Control phase, they must spend any Repair dice to repair disabled weapons before repairing any other kind of damage if possible. 2 Foe Slayer: The Princeps believes that their honour will be restored only when every traitorous member of the Collegia Titanica lies dead, reserving a particular hatred for those of the Triad Ferrum Morgulus. During the Combat phase, the Princeps may choose one of their Titan’s weapons. Add 1 to the result of all Armour rolls made with the chosen weapon. If the Princeps is targeting a Titan from Legio Mortis or Legio Tempestus, the Princeps may choose two of the Princeps’ Titan’s weapons to add 1 to the result. 3 Eternal Guardian: The Princeps watched the world they vowed to defend burn when ordered to retreat, and now vow they will never yield a battlefield without a fight again. Once per Combat phase, the Princeps may re-roll a single Armour roll resulting from hits from any of their weapons if they have not moved (voluntarily or involuntarily) in the same round.
Legio Ignatum Warlord Battle Titan
Ignis Indignatio The patterns displayed upon the armour of Ignis Indignatio, depicted here after the conquest of Urdesh, are characteristic of the
finery Legio Ignatum often decorated their engines with. The Fire Wasps held great pride in their status as a member of the Triad Ferrum Morgulus even when such a name lost a measure of respect following the treachery of both Legio Mortis and much of Legio Tempestus. Like many Fire Wasps engines, Ignis Indignatio held a long and illustrious record, with the honour banner depicted here being the 87th banner depicting their conquest. The other banners were painstakingly reconstructed from
records after the originals were removed from stasis on Mars and destroyed by servants of Kelbor-Hal.
Legio Ignatum Warmaster Heavy Battle Titan
Vindicta Manibus Records long hidden from the eyes of any save the most trusted of the Omnissiah’s servants indicate that, though the Warmaster Titan was a novel design in the eyes of the Imperium, it held a lineage as ancient as the Warlord Battle Titan. Vindicta Manibus, pictured here following the conquest of Urdesh, bears honour markings dating back to the Mechanicum’s
wars against the Cy-Carnivora upon the Red Planet, millennia before the coming of the Emperor. The kill-markings borne upon Vindicta Manibus’ honour banner however, depict solely those Battle Titans slain by the god-engine since its awakening
in 011.M31, a testament to the destructive power wielded by each Warmaster Titan.
Legio Gryphonicus
Title: The Legio Gryphonicus Ordo Titanica
Militaris Grade: Primus
Patent: Pre-Imperial, Martian Mechanicum
Warden Domain(s): Gryphonne IV (Forge World), the Gryphonne Octad, Paramar, Silusis Lex, Yana VI
Cognomen: The War Griffons
Allied War Houses: Coldshroud, Fvaber and Cadmus
Allegiance: Fidelitas Constantus
Regarded by many as one of the greatest of all Titan Legions and an exemplar of its kind, the Legio Gryphonicus, or ‘War Griffons’ to give them their more common appellation, was to suffer a trial by fire during the dark days of the Horus Heresy and remain true to their oaths to the Imperium and unwavering in battle against the Traitors. Gryphonne IV, the world of the Legio’s founding, was known to have been a seat of technological might according to ancient myths predating the Age of Strife, and so formed one of the earliest attempts of the Martian Mechanicum to reach out into the darkness during the Age of Strife. While many such missions resulted in failure – doomed before the Emperor’s intervention in the creation of the Navis Nobilite – and many of the Mechanicum arks were sundered or lost without trace, the expedition to Gryphonne IV met with great success. This was likely a process of conquest over what local inhabitants remained rather than colonisation on the Mechanicum’s part, although the truth of this matter has long since been sealed and forgotten by the Imperium.
What is known is that after the founding of the Forge World of Gryphonne IV it quickly established itself as a power in its own right, expanding to dominate a pocket empire of eight nearby star systems which came to be known as the Gryphonne Octad. Over the centuries that followed, the Mechanicum domain prospered and managed to maintain communication, albeit infrequent and fragmented, with distant Mars. Swearing its domains and arms to the service of the Great Crusade, Gryphonne marched to war at the Emperor’s call, and would see its Titan Legion, one of the largest and most ably-equipped outside Mars, see immediate action on many battlefronts. Having extensive experience and proven tactical doctrines in fighting alongside the infantry forces of the Gryphonne Octad, the Legio Gryphonicus quickly gained a reputation for skill in close support of ground troops, and so was much in demand for assignment to the various Expeditionary fleets. The Legio, however, was loath to split its forces unduly on deployment, and instead served generally as an independent heavy contingent, assigned to various war zones as strategic needs dictated. This, in turn, led to Legio Gryphonicus amassing battle honours alongside the Dark Angels, Imperial Fists and Death Guard Legiones Astartes at various times, and saw their inclusion in the order of battle for some of the most famous and vital campaigns of the Great Crusade, such as the Rangdan Xenocides and the Ullanor Campaign.
The martial culture of the War Griffons was one of fierce pride and honour. They valued discipline and skill amongst their Titan crew highly, and each Princeps and Moderati strove to add glory to their own name and that of their bloodline and Legio, much in the manner of their kin in the Knight Houses. Each Titan of the Legio Gryphonicus, in consequence, became noted as being a visual testament to the war engine’s own history of war, as well as the distinctions and battle honours earned by its crew. So it was that when the War Griffons went striding to war, thunderous sirens howling and bedecked in heraldic banners proclaiming their might, it was taken as a sign to rejoice by the Imperialis Auxillia, who held the Legio’s arrival as an avatar of victory or salvation in the midst of battle.
This lust for glory and individual achievement within the Legio’s ranks did, however, lead to legendary rivalries among its Princeps, and highly structured mechanisms were imposed for resolving such affairs of honour through duelling, a tradition which was held in abeyance, however, during open battle. Such martial temper also led to some of its commanders — particularly those assigned to god-engines such as the Warhounds already noted for their aggressive animus — to develop reputations for impetuosity in battle, and refusal to retreat even when faced with the most overwhelming odds. Key also to their character was a fanatical loyalty to the Emperor and the ideals of the Imperium, beyond even to their ties to the Mechanicum. It was this loyalty that was to count them among the Warmaster’s foes without question when he turned traitor.
As the Great Crusade progressed into its later phases, the success of the Legio Gryphonicus on-campaign, in conjunction with its size, led to it being assigned feudal rights as garrison- warders of a number of Mechanicum outposts and stations dispersed across the Imperium. This served to both extend the Legio Gryphonicus’ range and striking distance from its home base on Gryphonne IV (with which it always retained close ties) and finally to splinter its fighting force into several sub-groups rather than the ‘sledgehammer’ concentration of might it had been used to operating as. It remains unclear in retrospect whether this was a mere happenstance of fate or perhaps whether it was part of the Warmaster’s overall plan to scatter major forces he could not directly control prior to his revolt. Regardless of this, when the Horus Heresy bloodily erupted, this powerful Titan Legion was scattered and unable to respond as a coherent force against the rebellion.
It is testament to the prowess of the War Griffons that the changing landscape of galactic conflict, shaped by unexpected foes and shifting loyalties, and the fragmented nature of their fighting force, did little to dampen their contribution to the Imperium. The long years of the Great Crusade had prepared the Princeps of Legio Gryphonicus to function beyond the vigil of a single, centralised command structure, and the War Griffons saw themselves participate in some of the most gruelling and influential battles of the Horus Heresy. Indeed, the honours they had won during the Great Crusade had set them as garrison-warders of worlds of strategic import and many War Griffons elements quickly found themselves within the path of the Warmaster’s advance; on planets such as Paramar V and Molech, Legio Gryphonicus sacrificed much in their attempt to halt the machinations of their foe. From war zones in which the War Griffons emerged victorious – of which there were many during the Horus Heresy – the surviving Princeps took bitter pride in the tally of foe they had slain, for though the nature of such a conflict was not one they had sought, the martial pride that ran through the Legio was sated by the knowledge that on countless battlefields, Legio Gryphonicus stood above all other Titan Legions. The final tally of victories, defeats, honours and losses earned by the War Griffons during the Horus Heresy was not to be counted for some time. It was not until the dark years of the Scouring that the tides of war would see the surviving War Griffons gathered together again upon the mustering grounds of the Plain of Achemados on the Forge World of their founding.
Materiel Strength As a Primus grade Titan Legion, the War Griffons were one of the most powerful military formations in the Legio Titanicus, and therefore the Great Crusade itself. The strength of Legio Gryphonicus was roughly on a par with other Primus Legio such as the Legio Crucius (the Warmongers) and the Legio Magna (the Flaming Skulls), and surpassed in size by the giants of the Legio Mortis (the Death’s Heads) and the Legio Destructor (the Beasts of Steel). The Legio Gryphonicus’ operational strength at the time of the Horus Heresy’s outbreak is attested to stand at 176 god-engines of various classes and types, with roughly half of these being of the Reaver type Battle Titan. The remainder being split roughly between various Scout class and larger Warlord class Battle Titans, as well as several of the most powerful Nemesis and Imperator types.
The Legio Gryphonicus also possessed a noteworthy and unusually high number of Titan-Barques and Mass-Conveyors operating under its own fealty and allegiance. This substantial fleet rendered it largely independent of operation when the need arose, and would serve it well during the Horus Heresy, enabling a degree of vital mobility and speed of action so it could both survive and engage the foe on its own terms.
Legio Gryphonicus (War Griffons)
Legion Trait: Lust for Glory The Princeps of Legio Gryphonicus are known far and wide for their martial tradition, and their eternal hunt for prestige in battle, often engaging in honour duels away from the field of battle.
After both sides have deployed, one or more Legio Gryphonicus Titans can declare an enemy Titan as a target. Each Legio Gryphonicus Titan may select a target, though a Titan may not select a previously chosen target. Make a note of which Titans are declaring a target and their intended target, sharing this with your opponent. If a Titan attacks its intended target, the controlling player can re-roll all Hit rolls of a 1, and add 1 to the result of any Armour rolls made as part of an attack against the target. However, if a friendly Legio Gryphonicus Titan attacks a target claimed by a different friendly Titan, the claim is forfeit and this rule no longer applies for that Titan.
Legion Trait: Mainstay of the Titan Legion Legio Gryphonicus counts a disproportionately large number of Reaver Battle Titans among its ranks. As a result, they are often outfitted for unusual battlefield roles and included in maniples in place of different classes of Titan.
Any Legio Gryphonicus maniple may select a Reaver Titan in place of any Warlord Titan or Warhound Titan as part of its mandatory or optional components.
Legion Specific Wargear: Enhanced Auspex Relays The Warhound Titans of any Titan Legion are at their best when ranging ahead of their battlegroup, and those of the Legio Gryphonicus exemplify this more than any other. In keeping with their Titan Legion’s tradition of staunch individuality, Legio Gryphonicus Warhound Princeps tend not to hunt in packs, preferring to strike out alone and bait the enemy at close range. The tech-adepts of Gryphonne IV have worked long and hard to capitalise on this fearless behaviour, and have developed enhanced auspex relays which transfer close range target data back to the rest of the battlegroup.
Any Legio Gryphonicus Warhound can be equipped with Enhanced Auspex Relays at a cost of +10 points. Whenever a Legio Gryphonicus Titan makes an attack, it can measure the distance to any targets that are within 12" of a friendly Warhound equipped with Enhanced Auspex Relays before declaring its target.
Legion Specific Wargear: Gravatus Plating Where a Reaver Titan of the Legio Gryphonicus is to be fielded in place of a larger Battle Titan, its hull is often fitted with heavier armour plating to reflect its enhanced frontline role.
Any Legio Gryphonicus Reaver can be upgraded to have Gravatus Plating for +20 points. A Titan with this upgrade changes the first tier of its Armour value for its Body from 10- 12 to 11-12 and for its Legs from 11-12 to 12. In addition, the Titan decreases its default and boosted Speed characteristic by 1", to a minimum of 4" and 6" respectively. A Reaver Titan with this upgrade cannot also have the Motive Sub-reactors upgrade.
Legion Specific Wargear: Motive Sub-reactors Although Reaver Titans are not designed to act as scouts, Legio Gryphonicus has them in such great numbers that it is sometimes necessary for them to be adapted to the role. The most effective method involves the installation of a secondary plasma reactor at the top of each leg, allowing the Titan to operate at full locomotor capacity without drawing on the main reactor.
Any Legio Gryphonicus Reaver can be upgraded to have Motive Sub-reactors for +25 points. A Titan with this upgrade can declare Power to Locomotors! and Power to Stabilisers! without pushing its reactor. However, each time the Titan suffers a Critical Hit to its Legs, roll a D6. On a result of 3 or less, its Reactor level is increased by 1. A Reaver Titan with this upgrade cannot also have the Gravatus Plating upgrade.
Legio Specific Personal Traits A Legio Gryphonicus Princeps Seniores’ Personal Trait can either be generated
from the table in the Adeptus Titanicus rulebook, or by rolling a D3 on the table that follows:
D3 Personal Traits 1 Reckless Maverick: You could always tell when Uranna was going to do something foolish, because she sat up straight and spoke with clipped precision, as though she thought it improper to slouch when giving an order that would likely doom us all. Once per battle, the Princeps Seniores’ Titan can be activated a second time in the Movement phase or Combat phase. After doing so, advance the Titan’s Reactor level three times. 2 Master Duellist: As far as I saw, Raal only ever did four things: eat, sleep, command Invictus Nova and fight in the duelling halls. His instincts were honed towards close-ranged fighting, whether he was using a chainsword or a laser destructor. Failed Hit rolls for the Princeps Seniores’ Titan can be re-rolled when it is making attacks against a target which is within 8". 3 Hunter without Equal: Elion was a slight man, with an unusually reserved demeanour for a Princeps. But when he sighted his prey, it was as though he became a beast uncaged. Roaring orders, screaming for blood – his rages were as terrifying as anything I’ve ever seen. The Princeps Seniores’ Titan may re-roll any failed Hit rolls, not just Hit rolls of 1, when the Princeps Seniores’ Titan attacks a target it has claimed (see the Lust for Glory Legio trait).
Legio Gryphonicus Warlord Battle Titan
Argent Monarch The martial culture of the War Griffons is one of fierce pride and honour. They highly value discipline and skill
amongst their Titan crews, and each Princeps and Moderati strives to add glory to their own name and that of their bloodline and Legio, much in the manner of their kin in the Knight Houses. This lust for glory and individual
achievement within the Legio’s ranks does occasionally result in legendary rivalries among its Princeps, and highly structured mechanisms are imposed for resolving such affairs of honour through duelling, a tradition which is only
held in abeyance during open battle.
Legio Gryphonicus Warmaster Heavy Battle Titan
Aureum Castigtor The exact number of Warmaster Titans that existed prior to the Horus Heresy is, by virtue of the secretive existence
they led, impossible to determine. Even the most ancient and lauded of Titan Legions such as Legio Gryphonicus
are estimated, at most, to have been capable of fielding less than half a dozen Warmaster Titans. The Aureum Castigtor is an example of a War Griffons Warmaster Heavy Battle Titan, one of three such god-engines that can be definitively placed in service to the Legio. Suzerain pattern plasma destructors were a common component of a Warmaster Titan’s loadout, capable of the annihilation of all but the mightiest of edifices with contemptuous ease.
Legio Astorum
Title: The Legio Astorum Ordo Titanica
Militaris Grade: Primus
Patent: Pre-Imperial, Lucian Mechanicum
Warden Domain(s): Lucius (Forge World), Arrapolis V, Kamenka Troika, Tri-Narutt System
Cognomen: The Warp Runners
Allied War Houses: Hawkwood, Mortimer, Terryn
Allegiance: Fidelitas Constantus
It is said that forever has a measure of foolhardy arrogance sat within the heart of Legio Astorum, manifesting in a burning desire to ascend above all others that might stand as its equal. Indeed, one only has to look to the Forge World of Lucius, home world of Legio Astorum, to understand from whence such arrogance comes. Known as the ‘Hollow Forge’, a name earned by the artificial sun that sits within the hollowed-out centre of the planet, all born upon the Forge World take pride in achieving that which others deem impossible. The burning star held within the centre of Lucius is perhaps the greatest testament to its people’s success beyond expectations, for the sun provides near- boundless power to the Forge World while also sealing its fate, for all, including the Tech-Priests of Lucius itself, know that a day must come when the artificial sun’s containment will fail and the Forge World will be consumed by its fury. Where some might view such a construction as careless, those that hail from Lucius hold firm in their belief that death in pursuit of innovation is the greatest sacrifice one can offer the Omnissiah. Amongst the many Mechanicum sects that call Lucius their home, all hold the unchangeable belief that the eventual consumption of Lucius by solar event will ascend its people to walk alongside the Omnissiah and, with such a path laid out before them, failure before such a prescribed time is impossible. Until that moment, the servants of Lucius are bound to stride forth across the galaxy, bringing His glory to the ignorant and malcontent.
This self-assured belief in victory no matter the circumstance holds great influence within the ranks of Legio Astorum. Where many Titan Legions are content to commit to a ponderous advance, safe in the knowledge no foe can stand the indefatigable march of a god-engine, Legio Astorum sets its own tempo upon the battlefield. Through careful locomotor modification combined with extensive training amongst the ranks of its Princeps, the Titans of Legio Astorum are pushed beyond all advised limits, the innate stubbornness of its Princeps seeing the protesting machine spirit as another challenge to overcome, albeit a challenge to be treated with all due reverence. It is upon the cusp of self-destruction that Legio Astorum thrives, its Titans granted a swiftness that few other Legios can match. In this manner has Legio Astorum earned itself a fearsome, and often, mythological status amongst both the ranks of the Great Crusade and the worlds the Titan Legion has aided in conquest. All such tales speak of the preternatural speed with which its Titans make war, entire maniples descending upon enemy fortifications with a grace and swiftness at odds with its immense size. It was with these tactics that Legio Astorum earned itself the title of ‘Warp Runners’ and it speaks to both the skill and determination of its Princeps that no observable difference exists between Legio Astorum and other Titan Legions in records pertaining to the loss of god-engines to reactor overload upon the battlefield, all while having secured a record of victory matched by few other Titan Legions.
When Mars and Lucius were reconnected, the Titans of Legio Astorum were moved to the forefront of the Great Crusade, where the Titan Legion’s preference for swift spearhead assaults saw it become a valued part of many Expeditionary fleets. Supplied as it was by a vast network of engine forges constructed across the surface of Lucius, the Titan Legion was readily split across the galaxy, offering aid to many who requested it. Unlike those Titan Legions that proved loath to separate its forces too greatly, the Warp Runners held no qualms towards forming dozens of smaller battlegroups, retaining only a singular demi-Legio numbering 50 god-engines in close vicinity to Lucius at all times. Where Legio Astorum thrived was alongside those commanders that favoured free-thinking, for many criticisms were levelled at those Warp Runners Princeps who deemed it necessary to override agreed upon battleplans in favour of tactics devised by their own logicians.
In such matters, Legio Astorum quickly found itself a firm ally in the Primarch Jaghatai Khan, for his White Scars also favoured swift methods of war and none, even the Warmaster upon his appointment, were offered the level of respect the Warp Runners favoured the Khan with. Given the widespread nature of Warp Runners battlegroups, the White Scars were not the sole beneficiary of the Titan Legion’s impressive tactical prowess. During the conquest of the Kamenka Troika, a region overrun with greenskins, Legio Astorum earned considerable praise serving alongside the Thousand Sons. Such a conflict proved costly for all parties involved and led to the near complete loss of a detachment of Warp Runners engines despite its eventual success. In recognition of Legio Astorum’s sacrifice the Canis Vertex, an ancient Warlord Titan laid low by the conflict, was transported to Prospero where it was restored to glory and raised to stand guard over the pyramid of the Pyrae Cult of Sorcerers. Such praise was well-received upon its proclamation, though the events of the Horus Heresy saw the honour later stricken from the record of Canis Vertex when Magnus the Red was declared Traitor, and rumours spoke of the Warlord marching in opposition of the Censure Host brought to bring the Primarch to justice.
