Titan (Warhammer 40,000)

A Titan is a general term used by the Imperium for all things that are ridiculously MASSIVE and carry HUGE FUCKING RAPE GUNS that can blow the fuck out off the opposing side. The bigger ones are humanoid Giant Robots. ~~And they say the Tau are the only mecha-using weeaboos in the setting~~

Most races own a titan of some sort. Each race's Titans reflect the design philosophy behind the rest of their armies. So Imperial Titans are halfway between Spartan minimalism and Gothic shit everywhere, Chaos Titans look like pure spikes n' evil, Ork Titans are cartoony and cobbled together out of odds and ends, Tyranid Bio-Titans are Mothra and such bigass monsters, Eldar Titans are sleek wraithbone skellingtons, and Tau "titans" (read: super-heavy flyers, like the Manta) can fly, carry troops, and are bristling with guns for self-defense.

Basically, whoever has more Titans gets instant win...Unless you are Supreme Commander or Total Annihilation where their most common units is hilariously larger than your largest titan.

None of the fluff writers seem to have a consistent idea of how big a Titan is (other than that it's big); Graham McNeil says an Imperator is 43 metres tall, Dan Abnett says an Imperator is over 140 metres tall, and the cover of the graphic novel Titan II: Vivaporius shows a smaller Warlord with access ladders on its guns, suggesting that each barrel is the size of a house, which in turn means that the Titan itself would be over half a kilometre tall. Of course none of the writers have read Galileo's essay "Why Giants Don’t Exist". When you double the dimensions of a Titan the weight is increased eightfold, but the load-bearing capacity of the legs only goes up fourfold. So Dan Abnett's Titans should have very very wide legs and a thin body and head (something like the Eiffel Tower), exactly the opposite of almost every Titan miniature. The Adeptus Mechanicus must have some kind of anti-gravity supporting field (not inconceivable), or maybe Games Workshop just doesn't have any engineers on its writing staff. Or maybe the awesomeness of the design bends physics, in a universe where they're already shakily applied (also not inconceivable).

Imperial Titans

Imagine a city that hates you. Now give it city leveling weapons and legs to walk on, then fill it with more things that hate you. You have a rough idea of a Titan.

The Imperium has quite a variety of titans under the control of Adeptus Titanicus, each has a name and no two are the same.

They are quite often referred to as god-machines due to their ability to blow the fucking shit out of anything in their way. They are so fucking huge that infantry can't do anything to them with their tiny ass guns. These titans can unleash unlimited amounts of RAPE via their MASSIVE FUCKING GUNS that are mounted on their arms and sometimes on their shoulders. Well, actually there are guns fucking EVERYWHERE on a titan, so when you see one you are quite fucked. They also have void shields which makes them pretty much invulnerable to whatever shit you can throw at it. (update: in Epic, infantry can shoot at it enough to overload the Void Shields and bring them down, letting other Warmachine pummel the actual Titan)

Like all machines made by the Adeptus Mechanicus more complex than a toaster, Titans have machine-spirits that reflect their nature. Meaning Titans have machine spirits full of RAGE that want to Rip and tear everything it sees. To combat this, Titans are controlled by individuals called Princeps who possess extremely strong wills which can override the machine-spirit's bloodthirsty nature. However, if the Princeps is not careful in synchronization, then he goes insane and his mind is consumed by the Titan's machine spirit which then goes berserk and destroy fucking everything ala Evangelion.

Imperial Titans are old. As a rule. No exceptions. These things are so old that they make some Eldar Titans look young by comparison. That old. The main reason that these titans are so bloody ancient is that the Imperium often lacks the knowledge, skill, or resources to build them anywhere but Mars, Ryza, and apparently Lucius. The second reason they are so god-dang geriatric is when Titans get killed, they are usually so big they don't get killed dead. This means that the Mechanicus can haul the thing back to the Titan's home world and fix it up again.

