As my Deathwatch PCs advance in rank and time goes by, I've been hunting for bigger and meaner things to toss at the team.

Enter the Warhound statblock from Rites of Battle.

This thing seems to be the ultimate "Big Fish" and I've already worked out a little mission in my head for the players to attempt, however, I want to be sure I won't party wipe when I spring it on them. With this in mind, I'm requesting help on how to a kill team can bring down this monstrosity.

lance strike....maybe

but more player oriented...i recall in a novel...Dark Apostle possibly, the chaos marines fought their way up the leg of an Imperator Titan via the assault hatches below. They detonated explosives in the interior of the knee area, and the Titan came crumbling down. Obviously Warhounds are much smaller, but taking it on piece by piece, a la, a mega man boss battle wouldn't be too out of the question.

Get a Land Speeder with a towing cable to fly around its legs a few times?

The battle might be more interesting if they cannot destroy the Warhound by direct means. Instead, they have to activate a weapon (somewhere around the location the battle takes place) that might stop the Warhound. This "weapon" could for example be an exploding energy vessel of a facility in the warzone.

Of course, the Wardog will try to hunt the killteam down while they are trying to install a trap that destroys it. So the killteam will be the bait for the big dog.

Redemption NL said:

Brilliant!

Alex

Without a Shadowsword Baneblade or equivalent they can't take down a Titan. Getting through the voids is a bit problematic. Of course if you've already let them have conversion beamers, maybe not. Inserting and destroying it from within is another matter, and probably more fun.

There is a scene in the Eisenhorn trilogy where he and his retinue stumble across a heretic who has unearthed a chaos titan and suddenly attacks them in an abandoned village when they try to apprehend him. Eisenhorn and company spend a lot of time running around and trying to avoid notice as great swathes of terrain are chewed up by its mighty weapons. You could similarly emphasize the ize difference by having the players try and avoid detection and change positions frequently amidst the rubble. Warhounds are the only titan small enough to be deployed in a truly urban setting so having the players stalked in blasted out hive outskirts might be compelling. ONce they sucessfully flank their foe they might have the opportunity to place melta bombs on it or whatever else.

bobh said:

Enough lascannons will do the job. So long as you don't get annihilated in the process. Same with Chainfists, Thunder Hammers and similar high-powered melee weapons, or high-end demolitions equipment like Meltabombs.

Broadly speaking, I wouldn't expect a Baneblade to manage all that well - they have a lot of guns, but they're best suited for fighting against large infantry and armour combined forces. A Shadowsword's Volcano Cannon, however, should do serious damage... we're talking a gun that would deal 5d10+30 E, Pen 30, Blast (15), Concussive, Devastating (5), Felling (4), Proven (4), Volatile. And that's a conservative estimate.

Exactly. Lol. Shadowswords are built for Titan Hunting. Eating voids for breakfast and such....and the armor underneath and the structure under that... They could be sent into a warzone where an Imperial Guard unit is actively hunting a chaos titan with Shadowswords and most of the unit is wiped out (each would be assigned to a whole armored regiment of support and combat vehicles to fight alongside so the Shadowsword can get a shot on the titan). One is functional but damaged and can't move much. So your marines need to bait the Titan in front of the gun and POW! If you put them in a setting where the are already las cannon emplacements.... and lots of cover so they don't get stomped on, losing one team member a turn (assuming they don't, lol, stay in one tight group in the open, lolcopter), then it could be quite fun. Lots of possibilities.

Without getting annihilated is probably what he is asking for. Give them cover. If they dont all have lascannon leave some in the field for them to use if they are smart. And hope they roll well or the Titan will kill them off one by one when they take a shot.

Example:

• A Warhounds voids (2) must be dealt 45 points of damage to take them down for about 1d5+5 rounds minus 1 round per DOS scored by the enginseer within, and your weapons Pen means squat. Cumulative this can be done with two lascannon per void easy.
• A lascannon does minimum 25 (with proven 25 each means 2 marines to guarantee one void down), so roll good and two marines take two voids in one round maybe three marines (roll really good), then they (one or more depending on location) get dead when the warhound shoots them back (very likely, unless they attack from ambush/hidden and behind)). If you use the non errata stats (6d10+10, meh good luck rolling high, minimum 16 damage at least three firing lascannon astartes to take one down).
• Then you have to get through 45 to 50(front) armor.
• If they get really close they can ambush from within the voids, avoiding them entirely.
• So in one round six marines can down both voids guaranteed if they all hit and open the titan up for the shadowsword kill shot...maybe
• Missiles might be fun too.