The Princeps of Legio Astorum were lauded veterans, renowned as much for their arrogance and aloofness as they were for their tactical acumen and history of conquests. It was the sins of the Princeps that led many to fear that the Warp Runners would follow the Warmaster in his quest for supremacy over all Mankind, with the most disparaging of rumours claiming Legio Astorum desired nothing less than to ascend above all other Titan Legions. Such fears proved unfounded, for both Lucius and Legio Astorum readily threw their forces against the Traitors, notable for participating in some of the greatest engagements of the conflict from the blasted wastelands of Tallarn to the deadly maelstrom of the Beta-Garmon star cluster. When Beta-Garmon fell to the Warmaster, those of Legio Astorum that survived its grasp relocated to Terra, defending the Imperial Palace until the final days of the Horus Heresy.
Materiel Strength The Titan Forges of Lucius were extensive prior to the outbreak of the Horus Heresy and, though some portion of its industry was lost during the conflict due to malfunctions brought on by extended periods of overtaxing, the Forge World was well positioned to supply the needs of a Primus grade Titan Legion. As such, before its numbers were vastly reduced by the conflict within the Beta-Garmon star cluster, Legio Astorum stood 162 god-engines strong. Despite the reputation for lightning assaults, the principal strength of Legio Astorum consisted of Warlord and Reaver type Titans, with an estimated three dozen Warhound type engines and a single maniple of Jackal type maintained by the Titan Legion at all time. Several Nemesis and Imperator type engines are also recorded in its number, of which a single Imperator would always be present on Lucius, standing guard over the entrance to the network of maintenance tunnels that allowed access to the artificial sun held within the centre of the planet.
Legio Astorum (Warp Runners)
Legio Trait: War March The Warp Runners are well known for setting the tempo of war and
marching swiftly to the sound of battle, their god-engines devouring kilometres beneath their massive stride. Astorum Princeps call this the War March, and gladly endure the rigours placed upon both machine and mind to reach the foe sooner.
In the first and second round of the game, a Legio Astorum Titan can choose to add 2" to its boosted Movement characteristic. If a Titan uses this boosted speed then whenever it is required to roll a Reactor dice during the first and second round of the game, it must roll twice and choose the least favourable result (i.e., the result which increases the Titan’s Plasma Reactor Status track by the largest amount or awakens its Machine Spirit).
Legio Trait: Veteran Princeps Over time, a Princeps learns to wear their Titan like a second
skin, as aware of its workings and armour plates as they are of their own bones and sinew. The Warp Runners contain many old and lauded Titans of the Great Crusade, and the skilled Princeps who command them.
During the Damage Control phase, or when enacting an Emergency Repairs order, a Legio Astorum Titan may re-roll one of its Repair Action dice. A Legio Astorum Titan with a Scale of 10 or higher may instead re-roll two of its Repair Action dice.
Legio Specific Stratagem: Bounty of Mars (2)
Honours earned by the Warp Runners during the Great Crusade included the respect of Mars. From the armouries of the Red Planet, the Legio Astorum was gifted with rare and ancient systems for their Titans, so that they might better serve the Imperium.
This Stratagem can be purchased by any Legio Astorum player. Play this Stratagem at the beginning of the Damage Control phase of any round. Choose one type of critically damaged system or disabled weapon, i.e., Head, Body, Weapon, etc. For the duration of this Damage Control phase, the dice score required to repair this system is reduced by 1, i.e., if a dice result of 5 or 6 is normally required then for this phase, the player can use a dice result of 4, 5, or 6.
Legio Specific Stratagem: Machine Defiance (2)
A skilled Princeps can master the machine spirit of their Titan, and the Warp Runners learned many tricks for forcing the machine spirits of their war engines into action even as the ancient mechanisms rebelled against them.
This Stratagem can be purchased by any Legio Astorum player. Play this Stratagem when a Titan’s void shields collapse. Immediately roll a number of D6 equal to the Titan’s Servitor Clades characteristic. For each roll of 5 or 6, restore the Titan’s Void Shield level by 1. Note, this is not a Repair roll and does not benefit from any effects which influence or modify Repair rolls.
Legio Specific Personal Traits A Legio Astorum Princeps Seniores’ Personal trait can either be generated from
the table in the Adeptus Titanicus rulebook, or by rolling a D3 on the table that follows:
D3 Personal Traits 1 Hero of the Crusade: The Princeps is an example to all around them and few have not heard tales of their victories. As long as they show no fear in the face of the enemy, others eagerly follow their example. As long as the Princeps’ Titan is closer to the nearest enemy unit than any of the other Titans in their maniple, then all Titans in their maniple can add 1 to any Command checks they are required to take. 2 Reckless Hubris: Arrogance is a weakness only if it stands on a foundation of lies. The Princeps has utter faith in their abilities, and countless victories and defeated foes have done nothing but confirm this belief. Once each round, the Princeps’ Titan can ignore the negative effects of a critically damaged system or a disabled weapon, firing the weapon as if it were functional. After the system or weapon is used, work out a single Strength 12 hit against the Titan’s Body, ignoring the Titan’s void shields. 3 Ancient MIU: The ancient memories of the past commanders of the Princeps’Titan whisper tactical secrets to them in battle, though it takes a keen mind and strong will to sift through the babbling voices of dead forebears. Instead of making a Command check during the Strategy phase, the Princeps’ Titan may be given a random Order. Roll the Order dice and apply the result to the Princeps’ Titan. If a Shutdown order is rolled, the Princeps may ignore it if they choose.
Legio Astorum Reaver Battle Titan
Lucius Pretorian At Beta-Garmon, the Reaver Battle Titan was among the most numerous of the god-engines deployed by both sides, proving,
as its creators had long known, its versatility as a weapon of war. Lucius Pretorian was among those to see some of the heaviest
fighting on Beta-Garmon II, both as a defender of Nyrcon and an attacker of the ruined city. Damaged and repaired many
times, Lucius Pretorian was repeatedly brought back to life by the skills and machine-prayers of the Mechanicum.
Legio Astorum Warlord Battle Titan
Dauntless Wrath During the defence of Tallarn, the Legio Gryphonicus called upon their brothers in the Legio Astorum to aid them.
While the majority of the Warp Runners Titans were engaged elsewhere, they were able to send several maniples to counter the combined might of the Legio Krytos and their Iron Warriors allies. Dauntless Wrath was one of the Legio Astorum Warlord Titans to see action on Tallarn and survive the scouring of that world. Later in the Horus
Heresy, veterans of Tallarn would often recall what they had endured during the fighting on that dead world,
and cite it among the greatest crimes wrought by the Warmaster.
Legio Astorum Heraldry
The Black Sun of Lucius is central to the heraldry of the Warp Runners, representing not just the artificial sun at the heart of the hollow world, but also the isolation Lucius endured during the centuries of Old Night. Astrological precision is central to the heraldry of the Warp Runners, their logicians carefully charting the history of the Legio as solar maps and warp routes scrawled out across each Titan’s armour. Likewise, campaign honours are stamped out machine-like upon the banner, each icon coded to the great lexicon of Lucius, so that its priests and Princeps might read at a glance a Titan’s victories and campaigns. Alongside this accounting of the Titan’s war record, the signum nobilis details maniple and rank.
Legio Defensor
Title: The Legio Defensor Ordo Titanica
Militaris Grade: Secundus
Patent: Pre-Imperial, Satyraes Mechanicum
Warden Domain(s): Satyraes XII
Cognomen: The Nova Guard
Allied War Houses: Beaumaris, Sterlund
Allegiance: Fidelitas Pietas
That Legio Defensor, known more commonly as the Nova Guard, hold unwavering loyalty to the Emperor is indisputable, for their dedication was fuelled by beliefs many amongst the Imperium, including the Emperor Himself, publicly denounced – those of the Lectitio Divinitatus.The path through which the outlawed cult devoted to the veneration of the Emperor as a divine being took root within the Titan Legion is unknown, though clues may lie in the extensive service elements of Legio Defensor saw alongside the Word Bearers Legion prior to the latter’s chastisement upon Khur. Given that it was Lorgar Aurelian, Primarch of the Word Bearers, who first penned the book that served both as the namesake and guiding tenets of the cult, it stands to reason that the foundation of unyielding devotion towards the Emperor was first established in service alongside the Word Bearers, a bitterly ironic origin given the since treacherous actions of the XVIIth Legion.
Following the destruction of Monarchia, a city upon the world of Khur that stood as a monument to the Emperor’s perceived divinity, and the public rebuke of the Word Bearers by the Emperor Himself, Satyraes XII withdrew its military support for the XVIIth Legion. Though official communiqués claim such a move derived from a need to reinforce Legio Defensor’s strength elsewhere in the galaxy, honour records of those Princeps who served alongside the Word Bearers show that nearly all were censured for deviant beliefs, the nature of which remain undocumented. These Princeps were further admonished through the dissemination of the battlegroup structure they once served in, their numbers divided across numerous other battlegroups. This disruption of maniples that had served together for decades supports the theory that the withdrawal of military aid from the Word Bearers was intended to forestall the continued growth of beliefs learned from the Space Marines. In truth, however, the move appeared to only further spread the teachings of the Lectitio Divinitatus, exposing increasing numbers of Legio Defensor personnel to the emerging cult. Given that the Titan crews of Legio Defensor hailed from Satyraes XII, a Forge World noted for its zealous dedication to the Omnissiah, the ranks of Legio Defensor offered fertile ground for new beliefs to grow. By the outbreak of the Horus Heresy, numerous reports attested to elements of Legio Defensor striding into battle to audio barrages of hymnodic fashion, though the exact focus of its praise remained elusive and was commonly attributed to the Omnissiah.
The growing devotion to the Emperor changed not just the beliefs of the Nova Guard but also its methods of war. Even during the early days of the Great Crusade, Legio Defensor was noted as holding a measure of self-righteousness, believing its work held higher purpose. Many of the Nova Guard’s exaltations were focused on the tenets of the Great Crusade, razing entire worlds as if in monument to the unstoppable might of humanity. This righteousness took on new meaning
with growth of the Lectitio Divinitatus and the dawning of the Horus Heresy. Pre-battle audio logs obtained from Legio Defensor briefings during the early years of the conflict make numerous mentions to the Emperor as a divine being. Further investigation notes propaganda, disseminated both amongst the ranks of Legio Defensor and upon Satyraes XII, framed the Warmaster’s actions as a desire to topple the Emperor and claim godhood in His place. To Legio Defensor, the conflict was a battle for the soul of humanity, a belief only strengthened in light of the emergence of warp denizens alongside the Warmaster’s forces and the transformations exhibited by many Traitor Titan Legions. The Nova Guard held no mercy for those who turned against the Emperor, willingly or otherwise, and the Titan Legion soon earned a fearsome reputation for the brutal nature with which it pursued its foes.
Events such as the Tarren Suppression highlight the zealotry that took hold within the Titan Legion’s ranks. Tasked with bringing retribution down upon the leaders of the world of Tarren for having sided with the Traitor forces, Legio Defensor made extensive use of both Warlord and Warbringer Nemesis Titans in their initial assault, condemning entire cities to a fiery demise as an example to all who strayed from the Emperor’s side. Any further displays of anti-Imperium sentiment met with were dealt similar fates and soon the Nova Guard held onto the world as much by fear as by strength, having cowed the population into subservience, lest tens of thousands die for the transgressions of a single individual. The iron grip with which Legio Defensor ruled the planet was only relinquished upon the arrival of a detachment of Emperor’s Children accompanied by elements of Legio Mortis, an arrival seen by the population of Tarren as a liberation rather than invasion. If reports from Tarren are to be believed, the Nova Guard upon the planet were destroyed not by the invading Traitors but by the actions of its own Princeps who, after several weeks of conflict and numerous casualties, deemed their position untenable. Thus, in an action of tactical spite, the few remaining Titans of Legio Defensor overloaded their reactors in close proximity to vital sections of the planet’s power grid, reducing much of its infrastructure to rubble. The final words of the commanding Princeps, issued across the planet so all could hear, simply stated that “If you wish to stray from the Emperor’s light, then it is darkness you shall have.”
Materiel Strength As a Secundus grade Titan Legion at the onset of the Horus Heresy, Legio Defensor stood 136 god-engines strong. In war, it relied upon the employment of heavier weaponry, favouring the deployment of Battle Titans. In accordance with such doctrines, nearly two-thirds of the Titan Legion’s strength lay in Warlord class Battle Titans, with much of its remaining numbers consisting of Reaver and Nightgaunt types. The employment of Scout Titans was a rarity within Legio Defensor,
Devotional Cycles Upon the rediscovery of Satyraes XII by the 914th Expeditionary Fleet, it was noted that the Forge World and its people maintained an almost fanatical devotion to the Omnissiah, above and beyond that displayed by many other Forge Worlds. The primary tool for such devotion proved to be the Forge World’s three moons, each tidal locked to the planet and settled in the centuries following the colonisation of Satyraes XII. Each moon had undergone extensive transformation during the Age of Strife to transform them into vast, functional industrial cathedrals dedicated to the Omnissiah. In accordance with principles laid down upon the world’s founding, the work completed within the manufactoria of Satyraes XII was to be dictated by devotional sigils broadcast via lumen displays positioned on the Forge World’s moons that, when activated, could be observed from the planet below. Such displays were monitored by a dedicated sect of Magi Logis which accurately plotted the movement of Satyraes’ celestial bodies and, through that, divined the Omnissiah’s will and dictated it to the Forge World. Each sigil held meaning to the planet’s Tech-Priests, with further complexity divined depending on the moon from which a sigil was broadcast. In turn, these sigils dictated the work patterns of Satyraes XII and the goods each manufactorum would produce at a given time, the illuminated celestial bodies a permanent reminder of the Omnissiah’s presence.
The archives of Satyraes XII tell of the system of devotional sigils failing only twice in the recorded history of the Forge World, both of which caused great upheaval. In the first instance, in which a single moon experienced failure of its lumen display and broadcast an unknown sigil, Satyraes XII entered a period of shutdown that lasted six solar standard weeks, its Tech-Priests debating the meaning of such a sigil. The second instance proved a momentary power failure in which all three lumen displays shutdown for 14.56 seconds, leading to mass dissent as the Forge World’s labourers preached of the Omnissiah’s displeasure. Seventy-two years of civil war followed during which the Nova Guard saw heavy combat, hunting down and destroying any who showed the slightest deviation from the prescribed worship of the Omnissiah. It is noted that, during the later years of the Great Crusade, many returning demi-Legios showed resistance to the idea of being guided by Satyraes XII’s sigils; several redacted reports state that a handful of Princeps spoke of the Omnissiah as a prophet of the Emperor, who was a true divine being above and beyond that of the Machine God.
with the Titan Legion recording roughly two dozen of their numbers, spread across Warhound, Rapier and Jackal class Titans, in active service at the onset of the Horus Heresy, all of which showed heavy preference towards flame and plasma weaponry. Legio Defensor was capable of fielding at least one Imperator class Titan, which was recorded as having undergone extensive retrofitting in the early days of the Horus Heresy so that it bore decorative structures designed to praise the Emperor upon its shoulders.
Legio Defensor (Nova Guard)
Legio Trait: Righteous Fire Many Legio Defensor Princeps feel rage rise within them when
battle is joined against a Traitor force. Communed through the MIU, this hatred reaches down into their Titan’s plasma reactors, the burning heart of the god-machine beating all the faster.
In the first round of the game, each Legio Defensor Titan may fire one of its weapons twice during its activation in the Combat phase. If they do so, advance the Titan’s Plasma Reactor Status track by two places, in addition to any advances associated with firing the weapon.
Legio Trait: Indomitable Resolve The Legio Defensor has a well-deserved reputation for
standing their ground, no matter the odds. These qualities were among those that drew the praise of the Emperor Himself, and earned them many honours during the Great Crusade.
Titans in a Legio Defensor maniple may add 1 to the dice roll when making Command checks, provided that at least one of the units in their battlegroup has been destroyed.
Legio Specific Stratagem: A Day of Retribution (2)
Often during the Horus Heresy, when a Nova Guard Princeps recognised the heraldry of a particularly hated foe, they would ignore all other enemies in their sights and unleash a torrent of weapons fire against their chosen adversary, pushing their Titan hard to score the first hit.
This Stratagem can be purchased by any Legio Defensor player. Play this Stratagem in the Strategy phase of the first round. Choose a single friendly Legio Defensor Titan. That Titan may immediately make an attack with one of its weapons. While resolving this attack, double the weapon’s Long range. Then, advance your Titan’s Plasma Reactor track three places. Once the effects of the attack have been worked out, begin the first game round.
Legio Specific Stratagem: Blessings of the Emperor (2)
During the Horus Heresy, the Legio Defensor contained many devotees of the Lectitio Divinitatus. These faithful would pray to the Emperor before battle, and mark their battle stations with warding tokens and religious icons. For the most part, their prayers only functioned to irritate their brethren, though sometimes a miracle occurred…
This Stratagem can be purchased by any Legio Defensor player. Reveal this Stratagem when a hit would result in one of your Titans rolling on the Catastrophic Damage table. The hit is ignored and this Stratagem has no further effect.
Legio Specific Wargear: Devotional War Sirens Warlord Titans of the Legio Defensor often marched into
battle fitted with devotional war sirens. These blaring speakers issued forth Lectitio Divinitatus devotional chants and sermons on the glory of the Emperor, filling their brothers with renewed hope and purpose.
Any Legio Defensor Warlord Titan can be upgraded with a Devotional War Sirens for +20 points. Legio Defensor Titans within 8" of a Legio Defensor Warlord Titan equipped with Devotional War Sirens may roll two dice when making a Command check and choose the higher result.
Legio Specific Personal Traits A Legio Defensor Princeps Seniores’ Personal Trait can either be generated from
the table in the Adeptus Titanicus rulebook, or by rolling a D3 on the table that follows:
D3 Personal Traits 1 Enduring Hatred: Death is preferable to defeat in the mind of the Princeps. Even as their Titan burns around them, they will fight on if it means exacting their vengeance. The Princeps Titan may re-roll Hit rolls of 1 once their Titan has suffered Critical Damage. However, during the Damage Control phase, they must spend any Repair dice to repair disabled weapons before repairing any other kind of damage. 2 Crusade Veteran: Some Princeps of the Nova Guard have served since the early days of the Great Crusade, and are able to control their god-engines in ways that seem almost preternatural to their enemies. Once per game, when the Princeps successfully issues an Emergency Repairs order, they may immediately issue a second Order after its effects have been resolved. This second Order may be another Emergency Repairs order. Note that the Titan must adhere to the restrictions to movement and activation of both Orders. 3 Icon of the True: The Princeps is a beacon of the cause, and when their Titan strides onto the field of battle, their allies grow ever more resolute. While the Princeps Titan is on the board, all Knight Banners and Titans from other friendly Legios add 1 to the dice roll when making Command checks.
Legio Defensor Warlord Battle Titan
Vengeful Scion Vengeful Scion, as shown here before the Battle for the Carthega Telepathica, would go on to survive the horrors of Beta-Garmon and join the final defence of Terra against the Warmaster. That the Warlord endured, when so many
of its brethren did not, became just another sign to the believers within the Legio that the Emperor was watching over them. The Vengeful Scion was to become a relic of those dark days, and centuries later, its hull resplendent in the
icons of the faith, it continued to wage war for the Emperor as He sat upon His Golden Throne.