Oh yeah, we forgot. Imperial Titans have home worlds that run the upkeep for a whole Legion of titans of various sizes and classes. A single titan can be deployed by itself, though small detachments of titans are more common, typically the whole legion will "walk" together to end a threat. Because, for the Imperium, if we need to send one titan, we might as well send thirty-plus titans just to be sure that that severe of a threat gets taken care of.

Imperial Knight: This unique walker is small enough (at "only" 9 meters) to be piloted by a single person, but is no less deadly than a true Titan. They were originally designed during the Age of Strife when several members of the AdMech discovered feudal worlds whose leaders were willing to provide military assistance in exchange for the Mechanicus' technology. Although they have long since been overshadowed by the full-size Titans, the Adeptus Mechanicus still deploys them as a reserve force on occasion.

There are currently two different Knight variants which have up-to-date rules right now.

Knight Paladin: Equipped with an oversized Battle Cannon for use in most combat situations.
Knight Errant: Equipped with a Thermal Cannon to vaporize enemy armor.

Both of them have a reasonable points cost (by Titan standards, anyway) and also wield Strength D chainswords. Have fun.

Warhound Scout Titan: The smallest traditional Titan class the Imperium has but it's still fucking massive. It looks like a dinosaur with no tail. It carries smaller weapons such as a massive megabolter which is like a minigun that fires off tank shells, or a Huge ass LAZAR that rips your tanks a new one like they were made of cardboard. Or maybe throw a really big flamethrower on it. Can also be used to scout behind enemy lines and reveal itself behind a bush-CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEED!

Reaver Battle Titan: Bigger than the Warhound so therefore causes more RAPE, this titan can wield an absolutely HUGE powerfist for fucking Wraithlords, Defilers, etc. It can also carry a massive hellfire missile launcher for more rape or triple lehzar rape cannons and even a fucking Gatling Rape Blaster.

Warlord Battle Titan: It's really REALLY fucking big, one of the more common huge fucking titans that carry all the weapons you can imagine from megabolters to huge lazer and devastator cannons that should've been mounted on some kind of fucking battleship. The Imperium seems to have almost as many of these as it has Reavers. Modified or custom built titans are known to exist such as the ANGRY MARINE TITAN with its HUGE chain fist, even moar massive Chain fist, oh and it launches Angry Marines and Land Raiders, fucking awesome rite?

Imperator Battle Titan: HOLY SHIT IT WEARS CASTLES!!! Over 9000 times bigger and heavier than a Warlord Titan and too many massive fucking guns to count. It needs a whole ship to itself to get it around. Unfortunately the Imperium doesn't have a lot of 'em anymore since those chaos assholes stole the majority of 'em (they still suck though). They said that it's the largest thing to walk on land, because anything larger would produce its own gravity well. Oddly enough, it mounts a Ryza-pattern Plasma Annihilator, yet most of these things were supposedly made on Mars. Then again, they might predate differing planetary patterns of weapon. There is a detachment of twelve Emperors that serve one purpose — SCARING THE SHIT OUT OF ANYONE THAT MIGHT THINK OF REBELLION AGAINST THE IMPERIUM. And they FUCKING do.

GW still has the rules for 40K available on their page Emperor Battle Titan

Orky Titans

The Orks use titans called Gargants, made out of scrap metal, wood, stolen stuff, and SHEER ORKINESS. They are supposedly effigies of the ork gods, but sometimes they just want a bigger, killier thing than that other ork over there. Obviously, the Orks have no standard pattern of build, but Gargants are almost always ~~humanoid~~ Orkoid, wield over-sized guns, have a huge close combat weapon, and are insanely hard to take down (even compared to the other races' Titans!). The bigger ones usually move on treads, the smaller ones usually waddle. Either way, these things are slow. But who cares, because they have enough guns to blast the enemy apart, and enough other Gargants to box them in as well! They have Power Fields, which are so finicky that they can't be repaired in battle, which sucks, but at least they have them.

