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Fighting a Battle

This section of the book presents the three ways of playing Adeptus Titanicus: Open Play, Narrative Play and Matched Play. In addition it includes Stratagems, which allow for a wide range of tactics to be incorporated into games, as well as special rules for individual Legios of the Adeptus Titanicus.

Adeptus Titanicus is far more than a game – it is a setting, an evolving story, a range of highly detailed miniatures (the painting of which is a hobby in itself) and an engaging tactical challenge. Different people derive their enjoyment from different aspects – some throwing themselves into the painting side of things, others focusing almost exclusively on gaming. There is no ‘correct’ way of enjoying Adeptus Titanicus and many people enjoy all aspects equally, or else focus on one element for a while before shifting their attention elsewhere – and that’s just fine!

In order to accommodate the many and varied ways of enjoying Adeptus Titanicus, this section of the book looks at three different ways of playing, each focused on one of the main aspects of this all-encompassing hobby. The first is called ‘Open Play’ and concentrates on the models themselves. The second is called ‘Narrative Play’ and is all about the story. The third is called ‘Matched Play’ – a style focusing on the challenge of gameplay itself.

Most people will actually enjoy all three ways of playing to varying degrees, but it is only human to have a favourite. Often, a gaming group will have an approach that suits its members best, but sometimes people appreciate a change in order to keep things fresh. A group that enjoys head-to-head competitive games might want to play a story-driven campaign for a while, for example, or perhaps decide to pool the collections of multiple players in order to recreate an iconic scene from their favourite Horus Heresy novel.

The Mission

Whenever two players get together for a game of Adeptus Titanicus, they are agreeing to play a ‘mission’. A mission is a set of instructions that describe how and where on the table both players will set up their miniatures, how many turns the game will be played over and, perhaps most importantly, how one side’s victory over the other will be determined.

Selecting a mission is a simple matter – the most important question that two players planning a game need to agree on is which of the three ways of playing they wish to use. Having determined which suits them best, they can then either agree on a suitable mission to play or roll a dice to select one of the missions randomly. If playing as part of an ongoing campaign, the mission may even be pre-determined, and this is explored in more detail later on in this section.

DESIGNER’S NOTE

Designing your own Missions

The following pages feature several missions, but you shouldn’t feel restricted to what is currently in print. Coming up with your own missions is a highly rewarding experience, and could be as simple as combining different elements of existing missions, or as complex as you like. If you’d like to get some inspiration for your own missions, there is a variety of sources – you could look at Black Library novels, Horus Heresy campaign books, other games (such as the original Adeptus Titanicus) and even military history books. The sky is the limit!

The Battlefield

The Horus Heresy was a galaxy-spanning civil war fought across worlds the length and breadth of the Imperium. While much of the conflict focused on planets heavily settled by Mankind during the Great Crusade, it spilled across numerous secondary war zones. Many battlefields were apocalyptic visions of destruction, once-mighty cities having been cast down to shattered ruins. Others were open wastes where a strategically vital, resource-heavy location had been fought over repeatedly. The worlds of the galaxy are staggeringly diverse however, and so the god-engines of both sides of the civil war fought each other across a range of environments. On the world of Threnos, the Titans of Legio Atarus crushed the verdant forests to kindling and left behind them a world of grey ash and black cloud. At Valos, the oceans were boiled away by atomic bombardment, the Titans of Legios Fureans and Astorum engaging one another across barren wastes that had once been benighted ocean floor. At Dantium, the once awe-inspiring crystal forests were reduced to glittering powder beneath the feet of Legio Mortis.

The surface on which a game of Adeptus Titanicus takes place is referred to as ‘the battlefield’. This can be any flat surface which is of at least 3' square, but we recommend a battlefield that is 4' x 4'. All of the missions in Adeptus Titanicus are written with the assumption that the battle will be taking place over a battlefield of this size. So if players wish to play on a smaller (or indeed, larger) battlefield, they will need to adjust any measurements accordingly.

DESIGNER’S NOTE

Ample Space

Most of the games produced by Games Workshop are targeted at a 6'x4' battlefield, so why is Adeptus Titanicus written for something smaller? Easy answer – we wanted to make sure that players had somewhere to lay out their Command Terminals without having to squeeze them into their deployment zone, or add a second table. We made an educated guess that most existing players will have access to a 6'x4' gaming table, or something like it, which means they can lay out a full-size Adeptus Titanicus battle and still have room for all the necessary Command Terminals. Of course, if you’ve got enough space, you should feel free to expand the size of your battlefield accordingly!

BATTLEFIELD TERRAIN. There are very few battles that take place over a wide, open plain, devoid of features. Although Adeptus Titanicus can be played without any battlefield terrain, the addition of even a few pieces makes for a much more interesting game. As part of the preparation for a battle, players will need to set up their battlefield terrain. This can be done in a number of ways:

  • The players can collaborate on creating an interesting battlefield using whichever terrain is available to them.
  • One player can set up the battlefield in a manner of their choosing. Then, when it comes to deciding who chooses an area of the battlefield to deploy in, their opponent automatically gets to choose.
  • Divide the battlefield into quarters, then pick a quarter. Set up D3+1 pieces of terrain in that quarter, each player taking turns to set up one piece of terrain (roll off to see who goes first). Repeat this for the other three quarters.