Legio Defensor Heraldry
Despite the rise of the Lectitio Divinitatus among the ranks of the Legio Defensor, the prominent displaying of its religious iconography was still strictly prohibited by the Collegia Titanica. While the twin sunrise motif of the Legio later became the Emperor’s divine crown of light, for the battles of the Beta- Garmon campaign, the Legio bore the symbols of their home world Satyraes XII. Central to the heraldry of Satyraes was the stag, its skull lit by the Forge World’s two suns. Legends among the Legio tell of a time when the people of Satyraes worshipped their great forest stags as gods, now believed by the Satyrii to be a forerunner manifestation of the Emperor. Beneath these icons of old Satyraes, skulls stamp out the Titan’s battlefield victories, while the signum nobilis details its maniple and rank laid out in axe blades.
Legio Defensor Reaver Battle Titan
Horns of Satyraes After the first battles for Beta-Garmon III, the Nova Guard tightened its defensive lines around the hives. Horns of
Satyraes was among those Titans to hunt down Sons of Horus and Iron Warriors siege battalions, the Titan’s heavy weaponry powerful enough to target Termite breeching vehicles beneath the earth. For days, the Titan and its maniple hunted these interlopers, some defending against overland assault, others using their potent auspexes to track the ghostly
shadows of companies tunnelling beneath their feet.
Legio Solaria
Title: The Legio Solaria Ordo Titanica
Militaris Grade: Secundus
Patent: Pre-Imperial, Tigrus Mechanicum
Warden Domain(s): Tigrus
Cognomen: The Imperial Hunters
Allied War Houses: Procon Vi
Allegiance: Fidelitas Constantus
The origin of Legio Solaria is tied to the Knight World of Procon, for it was upon that world Mohana Mankata VI, known now as the Great Mother of Legio Solaria, was born. Like many Knight Worlds, Procon was rife with traditions and beliefs that harked back to its founding, lending support to a society far from egalitarian, where each person’s status and role was determined more by blood than skill. It was the ancient rites of Procon Vi, Knight Households of Procon, that saw Mankata’s victory in a horse-riding competition rewarded with exile for having participated without permission. Punished by her own due to her perceived audacity, others were more forthcoming with praise and her skill attracted the attention of the Mechanicum, who offered Mankata a place upon the Forge World of Tigrus. There, she was proclaimed Domina Princeps of the newly-founded Legio Solaria, the first to join its ranks. By her edict, the Princeps of the Titan Legion were drawn solely from the ranks of women, cultivated from her own genetic line, and the sole commanders of a god-engine drawn from Tigrus. In recognition both as her role as progenitor of Legio Solaria and her leadership in the centuries following its founding, Mankata was given the title of the Great Mother by her Princeps, holding almost divine status within the ranks of the Titan Legion.
Given the nature of Legio Solaria’s founding, born as it was from the pride of its Great Mother, it is perhaps unsurprising that the Titan Legions established a reputation for their bellicose and prideful Princeps. Nowhere was this more evident than in battle, for the Princeps of Legio Solaria would make great boasts in their search for glory while employing aggressive tactics that favoured the large number of Warhound class Scout Titans the Titan Legion possessed. There were some who served alongside Legio Solaria who showed contempt for the seemingly blatant recklessness of the Titan Legion’s tactics, yet many others were quick to praise its efforts upon the battlefield. Regardless of opinion, the skill of the Titan Legion was undeniable when, during the latter decades of the Great Crusade, Legio Solaria were recorded as possessing an engine kill to engine loss ratio greater than some of the largest and most ancient of Titan Legions, though such statistics varied as to the scale required for a slain foe to constitute an engine kill. It was with great pride that Legio Solaria accepted the title of Imperial Hunters bequeathed upon them, in part due to the impressive combat record they had amassed.
The nature of Legio Solaria saw them forge strong bonds with Titan Legions of similar demeanour. Indeed, Legio Gryphonicus were quick to offer praise to the younger Titan Legion, with both Legions noted as pushing each other to greater heights when sharing a battlefield, a circumstance attributed to the highly competitive nature of both Titan Legions. Similarly, the aggressive tactics favoured by the Imperial Hunters saw them regularly paired with Space Marine Legions such as the White Scars and Space Wolves, with much of the Titan Legion’s strength assigned to Expeditionary fleets containing one or the other Legions. The Imperial Hunters’ service alongside others was not without incident, the most notable example being the long-held feud between Legio Solaria and Legio Vulpa, one that began during the Compliance of Dendrictia, when the Death Stalkers callously extinguished 50,000 lives in a single action. Though naught but harsh words and official denouncements were exchanged, the two Titan Legions were bound together in hatred from that moment onwards, a rivalry that kept them apart during the Great Crusade and was reignited come the Horus Heresy.
The years following the appointment of Horus Lupercal as Warmaster brought much turmoil to Legio Solaris, even before the Horus Heresy began. To outside observers, little changed in the Imperial Hunters’ demeanour, yet, inwardly, the future of the Titan Legion proved unclear. Much of this strife came from the degenerating health of the Great Mother and the expectancy of her approaching death. As founding Domina Princeps of Legio Solaria, having commanded it since its creation, the anticipated loss of the Legio’s foundation led to uncertainty amongst the ranks of the Imperial Hunters. In some manner, the outbreak of the Horus Heresy brought a period of certainty to Legio Solaria, for the conflict offered a new crucible in which the martial prowess of the Titan Legion was tested against that of more ancient Titan Legions and a place where old grudges could be settled.
Much of the Titan Legion’s initial efforts to resist the Warmaster and his allies were focused on the Beta-Garmon cluster. It was there that the Great Mother committed the principal strength of Legio Solaris, intent upon denying the Traitors access to the wider Segmentum Solar. The unfolding conflict claimed the lives of dozens of Imperial Hunters Titans and eventually the life of Mohana Mankata VI, who fell in battle against the Traitor Titan Legions and the foul powers they unleashed. The Beta-Garmon campaign proved a turning point for Legio Solaria, their numbers vastly reduced and the survivors deprived of the constant leadership they had enjoyed since their founding. As the Warmaster marched on Terra, Legio Solaria fragmented, its number scattering across the galaxy during the frantic retreat from Beta-Garmon. Many were to find their way to Terra under command of Esha Ani Mohana, the Great Mother’s second-in-command, standing proud behind the walls of Terra in defiance of the approaching Traitors. The remaining numbers of Legio Solaria drifted across the stars, small battlegroups commanded by senior Princeps awarded field command fighting on dozens of worlds, each striving to return once more to Tigrus and reunite with their sisters.
Materiel Strength Numerous descriptions of Legio Solaria’s tactical strength make note of the increased number of Warhound class Scout Titans within its ranks, which far outnumbered that of any other Titan class. Such instances were rare amongst Titan Legions and a census of Legio Solaria’s strength prior to its deployment to the Beta-Garmon cluster recorded a total of 104 god-engines of which 61 were Warhound class. It should be noted that the strength mustered in the Beta-Garmon system was not the sole battlegroup of Legio Solaria and several other Imperial Hunters battlegroups, of considerably smaller size, were unable to join up with the principal strength of the Titan Legion due to the effects of the Ruinstorm. Legio Solaris also held close bonds with the Knight House of Procon Vi, which hailed from the same world as the Great Mother. Over two dozen Household Banners were assembled alongside Legio Solaria at the Beta- Garmon cluster, enhancing the Titan Legion’s strength and tactical flexibility.
Legio Solaria (Imperial Hunters)
Legio Trait: Wolf Packs Legio Solaria Warhound wolf packs can bring down even the largest
prey. As a result, they often field larger numbers of Warhounds and are much better versed in coordinating their actions.
Warhound squadrons in a Legio Solaria maniple can contain up to five Warhound Titans. In addition, any Legio Solaria maniple can select a Warhound Titan in place of any Reaver Titans as part of its mandatory components.
Legio Specific Stratagem: Fog of War (1)
The Imperial Hunters are famed for their skills at obfuscation on the battlefield. Often, smaller Titans will hide in the energy shadows of their larger sisters, shifting position unseen by the enemy.
This Stratagem can be purchased by any Legio Solaria player. Play this Stratagem in the Strategy phase of the first round. The Legio Solaria player may redeploy a Warhound Titan. These redeployed units can be placed anywhere that they would normally be allowed to deploy by the mission being played. This Stratagem can be purchased multiple times.
Legio Specific Wargear: Fortis Motivators Warhound Titans used by the Imperial Hunters are among some
of the most formidable of all of the Legios. Speed and mobility are especially coveted traits by the Tigrus Mechanicum, and their Titans are modified with many redundancies and reinforcements to keep them moving.
A Legio Solaria Warhound Titan can be fitted with Fortis Motivators for a cost of +20 points. In the Damage Control phase, a Titan with this upgrade can repair Critical Damage to its Legs on a 1+ instead of a 5+.
Legio Specific Wargear: Cameleoline Shrouding During the Horus Heresy, the Tech-Priests of Tigrus
unearthed many ancient and forbidden technologies in their efforts to aid the armies of the Emperor. Among these were the cameleoline shrouds, layers of light-refractive energy cloth that could be stretched across the armour plates of a Battle Titan. While they were never fully implemented, many Princeps used these shrouds to great effect in some of the pivotal battles of that dark age.
Any Legio Solaria Titan with a Scale of 6 or less can take Cameleoline Shrouding as an upgrade for +35 points. Titans with this upgrade have their outline blurred, making a moving Titan difficult to hit. Any attacks made against a Titan with this upgrade suffer a -1 modifier to all Hit rolls so long as the targeted Titan has moved more than 6" this round and is more than 10" away from the attacking unit. However, the shrouding was notoriously fragile, and as soon as the Titan suffers 1 point of Structural Damage, this bonus is lost.
Legio Specific Personal Traits A Legio Solaria Princeps Seniores’ Personal trait can either be generated from
the table in the Adeptus Titanicus rulebook, or by rolling a D3 on the table that follows:
D3 Personal Traits 1 Spear of Tigrus: Keeping on the move is second nature to the Princeps, and they live by the axiom: ‘a moving blade cannot be broken’. The Princeps’ Titan may be issued a Full Stride order without the need to make a Command check. 2 Agile Minded: One good hit deserves another, and the Princeps reacts to incoming fire or a charge with blinding speed and precision. Once per game, when the Princeps’ Titan is hit by an attack, their Titan may respond in kind, interrupting the activation of an enemy unit and immediately making a single attack back at the attacker. 3 Swift Displacement: The Princeps never lets their enemies get too close, luring them in and then falling back with equal speed so that their foes can be torn apart by close range firepower. Once per game, when an enemy Titan makes a Smash Attack as part of a Charge order against the Princeps’ Titan, the Princeps may move their Titan D6" directly away from the attacker, after the enemy Titan has moved but before any Hit dice for the attack are rolled. This does not change the facing of the Princeps’ Titan.
Legio Solaria Reaver Battle Titan
Fugor Utrox The history of a Titan is a much lauded thing, its every deed is remembered within its command throne and recorded
upon its war banners. The fine script upon the Fugor Utrox’s banner lists the names of allies fallen and enemies vanquished, each one an honour earned in the fires of war. Given the fury of warfare that Titans are subjected to, banners
seldom survive engagements intact, and before each battle are then made anew, mono-task servitors recreating
the long lists of names from the Legio’s roll of honours.
Legio Atarus
Title: The Legio Atarus Ordo Titanica
Militaris Grade: Secundus
Patent: Post-Unification, Phaetonite Mechanicum
Warden Domains: Atar-Median (Forge World)
Cognomen: The Firebrands
Allied War Houses: Col’khak (Knight world of Atar-Plainitia)
Allegiance: Fidelitas Constantus
The Firebrands were considered by some to be a particularly fractious and ill-disposed Titan Legion before the dark treacheries of the Warmaster plunged all into bloodshed. Distrusted and looked down upon by many of their brethren in the Ordo Titanicus, Legio Atarus would go on to prove their mettle where other, more lauded names, would ignominiously fall. The seeds of the Firebrands’ ill-repute during the Great Crusade can be traced to the highly unusual circumstances of their inception. In the early years of the Great Crusade, one of the first tasks of Imperial expansion from Terra was to link up with a number of key domains within the Segmentum Solar identified as vital to the Great Crusade’s success. Crucial among these were several Forge Worlds with whom the Mechanicum of Mars had maintained some relationship throughout the tribulations of the latter Age of Strife. In many cases, these inclusions went without difficulty, such as with Voss whose masters had bent the knee to Mars without qualm, but in others such as Phaeton, inclusion was the matter of some negotiation and difficulty, and the final acquiescence bought with considerably more autonomy than the Fabricator General of Mars would perhaps have preferred from a vassal-domain. What began as a cordial relationship quickly grew into one of veiled and open rivalry, with Phaeton’s position being further strengthened by it quickly becoming perhaps the second most productive Forge World of the Great Crusade until the later rediscovery of mighty Anvillus.
Although never faltering in its commitment to the Great Crusade, machinations by the authorities of Mars brought matters close to outright conflict over doctrine and subtle accusations that Phaeton was building its military assets to threatening levels, and this began to have a corrosive effect on the Forge World’s reputation – to the point where the storm clouds of hostile censure and perhaps even armed retribution gathered. At last, the Revered-Comptroller of Phaeton Prime, realising that his domain could not stand before such power, brokered a compromise, offering publicly to give up a full third of his world’s engines, armed forces and chattels in the interests of equanimity with Mars. This was quickly agreed but, as the Fabricator General, no doubt with some lust for the task, dispatched an assurance taskforce to Phaeton, he discovered that he had been outmanoeuvred. Rather than give up its lore and dominion to Mars, Phaeton had created a fleet of vast Explorator arks, and into these were divided an equal third part of its priesthood, chattels and machineries and, even as the Martian emissaries looked on, despatched them into the void.
Conflict was averted, Phaeton diminished and its subservience was assured, but it and its allies gained the long-burning antipathy of Mars and its masters. After a long and perilous journey through the Warp, the Phaetonite Covenant alighted in the vicinity of the white super-giant star Atarath, on what was then the edge of known space. Here they founded the fledgling Forge World of Atar-Median in its shadow, on one of the many rogue planets caught in the colossal star’s gravitational pull. With frightening swiftness, the transplanted Magos rose up their domain of steel and fire, and using as its core ancient god- engines taken from the forces that had once defended Phaeton in the anarchy of Old Night, they founded the Legio Atarus as its shield and sword.
Counted then as one of the younger Titan Legions, the Legio Atarus were looked down upon by many among the more ancient Legios, and distrusted for their origins by some with close ties to the Fabricator General’s faction on Mars, where a bitter humour over Atar-Median’s founding still lingered. The Legio Atarus therefore was always a force who had much to prove. They responded to this disregarded status both by the eagerness and devotion which they displayed for the Great Crusade and its cause (over and above the fealty they owed to the Martian Mechanicum), and by displaying defiance and swift anger when they felt themselves slighted by any other Legio. Their zealous impetuousness in battle and the open belligerence and pride in arms they displayed, combined with the symbol of the burning blade they had adopted as their heraldic device, quickly set the cognomen by which the common soldiery of the Imperium would know them – the Firebrands.
For much of the latter third of the Great Crusade, it was common for the Firebrands to operate several separate demi- Legios as was the common case with many Secundus class Titan Legions, and it seldom came together en masse for battle. It was commonly the case for one demi-Legio to be rotated through deployment on Atar-Median for repair and refit between major engagements, with the bulk of the Legio deployed to different war zones as needed as part of the overall Imperium military reserve, and seldom stayed attached to a particular Expeditionary fleet for long. Particular campaigns which saw the notable actions of the Firebrands during this period included the liberation of Vayber and the Second Ghenna Campaign, the great Ullanor Crusade and the Lament of Shedim. In this last campaign, a notable incident occurred
which was to have a bearing on events of the Horus Heresy and accounted, in part, for the presence of demi-Legio Karkanos of the Firebrands at Isstvan V.
During the war against the Eldar in the Shedim Drifts, a mighty clash occurred on the arid world of Anark Zeta between the forces of the Craftworld of Mór-ríoh’i and the Great Crusade. The vast Imperial force raised to destroy the marauding Craftworld included detachments from no fewer than four Titan Legions: the Legio Mortis (the Death’s Heads), the Legio Fureans (the Tiger Eyes), the Legio Osedax (the Cockatrices) and the Legio Atarus (Firebrands), and was under the overall direct strategic command of Horus Lupercal and his (then) Luna Wolves. During the apocalyptic battle which raged on the planet’s surface, the Legio Atarus were used as part of a probing attack against the Eldar warp gates. This was successful in drawing forth the ash grey and crimson Titans of the enemy into open battle. Heavily engaged and outnumbered by the ghostly xenos war machines, the promised support of the Death’s Heads did not materialise, while the Titans of the Tiger Eyes, holding the Firebrands’ flank, crumbled under the Eldar assault and retreated, leaving a full demi-Legio of the Firebrands to be encircled and all but destroyed, with only a single Warhound surviving the engagement still able to fight. In the aftermath, it was revealed that the attack had been a ruse intended to divert the strength of the enemy away from the direct defence of the Craftworld while Horus’ own Legion undertook a surprise assault against it. That Legio Atarus has been cruelly used without its foreknowledge or consent, and that both Legio Mortis and Legio Fureans had refused to stand beside the Firebrands, was an injury the Titan Legion would not forget.
The events that occurred in the Shedim Drifts soured the opinion those of Legio Atarus held towards the Warmaster and, when news of his betrayal reached Atar-Median, alongside calls to aid the suppression of his rebellion, the Firebrands were amongst the first to answer. Whether such eagerness stemmed from a desire for vengeance for the grievances the Titan Legion held towards the Warmaster or merely out of complete loyalty to the Imperium is unknown. Regardless of the reasoning, a demi-Legio of Titans was dispatched to Isstvan V only to meet their end during the Dropsite Massacre. For the remainder of the Horus Heresy, the Titans of Legio Atarus proved eager to bring the Traitors to battle, throwing themselves into some of the most notable battles of the conflict, including the battle for the Beta-Garmon Cluster and the Cataclysm of Iron.
Materiel Strength Counted by the assessors of the Divisio Militaris as a fully operational Titan Legion of the second rank, Legio Atarus is estimated to have had between 100-130 god-machines in active service at the time of the outbreak of the Horus Heresy. It was also known to possess a highly-respected armoured support battalion and Skitarii Auxillia Legion as part of its retainer forces (known collectively as the Brotherhood of Axxos). Like many Secundus rated Titan Legions, Legio Atarus’ principal strength in numbers ranged across the mid-classes, with Reaver, Nightgaunt and Carnivore types making up the majority of its ranks, with sizeable contingents of Warlord and Warhound classes constituting the balance of their Titan forces. It is believed Legio Atarus possessed a single Nemesis class Titan, the Immaculata Athartus, which stood both as the god-engine of the Legio’s Grand Master, Everard Mazarin, and defender of the Forge World of Atar-Median.
Legio Atarus (Firebrands)
Legio Trait: Seizing the Initiative Firebrands crews need little prompting to take the
initiative, and Titans within their maniples are often on the move, even before their Princeps Seniores issues the order to advance or attack. Firebrands commanders have learned to exploit the independent nature of the Princeps under their control, and often array their forces as aggressively as possible.
Once per battle, a force that contains at least one Legio Atarus maniple may re-roll the dice roll to determine who will choose the First Player, but only if they rolled lower than their opponent. If they win this roll-off then they must nominate themselves as the First Player.
Legio Specific Stratagem: Impetuous Machine Spirit (1)
Years of war and headstrong commanders have given the machine spirits of Firebrands Titans their own impetuous personalities. When the machine spirit takes control of the Titan, it is even more determined than ever to close the distance with its foes.
This Stratagem can be purchased by any Legio Atarus player. Reveal this Stratagem when a Legio Atarus Titan would be required to make a roll on the Awakened Machine Spirit table (see the Adeptus Titanicus rulebook). Rather than rolling, the Legio Atarus player may instead choose to automatically apply the Impetuous result, rolling D6+2" rather than D6" to determine the distance moved.