Ironically, these are the most realistic titans in 40k. Unlike the rest of the titans, these either have massive feet or use treads to deal with the problem of sinking into the ground and are very bottom heavy in order to avoid concentrating the weight on the thinnest part of the structure. If anything, the Orks should have the most impractical titan designs, not the least.

Stompa: The smallest Gargant type. While Games Workshop would like you to think otherwise, the Stompa is bigger than a Mega-Dred but smaller than the current model, which is a small Gargant (don't get all smart and technical, we know the irony there). They come in bunches, and have no shields whatsoever. Their main armament is usually a gatling gun or stolen tank cannon, and then a giant close combat weapon. They eat infantry, buildings, smaller Titans, and tanks for breakfast, but only in close combat.

Gargant: Orky Titans roit an' proppa. They are more in line with the "Stompa" rules GW and Imperial Armor put out. Lots of armor, lots of staying power, lots of dakka(but not enough). Usually has a better close-combat statline than any other Titan counterpart except the 'nids. Due to the lack of pattern, the weaponry varies roughly from stolen Earthshaker cannons to giant gattling guns, plus a gazillion other little guns so the Gargant can fire at everything at once. One configuration has so many guns on it that the entire crew cannot fire them at once. And they somehow generate Supa-rokkits out of thin air.

Great Gargant: The Great Gargant in Space Marine: Epic was what is today simply called a Gargant, and was armed with a mega-kannon, a super lifta-droppa and a ridiculous trouser cannon. The latter fired a giant iron ball which wrecked the hell out of anything short of another Titan and had rules allowing it to roll through multiple targets.

Mega Gargant: Here the line between giant robot and moving fortress blur. Where the Great Gargant is like a skyscraper, this thing actually is a fortress on treads. With a population in excess of a small city, these machines are always moved on huge treads which can literally crush Baneblades beneath them. Slab-sided and covered with gun nests and extra armor patches, this large block-like fortress is home to thousands upon thousands of grot riggers, running to and fro. Powered by salvaged space ship reactors or dangerous Ork-made reactors of questionable physical legality, the engine of destruction has more guns and bigger guns than any other race will mount on a thing of its size. And this is a small mountain. Bristling with turrets, artillery cannons, rocket bays, launch hangers for aerial craft, high-caliber gatling guns, flak turrets, lightning lasers, autocannons, and ONE GIANT MEGA-CANNON, each Mega Gargant is not just as tough as a block of titanium, it can evaporate you through sheer volume of shot. Also, it has the obligatory close combat weapon, which is something easy to move around (like a hammer, axe, or buzzsaw) because it will be so large that the Gargant just may not be able to move it much.

Like the Imperator, the Mega Gargant originated in Titan Legions where it had the dubious honour of having the most complicated rules of any model in the game, requiring the player keep track of dozens of Hit Locations (which could each be destroyed or the subject of a fire that could spread), the Krew (and there were different types of Krew), the Steam Counters, the commander's Shoutin' Counters to actually make the Gargant do anything... and after all that, one was destroyed in a battle report where a Space Marine side with only a basic Warlord Titan won by 105 VPs to 5. This appears to have been about the time White Dwarf decided to switch to narrative, rather than blow-by-blow, battle reports to make bullshitting the results easier.

Other Gargant Variants:

Not all Gargants are created equal:

Mekboy Gargant:

Big Meks who build their own Gargants, instead of being contracted by other Warbosses, tend to make better, flashier ones for themselves. They rig experimental weaponry and shielding to the frame, and send it into battle wired up and filled to the brim with bits and gubbins. These mount Power Fields, Lifta-droppa traktor beams (which throw tanks), Zzap gun technology (which is random but eats heavy infantry and light tanks), and all kinds of other crazy junk. Where most Gargants have an arm filled with loads of guns and an arm with a fuckhuge CCW, this one has two gun arms.

