Titan Gladiator: Thoughts/Tips

The first heavy beast that most Skorne players will get to use/experience, the Titan Gladiator is just about as un-subtle as they come. Strong, slow, tough, and with three attacks, he's designed to run forward and lay down a beating as soon as possible. Plus, he's really cool looking!

Stats:
First off, he is extremely slow. He has the tools to help with that some, however. The rest of his stats are pretty normal for what a heavy beast/jack would be, although he has a DEF of 12 which is nice. 4 Fury/9 Threshold seem to be fairly normal as well. 30 Damage (12 Body) gives him some good durability.

Attacks:
He has three attacks, which is a great start. First are the Tusks, which are low POW, but add their POW to his STR when he makes slam and head butt power attacks (as you'll see from his rules, this is a helpful bonus). He also has two War Gauntlets, which are a nice P+S 16 attack that count as Open Fists, letting him do any of the Power Attacks. It's not very difficult to increase the STR of these attacks, so having three of them is really nice.

Animus:
His animus is Rush, which increases the movement of a warbeast and gives it Pathfinder. Skorne don't have many ways to give their beasts Pathfinder or to otherwise negate terrain (I think one of the warlocks has Ghost Walk, but this isn't common). The extra movement is handy for the heavies, who are generally slow (with the animus, the titan is now charging/slamming 9" which is tolerable). Short range animus, and it only costs 2. I suspect melee-oriented armies are going to really want to make use of him.

Special Rules:
Bullheaded: Causes the Gladiator to slam instead of charge if he frenzies. This is pretty nice, because the Tusks give you additional power on it, and slamming can knock down models, which will be a huge help for the rest of your army.

Follow Up: If the Titan Gladiator slams a model, he moves up to the distance the model was slammed. Great if you have some spare focus for extra attacks on the now prone target, or if you just want to get some extra distance into your opponent's lines. If you move into another model, however, you stop. Still, that generally means you're moving up into your opponent's face.

Grand Slam: The Gladiator slams for free, and moves slammed models an additional 2 inches. Combined with all of his other slam-related special rules, you get the idea that the designers intended for him to be slamming. Combined with Follow Up, this really gets the Gladiator moving a lot during his activation if he gets that slam off.

Synergies:
Master Tormentor Morghoul: Abuse is a great spell to use on the Gladiator, as it makes his slams go farther, and hit harder. Even without the slams, that's two P+S 18s and a 17. That's going to hurt. Admonition can also help with the Gladiator's mobility. The Gladiator's animus helps beasts that Morghoul takes keep up with him, as well as giving them the Pathfinder they would need to keep moving with Morghoul. Not really a bad match, truth be told.

Cyclops Savage: Prescience is very helpful on the Gladiator, who can use it to save fury on those slam power attacks. Generally, to kill big things, you'll want to slam it, Follow Up, then proceed to pound on the knocked down target. This revolves on that first attack hitting, but wanting to spend as little fury doing so as possible (so you can buy more attacks). Prescience definitely comes in handy there. Rush is okay on the Cyclops, but generally you'll have better things to do with it.

Paingiver Beast Handlers: Enrage makes this thing scary. Add on another one of the STR boosts, and the Gladiator can wreck Khador heavies. Spirit and Mind are the most likely to be destroyed aspects, and the Handlers can keep them healthy.

Tier Thoughts:
Like I've said, still not a whole lot of experience with neither Skorne nor Hordes, so I won't have many thoughts here for some time.

At present, the Titan Gladiator can be taken in the theme list for Archdomina Makeda, Lord Tyrant Hexeris, Void Seer Mordikaar, Master Tormentor Morghoul, Lord Assassin Morghoul, Dominar Rasheth, Tyrant Xerxis, and Supreme Aptimus Zaal (currently everyone but Epic Makeda). He isn't specifically needed for any of the theme forces, but seems to be a good choice for Rasheth and Master Tormentor Morghoul.

Thoughts:
He's the least expensive of the Titan warbeasts, and he operates as a very effective tank for your army. His animus fills a vital hole for Skorne, and he's capable of both providing some heavy hitting for your army, as well as assisting your army out in a support role (both for his animus and by clearing holes and knocking models down). A great fit for your Skorne army.