Legio Specific Stratagem: Maniple of One (2)
Many Princeps cannot see beyond the ancient tactica doctrines laid down by the Collegia Titanica – not so the Firebrands, who practise the theorems of adaptive warfare.This is most evident in their flexible approach to the concept of the maniple, individual Princeps often changing their tactics in the midst of combat.
This Stratagem can be purchased by any Legio Atarus player. The Legio Atarus player may reveal this Stratagem at the beginning of any round. For the duration of that round, one Titan in their force may gain the benefits of any
Maniple Trait
normally available to Legio Atarus. Note that while this Stratagem is in effect, the chosen Titan loses any other
Maniple Trait
it might have and does not count as being a part of any other maniples.
Legio Specific Wargear: Infernus Missiles Legio Atarus Titans make extensive use of incendiary
missiles, weapons that are produced in vast numbers on Atar-Median and supplied almost exclusively to the Firebrands, and that are highly effective against supporting units and terrain.
Any Legio Atarus Titan armed with Apocalypse missile launchers, Apocalypse missile arrays or an Apocalypse missile launcher can be upgraded to have Infernus missiles for +25 points, so long as that Titan does not already have an upgrade affecting that weapon. Each of the Titan’s weapons must be upgraded separately. A weapon with this upgrade gains the Voidbreaker (2) trait. In addition, if a unit suffers at least one hit from a weapon with this upgrade, place a 5" Blast marker under the unit. In the End phase, any model with at least part of its base on the marker takes a Strength 4 hit, ignoring void shields and ion shields. After resolving any hits, the fire goes out and the marker is removed. Titans suffer this hit to their Legs. In addition, Blocking terrain touched by the marker takes a Strength 4 hit (see the Adeptus Titanicus rulebook for details on damaging and destroying terrain) and, if not destroyed, is set alight. In the End phase, burning terrain suffers a Strength 4 hit, and deals a Strength 4 hit to any models in it, as detailed above. The fire then goes out.
Legio Specific Personal Traits A Legio Atarus Princeps Seniores’ Personal trait can either be generated from
the table in the Adeptus Titanicus rulebook, or by rolling a D3 on the table that follows:
D3 Personal Traits 1 Headstrong: A stubborn streak runs deeply through the Princeps and their Titan, and once they set themselves upon a task, they will press forwards, regardless of the outcome. In the End phase, the Princeps Seniores may choose not to discard any Orders issued to their Titan – in effect carrying forward the Order into the following round without the need to make a new Command check. Note, Shutdown orders and other effects that change a Titan’s current Order are still applied as normal. 2 Unconventional Thinker: The Princeps has training in lateral-combative reasoning and sees things in the ebb and flow of battle that others might miss. This allows them to anticipate the actions of their enemies, or make sudden manoeuvres to catch their foes off-guard. Once per battle, after an enemy Titan has declared its action, but before it moves or fires, the Princeps’ Titan can be moved D6" in any direction and its facing changed by up to 90°. This movement may not take the Titan through Blocking terrain or other models. 3 Shedim Drift Veteran: The Princeps remembers well the betrayal at Shedim Drifts, where the Warmaster used the Firebrands as cannon fodder for his favoured Legio, and is eager to make the Traitors pay in kind. During the Combat phase, the Princeps may choose one of their Titan’s weapons. Any Armour rolls resulting from hits by the weapon may be re-rolled this round. If the Princeps is targeting a Titan from the Death’s Heads (Legio Mortis) or Tiger Eyes (Legio Fureans) Legios, then hits from all of the Princeps’ Titan’s weapons may re-roll their Armour rolls.
Legio Atarus Warlord Battle Titan
Ex Noctia Paired Belicosa volcano cannon, such as those carried to war by Ex Noctia, proved both popular and effective Titan weapons during the Beta-Garmon conflict. Over the years of the Great Crusade, few enemies of the Emperor could
hope to face the firepower of a Battle Titan, and the excessive brutality of volcano cannon was often wasted on xenos hordes and rebel fortifications. Against other Titans, however, such a weapon stands among one of the few
armaments that can reliably punch through the hull of such a war machine.
Legio Atarus Heraldry
Upstarts and rebels in the eyes of the Mechanicum, the heraldry of the Legio Atarus nonetheless attests to their loyalty to the Emperor with iconography of the Imperium. The cog within a cog speaks to the division between Phaeton and Mars, a dispute many within the Firebrands still consider an unnecessary act of submission, even if it did ultimately lead to the creation of their Legio and the founding of Atar-Median. Few Legio have had to fight as hard as the Firebrands to earn their place among the Collegia Titanica, and every Legio banner, like the one shown here, contains a long list of campaign honours, each one a victory for the Legio and shared by all members of the Firebrands.
Legio Metalica
Title: The Legio Metalica Ordo Titanica
Militaris Grade: Primus (Maxis)
Patent: Pre-Imperial, Metalicium Mechanicum
Warden Domain(s): Metalica (Forge World), Kolossi
Cognomen: The Iron Skulls
Allied War Houses: Krast, Raven, Vornherr
Allegiance: Fidelitas Constantus
If the data vaults of the Forge World of Metalica are accurate, the esteemed Titan Legion, renowned for its great tactical prowess and skill in battle, stands amongst the most ancient of its kind. Indeed, the date of its founding suggest that Metalica was amongst the first successful colony established by colony arks dispatched from Mars during the Age of Strife. The lengthy records relating to the long service of the Iron Skulls, as Legio Metalica are often named, provide a detailed history of the extensive victories claimed by the Titan Legion during the Age of Strife, telling of great adversity faced by both the Forge World and its defenders. Standing amongst the many of these victories attributed to Legio Metalica was the ruthless destruction of no less than 32 separate invasions by a diverse number of xenos species that, at one point or another, laid siege to Metalica. The strength of the Iron Skulls did not sit idle during these millennia either, and by the time of Metalica’s rediscovery, nearly a dozen neighbouring systems had been incorporated into the Forge Empire of Metalica thanks to the tactical prowess of the Titan Legion.
Initial contact with the Forge World of Metalica was made by scout vessels of the 1159th Expeditionary Fleet that, upon detecting the Forge World from the edges of the star system, returned to the fleet with news of an alien world crafted from metal. The presiding commander of the 1159th at the time of Metalica’s rediscovery is noted to have been possessed of great ambition and an impetuous mien. Caring little as to the nature of his foe, the 1159th Expeditionary Fleet was marshalled with haste to lay waste to the detected world and it was only after the Imperial fleet lay decimated by the defensive vessels of Metalica that lines of communication were opened. Further conflict was avoided when Tech-Priests attached to the expedition noted similarities in the design of the Metalican ships compared to the STC patterns in use across the Imperium. Subsequent diplomatic summits revealed that the metal sphere was far from xenos in origin and, instead, owed its transformation to millennia of labour undertaken by Metalica’s Tech-Priests who deemed it only right that they toil in blessed sterility upon a world devoid of all life, to better commune with the Omnissiah and understand his will.
Once agreement was reached and Metalica had sworn allegiance to Mars above all, the strength of Legio Metalica was unleashed upon the wider galaxy. There, the reputation for martial prowess held by the Iron Skulls was quickly proved legitimate, the number of its victories increasing with each passing year. Conquests of particular note during the first years of its involvement in the Great Crusade include the conflict on Jardingris, where they fought alongside the Primarch Roboute Guilliman, and the razing of the Archaist Strongholds, a string of fortress worlds occupied by a divergent strand of humanity ruled over by a vast Abominable Intelligence. These victories, amongst countless others, did much to cement the reputation of Legio Metalica and its assistance was soon readily sought by dozens of Expeditionary fleets across the galaxy. The strength of the Titan Legion stood greater when Metalica formed a concord with the Knight World of Kolossi, over which House Raven claimed dominion. Amongst the legends of Kolossi, it is said that upon first setting foot within the vaults of the Household and observing the dilapidated nature of vast numbers of Knight armours, the Tech-Priests of Metalica gave voice to such sorrow that the slumbering Knights reawakened. From that moment, an unbreakable bond was formed between Metalica and Kolossi, the Knight House swearing itself into service to the Forge World.
In war, Legio Metalica was noted to favour ordered tactical plans, despairing of those it fought alongside that displayed impetuous behaviour. Amongst the stranger methods of war practiced by the Iron Skulls, at least when compared to the aloof nature of the wider Mechanicum, was the Titan Legion’s employment of a dedicated strategic diplomatic contingent whose role involved integrating itself within the commanding framework of allied forces. Once rapport had been established, these strategists would advocate battleplans favoured by Legio Metalica while working tirelessly to understand the methods of war employed by others within the war zone, friend and foe alike. In circumstances where such methods were deemed preferential to the Titan Legion’s own, the Iron Skull strategists would support a change in plans while dispatching detailed reports to the Forge World of Metalica. Such reports would then be disseminated across the Titan Legion as a whole. This endeavour was aimed at the development and refinement of Legio Metalica’s tactical acumen in a seemingly endless quest to perfect its own methods of war. The employment of these strategic diplomats caused much contention amongst both other Titan Legions and commanders the Iron Skulls fought alongside. For the former, the methods of Legio Metalica were perceived as a means through which the Iron Skulls could steal secrets and hoard them for itself. In the case of the latter, frustration amongst allied forces rose from the unwillingness of Legio Metalica to share tactical developments unless deemed necessary and, even then, only when the commander in question was perceived as competent enough to understand the development in question.
By the time of the Ullanor Triumph, Legio Metalica had amassed a degree of renown not dissimilar to the reputations of the Triad Ferrum Morgulus. Driven by a desire to possess the strength wielded by Metalica, emissaries of the Warmaster were dispatched in an attempt to sway the allegiance of the Forge World to his cause. The fate of these emissaries remains unknown, for records indicate that conflict erupted soon after they were sent and no evidence exists as to their arrival at Metalica. Irrespective of the fate of the Warmaster’s emissaries, the allegiance of Metalica was called into question on numerous occasions during the early years of the Horus Heresy; the most notable occurrence involving conflict between Legio Metalica and Legio Pallidus Mors, with the latter reporting treachery by the Iron Skulls. According to those few Princeps who survived the resulting conflict, the Pale Scythes claimed that a battlegroup of Iron Skulls had attempted to sway them to turn against the Emperor. When Legio Pallidus Mors denied such an offer, it was met with violence, and from that day forth, the Pale Scythes harboured distrust towards Legio Metalica, even after it was revealed that the wayward Iron Skulls had been corrupted by the machinations of Legio Vulturum. Further scattered reports of turncoat Iron Skulls battlegroups were reported elsewhere in the galaxy and the Loyalist strength of Legio Metalica tasked themselves with the extermination of such traitors. The fractious nature of Legio Metalica’s loyalty did much to stain the once-impeccable reputation of the Titan Legion leading to the collapse of the Iron Skulls’ diplomatic strategists organisation, for few trusted the Titan Legion enough to share tactical secrets lest it be used against their own.
Materiel Strength The operational strength of Legio Metalica is attested to have stood at 159 god-engines following the Ullanor Triumph. As befitting a Titan Legion of its standing, Legio Metalica was noted to contain several super-heavy Battle Titan types amongst its ranks as well as an extensive number of Warlord class Battle Titans. All recorded data concurs with the standard force disposition of a Primus grade Titan Legion though minor equipment variations are referenced in several assessments of Legio Metalica’s strength. In particular, many reports referred to the Iron Skulls’ preference for the auditory enhancement of each god-engine’s loud hailers, resulting in an amplified sound unleashed by a Legio Metalica Titan each time it fired
a weapon. The exact reason behind such a modification is not recorded within the databases of Legio Metalica, though assessments of the most ancient Titans of Legio Metalica show such modifications were retrospectively added, while Titans less than five centuries old by the time of the Horus Heresy had such enhancements added during construction. The specialised Skitarii support regiments employed by Legio Metalica, of which three were in active use during the Horus Heresy, seemingly drew a measure of inspiration from the modified sound of Legio Metalica warhorns, while opposing forces found such a cacophony highly disorientating. It is presumed that such auditory barrages were fashioned to serve a role similar in fashion to that of a war-cry, albeit one on a gargantuan scale.
Legio Metalica (Iron Skulls)
Legio Trait: Victories Beyond Measure Legio Metalica remains one of the oldest and most
esteemed Titan Legions, possessing a long and storied history of service during the Great Crusade. Their innumerable victories are owed to the skill of the Legio’s Princeps in seizing the perfect moment to capitalise on.
Once per round, after completing the activation of a friendly Legio Metalica Titan, the Legio Metalica player may immediately activate another friendly Legio Metalica Titan. After resolving the second Titan’s activation, increase its Reactor Level by 2. A Titan cannot be activated in this way if the Titan activated first was part of a Squadron, nor can a Titan that is part of a Squadron be chosen as the second activation.
Legio Specific Stratagem: Harmony and Order (1)
Formed from metal and little else, the world of Metalica is a sterile planet where its inhabitants can go about their business in complete order. This rigid sense of duty carries over to the machine spirits of all things forged upon the planet.
This Stratagem can be purchased by a Legio Metalica player. Play this Stratagem when a Titan’s Machine Spirit awakens as a result of pushing its Reactor. The Machine Spirit is not awakened, in the same manner as if the Titan has passed its Command check.
Legio Specific Wargear: Bastion Armour Based upon Metalica, the Iron Skulls benefit from the Forge
World’s expertise in manufacturing, incorporating many unique metallic compounds within their armour plating and skeleton.
Any Legio Metalica Titan may take Reinforced Armour for +15 points. Weapons with the Fusion trait that target a Titan with this upgrade always roll a D6 regardless of range and weapons with the Rending trait add 1 to the Armour roll rather than D3 for each Armour roll of a 6.
Legio Specific Wargear: Auditory Barrage Vox-hailers produced by the Forge World of Metalica are
modified to emit distinct blaring sounds so their foes can hear their death approaching, a sound that shatters all but the strongest of wills.
Any Legio Metalica Titan can be upgraded with an Auditory Barrage for +10 points. When a Titan with this upgrade makes an attack with any weapon that does not have the Melee trait, enemy Knight Banners within 8" of the Titan must make a Command check; if the Banner fails its Command check they become Shaken. A Banner can only be affected by this rule upgrade once per round.
Legio Specific Personal Traits A Legio Metalica Princeps Seniores’ Personal trait can either be generated from
the table in the Adeptus Titanicus rulebook, or by rolling a D3 on the table that follows:
D3 Personal Traits 1 Paragon of Conquest: The Princeps has never seen defeat, no matter the odds arrayed against them, and is always pressing forward to conquer their foe. If the Princeps’ battlegroup does not have a Tertiary Objective (as part of a Stratagem or Mission), it gains the Paragon of Conquest Objective. A battlegroup with this objective earns 5 Victory points at the end of the game if their Princeps Seniores’ Titan is in the opponent’s deployment zone. 2 Diligent Commander: The Princeps has seen battle across countless worlds a…5271 tokens truncated…atched to the many border worlds of Ultramar. Ever the crusaders, the Legio Praesagius were entrusted with the scouring of the shadows at the edges of Ultramar, such that many more worlds could come under its banner and be equally prosperous given time.
At the dawn of the Horus Heresy, the might of Praesagius was called to war as a full Legio for the first time in decades. Mustering on Calth in a grand procession as they embarked upon their landing craft, they were betrayed by the Word Bearers Space Marines. Caught unawares, the majority of Legio Praesagius was ruthlessly destroyed in the opening salvo of treachery, as their dropships were blasted from near-orbit and their parade-ready Titans were ambushed by their erstwhile allies amongst the Legio Suturvora. It is a testament to the courage and discipline of the Legio Praesagius that, faced with such shocking catastrophe and brutal losses, they succumbed neither to panic nor disarray in the face of the onslaught.
Those of the True Messengers who remained active after the initial storm of firepower quickly recovered and mounted vital counter-attacks in support of the Ultramarines and Imperial Army regiments on Calth. Though they were diminished, the Legio fought bravely to the last in the hell-haunted ruins of Ithraca City as Calth’s star died, ravaging the planet below. Every Titan of the Legio Praesagius on Calth sacrificed themselves in battle against the Legio Suturvora, allowing other loyal survivors to seek shelter and live to fight another day.
When news reached Gantz of the betrayal at Calth, the remainder of the True Messengers swore a Crusade of Iron against the Traitors rampant within the Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar. Legio Praesagius, alongside their allies of the Legio Oberon and the Ordo Sinister, dispatched their maniples across the worlds assailed by the enemy, to hunt and to punish the Traitor Legios in dozens of brutal conflicts, and though they were few, every Titan tallied many times their own number in kills before being laid low. In the wake of this crusade, the remnants of Praesagius would not be content to limp back to Gantz, but once again began the effort of re-marshalling their strength, to join the Ultramarines on their long and difficult road to Terra.
Materiel Strength In the early days of the Legio Praesagius, it was ranked as Primaris grade with over 300 god-engines to its name, and notably had a significant standing of heavy Battle Titans including Warlord, Imperator and Carnivore class god-engines. For much of the Great Crusade, it was rare for the Legio to be assembled in its entirety for war. Due to the great size of the Legio Praesagius, it was separated into demi-Legio battlegroups that encouraged a structure of dispersed command and reliance on the initiative of its Titan Princeps. This was the cornerstone of their many victories, for each Princeps was a respected commander and a veteran leader of battlegroups. By their time on Gantz, the Legio Praesagius’ size was greatly diminished, numbering only 112 Titans at the time of the muster on Calth, of which most were Warlord and Reaver classes with seasoned veteran crews. In the tragic aftermath of Calth, and for much of the Shadow Crusade, a mere dozen Titans were all that would remain of proud Legio Praesagius.
Legio Praesagius (True Messengers)
Legio Trait: Pinpoint Accuracy The True Messengers showed a distinct preference for
precision weaponry, believing indiscriminate destruction was unfitting conduct for a true Titan Legion.
A Legio Praesagius player may re-roll the Location dice for attacks made by Legio Praesagius Titans when using a weapon’s Long range – they must accept the second roll. They may not re-roll the Location dice if the attack was made with a Blast weapon that subsequently missed.
Legio Trait: Fluid Command Structure Due to the great size of the Legio Praesagius, the
Legio was separated into demi-Legio battlegroups that encouraged a structure of dispersed command and reliance on the initiative of its Titan Princeps.
If the Princeps Seniores of a Legio Praesagius maniple is destroyed, the player may choose another Titan from that maniple to designate as the new Princeps Seniores. The new Princeps Seniores follows all the rules for being a Princeps Seniores but has no Personal Trait. Only a Princeps Seniores chosen during battlegroup selection counts for the purpose of determining Victory points and other scenario effects.
Legio Trait: Against the Impossible Often assigned to the vanguard of Expeditionary fleets,
the Legio Praesagius became renowned for achieving the seemingly impossible.
Once per battle, when any Legio Praesagius Titan takes Critical Damage from a weapon attack, after the weapon attack has been resolved, it may immediately undergo an Emergency Repair as if it had been issued the Emergency Repairs order. This cannot be used if the Titan has suffered Catastrophic Damage.
Legio Specific Stratagem: Precision Volley (2)
This Stratagem can be purchased by any Legio Praesagius player. Play this Stratagem at the start of the Strategy phase, before any Orders are issued. Until the start of the next round, add 1 to the Hit rolls of all attacks made by Legio Praesagius Titans when using a weapon’s Long range.
