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I'm just about to field a warhound titan in a big city fight against nids and chaos armies (i'm playing inquisition and will have marines as allies) in a massive battle (about 12000 points on the table) . Since it will be the first time i'll use one i was hoping someone here would have a bit of experience in titans , more specifically ,what type of guns to use ,what tactics are best (i'm sure it's possible to get it shot to shreds if careless) . Also how to play the guns (when do i use the BS, when not ) .  For the shields ,can i be attacked in close combat when they're up or are they only to ward off projectiles ?

thanks for the advice

Void shields ward off projectiles only, but non-jump/flying infantry always fight against armor 14 and you get to kill 1/3 of them at the end of the round :-D (S6 I1 Pwr weapon attack at WS1 against everyone in CC w/ you).

If they plan on dumping shots into your titan, don't sweat it. Those shots would decimate the rest of your army, and won't bring down your titan for a while. A Hierophant takes 2 turns to kill a warhound (that's 11 S10 attacks with 2d6 armour penetration), so don't sweat a few rounds of fire.

Take 2 inferno cannons if you got em, an inferno cannon and a megabolter if you don't. The inferno cannon works just like an IG inferno cannon but is a 7" diameter round template. Place template in range, roll your BS4. On a 3+, everything under the template is hit, if you miss, each model is hit on a 4+. In city fight, any non MEQ army is going to be relying on cover for their saves... which the inferno cannon happily ignores.

I say megabolter over turbolaser as it will do better against... well... everything. Against infantry, you'll always get a few rending hits (provided you make your pregame offering to the dice gods), and against tanks, 9 times out of 10 you will get at least 1 penetrating hit. (10 shots will usually give you 6-8 hits, and a 6 for your armour penetration roll lets you roll a second D6). In the end, you have about the same chance of killing a tank as if you had your turbolaser, but you can also kill infantry better.

Plasma blastgun gives you the ability to deal with other super-heavies. You will have a longer range than any IG titan killers (who will be limited to 36"), but against squads, a single plasma cannon shot isn't gonna cut it (yes, note it is a "blast" weapon, not a "large blast").

As mentioned before, titans take quite a bit to kill and will usually survive for at least 3 turns. Don't waste your time attempting to kill something as tough as you. Instead just start wiping your enemy's army off the field. By the time your titan dies, he will have wasted half the game dumping all of his heavy fire into it and your army will be in position to take care of the rest.

thanks for the useful tips,

my titan was delivered with a mega-bolter and a plasma canon , i don't think it's possible to buy other weapons from forgeworld (too bad i'll have them movable on swivels) . Can you tell me the diff between blasts and large  blasts ? no idea where to find this rule .And about the hand to hand ,do i have to fear nasties like genestealers ?  thanks

We must have different versions of Imperial armor, as mine does say large blast for the plasma cannon.

 

That being said, the Vulcan mega-bolter is almost maditory.  It will allow your titan to move the full 12 inches and still fire everything, as it is only strenth 6 and is a defensive weapon.

The next best weapon in my opinion is a toss-up between the plasma blastgun and the inferno cannon.

mine says "blast " for the plasma and "massive blast " for the inferno gun , i was wondering if the massive blast was bigger than the large blast i have been using so far (it would make sense given the sheer size of the weapon and its cost ) or if it refers to the regular large blast used on ordnance weapons . Ihope i'm making sense , my english being a bit shaky .

Massive blast is a 7" template you have to make yourself.  And I have no idea where you got the idea that the inferno gun works like the IG Inferno cannon.  It's a simple roll to hit, place the template, etc. 

Plasma blastgun uses the ordnance template (says so in the rules)

The titan strategy I outlined is per the warhound's latest rules (Imperial Armour 3)

Unfortunately, there's no way to get the other weapons without purchasing the warhound that comes with them, so you're stuck with the megabolter and blastgun.

blast= frag
large blast= pie plate
massive blast= 7" disk you need to make yourself. If not transparent, make sure you cut a whole in the middle so you can place it over a model.

The warhound's moving and shooting rules are 6" both weapons, 12" only one weapon. I suggest moving somewhere 6" to make sure nothing that makes it to close combat will get auto-hits. Genestealers will need to roll a 4+, a 6+, then a 4+ to glance... don't worry about it. If he sends stuff at your warhound it's good for you... that's a squad of baddies that would otherwise be killing killable things.

Refer to megabolter comment above.

