Here's the background as provided by Sam, the organizer:
As Horus Lupercal draws all of his forces to him on his grim march to Terra, the suction of defenders have been tasked with a simple objective, bleed the enemy as much as you can, and leave behind nothing but burned and worthless worlds that give them nothing.
The Ophelion System is one such place forced to the edge of ruin by the Age of Darkness. A waystation and manufactory world on the edge of the Segmentum Obscurus, its main inhabitable planet is Ophelion Prime, a manufactory world that has been claimed by the Traitors, who have stripped it bare of everything that can be marhsalled into service for the Siege of Terra.
Orbiting Ophelion Prime is Starbase Abu-Aku, an orbital logistics hub, and refuelling and refitting station incorporating a ring of orbital defenses. A valuable asset for the transfer of goods and personnel to the surface and control hub for the orbital defense network surrounding Ophelion Prime.
On the moon of Aleph-1110, there resides a massive underground data repository, marked by a titanic metal spire that extends deep underground. The Mech-Gaufan - an STC Library of ancient provenance is much coveted by all of the attacking Forge Worlds whose vaults have been sealed from the inside by the ancient order of Tech Priests within. The Traitor forces are seeking to break into the vaults by all means and have deployed their Titan Legios to defend this valuable prize.
A large portion of this invasion force comes from the Forge Worlds of the Belt of Iron, licking the wounds of their civil war and hungry for the means to rebuild their shattered realm. Such is the shared desire for the Mech Gaufan that none will risk destroying it, but also each Forge World asserts wholesale claim and will allow neither friend nor foe to claim it first. Thus began the Ruin of Giants, in which Titans stalked the volcanic ruins and irradiated plains to claim the mighty spire for their mechanical masters.
Needless to say, my Knights of House Yato are on the Loyalist side, and are presumably dispatched by the priesthood of the Forge World Draconis IV to claim the Mech Gaufan (whatever that is). However, unlike the various Titan Legions battling on Aleph-1110 for the Mech Gaufan, House Yato has their own agenda. Sir Tanaka, his commander, Lord Takeda, and the various scions of House Yato have decreed it their duty to wrest the Mech Gaufan from the grasp of the selfish and greedy Tech-priests that command the Titan Legions and claim it for the Emperor. They vow to acquire the Mech Gaufan and use it for the Loyalists' attempt to take back Ophelion Prime in the Emperor's name.
And so the battle between giants atop the irradiated plains of Aleph-1110 begins.
There were 8 players, divided into 5 Loyalists and 3 Traitors, but ultimately, because the Loyalists ended up bickering, and the Traitors each have their own agendas and backstab each other, we more often than not ended up in scenarios where Loyalists fight Loyalists and Traitors hunt Traitors in the shadows of Aleph-1110.
Tanaka, once again the protagonist of the story of House Yato's defense of the Imperium and loyalty to the Emperor, sets out in his lord's banner, with Lord Takeda leading a lance against the traitor Titans of Legio Fureans. A maniple of Warhounds, Reavers and a single Warbringer Nemesis Titan, they stalked the volcanic ruins of the blasted moon, laying ruin to everything within their wake as they attempted to plunder the archeotech underneath the surface, their steps growing ever closer to the highly sought after Mech Gaufan. The Knights of House Yato stand against them, Lord Takeda's banner of Cerastus Knight Lancers leading 2 banners of 3 Questoris Knights - 3 Errants and 3 Wardens. A second Lance supports them, with 2 Cerastus Knight Atrapos leading 2 banners of 2 Questoris Knights Styrix, and they are further reinforced by an auxiliary banner of Acastus Knights Porphyrions.
A brutal battle unfolds as the Knights charge ahead, and one Knight Atrapos is slain. Even so, the Knights heeded little of their safety and plunged their shock lances, reaper chainswords and hekton siege claws into the enemy, with the surviving Knight Atrapos slaying a Warhound outright with his Atrapos las-cutter. Undaunted by their losses, even as detonating plasma reactors incinerated their comrades, the Knights cut a swathe through the Tiger Eyes, laying low the colossal engines with faith and fury. In the end, House Yato emerged victorious, achieving a breakthrough with only a single banner of Knight Lancers while most of the Questoris Knights had fallen. However, they succeeded in annihilating the maniple from Legio Fureans, cleverly using the mountains as cover to conceal their movements as they launched ambushes from unexpected directions, maneuvering through tight, narrow passageways to hack away at the vulnerable joints of the lumbering Titans. A concentrated volley of thermal cannon fire melted through the legs of a Warhound Titan and sent it crashing down, much to the pride of young Tanaka, claiming his first Engine Kill.