Goff Rokk-an-Rolla:

Somewhere along the line, the Goffs got the bright idea to Roada Rolla their enemies. This monster eats infantry and tanks, but can't kill other Titans very well. It cuts huge lines in the enemy, and takes no prisoners.

Goff Klawstompa:

A pure close combat Gargant, it has two giant claws, and can destroy other Titans in one round of close combat. But other Titans can hit this enemy crab's weak point for massive damage (double meme? Derp), as it has no ranged weaponry. Still, it is very survivable, and can't be stopped by anything once it hits enemy lines. This and the Rokk-an-Rolla are the polar opposite of Mekboy Gargants as they replace the gun arm with another claw or fist or chainblade or even wrecking ball.

Steam Gargant:

Sometimes Feral Ork Pigdoks get particularly inspired, and lay about themselves with all the scrap they can find from their raids. They will rope up their whole tribe into building this ridiculously ramshackle machine. This thing could not stand if it weren't for Feral Ork psychosensitivity. The giant machine is always an effigy of Gork or Mork, and features a big close combat weapon (usually an oversized hammer, axe, spear, or mace), catapult and ballista emplacements, maybe a back-mounted trebuchet, rows of platforms for archers, all the trappings of a traditional siege tower, and a GIANT METAL BOILER protruding out of the back. The boiler is fueled by an endless supply of wood, coal, and anything else burnable that a horde of grots can steal off the battlefield. The machine is run by Spannas: random Boyz conscripted to work the machine. May or may not feature a chained Weirdboy or two, who will fire off bolts of lightning from the head or heat the boiler with a stream of arcane energy.

Eldar Titans

Revenant Titan:

Well, yeah back to the Titan: It's the smallest Eldar Titan, and it's also the most useful Titan, as its both fast and agile, unlike some I could mention.

The Eldar field these war machines in pairs - they are piloted by Eldar twins with a strong psychic bond to enable a greater level of awareness and cohesion to the fighting unit.

These agile monsters are considered as scout Titans due to their speed and agility.

It's armed with a Pulsar, which is pretty much made to tackle enemy Titans, like this bitch here. It also has an Eldar Missile Launcher, a rapid firing missile launcher. And FINALLY, it has Sonic Lance, and it's a large flame template infantry killer, which even makes space marines look like pussies.

Well, short story, pretty much your basic, Eldar killing machine, and it's the SMALLEST of the Eldar Titans.

Phantom Titan:

The other titan available to the Eldar in IA11. Loaded up with all kinds of fun customizable toys. From the Phantom Pulsar which doubles the standard number of pulsar shots, the Heat Lance which turns titans to molten slag without too much difficulty, the Phantom D-Cannon which throws out an SD 10" pie plate at AP2 and does D3 STRUCTURE POINTS of damage, a power glaive which allows the phantom to take down pretty much any other titan in CC.

It also gets a 3++ when moving (4++ when stationary) and for a big boy it is FAST! AV 13 and its Enhanced Titan Holofields make this thing a very resilient platform for guns that can clear entire squads from the table without realizing it.

Warlock Titan:

Old Epic rules included a Psyker version of the Phantom, armed with a big powerfist and a giant Psycannon. It has not been seen since then.

Necron Titans

While no record of Titan-scale war machines exist in Imperial Archives, it should be duly noted that it is well within the reach of Necron technology to create them, and they most likely do exist. The only other race with knowledge on this matter would be the Eldar, who we are sure have already purged the memories of such constructs from their minds PTSD-style.

While many fans speculate over what a Necron Titan would look like, most agree it would be a Necron version of the Iron Giant; i.e. an up-sized, unkillable Necron Lord with guns aplenty.

A machine suspected to be the Necron Titan looked like a worm. (Well, what would you expect from race that most time spends under the surface?) They are called Tomb Stalkers, and are strange beasties that walk and talk like monstrous creatures, but supposedly can take down Warhounds.

Motherfucking Worm Titan eating the Rhino!

