Just some musings on Titans in EA....

To me, at least, I have this idea that in the background Titans have to be supported by infantry, tanks and given some kind of aircover to be effective. In the game, it doesn't work like that - an all-titan army can be very effective, and auxilliary tanks and infantry can almost be more of a liability than an asset.

The titan lists reinforce this by having titans as the core formations, allowing all-titan armies.

Am I the only one that finds it a bit wrong that all-titan can often be more effective than a combined arms list?

they're typically out activated and out manoeuvred.

remember you take a BM for coming under fire, irregardless of the result. plus a bonus BM if you're caught in a cross fire.

all titan armies are effective only becuase they tend to swamp an all comer's anti WE weaponry. otherwise, they'd be toast.

Crossfire only matters if you inflict damage. So, if void shields up, or just successful saves (and Warlords have TRA and don't care), then getting additionals from Crossfire is hard, if not impossible.

And depending on a reading of the rules, it could be just impossible. Crossfire extra BM require a unit be destroyed. A reading of the Titan rules, and a damaging hit doesn't equal destroyed (it's pretty explicit on that front).

Not sure if that's correct, but Rules As Written are fairly clear singular Titans can't gain extra BM's from Crossfire (multi-WE formations can, but require the destruction of one of their number).

Morgan Vening

huh, you learn something new everyday.

I'd be careful about that reading. War Engine rules are mostly lots of different ways to spell out how a war engine is treated like a number of units equal to its DC.

But anyway, isn't the -1 save more valuable than an extra BM or two?

i think titans are only usually supported by other units because theyre only ever committed to really big battles - so the titans are actually supporting the rest of the army as line breakers. in a titan v titan scenario there is little infantry or tanks could do anyway, few princeps would even regard tanks as much of a threat to them in any case, let alone infantry.

however, they are valuable traction on slippery ground

Titans can't hold ground the way infantry can - they can dominate a section of the battlefield, but they can't actually stop a fast formation just driving past. Being a god machine is all very well - but it's like trying to dam a river with only big rocks.

From a gameplay point of view, it's also relatively easy to herd and distract battle titans; cheap scout formations are perfect for this.

Also remember, epic is a game of objectives, and an all Titan army is going to find it very hard to hold enough objectives to win.

Conversely, an opposing army is going to find it very difficult to shift the Titans off the objectives. And nothing is going to stop a battle titan from being at midfield after turn 3, is it? At the very least it can engage three times and use barging to move the full 15cm, and then get a 5 cm consolidate. Also usually resulting in three dead screening formations.

didn't think of using engage to boost your movement distance. that really effects OGBM.

hmmm. will have to ponder on this.