The Caligula

Chaos Imperator Titan of Khorne Titan competition winner!

By Christian Salling
What unspeakable lies convinced Princeps Caesarion to commit this Heresy? What horrors infected this once most holy and
magnificent construction and twisted it into the warped abomination it is today? And what Evil protects this Traitor and prevents us
from destroying it with the cleansing fire it so righteously deserves?
Only the Emperor may know and every day he laments the creation of this scourge. For every second this possessed beast still exists,
unimaginable atrocities are being committed in the name of the Dark Gods. Bloodshed on a scale incomprehensible to any mere
mortal.
The Caligula is one of the last of the rare Imperator class titans
that rebelled against the Emperor during the Horus Heresy. Few
other named titans are known to Imperial scholars although the
Abominatus, Despoiler of Worlds probably remain the most
infamous.
As was the case with most Imperial forces during the Heresy, the
Adeptus Titanicus was also torn apart by Warmaster Horus'
treachery. Almost half of the Divisio Militaris - the Titan Legions -
rebelled to join the ranks of the Warmaster. Luckily for the
loyalists, only a handful of Emperor class titans were operated by
this branch of the Collegia Titanica. The majority of the Emperor
Class titans are actually in the service of the Divisio Mandati, an
organisation dedicated to enforcing and spreading the Pax
Imperialis. However the few Emperor class titans that did rebel
have proven to be among the most difficult targets to hunt down
and destroy by the Imperial forces.
Chaos Emperor Titans are usually only deployed in planet wide
campaigns as the logistics involved in landing these beasts on the
surface makes them unsuitable for skirmishes or small scale
assaults. When they do deploy they are usually found where the
fighting is fiercest surrounded by untold thousands,
if not millions of other Chaos troops. This makes it
much more difficult for dedicated Imperial strike
forces to take them out compared just about any
other target except possibly Abaddon or the cursed
Daemon Primarchs themselves.
Attempts have been made to teleport special Grey
Knight daemon Hunter teams close to the titans -or
even inside them, but none have succeeded.
Like the Abominatus the Caligula is a titan aligned
to the Blood God Khorne. As the Traitor Emperor
Titans are so rare they've received an almost god
like status by the Chaos followers that serve with
them. And not completely unjustified either: Many
have been possessed by Greater Daemons and it is
even rumoured that some contain a small drop of
the very essence of the Dark Gods.
Ten thousand years of constant battle since the
Heresy and influence from the Warp has
transformed the surface of the Caligula into a
baroque nightmarish mirror of the machine it once
was.
It's crew has long since died or merged with the
machine although some say Princeps Caesarion still
sits in his control throne now elevated to
daemonhood by his dark masters.
Skulls litter the buttresses and gun towers and
hideous Daemons roam freely inside the machine.
The metre thick plasticrete skin now transformed
by the screaming faces of thousands of captured
souls seems to be held together only by the raw
willpower of some dark entity trapped deep within
the machine.
Although most of the original armament seems to
be intact there does seem to be a couple of
significant changes to the original standard
Imperator titan weapons outfit.
The Caligula in all its
disgusting glory.
Most noticeable is the replacement of the Plasma Annihilator
with a monstrous close combat weapon known to some as the
Fist of Khorne. The exact reasoning behind this change
remains unknown although it is speculated that the Caligula's
plasma reactor might have been damaged at some point. As the
Plasma Annihilator requires a tremendous amount of power to
function properly any reactor damage would severely affect its
ability to operate efficiently. Other weapons systems with a high-
energy consumption, such as the defence laser, seem to be
missing as well.
The Fist of Khorne is a monstrous weapon and truly a worthy
replacement for the Plasma Annihilator. It is essentially a huge
hydraulic claw the size of a small titan easily capable of snapping
armoured vehicles in half or severely cripple even the biggest
titans.
Another significant change is the complete removal of the
Sensorium Dome, which provides Imperial titans with a measure
of psychic capabilities. This change is probably caused by the
aversion most Khornate followers seem to feel towards things
associated with magic or psychic abilities. The exact purpose of
the structure's remains is unknown although scans indicate the
possible presence of some sort of sacrificial chamber or altar to
Khorne.
In battle the Caligula is a terrifying sight. A raging hellish
mountain of steel and fire striding forward with it's mighty guns
raining death on everything unfortunate enough to get in it's way.
To the Chaos Followers the Caligula is a walking manifestation of
Khorne himself: A living God, Commander of the Khorne Army,
and a focus for worship of the Blood God.
In one of the most infamous engagements in the Aros XI
campaign the Caligula took out an Imperator titan and severely
crippled two Reaver titans of Battle Group Epsilon before being
forced to retreat by overwhelming Imperial numbers. The
Caligula had been supported by just a single company of World
Eaters Space Marines but when they left the blood drenched
battlefield more than 8.000 Guardsmen lay dead and almost an
entire battalion of Imperial tanks had been reduced to smoking
wrecks.
RULES
Since there's been a lot of debate as to how to make Imperator
Titans feasible in Epic (Especially with regards to the AMTL army
list) the following rules should be seen only as guidelines. One
of the major problems with units this large is to make them
worth their points cost. In an average 3-4-turn Tournament style
game it is difficult for a unit that cannot split fire to destroy
enough enemy formations to justify it's point's cost. Numerous
suggestions have been made on how to solve this although I
won't go into detail about that here. The following rules are
simply a modification to the rules found in the E:A rulebook. You
can substitute or improve these with some of the suggested
changes to the Imperator rules if you like. Also as the E:A
rulebook doesn't provide a points cost for the Imperator neither
will I, but a rough guideline would be something in the 1500
points region, give or take a couple of hundred points.
You may upgrade the Caligula to Supreme Commander of your
army for an additional 150 points.
Imperator Titan (Galigula variant)
Type Speed Armour Close Combat Firefight
War Engine 15 4+ 2+ 3+
Weapon Range Firepower Notes
Fist of Khorne n/a Assault weapon, Macro Weapon, Extra attack (+D6), Titan Killer (D6) Forward Arc
Hellstorm Cannon 60 cm 3D6BP Forward Arc
2x Battle Cannon 75 cm AP4+/AT4+ Left Arc
2xBattle Cannon 75 cm AP4+/AT4+ Right Arc
4xHeavy Bolter 30 cm AP5+ Forward Arc
3xHeavy Bolter 30 cm AP5+ Rear Arc
Damage capacity 18. 8 Void Shields. Critical Hit Effect: The Caligula is driven into a daemonic rage and immediately moves 3D6cm in
a random direction. If this move takes the titan into impassable terrain or another unit it can't move over then it stops when it contacts
the obstruction and suffers an extra point of damage. If the Titan rampages into or over any units then they will take a hit on a D6 roll
of 3+ (make saving throws for the units normally).
In addition any Chaos formations within a 10 cm radius suffer D3 blast markers once the Caligula is destroyed. Units within 5 cm take
a hit on the roll of 5+ as the daemons within the Caligula are sucked back into the Warp.
Notes: Fearless. Reinforced Armour. Walker. Inspiring. Commander. May step over units and impassable or dangerous terrain that
is lower than the titan's knees and up to 2 cm wide.
For +100 points the Caligula may also be upgraded to include a Chaos Altar in it's superstructure.
If this option is chosen the titan gains the following abilities: Augment Summoning (+2), Daemonic Focus.
(See version 3.7 of the Black Legion list and LATD v. 3.4 for details)
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Christian Salling is the winner of our Titan competition for this article. However, Christian sent in a few more equally excellent
articles that we will be taking a closer look at in the following weeks.