There are also the Æonic Orbs and the Tesseract Vaults.

Bio-Titans

The tyranids equivalent of titans are predictably giant versions of other tyranids, following the style of the army in the same way the others do. As in they're giant monstrosities that will either run at you and eat your face off or wield guns that shoot things that do. There are three kinds the small (for a titan) hierodule the flying harridan and the FUCKHUEG hierophant there also a piece of fluff called the dominatrix with neither stats nor model and the even less tangible hydrophant.

Tau Titans

They have none.

No really, they have none, but it is worth mentioning here because they thought that the idea of any civilization that had the resources and technology to build something like a Titan would surely not be so absurd as to actually waste such in such an impractical manner by building one. They laughed at the first humans to tell them of titans, assuming that it was only Imperial propaganda to intimidate their enemies. Then the Damocles Crusade made them turn their blue skin several shades paler as they realized that the gue'la were crazy enough to actually build them.

They suffered horribly at the hands of Imperial titans, and still considering titans impractical even if they had the technology to make them, but they needed some ways to counter them. Mantas were in the same mass class as titans, and had big enough railguns to threaten them, and while almost invulnerable to most titan class weapons (since they aren't designed against flying targets, even ones big enough to be mistaken for real estate) it were too vulnerable to massed anti-tank weapon (like lascannons) in turn, and a bit too valuable to lose cavalierly. So they ended up manufacturing a version of the Tiger Shark bomber equipped with Manta-scale railguns. So far, it seems to work at forcing the Imperium to be more careful about deploying titans against the Tau, since a single flight of bombers can rip up a formation of titans and replacements for those bombers can be (relatively) easy to manufacture compared to the titans it threatens.

If you really want to field a Tau version of a titan then you'll be happy to know that Chapter House has created and homebrewed the SXV-141 Super Heavy Walker. According to combat crunch, it has a crotch burst cannon for raping anyone who gets too close. It also has a missile launcher to knock out aircraft and holds two manta size railguns to send the enemy a message from the Greater Good that their Titans are now on the field and taking pot shots from a distance when you can't rely on a Tiger Shark to deliver the greater good from above. In addition, Chapter House addressed the fluff claim that the design is practical by making it a giant four legged Spider Tank, which has a number of advantages over the humanoid shape such as being lower to the ground, can continue moving despite missing a leg, and being more stable.

Fielding Titans

Unfortunately fielding a titan in a tabletop game will cause lots of RAGE and presents itself as a huge fire-magnet, so every fucking thing on the other side will try to shoot at it. Luckily it's got shields, so it can soak up a lot of damage. Should said titan 'get killed' it may take out the whole field (if its a small one), and all those units around it, enhancing its awesomeness. Too bad that, since you are forced to buy one from Forge World, everyone who sees you with one will call you a rich noob who buys his way to victory. (Anything larger than a Reaver has to be built from scratch. If you want to make an accurately scaled miniature of an Imperator, it's actually easier to stand on the table with a sign saying "Imperator Titan"- it's that big.) AND, you have to play Apocalypse (or Escalation)[1] which SUCKS. But who cares? YOU HAVE A GIANT RAPE MACHINE OF DEATH!!!!! (If you really want to field a Titan and you are smart enough to realise that apocalypse sucks, you could always organize a game where it's 1 Titan vs an equal points number of normal stuff. Would be a weird, probably unbalanced but fluffy and fun game. Or just a titan showdown, possibly 1v1.)

EMERGENCY WARNING

If you field a titan, gargant, or equivalent, then in the name of all that is holy, STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM LUKAS THE TRICKSTER. This $15, 150 point model will suicidally charge your 1000 point, $800 forgeworld Reaver, die, and then trigger his special rule that removes all models in base to base contact when he's killed in assault. People will literally rage quit. This very tactic actually started a fight at my hobby store once. When we at 1d4chan say that a tactic will make you lose friends or cause rage, this is the one time that we are truly serious. You have been warned.