A Warlord-class Titan of the Legio Crucius in combat at the Battle of Molech during the Horus Heresy.
The Warlord-class Titan is a large and powerful type of Battle Titan, armed with much more firepower than its counterpart, the smaller Reaver-class Titan.
The Warlord appears to be the most common class of Battle Titan in use by the Titan Legions of the Imperium of Man, and many Adeptus Mechanicus Forge Worlds field their own patterns of this class.
Due to their immense size, standing nearly 33 metres tall, Warlord Titans are not nearly as fast or agile as the Reaver-class Titans or the Warhound Scout Titans, but they more than make up for this failing with their sheer firepower and heavily armoured bulks.
History
A Collegia Titanica Battle Titan model size comparison chart (left-to-right): A Warhound, a Reaver and a Warlord-class Battle Titan.
A true leviathan of the battlefield, the Warlord-class Titan was the mainstay of the Legio Titanica during the Great Crusade era. There were a number of sub-patterns of the Warlord, such as the Lucius and Anvilus, but it was the Mars Pattern that was considered the most ancient and superior, and of all of the Battle Titan types by far the most numerous and iconic.
The interior of a Warlord-class Titan's cockpit, located in its head. The princeps is seated on the command throne while his moderati are seated at the control consoles beneath him
This is not without reason, for each Mars Warlord is a gargantuan killing machine, proof against the petty assaults of small arms and all but impervious even to the assault of most forms of attack aircraft and heavy weapon, save the most technologically potent or massive.
Furthermore, the Warlord 's cockpit is a fully reliable and protected environment, making it as able to fight upon an airless moon as a verdant plain so long as the geology under its feet will sustain it, and even this is assisted by gravitational and inertial techno-arcana, little understood outside the inner circles of the Titan Tech-priests who sustain these god-engines.
But it is the destructive power of the Warlord that is its avatar, for their firepower rivals smaller void warships in potency and a single Warlord, given time, is capable of systematically levelling a city or laying waste to an entire army. Such was their might that it was whispered by some that it was they, not the Legiones Astartes, that had truly won the Imperium's domain in the fires of battle.
Design
An Imperial Warlord-class Battle Titan in combat.
The Warlord Titan's colossal size, incalculable power and superior design make it both extremely difficult to harm from ground level, with its vital systems elevated far above the heads and hulls of those upon the battlefield below it, while its legs are plated with metres-thick armour to prevent it from being assailed by infantry or laid low by explosive charges.
Accounts differ as to the exact number of crew required to operate a Warlord-class Titan. Most agree that a Warlord has one princeps and several moderati, although the exact number and function of the latter differ. Early sources indicated all four moderati were responsible for each controlling one of the Titan's four primary weapons.
A relic Mars-Alpha Pattern Warlord-class Battle Titan of the Legio Gryphonicus
More recent sources indicate that each moderati serves a specific role. One serves as second-in-command and is charged with overseeing the general welfare of the Titan and its commanding Princeps, with the rest of the command crew consists of a Sensori tasked with controlling the god-engine's auspex sensors and a Steersman charged with controlling its movements.
Still other sources indicate that in addition to the command crew the Warlord has other crewmen aboard numbering over one hundred, from numerous Servitors and Adeptus Mechanicus Tech-priests to gunnery crews and press-ganged ratings.
The Warlord is much larger than the aging Reaver-class Titan, putting its resting height at 32.76 metres (approximately 108 feet). The Warlord Titan is also able to withstand a great deal more damage than the Reaver.
However, there is considerable conflict in the Imperial records concerning this matter. A Warlord Titan is approximately only 33 metres (108 feet) tall according to the scale diagram in the Warhammer 40,000: Apocalypse rulebook.
Other accounts have stated it to be as large as 200 metres (656 feet)! Depictions of the Warlord in Imperial artwork are even less consistent, sometimes showing it to be hundreds of metres tall.
The exact weight of a Warlord Titan remains unknown. Some sources indicate a weight of 1,000 tons, while others claim 2,500 tons. The Titan's foot by itself is said to weigh hundreds of tons.
Notable Patterns
- Mars-Alpha Pattern Warlord-class Titan- The colossal Mars-Alpha Pattern Warlord Titan is among the most ancient and feared of the Imperium's war machines. Forged on the Red Planet itself, it is worshipped and venerated as the Omnissiah's will incarnate. Each god-engine is encased in layered armour and powerful Void Shielding, and armed with weapons that are capable of reducing armies to ash. In addition to its Ardex-Defensor Mauler Bolt Cannon and Lascannon turrets, support weapons that would be considered main armaments on smaller war machines, this pattern of Warlord is commonly fitted with a pair of carapace-mounted, triple-barrelled Laser Blasters and two Belicosa Pattern Volcano Cannons.