With the Mech Gaufan secured, and after breaking through the Traitors of Legio Fureans, the Knights of House Yato encountered the Loyalist Titans of Legio Astorum, and ended up having a tense standoff with their fellow Imperials. The Titans of Legio Astorum demanded that the Knights hand over the Mech Gaufan, but they refused. With their numbers decimated after the battle against the Tiger Eyes, there had been some changes in House Yato's roster (mostly because I felt the previous match was imbalanced because I won 44-5, and I felt really bad, so I decided to alter my list to make it friendlier for my other opponents). Instead, the Knight Atrapos and Questoris Knights have been replaced by a Warlord Titan from Legio Draconis, leaving a single lance with 4 Cerastus Knight Lancers and 2 banners of 2 Knight Styrixes, and the Acastus Knights. The affair was more balanced this time, with both sides refusing to resort to slaughter. Though the 2 Warhound Titans of Legio Astorum were brought down, Lord Takeda refused to engage in battle and left with the Mech Gaufan with his banner of Knight Lancers while the rest of the Knights stayed behind as a rearguard to delay the increasingly hostile Legio Astorum. The Warp Runners pursued, destroying the two Acastus Knights and obliterating the two Knights Styrix.
Eventually, the Warlord Titan, Amaterasu, and the remaining two Warlord Titans of the Legio Astorum traded ineffectual fire from afar, bombarding their positions with apocalypse missiles, but not really engaging each other in battle. Not enthusiastic about destroying fellow Loyalists, they eventually agreed to an amicable withdrawal. Fortunately, the Mech Gaufan remained firmly in the hands of House Yato as they continued onward through the irradiated plains and toward their temporary stronghold.
There, after salvaging and repairing the rare and precious Acastus Knights, House Yato was beseiged by the enigmatic Titans of House Xestobiax. Allied to a force of Traitor Thousand Sons whose motives remain unknown, most likely they desire the vaults of archotech, forbidden knowledge and data caches in Aleph-1110, the Warlord Titan, Dire Wolf and 2 Reavers launched an assault. The Knights of House Yato were forced to engage and destroy, as well as burn the base that the Tech-priests of Zhao-Arkkad had set up to fuel and arm their Titans. A brief struggle ensued, but Lord Takeda led his lance on a near suicidal charge to destroy the Warlord Titan and Reaver Titan, while Amaterasu slew the Dire Wolf and second Reaver, though at the cost of the two Acastus Knights and almost all of the Questoris Knights. Despite their casualties, the Knights of House Yato emerged triumphant, and they now reinforce their stronghold where they keep the Mech Gaufan secure so that the Imperium will put it to good use against the Traitors.
And guess what? YAY! You're not seeing that wrong. I somehow managed through sheer luck - thanks to the terrain being entirely to my advantage - to win all three of my games and achieve first place. I also had the additional advantage of spending my Stratagem points on tertiary objectives such as Decapitating Strike, which allowed me to earn a bonus 4 and 5 victory points in the 1st and 3rd games respectively. I probably made a few mistakes with the rules because I'm still not that familiar with Adeptus Titanicus (sorry!), and to be honest, the layout of the terrain benefited me tremendously, allowing me to hide my Knights and prevent them from getting shot to death before they can close in and make use of their melee to their absolute advantage. Knight Lancers drowning a Warlord Titan in the wait of dice is just awesome, and totally worth it even if he blows up in their faces. Thanks to this unexpected turn of fortune, a combination of sheer, dumb luck, an fortuitous arrangement of terrain, and probably also a bunch of rules mistakes on my part due to unfamiliarity, I managed to score 138 points. Not to be self-deprecating, but I'm pretty sure I screwed up the rules somewhere, otherwise it would be impossible for me to score that high. Well, my opponents' rolls kind of failed them too - there was once where my opponent rolled 2 1s and a 2 for his volcano shot when he scored a direct hit on my Acastus Knights. Yeah, sheer dumb luck on my part, and I felt really bad...oh, well. Anyway, I managed to score an overall victory for the Loyalists! Hopefully, this will help them for the Astracide thing tomorrow and Sunday. For the Emperor!
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| Yeah, my real name is Tobias. L for Loyalist, T for Traitor. |
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