+ inload: Ork Gargant rules for Adeptus Titanicus +

+ 'Ere We Go! +

+ Ork Gargants in Adeptus Titanicus +

 

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+ Ork Gargant rules for Adeptus Titanicus +

+ I've been beavering away polishing and tinkering with the rules for running Gargants in Adeptus Titanicus. They're now in a playable state, and the playtest pack can be inloaded for free from the files section of the +Death of a Rubricist+ Facebook group [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. +

+ The pack, entitled ATEC v04, contains:

• Full rules for using Ork Gargants in games of Adeptus Titanicus
• Print-ready Command Terminals for Gargants and Great Gargants
• Print-ready double-sided weapon cards.
• Info for submitting playtest notes, but do just feel free to have fun with them!

+ The rules are an iteration of those that I've been exloading here on occasion. Feel free to use the Insphere Contentsieve search function in the left-hand column of the blog to look for 'Gargant' if you'd like to read over some early thoughts. In summary, however, I've followed the following general design principles:

• Being orky, Gargants should be tough, and kick out a lot of firepower. 
• Unsubtle but entertaining, they should be generally less reliable than their Imperial equivalent, but have the potential – with luck and good planning – to outshine their opponents' equivalent War Engines.
• Playing a mob of Gargants should feel like you are an ork Kaptin managing his krew, and reward aggressive play.
• Playing a mob of Gargants should not be a frustrating experience.
• Using Gargants must abide to the core rules as seamlessly as possible while maintaining character.

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+ Playtesting da Waaaagh! +

+ Had a very enjoyable weekend over at my brother's house. I'd sent him and my nephews a pile of bits and a letter (faithfully dictated by Nikkit the gretchin) from the Warboss asking his meks to build him some dead snazzy Gargants to krump some spiky gitz. +

+ Well, the Meks came good and the Warboss was greeted by a proppa stompy Gargant Mob to take into battle. I think they're just brill – each very distinctive and full of orky character and creativity. They were built using air-drying clay over household bits and bobs. Couldn't have asked for better results; well done, ladz! +

[+{APPENDNOTE=This autoscribe humbly apologises for forgetting to note down the ork's own names for these beasts of steel, so presented here are my loose human translations – do correct me and I'll update the names!+]

+ Great Gargant Zodwort's Revenge. +

+ Gargant Waaagharella. +

+ Gargant Orktimus Prime (and a dead sneeky stompa). +

+ It was a particular treat to see this banner waving over the Great Gargant, as it's been recycled from my brother's old ork army, Waa-Zodwort. Nice to see it taken into battle again. +

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+ Playtesting and designer's notes +

+ As my part of the deal, I'd brought along the playtest document above, along with all the terrain and Titans to fight. While keen 40k players, none of them had played Titanicus – but they took to it like ducks to water. +

+ I'd been running the dice every so often to check how things were working, but – lacking any finished gargants – the nearest I was able to come to physical testing beforehand was the rather shonky-looking affair below, with my own mournful half-finished Gargant. +

+ Still, it did the job, letting me try out the Command Terminal and make sure that all the basic mechanics worked. I sent the poor armless Great Gargant out to take on a Warlord and a Reaver – not a fair fight, but a good way to assess the damage mechanics of Krew and Fires. +

+ The Command Terminal on the right of the picture shows an early-game snapshot: just one fire having begun, and plenty of krew remaining. +

+ The late-game example of the Terminal (below) illustrates a snapshot of how the mechanics work. In short, Gargants start with a pool of dice representing Krew, which perform a variety of functions. The quality is determined at the start of each Strategy Phase by rolling the dice, before the player places them on the relevant spaces on the Terminal. This mitigates (but doesn't eliminate) the random hand of luck, giving player agency and decisions to make. Secondly, it gives the player an equivalent to the Imperial decision-making processes throughout the turn – their decisions at this stage affect how the Gargant will behave. +

+ The Command Terminal has a number of negative effects on the Krew spaces – No Full Stride, for example, in one of the boxes on the legs. You ignore these effects by covering them with Krew; so there's no additional book-keeping: you apply only what you can see at the time. A fully-crewed Gargant is a fearsome thing! +

+ Ork players must decide where, and how many, mobs will be assigned to a region. Need to move quickly? Better get enough krew down in the legs, and ensure a good-quality mob are manning the head so the order will go through. Just won a proper scrap? Make sure you max out the Krew in the body, as they're better able to stoke or vent the boiler, or effect repairs throughout the Gargant. And if you just need something killed, load up the gun decks as well as the main weapons! +

+ Ork Gargants make a virtue of their relative lack of sophistication. They're got heavy armour and a long damage track, and critical damage doesn't have a chance of one-shot killing them. There are, Imperial players will be relived to hear, a number of downside to this, however. Damage modifiers come in early and build up quickly. Fires can break out and occupy the Krew spaces. Unlike Krew, fires don't cancel the negative effects, so even one fire in a region can be a pain. Worse, if you've packed the krew into a region too tightly, they'll get consumed by the fires, making your job of managing the Gargant that much harder. +

+ In the early game, Gargants will have krew and shields to spare – but unlike their Imperial equivalents, there's no way to replace or repair them. Krew can be killed off throughout the game as a result of damage, fires or critical effects, so as the game goes on, you'll have to make difficult decisions on what to prioritise. This diminishing pool mechanic means that orks are encouraged to be aggressive – though this needs to be balanced against keeping the Boiler in the green, too. Ork Power Fields might be strong and effective, but if the Boiler's under strain or too cold, their effectiveness will waver (I like to picture the lights in the Gargant dimming and brightening as the boiler struggles). Also, unlike the relatively reliable servitor clades of Imperial Titans, ork bosses have a zero-sum game of managing repairs and the boiler (reactor) alongside the basic functions of moving and shooting. +

+ Trying to strike the right balance of getting the boiler in the right place is engaging and fun. If you're planning on doing lots in a turn, you might want to vent the boiler to a greater extent – but that will temporarily drop the protection the shields offer until you can activate and start pushing... giving your opponent a chance to strike while you're building up a head of steam. +

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+ First playtest findings +

+ The first playtest saw the Great Gargant fell the Warlord, before being destroyed in turn by the Reaver. More importantly, it was a lot of fun! +

+ I was concerned that the Krew would add too much complication to the game, but I'm pleased to report that it felt about right. While there's a bit more thinking in the Strategy phase, the mechanic itself is quick and intuitive, and fills a few gaps that account for other mechanics. +

+ It all felt rather orky – and rest assured that doesn't just mean random. There are meaningful decisions to make. The real test, however, would be using it in a proper game.+

+ Second playtest findings +

+ The Gargant mob above faced a Warlord and two Reavers of Legio Sumer-Nikator. I'm afraid I didn't take any pictures of the game, as I wanted to concentrate on enjoying this rare chance to play with my brother and nephews. +

+ I got some really good feedback, and I was pleasantly surprised that no hiccoughs or odd interactions seemed to arise. The main thing, though, is that we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and had big grins on our faces throughout – probably the best result all-round! 

+ Victory went to the orks. Zodwort's Revenge was ablaze from stem to stern (though not quite out of the fight), while Waaagharella and Orktimus Prime had felled one Reaver. The Imperial battlegroup was thoroughly beaten up, but the result was close, and tense. +

+ Thanks to all involved, and hope you enjoy playtesting the rules further. +

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+ 'Ere we go! +