Legio Specific Personal Traits A Legio Praesagius Princeps Seniores’ Personal Trait can either be generated
from the table in the Adeptus Titanicus rulebook, or by rolling a D3 on the table that follows:
D3 Personal Traits 1 Noble Legacy:The Princeps was there at the start of the Great Crusade and still upholds the promise that the dream of humanity will one day be achieved. If the Princeps’ battlegroup does not have a Tertiary Objective (as part of a Stratagem or Mission), it gains the Eternal Bastion Tertiary Objective. A battlegroup with this objective earns 5 Victory points at the end of the game if their Princeps Seniores’ Titan was not destroyed or Structurally Compromised. 2 Natural Commander: The Princeps is able to quickly assess the ebb and flow of battle, directing the engines under their command with ease. If the Princeps’ Titan rolls a 9 or 10 for a Command check made when issuing Orders, they may issue the same Order to any or all of the Titans in their maniple (provided they do not already have an Order) without the need to make a Command check. 3 Crusader: The Princeps is a true believer in the crusading spirit of their Legio, adhering to a doctrine of marching forwards with relentless purpose. Once per round, when moving in the Combat phase as part of a Full Stride order, the Princeps’ Titan may fire one of its weapons after they have finished moving. Apply a -2 modifier to the Hit rolls.
Legio Praesagius Warlord Battle Titan
Auric Pegasus Commanded by Master-Princeps Rhiko Trieste, a veteran warrior respected by her peers, Auric Pegasus saw its finest moments
upon the surface of Calth. Taking command of the scattered elements of Legio Praesagius after the felling of the Arutan,
Trieste issued her first, and final, command as mistress of the Titan Legion. Nine Warlords, Auric Pegasus amongst them, charged at the centre of the Fire Masters’ line, buying time for the surviving True Messengers to withdraw into Ithraca City. Now known to the annals of the Collegia Titanica as the Nine Paragons of Ithraca, of these nine Warlord Titans Auric Pegasus
was reportedly the last to fall, the severed and crushed head of an enemy Reaver Titan clenched in the god-engine’s fist.
Legio Praesagius Warbringer Nemesis Titan
Sonitus Iustitiae A relic of a forgotten war, Sonitus Iustitiae once belonged to a now-extinct Titan Legion, having fallen
silent during the Age of Strife and remained lost until Explorator fleets found its remains upon the dead world of Kelossi VI. Painstakingly revived, it remained in the war vaults of Konor for nearly two
centuries, awaiting the call to battle. When Legio Praesagius sought a renewal of their lost strength,
Sonitus Iustitiae was awakened for the first time in millennia, the dolorous boom of its guns the
herald of grim vengeance.
Legio Fortidus
Title: The Legio Fortidus Ordo Titanica
Militaris Grade: Secundus
Patent: Pre-Imperium. Martian Mechanicum
Warden Domain(s): Mars (Forge World), Bokiicatau (Legio Outpost), Molech (Legio Outpost)
Cognomen: The Dauntless
Allied War Houses: Knight Houses of Molech, Taranis, Zavora
Allegiance: Fidelitas Constantus
The exact date of Legio Fortidus’ founding, along with events that saw the bestowment of the cognomen ‘The Dauntless’ upon the Titan Legion, is but one of many pieces of knowledge lost over the course of the Red Planet’s history. That it was forged during the Age of Strife remains the sole concrete truth, for the Dauntless stood guard over Mars when the Emperor forged His pact with the Mechanicum, one amongst many Titan Legions bound to the planet. What little that can be gleaned from scattered records collated during the Age of Strife tells of a Titan Legion unwilling to bow before impending doom. Indeed, the strength of Legio Fortidus has both waxed and waned, the Titan Legion brought to the edge of extinction numerous times during the long millennia of warfare yet never truly broken upon the anvil of war before the coming of the Imperium.
Upon the departure of the Great Crusade from the Sol System, Legio Fortidus was tasked with securing the power of Mars across the wider galaxy. Though the industrial capability of Mars was great, the ever-expanding demands of the Great Crusade ensured that even the Red Planet proved incapable of sustaining the many Titan Legions that had once walked upon the red sands. To this end, the Grand Master of Legio Fortidus was given leave to claim feudal rights upon distant worlds in Mars’ stead along with the resources needed to construct functional outposts capable of sustaining a warring Titan Legion, or the means to acquire such provisions. This move served dual purpose, relinquishing Mars from its duty in sustaining the Dauntless yet serving to expand, through proxy, the holdings of the Red Planet with each world Legio Fortidus claimed. In this way, Legio Fortidus remained bound to Mars, each new outpost they claimed seen as nothing more than a far-flung corner of the Red Planet.
Unable to call upon the near-boundless resources of their home world, Legio Fortidus sought out new means of supply, dividing into numerous autonomous battlegroups that served at the forefront of the Great Crusade. With the Warmaster’s appointment, Legio Fortidus had spread far and wide, having claimed outposts on nearly a dozen worlds, each one capable of maintaining a portion of Legio Fortidus’ numbers, including the Knight World of Molech and the industrial world of Bokiicatau. In strength, the Dauntless had only grown, yet many of its Princeps were Dauntless in name only, having never looked upon the red sands of its founding world nor witnessed the gathered might of Legio Fortidus. When circumstances contrived to bring together disparate elements of the Titan Legion upon the battlefield, each battlegroup proved profoundly divergent from one another, its practices and methods of war influenced by the decades of separation from the core principles of Legio Fortidus. Fearing extinction through disunity, those Dauntless Princeps who still remembered a day before the coming of the Imperium, when Legio Fortidus had stood as wardens of Mars, proclaimed a new tradition: each decade, should the demands of war allow, a portion of Legio Fortidus from each scattered fragment would gather on Mars within the fabled halls of the Titan Legion’s ancient fortress. There, in a show of brotherhood and unity, the Princeps would share news of the Titan Legion’s triumphs and losses from across the galaxy. In turn, such tales would be retold to those Princeps who could not return, instilling a measure of unity across the stars. This vision of newfound unity was to be broken in the cruellest of manners, for as the Princeps of Legio Fortidus gathered on Mars, the treachery of the Fabricator General was revealed. In a single moment, Legio Fortidus was dealt a seemingly mortal blow, the reactors of each Titan assembled within the fortress of the Dauntless overloaded by bursts of scrap code, reducing the fortification to rubble and slaying all of Legio Fortidus upon the Red Planet with it. Thus was Legio Fortidus condemned to a slow extinction.
When news reached the distant outposts of Legio Fortidus of the fall of their most seasoned commanders and the destruction of the Titan Legion’s most ancient god-engines, it is said that only rage could fill the void such a loss left behind. Devoid of aid from both Mars and other Dauntless battlegroups, each pocket of Legio Fortidus became, in its own eyes, the sole survivors of the Titan Legion. Reliant on small outposts, well- developed as they were, few such battlegroups were capable of sustaining the losses the Horus Heresy would bring, yet retreat and isolation was not a notion entertained by any amongst the Titan Legion. On a dozen worlds across the galaxy, the god-engines of Legio Fortidus forged a fearsome name for themselves, displaying a distinct lack of care for their own wellbeing, as if death, be it the Traitors’ or their own, was the sole goal of the Titan Legion’s Princeps.
Materiel Strength Before betrayal dealt it a grievous blow the strength of Legio Fortidus was well-recorded, with data collated from the numerous outposts of the Titan Legion noting 127 active god-engines of varying classes and sizes in service to Legio Fortidus. Of these, over a third were Warlord class Battle Titans, with the remaining god-engines made up of other Scout and Battle Titans, as well as several Imperator and Nemesis Titans within their ranks.
The outbreak of the Horus Heresy saw this number vastly diminished, and the true cost of betrayal may never be known. What is clear is that the Death of Innocence, the name given to the revelation of treachery upon Mars, destroyed 53 god-engines and claimed the lives of the majority of the Titan Legion’s greatest Titans. The catastrophe upon Mars was not the only act of betrayal to bring disaster to Legio Fortidus, for two recorded instances tell of Mechanicum fleets ferrying Dauntless Titans laid to waste when the guns of presumed allies were turned upon the vessels. Following such losses, Legio Fortidus could call upon an estimated 40 god-engines though these numbers were located across the galaxy and incapable of joining together. Furthermore, there proved a lack of consistent supply in order to arm the Dauntless battlegroups and replenish their numbers, resulting in significant deviations from standard tactical patterns laid down within the Collegia Titanica’s charters. The most notable adaptation forced upon Legio Fortidus was the abandonment of the conventional Titan warfare role, with the varying battlegroups forced to deploy certain Titan classes in roles they were not designed for, such as utilising Reavers and Warlords as vanguards in the absence of Warhounds or other Scout Titans.
Legio Fortidus (Dauntless)
Legio Trait: Children of Mars Legio Fortidus is among one of the oldest of the Titan Legions
and rightly proud of its heritage. Even those who had never laid eyes upon the red sands of their home world stood firm in the face of danger, the glory of Mars theirs to uphold.
Legio Fortidus Titans never suffer penalties to their Command checks and may ignore effects that force them to re-roll successful Command checks. Knight Banners bonded to Legio Fortidus may re-roll Command checks to avoid becoming Shaken provided they are within line of sight of at least one friendly Legio Fortidus Titan.
Legio Trait: Lost Sons With the majority of their Legio destroyed, the surviving Princeps
Seniores of the Dauntless were forced to become more flexible in their tactics and use whatever Titan assets they could call upon to aid them.
A Legio Fortidus battlegroup may alter one of the mandatory Titan components of any of its maniples, exchanging this mandatory component for a Titan of Scale 10 or lower. Note that for the purposes of the maniple’s rules, the replacement Titan does not count as the Titan type it is replacing.
Legio Specific Stratagem: For the Red Planet (2)
Conviction in their cause drives the Princeps of Legio Fortidus, and when needs must, they could throw off the distracting pains of the MIU and force their Titans to respond to their commands no matter the damage they might suffer.
This Stratagem can be purchased by any Legio Fortidus player. The Legio Fortidus player may reveal this Stratagem when activating a Titan. Until the beginning of the following game round, the Titan ignores the damage effects of Critical Damage to its Head, Body or Legs, as chosen by the player when the Stratagem is revealed.
Legio Specific Stratagem: Red Skies (1)
Such was the wound inflicted on the Dauntless by the Traitors that its Princeps were often more than willing to sacrifice themselves if it meant grievous injury could be dealt to the followers of the Warmaster.
This Stratagem can be purchased by any Legio Fortidus player. The Legio Fortidus player may reveal this Stratagem when one of their Titans suffers a Magazine Detonation or Catastrophic Meltdown result on the Catastrophic Damage table (see the Adeptus Titanicus rulebook). When resolving the Catastrophic Damage effects, add 5 to the Titan’s Scale.
Legio Specific Personal Traits A Legio Fortidus Princeps Seniores’ Personal Trait can either be generated from
the table in the Adeptus Titanicus rulebook, or by rolling a D3 on the table that follows:
D3 Personal Traits 1 Broken by Treachery: The Princeps has become filled with despair at the destruction of their kin, seeking out the largest among the enemy so they might bring them down or meet their own end. Once per round, when targeting a Titan with a Scale equal to or greater than the Princeps’ own Titan, you may re-roll the Hit dice. Note that in the case of attacks with multiple dice rolled, all of the dice must be re- rolled or none of them. 2 Immortal of Mars: Arrogance drives the Princeps, who believes they were spared the betrayal on Mars by divine providence, and that they cannot die. The Princeps counts the effects of Critical Damage to their Titan’s Head as one level lower than it is (i.e., Moderati Wounded and Princeps Wounded counts a Moderati Wounded and MIU Feedback, while Moderati Wounded and MIU Feedback counts only as MIU Feedback, while MIU Feedback alone is ignored). 3 Soldier of the Crusade: The Princeps is the commander of a self-contained Great Crusade battlegroup, of the Legio but apart, and able to call upon its own devoted supporting units. Before forces are deployed, when choosing Stratagems, the Legio Fortidus player gains +1 Stratagem point if one or more Princeps with this Personal Trait is present in the force.
Legio Fortidus Warlord Battle Titan
Bastion of Sorrow Scattered across the galaxy and heavily depleted after the Schism of Mars, many Fortidus battlegroups firmly believed they
were the only survivors of their ancient Order. Many Princeps underwent marked changes because of this. The Princeps of
Bastion of Sorrow, shown here during the later years of the Great Crusade bearing its old title ‘Defender of Dawn’, became so focused on avenging the wrongs dealt to their Legio, they altered their Titan’s name and sacrificed some of its long range
firepower for weapons better suited to deliver its vengeance directly.
Legio Fortidus Warhound Battle Titan
Valour of Mars Originally conceived as scouts and skirmishers, catastrophic losses saw many Warhounds pushed into roles normally reserved
for their larger brethren. Depicted here during the defence of Lupercalia, the Valour of Mars is noted for utilising tactics
deemed hazardous by many observers. Leading a squadron of Warhounds similarly armed with weapons that taxed the smaller reactor of the Titan, Valour of Mars led numerous sorties through the ruins of Lupercalia that proved instrumental in
driving the Traitors from the world.
Legio Crucius
Title: The Legio Crucius Ordo Titanica
Militaris Grade: Primus
Patent: Pre-Imperium, Ryzan Mechanicum
Warden Domain(s): Ryza (Forge World), Molech, Tassandar V, Zerindal
Cognomen: The Warmongers
Allied War Houses: No notable allies Pre-Heresy; Sidus, Taranis, Zavora
Allegiance: Fidelitas Constantus
Amongst the echelons of the Cult Mechanicus, Ryza, founding world of Legio Crucius, stood second only to Mars in power and prominence by the end of the Great Crusade. Located within the Ultima Segmentum, its position was secured by both its raw manufacturing power and its tactical location, which leant great aid to the Great Crusade’s efforts to expand towards the galactic east. Above all else, Ryza possessed both unparalleled expertise in the engineering and production of plasma technology and a Titan Legion which, at its zenith, rivalled the power of the Triad Ferrum Morgulus in size and strength.
This history of Ryza before the coming of the Imperium is well-documented, for its archivist-magi were supremely diligent in their work. Though the Age of Strife had brought many trials to Ryza and its people, they had weathered them all and emerged from the other side greater for it. In the centuries following the colonisation of Ryza, a sect of the Mechanicum quickly grew in power, becoming known as the Omnissiah Igvita, literally the ‘Life Blood of the Omnissiah’. It was the Igvita that drove the planet’s focus towards plasma technology, believing that plasma was the lifeblood of the Omnissiah Himself and, through its usage, the people of Ryza were bestowed a measure of His power. In time, the Omnissiah Igvita became ingrained within the culture of Ryza with many of the sect’s most ardent followers modifying their forms to incorporate some measure of plasma technology. By the time of Ryza’s rediscovery, the Forge World had built an empire that spanned numerous star systems and the Omnissiah Igvita was hailed as the primary motive force behind such glory. No more evident is the influence of the sect than in the initial communiqués dispatched by Imperial emissaries sent to the Ryza upon first contact, with one delegate noting in her report that “Their passion burns hotter than a furnace… like many of their ilk, they are esoteric and strange, none more so than those that have shackled the stars within their hearts”.Thus was born the title ‘The Furnace of Shackled Stars’, an honorific that has held to this day.
Though agreement between the Imperium and Ryza was reached with little issue, there were those amongst the Cult Mechanicus, especially within sects native to the Red Planet, who noted with much trepidation the substantial resources and knowledge Ryza claimed as its own. Attempts to allay those suspicions, in the form of shared schematics for improved plasma drives and other similar innovations, were only partially successful for, like all forge Worlds, Ryza hoarded its most precious knowledge, shielding it from the prying eyes of outsiders. Concerns escalated as the Great Crusade progressed, for the strength of Legio Crucius continued to expand, fuelled by the extensive manufacturing capacity of Ryza. Indeed, the strength of Legio Crucius was not contained solely to Ryza and the Warmongers eagerly sought out new worlds over which they could claim feudal rights. So it was that, by the outbreak of the Horus Heresy, Legio Crucius had laid claim to nearly two dozen outposts, each representing a significant forge-fortress garrisoned by a dedicated battlegroup of god-engines tasked with the defence and prosperity of their charge.
While suspicions towards Ryza’s growing power no doubt stemmed, at least in part, from a desire to control the Furnace of Shackled Stars and its resources, in hindsight, there was some validity in them. Amongst the Expeditionary fleets in which they served, Legio Crucius were famed as planners and forward thinkers, renowned even among the exacting war-logic of the Mechanicum for their prowess in strategy and contingency planning. Having observed the methods enacted by Forge Worlds such as Phaeton to avoid the displeasure of Mars, and the anger such a move generated in response, it became evident to many amongst Legio Crucius that a time would come when a new war might be waged; a war between Titans. The expansion of Legio Crucius was, in part, a direct reaction to such a notion. As outposts of Legio Crucius sprung up across the galaxy, under pretence of protecting vital worlds and lending the strength of Ryza to those less able, each was instilled with a directive to ensure that, should a great darkness befall Mankind, the Legio would live on.
This forethought did much to preserve Legio Crucius’ strength during the Horus Heresy. On a handful of worlds, including Molech, battlegroups of Warmongers fell victim to the Warmaster’s wrath and, though the loss of even a handful of Titans was a keen blow to any Titan Legion, the greater strength of Legio Crucius was not harmed by such injuries. Perhaps the greatest threat to the continued prosperity of Legio Crucius came during the Battle for Ryza, when the Warmaster’s allies descended upon the Forge World intent upon claiming it as their own. Though the Horus Heresy was far greater in scope than even the most dire of predictions, a contingency plan designed to combat a direct assault upon Ryza had been designed. Following directives issued to them decades before, those outposts closest to Ryza were abandoned, each one journeying to the Forge World. More distant garrisons remained where they were, preserving their corner of the galaxy in acknowledgement of the fact that, should Ryza fall, others must continue its legacy. When the Traitors were thrown back from the Forge World, Legio Crucius was much diminished yet stood far from powerless, and what strength remained departed to the stars in pursuit of the invaders and in search of surviving pockets of Warmonger elements. Following the fall of the Warmaster, much of Legio Crucius had been reconnected and it was clear that though the war remained far from over, the foresight of its masters had proved enough to preserve them for millennia to come.
Materiel Strength Officially, according to records supplied by Ryza, the strength of Legio Crucius sat at 152 god-engines a decade before the Horus Heresy began. Subsequent events, such as the emergence of House Sidus, throw doubts upon this number as, if suspicions are correct, Ryza concealed a measure of its strength from all outside their domain. Attempts to further clarify the total strength of Legio Crucius have proven difficult and require data collated from multiple sources of varying objectivity; of the 17 confirmed outposts dedicated to Legio Crucius, at least 57 god-engines were recorded as part of their garrisons, yet a total of 36 god-engines are recorded to have been garrisoned upon Ryza at the same time and a further 82 in active service upon Expeditionary fleets, giving a number above the recorded total. Further confusion of total strength is added when one considers the emergence of Warmaster Titans from many Forge Worlds during the days of the Horus Heresy, of which at least two are now known to have been in service to Legio Crucius. It should, therefore, suffice to say that the official count is conservative at best and, in a move no doubt intended to hide the true strength and location of all of its god-engines, a not inconsiderate number of Legio Crucius Titans were concealed from the gaze of others. The last piece of data that should be considered is the recorded number a decade after the Horus Heresy ended, placing the remaining strength of Legio Crucius at 74 god- engines, a number significantly smaller than even the most conservative of pre-Heresy estimates.
Legio Crucius (Warmongers)
Legio Trait: Forgeborn Compared to their contemporaries, the majority of Legio Crucius
Titans were fresh from the forges. These Titans enjoyed the benefits of systems that had not faced the excesses of plasma overloads or countless combat repairs, and so fared better in those critical first moments of an engagement between god-engines.
In the first and second rounds of the game, when a Legio Crucius Titan makes a Repair roll, either in the Damage Control phase or as a result of being issued an Emergency Repairs order, it may re-roll any dice results of a 1.
Legio Trait: Pride of Ryza The Tech-Priests of Ryza are keepers of ancient plasma
technologies and the secrets of their creation. Sunfury weaponry, plasma reactors and venting systems produced on Ryza are rightly prized by countless Legio, though as with all things, the Ryzan Mechanicum keep back the best examples for themselves.
During the Damage Control phase, or when making Repair rolls as part of an Emergency Repairs order, when a Legio Crucius Titan uses a dice result of 6 to Vent Plasma, decrease the Titan’s Reactor level by 2 rather than 1.
