Adeptus Titanicus - Defence of Ryza - Expanding the Household, Appendices, and Final Thoughts

We finally wrap up our coverage of the main contents of Defence of Ryza. Expanded Knights rules, appendices containing new battleground rules and more, and our final thoughts.

EXPANDING THE HOUSEHOLD

Knights got a lot more attention in this book than we expected they would. With exception of Doom of Molech, these books are usually quite Titan-centric and while you get a few new things for Knights you don’t get much. This has not been the case thus far and it continues with Expanding the Household.

There’s a little bit of extra lore to be had and new explanations on Battle Standards are offered. There are a few Battle Standards updated in this book and plenty of new ones added. This comes in the form of standards for the Baronial Court AND for Lances. This is definitely a good expansion for Knights. However, the biggest changes come from being able to field a Household’s High King. The addition of Seneschals for Lances was huge and this new addition is a Seneschal on steroids, including powerful new buffs and rules that will make certain parts of Knight Lances all but unbreakable.

APPENDICES

We are graced with two new appendices. The first is the ever-normal battlefield special rules. The book features the battlefields of Ryza, Plasmatic Infrastructure, and Ryza Secundus. The battles on the “that’s no moon” that is Ryza Secundus are very fluffy and reflect the dangers of fighting in space with so many dangerous things able to topple on you at the same time. Of all of the supplements thus far, it feels like Defence of Ryza offers the best narrative battlefields of them all.

New stratagems are always welcome and this book delivers. There isn’t much to say since stratagems on their own are always powerful and we can never complain about an increased tactical toolbox. We will say, however, that Override Signal is just downright mean. It can either show just how cold-blooded you are about your own Titans, or hand your foe a bomb in their own back yard.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The short and skinny of Defence of Ryza is that it’s a good supplement. However, this is not due to any extremely grandiose tale (in fact the overall lore was rather basic, though informative), exceptional set of new stratagems, or earth-shattering new features (only because we previously had Creating a Titan Legion before). This book is a good supplement because it actually makes up the whole package. It has solid lore, some of the best new maniples to come out in a while, and a very good balance of everything in the game without making it feel like a parody. This is a book that every Titanicus player should get, if nothing else, because of how well it adds to every aspect of the game in a balanced way.