Kinda sorry to hear you are stuck with the blastgun. Don't sweat it though. Park your titan within range of another superheavy and out of range of their titan killers. If you hit with it, excellent. If you miss, half of your scatters will still end up right on target anyway. Against infantry, think of it like a meltagun.. with a BS of 2. Even if you manage to roll a pair of twos on your scatter, just 2 inches of deviation with a template that only has a radius of 1.5" is a big fat miss. Stick to killing big, expensive tanks with it.

Did we establish which template the blastgun uses? Because the pie plate is about 5" in diameter, I think.

the blastgun uses the smaller of the two templates ( 3" ). Weapons that use the larger template will have a "large blast" note in their description

Posted By delkins42 on 09/12/2006 7:26 PM
the blastgun uses the smaller of the two templates ( 3" ). Weapons that use the larger template will have a "large blast" note in their description

Then why do the rules for the plasma blastgun say "NOTE: If the target is under the center hole of the ordnance template..."

"If the target is under the center hole of the ordnance template..." means just what it says. If you will notice, the small template has a little hole in the middle of it as well. If this little hole is still over the vehicle when it scatters, you gain the benefit. I'm not sure if there's a rules forum on this site (if there is, parhaps some of these posts will be moved), but I suppose I can clarify this for you here.

"Ordnance/#" means the weapons fires in accordance with the ordnance scattering rules "#" of times (with templates scattering in accordance with the multiple template rule).

"Blast" means that on a weapon hit, a small (3") blast template is placed.

"Large Blast" means that on a weapon hit, the large (5") blast template is placed.

Now, ordnance weapons fire a template so the description of the weapon will also indicate the size of the blast. For example, a vindicator's weapon is "Ordnance/#, Large blast," meaning it fires a large (5") template according to the ordnance rules. The plasma blastgun, however, fires an "Ordnance/#, blast" weapon. Note the difference.

Hope that helps

Delkins, I suggest you read the main rulebook, page 30. By definition, an ordnance weapon uses the large blast marker.

To quote:

""Nearly all Blast weapons use the normal blast marker, while ordnance weapons use the large blast marker."

In other words, your whole argument is based on flawed premises and assumptions.

Umm. You just quoted where it said 'nearly' all.
You seem to have just disproved your own argument.

This seems to be one of the ordnance weapons that use the small blast. I believe there have been others.

You're reading the sentence wrong. It says "ordnance weapons use the large blast marker." This is an independent clause. The "Nearly all" applies to blast weapons, not to ordnance weapons.

To be fair, it does go on to say that some ordnance weapons use special ammunition that don't use the large blast marker. But the only times where this happens, it's clearly stated (i.e. D-Cannons and Vanquisher Anti-Tank rounds).

Since the rules for the Plasma blastgun specifically refer to the "ordnance template", I don't see how you can argue any other way.

Just to be thorough, the following weapons/units out of IAv3 also never mention the use of the large blast template:

Manta & Tigershark heavy railgun - Ordnance 1/Titan Killer
Manta & Tigershark heavy railgun (submunition) - Ordnance 1/blast
Enclosed Medusa Siege Gun - Ordnance 1/Blast
Griffon Heavy Mortar - Ordnance 1/Blast

And then just for giggles, here's some more weapon profiles from IAv1:
Thunderer Siege Tank - Ordnance 1/Blast (firing the EXACT SAME weapon on a LR Demolisher)
Baneblade Battle Cannon - Ordnance 1/Blast
Shadowsword Volcanon Cannon - Ordnance 1/Blast
Stormsword Siege Cannon - Ordnance 1/Blast

Yeah, it's typical GW sloppiness. But it's clear from page 30 that unless the weapons special rules say otherwise, any ordnance weapon uses the ordnance blast marker.

And just to be thorough, here are the weapon profiles from Codex: Imperial Guard: (p63 - the only place that they are given in the codex)

Battle Cannon - Ordnance 1/Blast
Demolisher - Ordnance 1/Blast
Earthshaker - Ordnance 1/Blast

In other words...if you're going to argue that the Plasma Blastgun on a Warhound uses the small blast marker, then all the following do as well:
Battle Cannon, Demolisher Cannon, Earthshaker Cannons, Medusa Siege Guns, Griffon Heavy Mortars, Mega-Battle cannons, volcano cannons, siege cannons, all the artillery strikes from IAv1 Armored Battlegroup, heavy bombs...

My 'Tactica Warhound Titan':

Place one model on table.
Shoot everything.
Laugh at opponents packing up miniatures that took weeks to paint and half an hour to set up.
Dodge personal physical attacks from opponents.