- Mars-Beta Pattern Warlord-class Titan - The Mars-Beta Pattern Warlord was one of several variant patterns that more readily expressed the power of the Machine Spirit (artificial intelligence) within the god-engine. This pattern was often used by the Legio Ignatum even in the Age of Strife prior to the founding of the Imperium. The Machine Spirit of this pattern was held to be especially aggressive and bellicose, even for a Warlord Titan.
- Lucius-Alpha Pattern Warlord-class Titan - The Lucius-Alpha Pattern Warlord Titan was a distinctively warlike pattern of the Warlord built by the Titan-Wrights of the Forge World Lucius. It took part in the Great Crusade and was seen on both sides of the Horus Heresy and later conflicts between the forces of the Imperium and Chaos. The Lucius-Alpha Pattern is known to be compatible with the parts used by Mars Pattern Warlord Titans, and this includes the entire head/cockpit assembly which is interchangeable between the two patterns.
- Proximus Pattern Warlord-class Titan - The Proximus Pattern Warlord is a variant built by the Forge World of Proximus for the Legio Invicta. Unlike some other patterns, the Proximus Pattern requires an amniotic connection for its princeps, and additional crewmen which includes a moderati, steersman, sensorii, and often a famulous as well.
A Warlord-Sinister-class Psi-Titan of the Ordo Sinister.
- Warlord-Sinister-class Psi-Titan - A weapon of such hidden terror and secrecy that few even within the Imperium's hierarchy suspected its existence, the Warlord-Sinister was a thing that should not be. It represented the fusion of the most powerful battlefield military technology known to the Imperium -- the Titans of Mars -- and the "weaponised" power of bound Alpha-grade psykers enslaved and bled dry like living batteries by forbidden arcane technologies. Such arts, the merest hint of which would result in a death warrant for their creator, should not have existed, save for when its use was sanctioned by the Emperor Himself for use by one of the most covert of all the Imperium's agencies of war -- the Ordo Sinister. The Warlord-Sinister was a variant of the more widely-known Warlord Battle Titan, and it was the only known "Psi-Titan" to be utilised by the Imperium during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras. It was deployed in small numbers prior to the Horus Heresy, though rumours persisted as to the existence of other prototypes of experimental Titan patterns hidden even from the eyes of the Council of Terra during that period.
Notable Sub-classes
Ancient Mechanicum schematic of a Warlord-class Titan of the late Great Crusade era
The Warlord-class Titan also has several sub-classes which bear different names that are intended to serve specialised tactical roles on the battlefield.
Eclipse-class Titan
The Eclipse-class Titan is a lighter version of the more common Death Bringer-class variant. An Eclipse-variant Warlord Battle Titan is deployed if more staying power is needed than the usual Reaver-class Titan can provide, but a Death Bringer is not available or needed.
An Eclipse Warlord is typically armed with Volcano Cannons, Gatling Blasters and Apocalypse Missile Launchers.
Death Bringer-class Titan
The Death Bringer-class Titan, also spelled Deathbringer, is the most common Warlord Battle Titan configuration and is equipped with a variety of weapons that can be used for a multitude of battlefield roles.
Nightgaunt-class Titan
The Nightgaunt-class Titan is a variant of the standard Warlord Pattern, and is always equipped with one or two Titan close combat weapons or lighter, short-ranged Titan firepower.
Nemesis-class Titan
The Nemesis-class Titan is fielded when brute force is required. Employed as a Titan-hunter, these god-engines excel in long-range firepower and siege warfare, but possess poor manoeuvrability. Its reinforced frontal plating allows it to weather most return fire with casual ease, and its defence batteries render it well-protected against aerial attacks, though its relatively light rear armour can leave it vulnerable to flanking attacks by ground vehicles.
Usually forgoing close-ranged weaponry, Nemesis-class Titans will still field Titan close combat weapons to discourage deep strike operations by enemy forces.
Nemesis-class Titans are typically equipped with a mix of Quake Cannons, Volcano Cannons, Inferno Guns, Plasma Destructors and Apocalypse Missile Launchers. The Nemesis Titan is sometimes considered an Emperor Titan alongside the Imperator and Warmonger-classes, respectively, presumably because of its focus on heavier firepower.
Armament
Adeptus Mechanicus schematic of a Warlord-class Titan
The Warlord-class Titan is outfitted with potent defensive Void Shields and has four Battle Titan weaponry hardpoints on its shoulders and arms, allowing for a greater variety of weapon configurations. While Scout Titan weapon batteries can be mounted, Warlords usually mount Battle Titan-scale weaponry.