Legio Specific Wargear: Terminus Override Mechanisms Some Legio Crucius Titans employed ancient
terminus override systems for their Titans. These complex devices could read the mood of an unruly plasma reactor, detecting changes invisible even to the Princeps and protecting the Titan against sudden overloads or devastating power spikes.
Any Legio Crucius Titan may be equipped with a Terminus Override Mechanism for +30 points. The first time a Legio Crucius Titan with a Terminus Override Mechanism would be required to roll on the Reactor Overload table (see the Adeptus Titanicus rulebook), instead of rolling, nothing happens – no roll is needed. Once triggered in this manner, a Terminus Override Mechanism has no further effect on the game.
Legio Specific Wargear: Bi-folded Power Containment Ryzan Titan weapons often employed cunning
bi-folded power containment chambers to mitigate the effects on the reactor of particularly energy-hungry weapons such as Sunfury plasma annihilators and volcano cannon, though, as with all such plasma mechanisms, they were never completely reliable.
Any Legio Crucius Titan may be equipped with a Bi- folded Power Containment System for +20 points. When firing a weapon with the Draining trait (see the Adeptus Titanicus rulebook), a Titan equipped with a Bi-folded Power Containment System can roll a D6 to mitigate its effect. On a 4+, the Titan can roll the Reactor dice twice and choose the result they want. On a 1, however, they must roll the Reactor dice twice and choose the result that would advance their Reactor marker by the most or, if both results would advance it by the same amount, the result that would Awaken the Machine Spirit.
Legio Specific Personal Traits A Legio Crucius Princeps Seniores’ Personal Trait can either be generated from
the table in the Adeptus Titanicus rulebook, or by rolling a D3 on the table that follows:
D3 Personal Traits 1 Collegia Lord: The Princeps holds dual rank between the Legio and the Ryzan Mechanicum, commanding a greater measure of the Titan Legion’s resources as befits their position. When making a Command check for the Princeps Seniores’ Titan, if a 9 or 10 is rolled they may issue Orders to any or all of the Titans in their maniple (provided that they do not already have an Order) without the need to make Command checks for them. 2 Mechanicum Born: The Princeps was drawn from the Magos of Ryza and is closer to their god-machine than their more mortal counterparts as a result. Once in each Damage Control phase, you can re-roll one of the Repair dice for the Princeps Seniores’ Titan, though you must accept the second result, even if it is worse. 3 Black Banner: The Princeps hails from one of the Legio’s remote outpost fortresses, loyal to their home world before either the Emperor or the Warmaster. If the Princeps’ battlegroup does not have a Tertiary Objective (as part of a Stratagem or Mission), it gains the Salvation of Crucius Tertiary Objective. A battlegroup with this objective earns 5 Victory points at the end of the game if their Princeps Seniores’ Titan was not destroyed or Structurally Compromised.
Legio Crucius Warlord Battle Titan
Deus Praesitor Arioch power claws are a less commonly seen armament designed to allow a Warlord Titan to shatter enemy fortifications.
During the Battle of Molech, they proved unexpectedly beneficial to Deus Praesitor when it lay buried underneath the
ruins of the Iron Fist Mountain. Able to dig itself from the rubble with the aid of its power claw, the Deus Praesitor emerged to engage the Traitor Legions in close combat in an effort to avenge the wrong wrought against their Legio, both
on Molech and across the galaxy.
Legio Crucius Reaver Battle Titan
Astramos Mortis Æternem Legio Crucius had long predicted that a war between Titans would come to pass and had undertaken numerous wargames
in preparation for such a time. Many Legio Crucius Reavers, including Astramos Mortis Æternem, were often employed as shield breakers and area deterrents. A favoured tactic of Legio Crucius against more cautious foes was to create a no man’s land with a screen of Reavers that tore apart any who dared venture close and subjected those who stayed back to
bombardments from supporting Warlords.
Legio Honorum
Title: The Legio Honorum Ordo Titanica
Militaris Grade: Secundus
Patent: Pre-Imperial, Martian Mechanicum
Warden Domain(s): Bezcrox IV (Forge-fortress), Jakarai Cluster, Zenn Prime (Forge-fortress)
Cognomen: Death Bolts I
Allied War Houses: Arundel, Zavora
Allegiance: Fidelitas Exemplorum
Much of Legio Honorum’s history lies with the Great Crusade, for the Titan Legion was founded only three decades before the Emperor set foot upon Mars and secured an agreement between Terra and the Mechanicum. The founding of the Death Bolts, to give the Titan Legion the cognomen assigned to it on creation, was driven by the desire held by many on Mars to spread the reach of the Red Planet elsewhere across the galaxy. It was with this goal in mind that Legio Honorum was created, not to serve as warders of the Red Planet but rather conquerors of distant stars. Thus, when the Emperor presented His dream of the Great Crusade the Death Bolts were well-prepared to depart alongside His Expeditionary fleets.
Though forged on Mars, the Red Planet offered no support beyond that of the legacy it had imparted Legio Honorum and semi-regular shipments of Titans intended to replenish any losses the Legio suffered. In this manner, the Death Bolts became an exemplar of so-called crusading Legio, a term applied to those Titan Legions that stood not as guardians over a specific Forge World but instead committed the entirety of its strength to expanding the Imperium’s borders. This constant state of warfare proved untenable after decades of continuous service, as the attrition of unceasing war threatened to condemn Legio Honorum to extinction. After repeated missives to Mars demanding further supplies of god-engines, an alternative was suggested whereby Legio Honorum were granted rights to stewardship over a planet for every 30 worlds they lent aid in bringing Compliance to. Such a method was not without flaws, and there existed no ratified criteria for measuring the level of participation during Compliance for the individual elements of an Expeditionary fleet. This circumstance made the process of assigning feudal rights to Legio Honorum an arduous process involving extensive reviews of campaign records, dictations and reports from the presiding commanders of each war zone in which the Death Bolts served and judgement of numerous appeals, be those against the awarding of rights or for. Such political wrangling happened beyond the sight of Legio Honorum, who cared for little else but their duty, an attitude that would gain the Death Bolts great praise from those they served alongside. Indeed, so great were the victories of Legio Honorum that, by the onset of the Great Crusade, its battlegroups had gained rights to at least four domains, while two more lay pending following assessment of the legitimacy of the Death Bolts’ conquest. In this manner, through the holdings of Legio Honorum, was the reach of Mars expanded, while providing a network of safe harbours upon which the Death Bolts could construct a series of forge-fortresses capable of sustaining its numbers.
Devoid of a Forge World to call their own, Legio Honorum made their hearth within the war machine of the Imperium, and it was there, embedded within the workings of the Expeditionary fleets, that great changes were wrought upon the Death Bolts’ demeanour. The most notable of all changes became the creed the Titan Legion’s Princeps soon followed. Though the teachings of the Mechanicum still held strong, and the adherence to the rites and rituals associated with the maintenance of a god-engine never changed, a measure of emotion took roots within the ranks of the Death Bolts. At odds with the cold, rational logic of the larger Cult Mechanicus, Legio Honorum became known for its optimism and dedication to the Imperium beyond all else. This circumstance unnerved many on Mars, with the Titan Legion’s more vocal critics claiming the Death Bolts had abandoned oaths to the Red Planet and the Omnissiah in favour of those they fought alongside. Such accusations were denied by Legio Honorum, and great efforts were made to repair bonds with the Titan Legion’s ancestral home. To this end, the opening years of M31 saw a delegation of Legio Honorum commanders return to the Red Planet to reaffirm the vows they had once taken and show solidarity to the Fabricator General’s cause.
With the benefit of hindsight, it is clear that the invitation extended to Legio Honorum to return to the surface of Mars was a calculated one, for it coincided with the outbreak of war with the Red Planet. No records speak of the motivation behind the targeted attack upon Legio Honorum, though it no doubt stems, at least in part, from the belief that the Titan Legion was tied too greatly to the Great Crusade and the Emperor. Regardless of the driving impetus behind the betrayal of Legio Honorum, it was one the Titan Legion felt keenly. The assembled might of the Death Bolts I god-engines were arrayed on the parade fields of Mars, under pretence of an inspection by the Fabricator General himself, when the Death of Innocence began. Mere hours later, those fields had been transformed into a grand graveyard filled with fallen god-engines bearing the livery of Legio Honorum.
The treachery on Mars dealt a grievous blow to Legio Honorum, for it was its most honoured and ancient commanders that had travelled to swear allegiance to the Fabricator General, including the Grand Master of the Death Bolts himself. Despite this, much of Legio Honorum’s strength lay elsewhere, embedded with various Expeditionary fleets which, by serendipity, remained firmly loyal to the Emperor. Indeed, the true fate of its commanders was not revealed until after the Warmaster’s fall, for the Red Planet was blockaded and all contact, at least through means available to the surviving Death Bolts, severed. Presuming the worst, the command structure of Legio Honorum was reorganised and adapted to the new war engulfing the galaxy. As with the Great Crusade, much of the Death Bolts’ war efforts were focused on maintaining constant movement, committing to war zone after war zone as they moved to liberate worlds from the Warmaster’s yoke. As the conflict progressed, the continued success of Legio Honorum saw its foes unleash their wrath upon the Death Bolts’ holdings, levelling three forge-fortresses with orbital bombardments and denying the Titan Legion the means to replenish their number. In response, Legio Honorum was to assemble in its entirety and lay siege to the Forge World of Stygies VIII, founding world of Legio Vulcanum. Though well defended, much of Legio Vulcanum’s strength was scattered throughout the Warmaster’s armies and the Forge World fell quickly to the overwhelming might of Legio Honorum. Of all the victories achieved by the Death Bolts during the Horus Heresy, the conquest of Stygies VIII was perhaps their greatest, yet it was not without loss, for the subjugation of the Forge World marked the end of Legion Honorum as a crusading Titan Legion, anchoring them to a single world ever since.
Materiel Strength Definitive numbers as to the total strength of Legio Honorum are difficult to assert, a circumstance largely derived from the disparate nature of its battlegroups, deployed as they were within multiple Expeditionary fleets. It is known, within a confident margin of error, that the two principal crusading arms of Legio Honorum contained between 15-25 god-engines each. By applying this data to the other six crusading arms of Legio Honorum, presuming lesser numbers in these, the estimated strength of Legio Honorum can be placed at 110-120 god-engines prior to the losses inflicted upon the Death Bolts on Mars. This number is consistent with the Titan Legion’s Secundus grade, as recorded within the centralised archives of the Divisio Militaris. Muster reports taken before the conquest of Stygies VIII state that 42 god-engines were gathered together, representing the entirety of those Death Bolts that were contactable, highlighting the considerable losses suffered by Legio Honorum during the Horus Heresy. Given the Death Bolts’ propensity for adhering to the core tenets of the Collegia Titanica, the composition of Legio Honorum’s contingent of god-engines was of roughly equal numbers of Warlord and Reaver class Battle Titans, with over two dozen Warhound class Scout Titans and an increased number of Warbringer Nemesis class Titans relative to other Titan Legions of similar size.
Legio Honorum (Death Bolts I)
Legio Trait: Resolute and Unbowed The Death Bolts stood by the core tenets of the Collegia
Titanica and the Great Crusade, believing it was forever their duty to march forth and bring death to the enemies of the Imperium and the Omnissiah.
Any Legio Honorum Titan that has voluntarily moved more than 4" in the Movement phase of any round decreases the bonus to an attacker’s Armour roll as the result of damage already inflicted on a location by 1, as indicated by the Titan’s Command Terminal (see the Adeptus Titanicus rulebook), so long as the attack originates from within the Titan’s Front arc.
Legio Trait: Founding Tenets The core of Legio Honorum favoured the traditional tactics of
the Collegia Titanica, adapting them to the needs of a campaign while shying away from the more elaborate methods of other Legio.
A Legio Honorum maniple may substitute any mandatory component from an Axiom, Myrmidon or Fortis maniple with a Reaver or Warlord Titan, so long as that new Titan is of equal to or greater Scale than the Titan it is replacing. In addition, a Legio Honorum Titan may replace a single optional component Reaver or Warlord Titan from these maniples with a Warbringer Nemesis Titan. Each maniple can only include a single Warbringer Nemesis Titan in this way.
Legio Specific Stratagem: Crusading Spirit (1)
Since its inception, Legio Honorum has strode ever forwards, preferring death over failure.
This Stratagem can be purchased by any Legio Honorum player. Play this Stratagem during any Strategy phase. For the remainder of the phase, friendly Legio Honorum Titans do not suffer penalties to Command checks. In addition, a single Legio Honorum Titan may re-roll a failed Command check made when issuing Orders.
Legio Specific Wargear: Basilius Throne The Princeps of Legio Honorum make use of modified command
thrones that allow a great passage of knowledge between those Titans under their control, so long as the Princeps can filter the vast torrent of information.
A Legio Honorum Princeps Seniores’ Titan may take a Basilius Throne for +25 points. A Titan with this upgrade may be issued Orders without the need to make a Command check. In addition, any Legio Honorum Titan adds 1 to the result of any Command check made when being issued an Order previously issued to a Princeps Seniores’ Titan with this upgrade within the same maniple this round.
Legio Specific Personal Traits A Legio Honorum Princeps Seniores’ Personal Trait can either be generated from
the table in the Adeptus Titanicus rulebook, or by rolling a D3 on the table that follows:
D3 Personal Traits 1 Ardent Crusader: The values of the Great Crusade are ones the Princeps still holds true to, even during their darkest moments. The presence of this Princeps within the battlegroup allows it to purchase the Legio Specific Stratagem: Crusading Spirit multiple times. 2 Stubborn: Once they have set their mind upon a solution, it is rare for the Princeps to stray. The Princeps may always be issued Orders during the Strategy phase, even if normally unable to do so, e.g., due to Vox Blackout or because a friendly Titan has failed their Command check when being issued an Order. 3 Iron Resolve: The will of the Princeps will never be broken and those that have strayed from their oaths will be punished for their treachery. The Princeps Seniores’ Titan always benefits from the Resolute and Unbowed Legio Specific Trait, even if it has moved less than 4" that round, so long as the attack originates from within the Titan’s Front arc.
Legio Honorum Warlord Battle Titan
Custos Honoris For much of the Great Crusade, Legio Honorum worked in conjunction with Mechanicum Explorator fleets, venturing beyond the
edges of the known Imperium in order to secure the interests of Mars upon newly-discovered worlds. This role saw many Death Bolts Titans, Custos Honoris amongst them, avoid the carnage that heralded the beginning of the Horus Heresy, though their most experienced leaders were slain upon Mars during the opening salvos. Devoid of both supplies from Mars and a centralised leadership,
the disparate elements of Legio Honorum found themselves in need of new allies to ensure their survival. For Battlegroup Pradaius, consisting of 11 Legio Honorum Titans commanded by Custos Honoris, their new path led them to Ryza, serving as protectors to the
Forge World as compensation for supplies and god-engines to bolster the Death Bolts’ numbers.
Legio Honorum Warbringer Nemesis Titan
Resonare Mortis Though originally designed to act as a designated support platform adept at destroying Titan-class targets, some Titan Legions, Legio Honorum amongst them, often placed their Nemesis-class Warbringers on the front line, trusting in their survivability to march alongside the Legio’s Battle Titans. Depicted here during the Siege of Vrardi in 974.M30, Resonare Mortis bears a loadout commonly seen on Legio Honorum Warbringer Nemesis Titans, balancing the destructive potential
that made it especially dangerous to both fortifications and enemy Titans with the need for close-ranged defence. Legio
Honorum Warbringer Nemesis Titans became infamous for leading maniples of Reaver Titans in punishing assaults
capable of breaking the back of all but the most determined of defences.
Legio Osedax
Title: The Legio Osedax Ordo Titanica
Militaris Grade: Primus (Minoris)
Patent: Pre-Imperial, Phaetonite Orthodox Mechanicum
Warden Domain(s): Phaeton (Forge World)
Cognomen: The Cockatrices
Allied War Houses: Skramasax, Mehdrisur, Arx Canis
Allegiance: Fidelitas Constantus
The more common appellation for Legio Osedax is aptly chosen for, like the ancient cockatrice that once ravaged Old Earth, it is a beast twisted by a cold rage and utterly lacking in mercy, its very presence anathema to that which lives. Where its engines tread they bring only death and ruin, leaving behind no refuge for the foe nor shelter for the enemies of the Imperium. Their Princeps specialise in the brutal realm of close-quarters combat, and it is a rare sight when a Legio Osedax engine takes to the field unadorned by vast power claws or immense chainblades with which to rend and tear at the foe. In battle, they are a fearsome force, unrelenting and heedless of their own safety, seeking only to close with and eradicate the foe. Yet, they are not mindless berserkers, instead applying their savage skills with a deliberate and calculated cruelty in battle and adopting a scrupulous sense of decorum when off the field of war.
The Legio Osedax was not always as such, the infamy of the Cockatrices born of something far more honourable and rooted in the origins of the Forge that they called home, in the grim domain of Phaeton. Of all the Forge Worlds that managed to maintain the most tenuous of communications with Mars throughout Old Night and the Age of Strife, Phaeton was hardest pressed by the tide of horrors that roamed the stars. Against this unrelenting onslaught, Legio Osedax stood alone, their numbers slowly dwindling with each battle. Their valour in that distant age is still recorded in some few archives and data-repositories, yet, despite their courage, the Legio Osedax was reduced to but a fraction of its original size as it fought to preserve Phaeton.
The last few maniples of the Legio Osedax enacted a desperate new strategy in order to preserve the Forge World that had sustained them. The first target of this strategy would be the world of Koronal, once a thriving hive world before the Age of Strife, but now a nest of raiders and pirates. Here, the remaining might of the Legio Osedax went forth one last time. Yet, as they set foot upon Koronal, they flew no flags of honour nor issued any call to battle. Instead, they opened fire on the hive itself, collapsing the ancient structure even as the raiders within sought to arm themselves and wake their machines of war. The few crude macro-stalkers and heavy tanks that managed to break free of the collapse were cut down without mercy. Koronal was but the first world to feel the fury of the Legio Osedax and soon a swathe of burned and broken worlds surrounded Phaeton. The Princeps of the once-lauded Legio Osedax gained a new name for their red-handed slaughter – they became the Cockatrices, creatures whose slightest glance brought death and ruin. This was the price of Phaeton’s salvation, the utter ruin of the Titan Legion’s legacy.
With the arrival of the Emperor in the years after Phaeton’s salvation, this new and baleful reputation secured the Cockatrices a place in the vanguard of the Great Crusade, but as ill-omened destroyers rather than honourable warriors. Over the long years of the Great Crusade the Cockatrices would render countless worlds into sterile wastelands as a warning to those who would deny the Emperor, and with each victory the spoils of war swelled both the coffers of Phaeton and its pride. Phaeton began to resent the leash placed on them by distant Mars, whose power they had begun to rival, and this resentment would quickly sour, turning first to a subtle war of trade embargoes and bitter words, then to hidden skirmishes and battlefield ‘accidents’. The adepts of Phaeton ignored few chances to shame their rival and overlord, and the Cockatrices endeavoured to exceed the glories of Mars’ Titan Legions. Only the creation of the thrall-forge of Atar-Median, a last insult to Mars veiled in submission, would avert open war between the two great Forges, but this had merely delayed the inevitable. Kelbor-Hal, Fabricator General of Mars and now close confidant of the Warmaster Horus, quietly laid his own plans to humble proud Phaeton and cripple the powerful Legio Osedax.
