Blackhole Wargamers, 22 May 2021
1,500pt Age of Sigmar game
Dan – Sons of Behemat, Stomper Tribe
Tom – Beasts of Chaos
Battleplan – Starstrike (General’s Handbook 2020, pg 79)
Magbragog’s Stomper Tribe (1,500pts)
Magbragog Maneater
(Warstomper Mega-Gargant, General, Monstrously Tough
& Ironweld Cestus – 480pts)
Tarbag Dragon-Smasher
(Gatebreaker Mega-Gargant – 490pts)
The Stompy Brothers – Fat Glurg, Dronk Stonty-Stomper
& Grumbog Aleguzzler
(Mancrusher Gargants, Battleline – 480pts)
+1 Command Point – 50pts
Prelude
Magbragog Maneater could smell something like goat on the air. They weren’t as tasty as manflesh, nor as succulent as stunty, but at least goats didn’t tend to be covered in all that shiny armour. And, at the end of the day, he was hungry, and the smell made his stomach rumble like rolling thunder across the plains.
Looking ahead across the flat grass, the Warstomper
Mega-Gargant could see something that looked magic-y to his right and what
appeared to be an abandoned village on his left. He couldn’t understand why
man-things went to such trouble building houses when there were so many caves
around, and when it was so much more fun knocking the buildings over rather
than building them, but at least it tended to keep them in one place for a
handy snack without too much running about.
There didn’t seem to be any man-things here, though, probably due to the huge goat that he could see looming behind the abandoned village. As he strode closer, he saw that this huge goat was actually just a massive rock with horns stuck on the side. Not good eating. But, before he got too despondent, he noticed some much smaller goats running around their herdstone, doing whatever it was that little goats liked to do. Licking his lips at the sight, Magbragog pointed his enormous stone axe and bellowed at the tribe to pick up the pace – he was hungry.
Turn 1
Magbragog kept The Stompy Brothers nearby, ready to storm straight towards the herdstone. Keeping the smaller giants close allowed him to keep an eye on them and made sure they could hear him bellowing commands. Tarbag Dragon-Smasher, the Gatebreaker Mega-Gargant, strode off to the left flank, hoping that he might find some tasty morsels inside the remaining buildings if he smashed them up. And if he didn’t find anything, at least there were a couple of dragon ogres to fight. He didn’t want to be too close to Magbragog anyway, he hated being bossed around…
The Beastmen surged forwards with a braying warcry as they
saw the giants stomp into view. Dragon ogres and minotaurs advanced swiftly on
either flank, while the large herds of gors held the centre ground. A horned
shaman sucked the life from some of the nearby ungors who squealed in pain as
he funnelled their essence into the towering herdstone.
Tarbag Dragon-Smasher looked gleefully at the dragon ogres
in front of him who had advanced through the ruined village. With a shout, he
charged through the ruins in front of him and smashed into the scaly beasts.
Swinging his enormous flail and making use of his considerable bulk, he
battered one of the creatures into paste and almost felled a second.
Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the battlefield,
Magbragog goaded the Mancrushers forwards towards a second unit of dragon
ogres. After throwing boulders at them and violently charging, not a single one
of the beasts was left alive. Visibly winded after shouting so loudly at the
Mancrusher Gargants, Magbragog didn’t have the energy himself to run fast
enough to reach the towering Cygor in front of him – but its turn would come, and
he knew he would enjoy felling that monstrosity.
Turn 2
The Sons of Behemat got the jump on the beastmen, surprising the goatmen with their speed. However, just before they could move, a shining meteorite flew down out of the sky, smashing into the centre of the ruined village, not far from where Tarbag was finishing off the last of the dragon ogres, happily jumping up and down on their scaly hides.
Magbragog charged forwards at the Cygor, hitting the huge
beastman with his even more huge bulk. The beast was unable to respond to the
mega-gargant’s ferocity and died bloodily. Meanwhile, The Stompy Brothers surged
forward across the still-quivering remains of the dragon ogres and launched
themselves into a herd of gors, swinging their clubs with joyful abandon as the
broken bodies of goatmen flew in all directions.
The minotaurs, realising that their attempt to outflank the
giants was a lost cause, began trudging back towards the herdstone, watching
their smaller kin being destroyed in front of them and bellowing with impotent
rage.