There is even a specialist class of Imperial combat walker based on the Warlord design, the rare Psi-Titans, where psychic weaponry is substituted for conventional Titan weapons for use against the largest and most powerful daemonic entities.
An Adeptus Mechanicus diagram depicting the hard points where Titan Weapons are mounted.
The most common Mars-Alpha Pattern Warlord mounts two Turbo-Laser Destructors on its carapace, with a Volcano Cannon and Gatling Blaster on the arms.
A special variant of the Mars Pattern Warlord Titan carries a close-combat Arioch Power Claw and Gatling Blaster on its arms, plus Vortex Missile and Rocket Launchers on the carapace.
Arm-Mounted Primary Weapons
A Warlord-class Titan can carry two of the following on its arm hardpoints as standard:
- 2 arm-mounted Belicosa Pattern Volcano Cannons
Point Defence
For point defence, a Warlord-class Titan can be equipped with the following:
- 2 Ardex-Defensor Mauler Bolt Cannon turrets
- 2 rear-mounted, twin-linked Ardex-Defensor Lascannon turrets
Optional Arm-Mounted Weapons
One or both of the arm-mounted Belicosa Pattern Volcano Cannons may be exchanged for the following weapons:
- Arioch Power Claw with built-in Vulcan Mega Bolters
- Titan Close Combat Weapons, as well as Titan Power Rams, Titan Power Saws and Titan Wreckers
Carapace-Mounted Secondary Weapons
A Warlord-class Titan can carry two of the following on its carapace shoulder hardpoints:
- 2 double-barrelled Turbo-Laser Destructors
- 2 triple-barrelled Reaver Laser Blasterss
- 1 head-mounted Deathstrike Cannon
Operation
Most Imperial records indicate that a Warlord Battle Titan possesses a crew of one princeps commanding the Titan and four moderati controlling its weapon systems, with two Tech-priests aboard to provide basic technical support and maintenance in combat.
However, Dan Abnett's Titanicus differs on this configuration, stating that a Warlord crew consists of the commanding princeps, a moderati who is second in command, a sensori, tasked with monitoring and using the engine's sensors, and a steersman, who actually moves the massive Titan.
Deployment
Warlord-class Battle Titans are normally deployed into combat alone, as they are rare and extremely powerful. On certain occasions when Imperial forces face a threat of extraordinary magnitude, Warlord Titans may be deployed in a battle group containing three of these mighty war engines.
Warlord-class Titans can also be organised into mixed battle groups with Reaver-class Battle Titans, in which their Titan Legion deploys three of each class of Battle Titan for a total of six war machines in the group.
These Battle Groups can be armed and used as the group's commanding princeps sees fit, but they work together to complete a common objective.
In general, the princeps of the most powerful or oldest Titan in a group is the commander of the Battle Group.
Chaos Warlord Battle Titan
A Chaos-corrupted Warlord-class Titan in battle.
Amongst the forces of Chaos, Warlord-class Chaos Titans are ancient and irreplaceable relics left over from the days of the Horus Heresy.
They are the remnants of those Traitor Titan Legions who sided with the Renegade Warmaster Horus during those dark times and whose blasphemous names still echo with dread thousands of Terran years later.
The majority of these monstrous war engines have seen millennia of service with Chaos forces and have long since become utterly corrupted by the touch of the Ruinous Powers and the Warp.
To differentiate these corrupted Warlords from their Imperial counterparts, the Imperium has designated these war machines with different class names that have been happily adopted by these Titans' Renegade crews.
The Chaos Warlord-class Titan has four different variants depending on which god of Chaos the Titan is aligned with. Even though there are different versions of the Chaos-altered Warlord-class Titan, the most commonly seen variant operating with the forces of Chaos is the Banelord Titan.
- Banelord-class Titan - The Banelord-class Titan is dedicated to the Chaos God Khorne and has been modified with a long tail that ends in a large cannon of various types, while another such cannon protrudes from the Titan's daemonic mouth. The Banelord also has access to three special weapons: a Havoc Missile Rack, a Hellstrike Cannon and a Doomfist. This is the most common Chaos Warlord Titan.
- Plaguelord-class Titan - The Plaguelord-class Titan is dedicated to the Chaos God Nurgle.
- Painlord-class Titan - The Painlord-class Titan is dedicated to the Chaos God Slaanesh.
- Warplord-class Titan - The Warplord-class Titan is dedicated to the Chaos God Tzeentch.