Even as Horus began his rebellion on the black basalt plains of Isstvan V, Kelbor-Hal unleashed his own treachery upon Phaeton. Vast bulk haulers that had arrived at Phaeton Prime under the guise of collecting tribute for distant Mars would begin the assault, splitting apart in orbit to reveal cybertheurgic arrays designed to cripple Phaeton’s delicate control systems. Toxic machine code and malicious data-djinn from the orbiting craft quickly overwhelmed the unsuspecting forge-fanes of Phaeton, turning the complex systems of its Noospheric network against it. Factoria’s production lines collapsed, their servitors turning to vandalism and destruction as a welter of chaotic instructions were fed to them, while entire battalions of combat-automata ran amok, allied units now set as hostile targets.
Following on the heels of this onslaught the orbiting bulk haulers suddenly dipped and fell into the atmosphere of Phaeton Prime, slamming into the surface like immense missiles. The impact alone destroyed entire precincts of Phaeton, but from the wreckage emerged a host of Martian battle- automata that tore into the stricken Titans of the Legio Osedax set as sentinels over their home world. Their systems ravaged by the data-phages unleashed upon them many of the Cockatrices were dragged down by the sheer number of foes that set upon them, individual Titans torn apart by swarms of suicidal automata. Only the heroic sacrifice of the Titan Inmisercoris, which purposefully detonated its own atomantic core amid the horde, would see any of the Cockatrices survive the battle.
It was not only on Phaeton, but across the galaxy, that the revenge of Mars was played out, with detachments of the Legio Osedax operating as the spearhead of the Great Crusade suddenly abandoned by their allies in the midst of battle, or worse yet, caught in treacherous ambush by those they had once called friend. Within the space of a few short days, the Legio Osedax would find its forces decimated in scattered war zones across the galaxy. The treachery of Mars would leave them with barely enough operational Titans to field even a demi-Legio scale force, though thanks to their defiant resistance enough of Phaeton’s infrastructure had survived so that many crippled Titans would be swiftly repaired and returned to action. Many among the ranks of the Traitors on Mars and further afield would celebrate this as a great victory, yet they had failed to kill the beast that was the Legio Osedax and had only succeeded in awakening it. Across the galaxy, Legio Osedax patched their rent armour and nurtured the hatred kindled by this betrayal, preparing themselves to return to the fray in earnest. The infamy they had claimed in the darkest years of their history had not been extinguished, and they stood ready to remind the Magi of Mars what it meant to claim the Cockatrices as an enemy.
Materiel Strength Forged by the once-boundless industrial might of Phaeton, the Legio Osedax was a Titan Legion of the first order. Preserved against the ravages of Old Night and enriched by the spoils of the Great Crusade, Phaeton was prolific in its creation of machines of war and by the middle years of the Great Crusade, the Legio Osedax rivalled the Legio Mortis for sheer number of Battle Titans in its ranks. However, this time of plenty would be cut short by the bitter enmity kindled between Phaeton and Mars, leading to a full third of the Legio’s Titans being tithed to the newly-birthed realm of Atar-Median. Furthermore, the treachery suffered by Phaeton at the outbreak of the Horus Heresy would further deplete the ranks of Legio Osedax. By the year 010.M31, at the heart of the Age of Darkness, the Cockatrices could field little more than 75 Battle Titans, mostly ancient Reaver class machines.
Those Titans in service with the Cockatrices during the Horus Heresy, though few in number, were some of the best equipped machines to be found in the Imperium. Phaeton recognised the sacrifices made by the Legio Osedax by providing it with the most valuable technological relics in its armouries, from advanced plasma channels to multi-phase cyclic void shield generators. By long preference, its Princeps went to war equipped for close quarters battle, and its ranks bristled with chainfists, multi-barrelled mega-bolters and short ranged melta cannon. Though in addition to these forces the Legio Osedax had always maintained a well-equipped force of siege Titans, their Princeps uniquely skilled in the reduction of enemy fortifications and often considered excessive in their zeal for the task.
Legio Osedax (The Cockatrices)
Legio Specific Trait: Reforged in War Legio Osedax were nearly broken in the fires of treachery and,
though it threatened to consume them, they refused to yield.
Legio Osedax Titans never suffer penalties to Command checks and may ignore effects that force them to re-roll successful Command checks.
Legio Specific Stratagem: Relentless March (1)
The Princeps of Legio Osedax strive to repay their loss in kind, throwing themselves into battle without hesitation.
This Stratagem can be purchased by any Legio Osedax player. Play this Stratagem during any Strategy phase. For the remainder of the round, friendly Legio Osedax Titans may be issued Full Stride orders without the need to make a Command check and are not affected by Difficult terrain and Dangerous terrain.
Legio Specific Stratagem: Blood Begets Blood (3)
Their numbers vastly reduced during the opening salvos of the Horus Heresy, the Cockatrices answered each new loss with righteous vengeance.
This Stratagem can be purchased by any Legio Osedax player. Play this Stratagem when a friendly Legio Osedax Titan suffers Catastrophic Damage. After resolving the effects of the Catastrophic Damage, every friendly Legio Osedax Titan may immediately make a single weapon attack. This attack must be made against the closest visible enemy unit. Increase the Plasma Reactor level of any Titan that makes an attack in this way by 2, in addition to any other advances associated with weapon fire.
Legio Specific Wargear: Plasma Channels The Forge World of Phaeton was a significant power within the
Segmentum Solar and was capable of equipping the Titans of Legio Osedax with numerous innovations.
Any Legio Osedax Titan may be equipped with Plasma Channels for +20 points. Once per game, during the Movement phase, a Titan equipped with Plasma Channels can activate them. If they do so, decrease the Reactor Level of that Titan by D3+1. This counts as the Titan’s activation for that phase.
Legio Specific Personal Traits A Legio Osedax Princeps Seniores’ Personal Trait can either be generated from
the table in the Adeptus Titanicus rulebook, or by rolling a D3 on the table that follows:
D3 Personal Traits 1 Natural General: Newly promoted to replace a fallen leader, the Princeps has a natural talent for battle, despite their relative inexperience. During the Strategy phase, when the Princeps is successfully issued with an Order, a single friendly Legio Osedax Titan within the same maniple may be issued the same Order without the need to make a Command check. 2 Careful Planner:The Princeps places their trust in carefully-laid strategies, devising all manner of counter- ploys for potential threats. Once per game, the Legio Osedax player can reuse a Stratagem that cost 1 or fewer Stratagem points and has been used earlier in the battle by the Legio Osedax player. The Princeps must be on the battlefield to use this ability. If the Stratagem is one that can be used more than once (i.e., Artillery Bombardment), it may instead be used twice in one phase by the Legio Osedax player. 3 Lightning Assault: The Princeps is known for practicing swift attacks, bearing down upon their foe with deadly intent. After both players have deployed, but before players determine who is the First Player, Titans within the Princeps Seniores’ maniple may immediately make a move. Each Titan may move no more than 6" when making this move. Any Titan that moves in this way cannot be issued Orders during the first round.
Legio Osedax Warlord Battle Titan
Galeru Legio Osedax Warlord Titans were often bequeathed the names of mythical beasts drawn from the annals of Ancient Terran history, paying homage both to the Low Gothic moniker of the Legio and the fearsome nature of the Warlord itself. As is oft the case with many antiquated tales, the true details were lost to time,
leaving many of the names devoid of context. Amongst Legio Osedax this was seen as a good omen, for only the future deeds of the Titan and its Princeps would be preserved in the annals of Mankind, tainted
not by superstitious fears conjured during the more primitive ages.
Legio Osedax Reaver Battle Titan
Enmity’s Angel In preparation for the inevitable close-quarters battles amongst the vast industrial sprawl of Ryza, many Legio Osedax Reavers were armed in a manner best suited for close-ranged warfare against opposing Titans. To maximise the destruction each Reaver could cause, the outskirts of many forge-fanes were decommissioned, the manufactoria and warehouses hollowed and adapted to create ideal hiding places for Reaver Titans such as Enmity’s Angel. Hidden from enemy sensors thanks to carefully placed electronic
disrupters, the Reaver Titans would burst from hiding once the frontline of the Traitors’ advance had passed their position, tearing through their surprised foe with powerful sweeps of their chainfist. The brutality of such ambushes often forced the Traitors from the
confines of the forge-fanes and directly into the firing range of the Reavers’ more powerful, long-ranged guns.
Legio Oberon
Title: The Legio Oberon Ordo Titanica
Militaris Grade: Tertius
Patent: Post-Unification, Accatran Mechanicum
Warden Domain(s): Anvari (Forge World)
Cognomen: Death Bolts II
Allied War Houses: Orhlacc, Vyronii
Allegiance: Fidelitas Constantus
The date of Legio Oberon’s founding lies not in the distant, darkened past but within the glory days of the Great Crusade, its creation sanctioned alongside the colonisation of a new Forge World. Anvari, for that was the name bequeathed upon the Forge World, was established as a thrall domain of the mighty Accatran in an attempt to secure the latter’s power within the realm of Ultramar. In honour of the Forge World’s founding, the first colonists were gifted a fragment of Legio Destructor’s strength, the wardens of Accatran given leave to forswear their oaths to their home world in order to protect another. In recognition of this act, the god-engines took new names and assembled under a new banner – that of Legio Oberon.
In accordance with Accatran’s desire to forge more steadfast bonds with Ultramar, much of Legio Oberon’s strength was seconded to Expeditionary fleets in which the Ultramarines Legion served. Such extended service brought about numerous changes within the Titan Legion, not least the tempering of the warlike nature often displayed by Princeps of Legio Destructor, a divergence ever more apparent when both Titan Legions served alongside one another. Indeed, the Princeps of Legio Oberon made great efforts to study the tactical plans supplied by the Ultramarines, incorporating them into the Death Bolts’ own simulations and assessments. Given the long service of the average Princeps, it is unsurprising that Legio Oberon soon became known as expert tacticians, adapting the standard tactics of the Collegia Titanica and proposing many amendments to its strategic guidelines. Though many were rejected, an outcome Legio Oberon often attributed to dogma and the inability to accept improvements suggested by a young Titan Legion, the Death Bolts’ displayed an aptitude skill for warfare matched by few other Titan Legions. By the end of the Great Crusade, Legio Oberon had acquired a distinguished record of victories alongside the Ultramarines and, in recognition of their service, was ordered to muster at Calth in preparation for an assault upon the Ghaslakh xenohold.
Legio Honorum and Legio Oberon The naming of Legio Oberon caused much contention between the archivists of Mars’ data vaults when news reached them of the Legio’s existence. The founding of any Titan Legion is a momentous affair for the Cult Mechanicus, rife with pomp and much ceremony, yet the sheer size of the galaxy prevents the rapid transmission of information. To facilitate the timely organisation and founding of new Legios, it was deemed only necessary for the details of their creation be passed to Mars for ratification at the earliest convenience. Though a Titan Legion did not truly exist without Mars’ acceptance it was, in most instances, little more than a formality assigned only minor importance by those Forge Worlds now tasked with sustaining a nascent Titan Legion. Thus a decade passed before news of Legio Oberon reached Mars, upon which it quickly became apparent that the cognomen assigned to the newly-founded Titan Legion, that being ‘The Death Bolts’, had already been assigned to Legio Honorum, a Legio founded upon Mars many decades before. Following much contemplation it was agreed that Oberon’s cognomen would from then forth stand as Death Bolts II in accordance with the precedent set by other Titan Legions such as Victorum and Vulcanum. It should be noted that the archives of Accatran, of which Anvari was a thrall domain of, are extensive and held records of battles where Legio Destructor fought alongside Legio Honorum prior to the founding of Legio Oberon. Whether the naming of Legio Oberon was done so by mistake or as a deliberate act is unknown, but it was not uncommon for many Forge Worlds to undertake minor acts intended to create a stir amongst the Martian Parliament, often to draw attention to ambitious yet distant Forge Worlds.
As events have since shown, such a mustering was nothing more than a pretence through which the Warmaster hoped to deal a fatal blow to the Ultramarines and their allies, including Legio Oberon. The Death Bolts were to emerge from the calamitous events of Calth largely unscathed, for the principal strength of the Titan Legion had yet to arrive when the Word Bearers embarked upon their campaign of extermination. Such an outcome was a mote of light in an otherwise series of dark events yet it offered little solace to Legio Oberon itself, for the catastrophic damage wrought upon both Calth and the numbers of Legio Praesagius was seen as a stain upon the Death Bolts’ honour. In vengeance, many Princeps of Legio Oberon swore oaths of battle to never return to Anvari until the Traitors had been driven back and the strength of Legio Praesagius restored. To fulfil this oath, the god-engines of Legio Oberon were readily committed to the Crusade of Iron when Gantz dispatched a call for aid. For the remainder of the Horus Heresy, much of Legio Oberon’s strength was committed to Ultramar in pursuit of the surviving engines of Legio Infernus and the Word Bearers who fought alongside them. Those Princeps that had vowed never to rest until the Traitors were defeated did not return to Anvari until the fires of war had settled and those that did were few in number, the rest having gained redemption in the cold embrace of death.
Materiel Strength At the onset of the Horus Heresy, Legio Oberon had existed for less than 200 years. Such a time frame precluded any chance of the Death Bolts amassing vast numbers of god-engines, for the construction of such machines remains a laborious process. Like many newly founded Titan Legions, the core of Legio Oberon has come from another, far older Legio which equipped the Death Bolts with over two dozen ancient god-engines that outdated Legio Oberon’s founding by several millennia. The composition of Legio Oberon fitted the standard distribution as set down by the doctrines of the Collegia Titanica which consisted of a flexible mixture of Warlord, Reaver and Warhound class Titans. A notable exception was the presence of a single Imperator class Titan, dispatched from Accatran, which remains the personal god-engine of Legio Oberon’s Grand Master to this day.
Legio Oberon (Death Bolts Ii)
Legio Trait: Efficient Planners Years spent fighting alongside the Ultramarines have seen
the Death Bolts II Princeps learn much from the thorough tactics of the XIIIth Legion.
When issuing an Order to any friendly Legio Oberon Titan, add 1 to the result of the Command check for each Legio Oberon Titan that has already been successfully issued with the same Order during this round, to a maximum of +3.
Legio Trait: Armoured Phalanx Death Bolts II battlegroups advanced in tight formations, each
Titan supporting the next to stand resolute in the face of incoming fire.
Subtract 1 from the result of any Armour roll made against a Legio Oberon Titan within 2" of one or more friendly Legio Oberon Titan.
Legio Specific Stratagem: Decisive Action (2)
In war the Death Bolts II acted boldly, but only after careful planning, assessing the strength of their foe before destroying them with overwhelming force.
This Stratagem can be purchased by any Legio Oberon player. Play this Stratagem at the start of any Strategy phase. If played during the first round, until the end of the phase, Legio Oberon Titans may be issued with Full Stride or First Fire orders without needing a Command check. If played during any round after the first, until the end of the phase, Legio Oberon Titans may be issued with Full Stride or Split Fire orders without needing a Command check. All Legio Oberon Titans issued Orders via this Stratagem must be issued the same Order.
Legio Specific Stratagem: Strategiser (3)
Legio Oberon often employed trained Strategisers whose sole duty was to watch the enfolding battle and devise counters to enemy strategies.
This Stratagem can be purchased by any Legio Oberon player. Play this Stratagem when an opponent plays a Stratagem that costs 2 or fewer Stratagem points, before resolving its effects. The Stratagem is discarded and its effects ignored.
Legio Specific Personal Traits A Legio Oberon Princeps Seniores’ Personal Trait can either be generated from
the table in the Adeptus Titanicus rulebook, or by rolling a D3 on the table that follows:
D3 Personal Traits 1 Unwavering: The Princeps has complete confidence in their own ability upon the battlefield and rarely second-guesses their own decisions. Once per game, if the Princeps’ Titan fails a Command check, it can choose to pass it instead. 2 Peerless Commander: The Princeps commands both Titans and Knights with great skill, directing their efforts even as they unleash their anger upon a foe. Friendly Knight Banners with at least one model within 6" of the Princeps’ Titan automatically pass Command checks when testing to see if they are Shaken or recover from being Shaken. 3 Tactical Genius: Even amongst a Legio famed for their robust tactics, the Princeps excels at developing near foolproof plans. Before forces are deployed, when choosing Stratagems, the Legio Oberon player gains +1 Stratagem point if one or more Princeps with this Personal Trait is present in the force.
Legio Oberon Warlord Battle Titan
Panthera Rex Depicted here before the ambush on Espandor, Panthera Rex is armed in a manner favouring the bold and decisive
tactics of Legio Oberon. The Warlord was to play a significant role in the battle, launching devastating counter- attacks against the hunting packs of Legio Audax. Though outmatched in terms of speed, Panthera Rex unleashed
the power of its volcano cannon at close range, scarring its own hull as payment for the death of the Traitors. However, the agri-world would prove to be the Titan’s grave, as it would fall alongside those of its Legio who gave
their lives so that Legio Praesagius could withdraw.
Legio Oberon Warhound Scout Titan
Feram Lex The prosecution of war was, to the Princeps of Legio Oberon, an exercise in mental prowess, and their Princeps participated in games of strategy when not upon the field of battle. The use of Warhound Titans such as Feram Lex proved a key element
of battlefield tactics within Legio Oberon. When enemy movements were known, maniples of Warhounds would often be
dispatched to strategic locations long before the Legio marched. Operating as a hidden vanguard, the Warhounds would conceal themselves until the enemy line moved past their position. When the remainder of Legio Oberon engaged their foes
in battle the Warhounds would emerge, assaulting the rear of the enemy, sowing disorder and panic in their ranks.
Legio Venator
Title: The Legio Venator Ordo Titanica
Militaris Grade: Secundus
Patent: Pre-Imperial, Arachnian Mechanicum
Warden Domain(s): Arachnus (Forge World), M’khand (secondary forge-fortress)
Cognomen: The Iron Spiders
Allied War Houses: Numerous Freeblade associations
Allegiance: Unconfirmed (major element Fidelitas Constantus)
Like the Forge World of Arachnus upon which Legio Venator was founded, the title of ‘Iron Spiders’, the more common appellation given to the Titan Legion, originates from the gargantuan arachnid-like species that once populated the world. It was as opposition to these creatures that Legio Venator was created, and the earliest records of the Titan Legion detail at length the protracted campaign of extermination the Iron Spiders embarked upon. The motive behind such an effort lay largely with the planet of Arachnus, for geological and mineral analysis revealed the abundant ore veins that promised lucrative industry for the settlers who had discovered the planet. The prevalence and deadliness of the mega-fauna once native to Arachnus prevented the Explorator arks dispatched from Mars from establishing a colony directly on the world and thus it was to be the planet’s two moons, named Iktomia and Nizkara, that would see civilisation brought to them first. It was upon these two celestial bodies that Legio Venator would be founded and set loose upon Arachnus, armed and armoured by the extensive array of manufactoria dedicated to war that soon sprang up across both moons.
The growth of Arachnus as a prominent Forge World did not begin quickly, for the world was thrice larger in size than Terra and rife with dangers. The records of Arachnus note that it took nearly a century of protracted extermination, led by the god-engines of Legio Venator, before a safe zone upon Arachnus could be established. Even with such a gain, the Arachnian Mechanicum sent forth to colonise Arachnus proper found itself beset on all sides with only the guns of the Iron Spiders to protect them. The loss of life amongst the ranks of the Arachnian Mechanicum is not noted within its own records yet, by extrapolating the annals of fallen god-engines dutifully recorded by the scribes of Legio Venator, which report the crippling of nearly 100 Titans during the six-centuries long campaign to secure the surface of Arachnus, it stands to reason that vast numbers were lost to such harsh conditions. Nevertheless, the Iron Spiders emerged victorious with their foe driven to extinction, leaving the world of Arachnus open to exploitation and full colonisation. What is more, the Princeps and Moderati of Legio Venator had proved themselves within the fires of war and stood ready to expand the influence of Arachnus far beyond that of the world they had conquered.
