Titans in Warhammer 40,000 by Daniel Crocker

WARHAMMER 40,000 - Titans: Special Rules by Daniel Crocker

Forward by James Henley

Titans are probably the most joked about piece of information in Warhammer 40,000 (apart from perhaps Ork Nobs), ‘Huh, this may look like my cat, but its really a Warlord Titan’; ‘Like my Ork Gargant?’ ‘Mate that’s a couple of Fanta bottles stuck together’ ‘Oh’. All quotes from conversations I’ve had over a gaming table in my time as a Warhammer player. So, for the sake of the integrity of the game, Dan thought he might as well write some rules for you to use for your cats, rabbits, aardvarks, Chinese pandas, koalas etc. Or if you’re a serious gamer, then you can make your own serious titans from the Epic 40,000 guidelines.

Warning: Titans are not to be taken lightly! You should only use titans really in themed battles, based on Warhammer 40,000 background, or campaigns that include special scenarios for them. They are too good to be used in a normal or league / tournament battle, unless you want to really exaggerate your chances of winning. Good Luck with your bog rolls!

General Titan Special Rules

Titans take up one heavy support choice and may only be used in a battle when both sides have agreed to the use of titans and it is of armies of over three thousand points. Allowing titans to be used in tournaments or campaigns is not advised.
All rules that apply to vehicles also apply to Titans, apart from in the ways specified below.
All titans are super mobile and may move over ALL obstacles and terrain types as open ground. They gain no benefit from terrain either, and if charged in cover, they do not automatically strike first nor do they receive the hull down bonus for being behind cover.
Titans may fire all weapons they possess even if they moved. They may also split their fire between multiple targets, but the shots of a single weapon cannot be split. All titans may move and fire ordnance calibre weapons.
All titans may move up to 12” in the movement phase.
Titans are not subject to any of the normal rules about psychology and are never subject to Morale Checks. When you’re in war machine a hundred metres above your opponents’ heads, then morale tends not to affect you. There is only one exception to this rule and this is when titans are fighting other titans, in which case they are affected but only by effects inflicted by the opposing titan, not from the ‘little people’ below.
Titans assault and fight in close combat as a Dreadnought. However, they may move out of a close combat in the movement phase, in which case their opponents may attempt to consolidate or sweeping advance in the following assault phase as if they had won the combat. The dreadnought may not shoot or assault another unit in the same turn as it disengaged from close combat.
Titans may make tank shock attacks and any units within six inches of a titan must make a successful morale check or flee. The same rule applies to units attempting to assault titans (neither of these rules apply if the unit is in fact a titan itself).
Titans do not take general damage as do most vehicles, but take location damage as vehicles in the second edition of Warhammer 40,000. Each individual location of the titan has an armour value and takes damage to location. Close combat attacks automatically hit the nearest location to them, the only exception to this rule is when Titans are fighting Titans, in which case use the same method as with ranged shots. Ranged Attacks (including ordnance), are worked out slightly differently, for each hitting shot, roll a D6 and consult the Titan damage location table below to see which point on the Titan is hit. Then, roll for armour penetration as normal. For the effects of glancing and penetrating hits roll on the appropriate table below.

D6 Roll	Titan Damage Location Table
1	Head
2	Right Arm / Weapon Mount
3	Left Arm / Weapon Mount
4	Body
5	Left Leg
6	Right Leg

HEAD DAMAGE TABLES

D6 Roll	Glancing Hits	D6 Roll	Penetrating Hits
1	Crew Stunned May not move or shoot next turn.	1	Crew Stunned May not move or shoot next turn.
2		2	Crew Stunned May not move or shoot next turn.
3		3	Weapon Destroyed, if there is no weapon mounted on the head, then count as Crew Stunned.
4	Weapon Destroyed, if there is no weapon mounted on the head, then count as Crew Stunned.	4	Targeting Node Malfunction, all weapons must shoot at the same target.
5	Targeting Node Malfunction, all weapons must shoot at the same target.	5	Head Crushed, you’ve obviously hit a weak spot, sparks fly as the titan shuts down, explosions coming from inside the control cockpit. All inside are killed; the titan is destroyed.
6	Head Crushed, you’ve obviously hit a weak spot, sparks fly as the titan shuts down, explosions coming from inside the control cockpit. All inside are killed; the titan is destroyed.	6	Head Annihilated, the head explodes in a mass of electrical activity. All inside are killed; the explosion causes a S5 wound to all within a 2D6 radius. The Titan is destroyed.

BODY DAMAGE TABLES

D6 Roll	Glancing Hits	D6 Roll	Penetrating Hits
1	No Effect	1	Crew Stunned May not move or shoot next turn.
2	No Effect	2	Crew Stunned May not move or shoot next turn.
3	Crew Stunned May not move or shoot next turn.	3	Loss of Power, The titan moves at half speed and BS, WS and I are reduced by 2 for the remainder of the game.
4	Crew Stunned May not move or shoot next turn.	4
5	Loss of Power, The titan moves at half speed and BS, WS and I are reduced by 2 for the remainder of the game.	5	Titan Destroyed
6	Titan Destroyed	6	Titan Annihilated, the titan explodes in a mass of electrical activity. All inside are killed; the explosion causes a S5 wound to all within a 2D6 radius. The Titan is destroyed.

LEG DAMAGE TABLES

D6 Roll	Glancing Hits	D6 Roll	Penetrating Hits
1	No Effect	1	Crew Shaken May not move next turn.
2	No Effect	2	Crew Shaken May not move next turn.
3	Crew Shaken May not move next turn.	3	Loss of Power, The titan moves at half speed for the remainder of the game.
4	Crew Shaken May not move next turn.	4
5	Loss of Power, The titan moves at half speed for the remainder of the game..	5	Titan Destroyed
6	Titan Destroyed	6	Titan Annihilated, the titan explodes in a mass of electrical activity. All inside are killed; the explosion causes a S5 wound to all within a 2D6 radius. The Titan is destroyed.

ARM / WEAPON MOUNT DAMAGE TABLES

D6 Roll	Glancing Hits	D6 Roll	Penetrating Hits
1	No Effect	1	Crew Shaken May not shoot next turn.
2	No Effect	2	Crew Shaken May not shoot next turn.
3	Crew Shaken May not shoot next turn.	3	Loss of Power, the Weapon suffers –2 to hit for rest of game.
4	Crew Shaken May not shoot next turn.	4
5	Loss of Power, the Weapon suffers –2 to hit for rest of game.	5	Titan Destroyed
6	Weapon Destroyed	6	Weapon Annihilated, Weapon is destroyed and body takes a penetrating hit as well. Roll on the Body Penetrating Hit Table as well.

More in Part Two...
So here are the basic Titan special rules, but now you know the rules, you’ll be wanting to build, convert, paint and play with your own Titans, so where are the individual rules for them? In part two of course. Part Two includes rules for the most used, Imperial Titans, for use in Space Marine, Imperial Guard and less often Sisters of Battle Armies. And following on from that will be more rules for the best Heavy Support choice in Warhammer 40,000.

Dan Crocker

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Part Two of this article is available here.