Collegia Titanica Technical Specifications
| Vehicle Name: | Warlord-class Battle Titan | Main Armament: | Any two arm-mounted Titan weapons, including: Gatling Blaster, Laser Blaster, Melta Cannon, Plasma Destructor, Quake Cannon, Volcano Cannon | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forge World of Origin: | Mars | Secondary Armament: |
| |
| Known Patterns: | Unknown | Traverse: | Unknown | |
| Crew: | 1 Princeps, 4 Moderati, 2 Tech-priests | Elevation: | Unknown | |
| Powerplant: | Plasma Reactor | Main Ammunition: | Variable | |
| Weight: | Unknown | Secondary Ammunition: | Variable | |
| Length: | Unknown | Armour | ||
| Width: | Unknown | |||
| Height: | 32.76 metres | Superstructure: | Unknown | |
| Ground Clearance: | Unknown | Hull: | Unknown | |
| Max Speed - on road | Unknown | Gun Mantlet | N/A | |
| Max Speed - off road: | Unknown | Vehicle Designation: | Unknown | |
| Transport Capacity: | None | Firing Ports: | n/a | |
| Access Points: | n/a | Turret: | N/A | |
Videos
Sources
- Adeptus Titanicus Rulebook (1st Edition), pp. 5-6, Warlord Battle Titan Datacards
- Adeptus Titanicus: The Horus Heresy - Rulebook (Specialty Game), pg. 13
- Adeptus Titanicus: The Horus Heresy - Loyalist Legios (Specialty Game), pp. 146, 167
- Codex: Titanicus (2nd Edition), pg. 18
- Deathwatch: The Emperor Protects (RPG), pg. 111
- Epic: Armageddon (3rd Edition), pg. 102
- The Horus Heresy - Book Five: Tempest by Alan Bligh (Forge World Series), pp. 61, 118, 147, 258, 262-263
- Warhammer 40,000: Apocalypse (4th Edition), pg. 124
- Warhammer 40,000: Apocalypse (6th Edition) (Digital Edition), pg. 324
- Mechanicum (Novel) by Graham McNeill
- Tales of Heresy (Anthology), "Scions of the Storm" (Short Story) by Anthony Reynolds
- Crusade for Armageddon (Novel) by Jonathan Green, pp. 46-47, 53, 55, 57, 98-99, 240
- Helsreach (Novel) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
- Hereticus (Novel) by Dan Abnett
- Redemption Corps (Novel) by Bob Sanders, pg. 88
- Space Marine (Novel) by Ian Watson
- The Last Chancers (Omnibus), "Annihilation Squad," by Gav Thorpe
- Titan (Graphic Novel), "Titan II: Vivaporius"
- Titan II: Vivaporius (Graphic Novel)
- Titan Legions (Second Edition), pg. 18
- Titanicus (Novel) by Dan Abnett, pp. 81, 101, 110, 121, 164-165, 190-191, 193, 249-251, 298, 340, 355, 358
- Wrath of Iron (Novel) by Chris Wraight, pp. 91, 164
- Forge World - Mars Alpha Pattern Warlord Titan Titan Builder
- The Regimental Standard - Mankind's Destiny Made Manifest
- Adeptus Titanicus Developer Details - Bell of Lost Souls
- Forge World Lucious-Alpha Pattern Warlord Titan Head
- Warhammer Community - Doom of Molech: What's in the Book (Titan Image)
- Warhammer Community - Shadow & Iron Crusades of Vengeance
- Warhammer Community - Speedrun Engine Kills With Massive Adeptus Titanicus Conversion Beam Weapons
Gallery
| Titans | |
|---|---|
| Scout Titans | Rapier-class Titan • Warhound-class Titan (Wolf-class Titan • Mastiff-class Titan • Jackal-class Titan) |
| Heavy Scout Titans | Dire Wolf-class Titan |
| Battle Titans | Reaver-class Titan • Carnivore-class Titan • Mirage-class Titan • Komodo-class Titan • Executor-class Titan • Warbringer Nemesis-class Titan • Punisher-class Titan • Warlord-class Titan (Death Bringer-class Titan • Eclipse-class Titan • Nightgaunt-class Titan • Nemesis-class Titan • Warlord-Sinister-class Psi-Titan) • Siege Titan • Apocalypse-class Titan |
| Heavy Battle Titans | Warmaster-class Titan (Warmaster Iconoclast-class Titan) |
| Emperor Titans | Imperator-class Titan • Warmonger-class Titan |
| Chaos Titans | Subjugator Scout Titan • Questor Scout Titan • Feral-class Titan • Ravager-class Titan • Banelord-class Titan • Plaguelord-class Titan • Painlord-class Titan • Warplord-class Titan |
| STC Titan | Castigator-class Titan |