So it was that when the Imperium expanded across the Segmentum Tempestus, they came across Arachnus not as a singular planet, but as the centre of a robust and well- developed Forge Empire protected by the seasoned might of a Titan Legion of considerable skill and numbers. It is perhaps unsurprisingly that, after millennia of struggles to establish itself as an independent entity, the Forge Empire of Arachnus proved unwilling to bow before the Imperium. Resistant as they were to the prospect of serving both the Emperor and Mars, conflict between the two civilisations proved inevitable. At the onset of this conflict the Iron Spiders stood, based upon their own records, as a Secundus grade Titan Legion, presenting a significant obstacle to Imperial forces. In opposition, the newly recruited might of both Legio Astraman and Legio Laniaskara were brought to battle, bringing devastation to over a dozen worlds in the half-decade long war between Arachnus and the forces of the Great Crusade. As the conflict drew to a close, over three-quarters of Arachnus’ Forge Empire lay in the hands of the Imperium and with Imperial fleets rapidly closing on Arachnus itself the Forge World surrendered, swearing allegiance to Mars and rebuilding that which they had lost.
With the clarity that hindsight offers, it is clear that hostilities held by some upon Arachnus towards the Imperium persisted long after it bent the knee to Mars. Little evidence exists that Arachnus and its people actively plotted against the Imperium during the Great Crusade, for the Forge World benefited greatly under Imperial rule. In addition to the returning of its vassal worlds, bar those few seized by Mars as a measure of chastisement for raising arms against the Imperium, Arachnus rapidly expanded its borders, seeking out many lesser, as yet undiscovered, Forge Worlds elsewhere in the region to bring under their sway. Of even greater note is the arms which their manufactoria produced, for Arachnus soon became a favoured world of the Emperor’s own bodyguard, the Legio Custodes, and the Forge World was noted for the skill in which they constructed the more esoteric weapons the Emperor’s household troops often made use of. Furthermore, a significant portion of Legio Venator’s strength was committed to the Great Crusade, nearly two-thirds of the Titan Legion separating into independent detachments deployed across the galaxy. Nevertheless, there lay an undercurrent of resistance from Arachnus towards the growing might of the Imperium, with veiled attempts to establish itself as the prominent power within the Belt of Iron and a notable effort to gather seats within the Martian Parliament to better influence policy towards the favour of Arachnus. Never was this more perceivable than amongst those who served with elements of Legio Venator that had amassed long years of service during the Great Crusade, and others of the Titan Legion who remained guarding the borders of Arachnus, called to war only in the most urgent of circumstances. Such individuals noted that those who stood as warders of Arachnus were bitter and melancholic, adverse to the notion of any not born of their world issuing commands to Legio Venator. In contrast, those who regularly served within the Expeditionary fleets were praised for their devotion to the cause and lauded for the spirit of self-sacrifice that placed the good of Mankind before their own lives.
The ideological splits between the two disparate elements of Legio Venator were to bring much strife to Arachnus come the Horus Heresy. When news of the Warmaster’s treachery reached Arachnus, there was much contention within the upper hierarchies of the Forge World as to which side in the developing conflict Arachnus should take. In answer, the far- ranging elements of Legio Venator were recalled to Arachnus and, after years of debate, those Iron Spiders that had spent great periods of time away from their founding world appeared to emerge victorious following the outbreak of warfare within the Belt of Iron. In answer to calls for aid, the veterans of the Great Crusade were sent across the region, bringing war to the Warmaster’s allies. In doing so, Arachnus was emptied of many who held ironclad loyalty to the Imperium, a circumstance that proved calculated in its arrangement. Mere months after much of Legio Venator swore renewed allegiance to the Imperium, Arachnus declared its own independence, purging the Forge World of those who still supported the Imperium and bequeathed the secessionist elements of Legio Venator with a new name – Legio Tritonis, the Dark Tide.
For the remainder of the Horus Heresy the remnants of Legio Venator utilised the forge-fortress of M’Khand, gifted to them during the Great Crusade, as their primary base of operations. From there, Legio Venator ranged across the Belt of Iron in search of the support needed to reconquer Arachnus, the Titan Legion’s number heavily depleted first by treachery and then the endless attrition of war. When Legio Venator returned to Arachnus, wrestling it from the grip of those who had spat upon their oaths to the Imperium, the Forge World of their founding was but a shadow of its former glory, lesser than M’Khand and perhaps never to return to what it once was.
Materiel Strength The strength and grade of Legio Venator fluctuated greatly during its time in service to the Imperium. Upon its rediscovery, when Arachnus first opposed the Imperium, the Iron Spiders were noted to stand at an estimated 134 god-engines, including two Imperator class Titans. Of these, only 54 god-engines, and a singular Imperator, were to survive Arachnus’ conflict with the Imperium. Great efforts were made to replenish the strength of Legio Venator in the first decade of its service and by the onset of the Horus Heresy, the Titan Legion’s numbers had newly been restored to its former glory.
By mid-011.M31, following the breaking of Legio Venator into the Iron Spiders and the Dark Tide, Legio Venator held a strength of 67 god-engines still loyal to the Imperium, the remainder having assumed the mantle of Legio Tritonis or fallen opposing the rise of Arachnus as an independent power. Of these, most were Reaver and Warhound class Titans, with Legio Venator possessing only a handful of greater Battle Titans. The forges of M’Khand worked tirelessly to construct additional engines, yet the forge-fortress’ capabilities were far below that of a true Forge World. In truth, the greater number of new god-engines added to the ranks of Legio Venator were those captured during the Cataclysm of Iron, fallen machines of foes and Traitors repurposed in the Emperor’s name.
Legio Venator (Iron Spiders)
Legio Trait: Loyalty Above All Within Legio Venator, it is the duty of all Moderatii to
defend the Princeps against death itself, regardless of the cost.
Legio Venator Titans ignore the Princeps Wounded Critical Damage effect. In addition, friendly Legio Venator Titans add 1 to the result of any Command check they make while within 6" of a Legio Venator Princeps Seniores’ Titan.
Legio Trait: One Mind The Princeps of Legio Venator maniples train together extensively,
learning to work in near-perfect concert until they can anticipate each other’s actions nearly as well as their own.
At the beginning of each round, Titans within a friendly Legio Venator maniple may be formed into Squadrons. Each Squadron may contain a maximum of two Titans and cannot include a Titan that is already part of a Squadron. These Squadrons last until the end of the round. Titans formed into a Squadron in this manner cannot merge void shields but follow all other Squadron rules as normal.
Legio Trait: Mobile Force After the loss of Arachnus, Legio Venator found itself deprived of
large numbers of heavier Battle Titans, adapting their tactics to accommodate larger numbers of lighter engines.
Any Legio Venator maniple may select a Reaver Titan in place of any Warlord Titan as part of its mandatory components.
Legio Specific Wargear: Blind Launchers Legio Venator makes use of one-shot launchers that can unleash
a burst of smoke that interferes with conventional vision and electronic sensors.
Any Legio Venator Titan may be equipped with Blind Launchers for +20 points. Once per game, during the Combat phase, a Titan with this upgrade may activate its Blind Launchers. If it does, until the start of the next Combat phase apply a -1 modifier to all Hit rolls for attacks made against this Titan and a -1 modifier to any Hit rolls for attacks made by this Titan. Blind Launchers can be activated at any point during the Titan’s activation (i.e., after it has made any attacks).
Legio Specific Personal Traits A Legio Venator Princeps Seniores’ Personal Trait can either be generated from
the table in the Adeptus Titanicus rulebook, or by rolling a D3 on the table that follows:
D3 Personal Traits 1 Burning Hatred: The Princeps seethes with an intense hatred of all Traitors, raging at their abandonment of the true order and vowing that all will fall before them – whatever the cost. Once per round, when the Princeps’ Titan causes Critical Damage to an enemy Titan, the Princeps’ Titan may immediately make an attack with one of its weapons, chosen by the controlling player. After resolving the effects of this attack, roll a D6 on the Reactor Overload table for the Princeps’ Titan. 2 Crusade Veteran: Many Princeps of Legio Venator spent long decades fighting within the Expeditionary fleets, and are able to control their god-engines with seemingly preternatural skill. Once per game, after resolving a Repair roll made as part of an Emergency Repairs order, the Princeps may discard the Order and immediately be issued a second Order. This second Order can be another Emergency Repairs order. Even if an Emergency Repairs order is removed in this manner, the Princeps’ Titan can still only be activated in either the subsequent Movement phase or Combat phase of that round as normal. 3 SuperiorTactician: The Princeps is well-practiced in commanding Titans in battle, and is capable of drawing up intricate plans with built-in redundancies. Before forces are deployed, when choosing Stratagems, the Legio Venator player gains +1 Stratagem point if one or more Princeps with this Personal Trait is present in the force.
Legio Venator Warlord Battle Titan
Lupus Ira The incorporation of both Legio Venator and Arachnus into the Imperium proved a tumultuous affair marred by conflict. When Arachnus was finally brought into the Imperial fold, there were those amongst the Imperium who expressed concern over fighting beside Legio Venator Titans they had previously fought against. Such worries were
quickly dismissed when dozens of Iron Spiders Titans were given long-term assignments to Expeditionary fleets.
Titans such as Lupus Ira would go on to prove their loyalty across innumerable battlefields, quickly developing a great devotion to those they served alongside. The respect they held for the forces of the Great Crusade drove many
of Legio Venator to turn against their former masters when Arachnus seceded from the Imperium.
Legio Venator Warhound Scout Titan
Theridionx Legio Venator Warhounds such as Theridionx, pictured here during the assembly at M’Khand following the fall of Arachnus, became integral to the continued operation of the Titan Legion after many of its oldest Princeps defected
to the nascent Legio Tritonis. The existence of the Dark Tide was a great stain upon the honour of Legio Venator and the Princeps of its Warhounds believed it their task to exterminate all who wore the colours of their traitorous
kin. An unofficial, yet widely adhered to, practice during the Cataclysm of Iron was for existing kill markings on Iron Spiders Warhound honour banners to be daubed in white for each Legio Tritonis god-engine they claimed; the
greater the number of Traitors slain, the more lauded the Princeps.
Legio Lysanda
Title: The Legio Lysanda Ordo Titanica
Militaris Grade: Tertius
Patent: Post-Unification, Konorian Mechanicum
Warden Domain(s): The Eastern Fringe, Karadozit (Forge-fortress), Yandrill Prime (Forge-fortress)
Cognomen: Sentinels of the Edge
Allied War Houses: None
Allegiance: Fidelitas Constantus
The founding of Legio Lysanda was a far cry from the quasi- ritualistic affair that is normally associated with the creation of a new Titan Legion, for it was born not out of desire to seed a new Titan Legion but rather pure necessity. As the Great Crusade pushed ever onwards and the borders of the Imperium expanded, it came into contact with increasing numbers of hostile empires, both xenos and otherwise, that offered a significant threat to the developing Imperium of Mankind. Given the widespread nature of the Expeditionary fleets, it proved impossible for each threat to receive proper attention upon discovery, and in such instances containment became the goal until such time as a suitable force could be assembled. Thus the newest borders of the Imperium, consisting of star systems only recently sworn to the Emperor, faced the persistent threat of invasion from creatures emerging from the darkest recesses of the galaxy to tear down the edifices of Mankind. Mindful that the continued loyalty of newly-Compliant worlds would be impossible should many remain threatened by external foes, edicts were issued demanding the foundation of dedicated forces intended to watch over the boundaries of Imperial space. In the Ultima Segmentum, a Titan Legion, bearing the title Legio Lysanda, was founded as one such force.
Formed from Titans gifted by over a dozen Forge Worlds, though primarily the twin Forge Worlds of Konor and Gantz, Legio Lysanda, or the ‘Sentinels of the Edge’ as they soon became known, were tasked not with maintaining wardenship over a single Forge World but rather with protecting the edge of Imperial space. For this role, only Princeps of keen mind and cool humours were chosen to fill the ranks of Legio Lysanda, for a bellicose and vengeful nature was deemed detrimental to the task at hand. Though only 21 god-engines were assembled for the founding of Legio Lysanda, the Titan Legion soon proved its worth, throwing back the assembled might of the Yuntari Militia, a xenos-human alliance of raiders that had long troubled the worlds at the edge of the Imperium’s eastern border with assaults upon the mining belts of Danticoh Prime. In the following decades, maniples of Legio Lysanda Titans were dispatched to over a dozen worlds deemed at threat, performing their duty as guardians with resolute efficiency and patience. Each time the Imperium’s borders moved outwards, a portion of Legio Lysanda would depart the worlds they had sheltered for years, redeploying to an Expeditionary fleet to aid the Compliance of a new world from which they would begin the cycle of guardianship once more.
In its role as temporary warden, Legio Lysanda developed a reputation for even-temperament so precise that many who had served alongside the Titan Legion claimed its Princeps could not be angered, no matter the trials that faced them. Indeed, it was noted that prospective Titan crew were required to undergo a period of solitude and introspection before being allowed to ascend to command their own god-engines. Within Legio Lysanda, there appeared little trace of a hunger for glory so prominent in many other Titan Legions and its Princeps were instilled with the belief that they served as a counterpoint to the desires and lust for battle that oft possessed the machine spirit of their engine. To function within their role, a Princeps must forever watch out for a changing in nature, lest they forsake all they had sworn to protect.
More so than most Titan Legions, save those that served the Warmaster and felt the touch of unholy pacts, the Horus Heresy wrought significant changes upon Legio Lysanda. The onset of this war, mired in treachery and uncertain loyalties, saw the Sentinels of the Edge facing threats not from outside of the Imperium, as they had once, but inward, against the worlds they had sworn to protect. In decades of service, dozens of worlds had once held Legio Lysanda as their protectors and many now burned with the fires of war. This alone was enough to scour away any notion of serenity within the minds of many of the Titan Legion’s Princeps, who soon became little more than husks that thirsted for vengeance, vowing never to rest until justice for those fallen worlds was achieved. Worse still were those worlds that wholeheartedly turned against the Imperium, undoing the years of service Legio Lysanda had offered to them and the lives spent in their protection. Often, it fell to Legio Lysanda to return to these worlds bringing the Emperor’s justice. The fires of cities they had once watched over were forever seared in the minds of many Princeps, the memory forever twisting the soul of the Titan Legion into one of vengeance instead of peace.
Aegis Etchings The worlds to which Legio Lysanda were assigned held great value to the Princeps of the god-engines tasked with watching over them. Indeed, many of the Legio’s Princeps were recorded to have regularly integrated themselves into the local culture, forming bonds with its rulers and walking amongst its people. In some ways, the Sentinels of the Edge served in a capacity similar to, although far less influential than, that of an Iterator of the Great Crusade. When it came time for the Titan Legion to depart from a planet, the crew of each god-engine would personally carve a memento into the carapace of their Titan that marked the world they had protected. Each held meaning to the individual crew, with the most seasoned Titans bearing a tapestry of its deeds engraved on its carapace. Numerous recovered pict-captures of Legio Lysanda engines taken during the Horus Heresy show that many of the Legio’s Titans bore such mementos that had been deliberately defaced; cross-references with the worlds they represented show that all such planets had either sided with the Warmaster or were brought low by his wrath.
Materiel Strength Given that Legio Lysanda were rarely assembled together for war, an exact count of their numbers is all but impossible to determine. What can be determined is based on the known worlds they garrisoned in the years prior to the outbreak of the Horus Heresy which placed Legio Lysanda as a Tertius grade Titan Legion, capable of fielding at least 53 god-engines, with an estimated upwards maximum of 72. Owing to the relative youth of the Titan Legion, Legio Lysanda was unable to call upon rarer classes of Titan, relying almost exclusively upon Warlord, Reaver and Warhound class Titans. Nevertheless, the chaotic nature of the Horus Heresy, combined with the prevalence of scavenging enacted by many Titan Legions, may have leant opportunity for Legio Lysanda to acquire Titan classes outside their pre-Heresy allocation.
Legio Lysanda (Sentinels Of The Edge)
Legio Trait: Patience Beyond Measure Before a Legio Lysanda Princeps could ascend to command
a Titan, they were required to sit in silent contemplation for seven days to ensure only those with true inner peace ascended to the role.
Before any units are deployed, a battleforce that contains at least one Legio Lysanda maniple may choose to deploy all their units at once at the start of deployment, before their opponent deploys any unit. If they do so, the Legio Lysanda player does not roll to determine the First Player in the first round, instead allowing their opponent to win the roll-off. If they do so, all Legio Lysanda Titans add 1 to the result of any Hit rolls and Command checks made during the first round. Patience Beyond Measure has no effect in Narrative missions unless otherwise stated.
Legio Trait: Stillness of Mind Many Legio Lysanda Princeps spent time between conflicts
alone in their god-engines, embracing the silence a sleeping Titan offers to better rouse it in times of war.
Add 2 to the result when rolling to see if a Shutdown order is removed from a Legio Lysanda Titan.
Legio Specific Stratagem: Frontier Guard (2)
Legio Lysanda was often tasked with guarding important worlds, towering protectors willing to sacrifice all in pursuit of duty.
This Stratagem can be purchased by any Legio Lysanda player. Play this Stratagem during the Strategy phase of any round. Until the end of the round, the BS and WS of any Legio Lysanda Titan that is within 6" of an objective marker (for their own victory conditions) when this Stratagem is played is increased by 1, to a maximum of 2+.
Legio Specific Wargear: Mantle of Responsibility Legio Lysanda perceive trophies of war gifted to them
as the highest honour, and display them proudly upon their Titans to show their dedication to the Imperium.
Any Legio Lysanda Titan can be upgraded to have a Mantle of Responsibility for +15 points. A Titan with this upgrade may re-roll results of a 1 or 2 when making a Command check.
Legio Specific Personal Traits A Legio Lysanda Princeps Seniores’ Personal Trait can either be generated from
the table in the Adeptus Titanicus rulebook, or by rolling a D3 on the table that follows:
D3 Personal Traits 1 Harrowed by Betrayal: Once famous for their calm, the horrors of the Horus Heresy have twisted the Princeps until they were filled with anger beyond measure. If the Machine Spirit of a Legio Lysanda Titan awakens, the Titan may apply the Wrathful result instead of rolling on the Awakened Machine Spirit table. 2 Serene: The Princeps is untroubled by the horrors of the galaxy, believing that only through opposing them without fear can they truly be defeated. The Princeps’ Titan never suffers penalties to their Command checks and may ignore effects that force them to re-roll successful Command checks. 3 Vanguard Leader: The Princeps fights at the fore, setting an example for all who follow. Any friendly Legio Lysanda Titan that begins its movement within 3" of the Princeps’ Titan can declare Power to Locomotors! without pushing its reactor. This includes the Princeps’ Titan.
Legio Lysanda Warlord Battle Titan
Lord of Virtues For two decades, Lord of Virtues stood in defence of those worlds settled on the edge of the Ghoul Stars, vigilant for threats undescribed in known records. Its tenure as sentinel ended when called to war in Ultramar, participating in numerous battles during the Crusade of Iron upon nearly a dozen worlds. Armed with two Sunfury plasma annihilators, Lord of Virtues operated as master of a Vilicus maniple, recording seven confirmed engine-kills before being redeployed. Drawing upon patience earned through decades of service, Lord of Virtues would power down and wait in silence as accompanying Warhounds drew the enemy
into an ambush, the sudden flare of the Warlord’s plasma reactor bursting into life signalling the death of Traitors.
Legio Lysanda Reaver Battle Titan
Unfolding Wrath Though the Sentinels of the Edge were famed for their patience, such a reservoir was not infinite. The magnitude of betrayal wrought many changes upon Legio Lysanda, and a handful of Princeps amongst their number cast aside reason
in favour of wrath. In recognition of their new creed, such Princeps marched to war under new names, for Unfolding Wrath was once known as Argent Flame.To match its newfound purpose, the Reaver was armed with weapons focused
upon total annihilation, taking to battle on Ulixis as leader of a Corsair maniple that stalked the tunnels of the world, tearing into any Traitor forces they came across with a reckless abandon far removed from the reputation of their Legio.