I'm with Yoritomo: LANCE STRIKE!!

(It's the only way to be sure...)

Zappiel said:

I'm a fan of using Nova Cannon. Why go half way, just pummel the planet's backside....just to be sure.

I stand corrected!

Most important thing when fighting a warhound... remember they come in twos. just wait till his buddy turns up, that will shock the PC's

Since we're drawing on movies here: nuke them from orbit; it's the only way to be sure.

Alex

Redemption NL said:

Beat me to it!

In a Deathwatch game I played in, we flew a Stormraven by at breakneck speeds (We had Wagner on, too) and jumped onto the Titan with jump packs, activating our magnetic boots.

We then found an appropriate place to cut a hole and board it, killing those inside for the Emprah.

voids dont work if you get close enough think about the clan elementals from battletech who were trained to go after mechs leg joints etc

lord of the rings with lego las climbing the elephant is a good image as the marines climb the titan

dig a big enough whole and lure it in (filled with promethium ?) light match and stand well back

Redemption NL said:

Hmm like how the midgets of Liliput took down Gulliver in his travels huh?

Deepstriker said:

I think he had in mind how Luke Skywalker took down the AT-AT with his snowspeeder and it's tow line in the battle of Hoth in one of the original Star wars Movies.

But it's similar to Gulliver, yes.

When my BC team fought tyranid bio-titans we droped from valkyries and put melta bombs on legs

In a RT game, the GM sent 7 warhound against us...

We used a Imperator to stop them, the one we highjacked from the enemy!

So if the warhound operate in a pair, your players may have to take the 1st and stalk destroy the other using the warhound.

BTW the imperator titant nearly fried my explorator's brain when I asked it to close the doors... So this may mean a very dangerous challenge for the Tech-Marine as he as to battle the spirit machine of the titant, placade it while letting realease it's anger at the other titant...

So your Tech-Marine may have to convinve the titant that is titant friend as stolen is titant chewing bone...

Rites of Battle Page 138, Seismic Escalation Detonator. Land on warhound via air drop, breach the hull with a Breaching Augur or Bulkhead shears, plant it, booby trap the room where it is located so anything that goes in there dies and your SED stays intact, mission accomplished.

Hardrainfalling said:

It depends on what version of the fiction you follow. Some of the books make void shields nearly impenetrable barriers, while table top allow close combat troops to penetrate. I say go for whichver one makes for the more exciting story that night.

To me the uber enemy like that would be best defeated with 'alternate' means- the characters have to find a way to avoid taking down such an enemy with diferent tactics like luring it into a trap of some kind, going on a quest to power a planet based weapon system they can use against it, crashing a ship into it, trying to kite it around a battlefield to keep it away from friendly forces while a ship in orbit can get into position to shoot it. With its limited crew I'm not sure that boarding it and killing the dozen or so people on board would feel terribly climactic, and getting your tech priest/marine to understand how to pilot a titan might be pushing the fluff a bit (though it would certainly be cinematic and fit within the rule of cool).

Thematically speaking. Marines are actually one of the best counters to Titans. The whole 'Most Bang in the small space for the buck' thing. They're able to go special forces and into the Titan to take it out.

That said, there's a reason both Loyal and Traitor Titan Legions have their massive Tech Guard escorts to protect them from getting boarded. Keep in mind the Void Shields won't stop someone from walking up to the access hatch.

Or, as happened in my adventure last night, you could just have your Rank 7 Librarian burn it down with pushed Smites and a Vortex of Doom. Lots of perils risk, but also a dead Scout Titan. The Cerberus Valificant is now a smoking ruin with one leg torn off by a thunder hammer and much of its torso torn into the warp by said vortex. I am thinking maybe a Deed for this one... something to represent the suitably epic nature of high level champions beating down something so lethal. The Assault Marine is out of Fate points, and very nearly died but for some great dodge rolls while using Burst of Speed and everyone was in crits, but mission successful. Now if only this feat can draw out the corrupted Black Reaper Exarch working for forces of Chaos on Khazant so my Killteam can end his spree of assassinations that is crippling the Crusade's war efforts Killteam Purgatus can claim their primary objective and return to Erioch for redeployment.

Do what Bugs Bunny would do and get one of the Kill-team to dress up as a sexy female Titan. The smitten Titan will then follow him in an attemot to mate, allowing it to be easily led off of a cliff while distracted by its baser urges.

BTW what happens if you use Curse of the Machine-Spirit on a Titan? (Or Weapin Jinx if you're a DH character?)