horus heresy

The Legion was founded during the Age of Strife and when the Horus Heresy began the War Griffons remained loyal to the Imperium. Horus predicted their decision beforehand and scattered the Legion under fabricated pretenses across the stars. Throughout the Heresy, Legio Gryphonicus built a fierce hatred for Horus’ stalwart Legio Mortis. Some view the Princeps of the War Griffons as pompous and arrogant in seeking glory to maintain reputation, but in truth Legio Gryphonicus maintains an ancient warrior tradition that focuses on maintaining complex beliefs of honor by proving a Princep’s ability to wage war through single combat.

Traits:

Lust for Glory:

This ability allows for the War Griffon player to elect to choose an enemy Titan as a target for any Gryphonicus titan. If they attack their intended target in combat, they are allowed to reroll 1’s to hit and also get +1 to the results of any armour rolls. If a Princeps attacks a Titan that is not their claim, they lose the Lust for Glory ability for the remainder of the battle.

Mainstay of the Titan Legion:

When selecting a Gryphonicus Mantiple, the player may select a Reaver Titan in place of either a Warhound or a Warlord Titan.

Wargear:

Enhanced Auspex Relays:

Gryphonicus Warhounds, +10pts: Whenever a Legio Gryphonicus Titan attacks, it can always measure the distance to any targets that are within 12” of a friendly Warhound before declaring a target in the combat phase.

Gravatus Plating:

Gryphonicus Reavers (selected in a mantiple in place of a Warlord), +20 pts: Gravatus Plating adds +1 armour value to the body and legs of the Titan, but reduces its base and boosted speed by 1.

Motive Sub-reactors:

Gryphonicus Reavers (selected in a Mantiple in place of a Warhound), +25 pts: Motive Sub-reactors allows the Reaver to use its boosted Speed and Maneuver characteristics without pushing its reactor, but if it suffers a Critical Hit to the Legs, roll a d6. If the result is 1-3, its reactor is increased by 1.

Princeps Seniores Personal Traits

1) Reckless Maverick: Once per battle, the Princeps Seniores can activate a second time in the movement or combat phase. After, advance their reactor level 3 times.

2) Master Duelist: Failed Hit rolls can be re-rolled by the Princeps Seniores’ Titan when makings its attacks against a target within 8”.

3) Hunter without Equal: Re-roll any failed Hits, when the Princeps Seniores’ Titan attacks a target it has claimed.

Gameplay:

As the first Legio with rules in Adeptus Titanicus, Legio Gryphonicus proves to be very competitive across the board. Their Lust for Glory trait allows them to reroll all failed 1’s to Hit against claimed targets. Compared to 8th edition 40k, AT rarely offers the option to reroll dice, let alone an entire series of dice. This makes their combat phase devastating paired with high output weaponry on claimed targets. Warlord carapace Apocalypse Missile Launchers, “disco” Reavers (double Laser Blasters and carapace Turbo Laser Destructor), and Warhound Vulcan Mega Bolters become much more efficient and deadlier with the bump (+1) to armour rolls.

The War Griffon’s have an additional Legio trait that gives them the ability to insert a Reaver Titan in any Mantiple. This gives that Mantiple a lot more punch and durability (if replacing a Warhound) or a cheaper, yet faster option (when swapping out a Warlord). I would recommend giving those Reaver Titans the Legio special wargear in such instances as the benefits greatly outweigh their consequences. Motive Sub-reactors would allow a swapped Reaver to move 9” with 3 manuevers, keeping a fair pace with Warhound Titans in a Lupercal Light, Ferrox Light, or Venator Light Mantiple. Gravatus Plating would make a Reaver structurally tougher, but at the price of limiting its movement to 5”/8”. Though this reduction of movement is still an improvement compared to a Warlord’s, the true benefit is having an affordable Mantiple with the Reaver shaving approximately 200 points to replaced a Warlord. This utility allows for the creation of Maniples such as a Fortis Battle Mantiple with triple Reavers merging shields and ignoring armour modifiers i.e. structural damage and flank/ rear modifiers. Other alternatives include cheaper points options for an Axiom or Myrmidon Battle Mantiples.

The personal traits of the War Griffon’s are some of the best due to the fact that two out of three are not limited by how often it can be used i.e. “once per battle”. Master Duelist (recommended when in a Ferrox Light Mantiple) and Hunter without Equal synergize well with the Lust for Glory trait and further enhance their abilities to reroll Hits.

Counters:

The best counter when playing Legio Gryphonicus is to strip away their Lust for Glory ability. In order to do this, you will need to keep claimed targets moving fast and away from the hunting Titans. By doing so, you make your opponent choose to either pursue and possibly forfeit activating in the combat round (if they cannot target their claim) or sacrifice the ability and no longer get the benefit. As a side note; be a good sport and write down which Titan claimed whom so you and your opponent can both be accountable and avoid having to deal with claim confusion or gotcha moments.

I recently played a friend’s Gryphonicus Myrmidon Battleline Mantiple with Questoris and Cerastus support. I was able to use the Legion Fog of War Stratagem for my Solaria engines and it ended up working well as a shell game for him to either hunt down a Princep Senoris Warhound that was redeployed across the table or sacrifice the Titans Lust for Glory. He chose the latter. I had the benefit of speed, maneuverability, and numbers, but his Knights were able to hold me back long enough for his Warlords and Reaver to put enough damage down with the remaining glory seeking Titans that he was able to steal the game in the final round. Let that be a lesson to you all, don’t let those Titans Lusting for Glory steal your victory!

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