Hi all
We were fortunate enough to be sent 2 of the new Dire Wolfs for review. We will cover assembly, design, painting and gaming in this article. So this is our journey with them in the last two weeks.
Assembly.
Firstly the detail on the Titans is very high. Honey the Destroyer and I were marvelling at the detail especially around the rivets. We have multiple Maniples in the house as well as 2x full 5x Titan 28mm scale maniples, so we aren’t strangers to the Omnissiah’s God Engines.
So as with most Titans we started with assembling the Torso, weapon mounts (not Weapons) and rear engine housing. The reason for this is, this is the least dynamic part on any Titan, built helps when it comes to positioning the legs and working out balance. This all went together really well.
Then onto the legs. Honey wanted the Dire Wolf to look like it’s trailing foot had just left the floor (so with straight toes), which she managed to do really well. I watched her do this as I was in the middle of a game of Ash Wastes nearby with Luke da Simple Painter.
There was a lot of cursing as she tried to get it balanced, and the pistons in the right place. But in the end she managed it. To get the Titan standing tall she would need to have the rear leg pistons fully extended, so we filled the rear pistons with green stuff, and cut off the minuscule bleed over. This is the point I think we both realised that it was not. Really a dynamic Titan and the rear ankle pistons pretty much back this up, that it is best to pose it braced for firing.
So then I had a go at mine, and hated every second of it. So the first thing I was planning to do was to cut the front toes on the trailing foot, and assemble them so it was mid step off the base. Then after looking carefully at the pistons on the base I realised, they did not make sense and technically they can’t bend. The piston brace on the front two toes are locked in place, as is the main hydraulic housing on the body. So any bending of the front toes would bend and likely break the whole hydraulic system for the front toes. Even though they are hinged underneath. Now the only thing I can think of is that the foot housing itself actuates and pivots on a joint too up and down but there is no joint pin for this visible from the external side of the foot. Sooo, without wanting to desecrate the Omnissiah’s holy design I decided to pose it instead like it was mid run and swinging it’s leg forward. Hopefully this whole toe fiasco is explained away if they do a 28mm version.
It would have been great/better if Forge World had provided longer ankle pistons (or better designed ones) and some bending mid step toes so we had a better option with them for posing.
Then it was onto the cables underneath the Ardex Vulcan Mega Bolters. These unfortunately also reduce the range of movement for the Titan, so it can’t be pivoting on its waist gyro too much before it’s cables are passing the top of the thigh (with no real way to pass it due to thickness).
The other thing I didn’t like about the design is that the top of the thighs/hips where they meet the pelvis need to be mostly glued in place as the hip actuators are already mounted on the main waist component. So on the model you shouldn’t technically be able to open the hips out.
Anyway we carried on and mounted the guns last.
I actually kept a bit of sprue on my hydraulics (which were hidden in the holes upon assembly) to make it taller :)
Painting.
The models were great to paint. This is where Honey_the_destroyer (Lauren) and I actually started to like the little blighters. So as they slowly donned our Legio’s colours, they started to properly fit in with the rest of the Maniple, so much so we began to welcome and get excited about them.
Gaming.
Sooooo we have/will have a video on YouTube today, and we are looking at improving how we do battle reports (so bare with us lol as we are a bit out of our comfort zones with them lol).
The optional deployment rule was great fun to game with as we actually managed to get both 50% obscured and close to the enemy’s deployment zone. It’s worth noting that if both sides have a Dire Wolf, the second to be deployed, is greatly restricted in where it can deploy as it would also need to be 50% obscured from the Dire Wolf which was placed first.
Volcano Cannon: I actually managed to get the Dire Wolf to pop a Reaver which had taken damage, on it’s first Walk. At short range it has +1 accuracy, so it is hitting on 2+ which is a big help as they are such an Alpha Strike model.
Neutron Laser: this was especially fun to see what it was capable of.
So Lauren set it up so it could target a Warhound, even though it has a 30” short range with +1 accuracy which could cover most of the board, Lauren wanted to see how it would play by shutting down as many Titans as possible, so side or rear armour would be more achievable with a S7 weapon.
So let’s look at some stats against a (assuming the Dire Wolf would be in 30”):
Warhound: Hit on 2+, 1:2 chance of hitting Body or legs (armour 10) would mean you need to roll a 3+ on armour damage to hopefully utilise the shock trait to shut it down, followed by a 3+ if it causes a destructive or devastating hit (or 6+ if superficial) to actually shut it down. Weapon hits are good also as they are averagely AV9.
Reaver: Hit on 2+, 1:3 chance of hitting Body (armour 10) or legs/head (armour 11) would mean you need to roll a 3+ on armour damage (or 4+ if legs and head) to hopefully utilise the shock trait to shut it down, followed by a 3+ if it causes a destructive or devastating hit (or 6+ if superficial) to actually shut it down.
Weapon hits are ok also as they are averagely AV10.
Warbringer: Hit on 2+, 1:2 chance of hitting Body or legs (armour 11) would mean you need to roll a 4+ on armour damage to hopefully utilise the shock trait to shut it down, followed by a 3+ if it causes a destructive or devastating hit (or 6+ if superficial) to actually shut it down. Weapon hits are ok also as they are averagely AV10.
Warlord: Hit on 2+, 1:3 chance of hitting Body (armour 12) or legs/head (armour 13) would mean you need to roll a 5+ on armour damage (or 6+ if legs and head) to hopefully utilise the shock trait to shut it down, followed by a 3+ if it causes a destructive or devastating hit (or 6+ if superficial) to actually shut it down.
Weapon hits are risky also as they are averagely AV11.
Warmaster: Hit on 2+, 1:3 chance of hitting Body (armour 12) or legs/head (armour 13) would mean you need to roll a 5+ on armour damage (or 6+ if legs and head) to hopefully utilise the shock trait to shut it down, followed by a 3+ if it causes a destructive or devastating hit (or 6+ if superficial) to actually shut it down.
Weapon hits are risky also as they are averagely AV12.
So initially it’s good to use it to target Warhounds and maybe Reavers. You could do really good with it and hit a Warhound in a Squadron, getting the shutdown order for one, thereby reducing the overall shields of the Squadron itself.
Later in the game (if it has survived long enough) you could go after the wounded bigger Titans, utilising the higher accuracy gun to actually target weaker or damaged components for a 4+ hit and better chance of getting that big game shutdown.
When it comes to receiving damage, they are quite durable, so don’t wrap them up in cottonwool the entire game, have a go at holding them back and first firing (hopefully keeping 1-2 Titans in arc, so if you put one to sleep in first fire, you can have a follow up target to put to sleep too).
Overall, great fun to game with, whole new dynamic and shakes the game up a bit. Variety with Titans is always great, so let’s hope there are more coming.
Thanks again for the sample.
Battle Bunnies