Other beastmen moved into position – gors preparing to
challenge Tarbag for the shiny fallen meteorite, while the large bestigor herd
and hulking ghorgan moved to intercept Magbragog in front of the herdstone. The
beastmen shaman summoned arcane energies into himself and reached out into the
Warstomper’s mind. The cunning shaman managed to wrest control of the
Mega-Gargant, forcing him to stomp murderously towards the Mancrusher gargants –
fortunately, Magbragog didn’t manage to reach them before he regained his
(meagre) senses.
Turn 3
Two more stars fell from the sky, one landing well behind the Mancrushers while the other crashed down in front of the herdstone. The beastlord stood triumphantly beside this steaming meteorite, directing his minions while he wondered what he could do with this gleaming trophy.
More ungors were sacrificed to the herdstone, which rumbled
with dark magicks and spewed forth two Chaos Spawn from the roiling mists of
the Realm of Chaos. These spawn charged at Magbragog at the same time as the
Ghorgon crashed into the Mega-Gargant, goring at him with its horns. Meanwhile,
the minotaurs finally got into position to charge the Mancrusher gargants,
snorting with rage and swinging their vicious axes which bit deep into Fat
Glurg, causing the giant to roar in pain. The gargants fought back, clubbing
one of the minotaurs into submission.
Magbragog grabbed the Ghorgon by the horns, wrenching its
head round with a sickening crunch and dropping the limp body to the ground. He
followed this by jumping up and down on one of the spawn, though the warped
body looked much the same after the ordeal as it had before.
Turn 4
The swirling melee between the minotaurs and Mancrushers continued. Fat Glurg had been chopped down by the beasts’ axes, and now Dronk succumbed to their ferocious attacks. The minotaurs were themselves being depleted, losing several of their number for each giant they took down. Finally, the minotaurs were destroyed and only Grumbog Aleguzzler stood among the broken bodies. His look of satisfaction turned to one of surprise as he heard a lumbering noise behind him and turned to see Magbragog Maneater running towards him, a strange look in his eyes – he had been bewitched by the shaman once again. The Mega-Gargant dwarfed his smaller kin and smashed the Mancrusher to the ground before shaking his head and clearing the dark influence from it.
Magbragog roared in frustration at the shaman’s parlour
tricks, but before he could turn to face the wizard he was charged in the rear
by the large bestigor herd. Their long-handled axes poked and slashed at his
rump, causing a number of small wounds to open up and blood to trickle down the
backs of his legs… although he was slightly hurt by the assault, as he turned
to face them the bestigors realised they may have bitten off more than they
could chew. The Mega-Gargant swung left and right with his enormous stone axe,
flinging bestigors in a wide arc around him. He bent to pick up one of the squealing
beastmen, throwing it at the beastlord and knocking the warlord off his feet with
the broken body of his minion.
Within moments, over half of the bestigors lay dead or
dying, and Magbragog wasn’t finished. He stomped the rest of the herd and
charged towards the herdstone, simultaneously attacked the beastlord, shaman
and remaining sacrificial ungors. Tarbag had lumbered towards the centre of the
battlefield by this point, but besides chucking another boulder at the
smattering of remaining beastmen, he was content to watch the Warstomper
Mega-Gargant do what he did best. Magbragog stomped and kicked, swung his stone
axe and bodily picked up his enemies to crush the life from them and throw them
back to the ground with bone-crunching force.
Finally, the shaman was the only beastman remaining on the
field of battle, and he was smashed on top of his head so hard by Magbragog’s
fist that he was driven down into the earth, becoming buried up to his chest
and was very, very dead.
Victory Points
Tom (Beastmen) – held centre objective end of his turn 3 and
turn 4
7 points
Dan (Sons of Behemat) – held left objective turns 2, 3 and
4, and centre objective end turn 4
13 points
Victory to the Sons of Behemat!
Aftermath
Magbragog grabbed one of the Bestigor’s long-handled axes and used it as a toothpick as he sat down, leaning back against the herdstone. He found that the protruding horns were just perfect for getting those hard-to-reach places between his shoulder blades as he leaned into the idol, scratching himself. Spitting out the little horn that had been stuck between his teeth, he looked up at Tarbag who was lumbering over.
“So what were yoose up to?” demanded the Warstomper. “The
little ‘uns got stabbed up by those big cows, if they end up deaded who’s gonna
keep my axe nice and clean?”
“We find more,” growled the Gatebreaker as he threw his
flail to the ground, chain links as big as a man’s head clanging together
loudly. “Dey gonna want some o’ these shinees!”
Tarbag brandished a gleaming rock in his hand. Magbragog
hadn’t been paying attention to the falling star rocks – he was too busy
smashing beastmen – but now he threw down the minotaur leg he was picking at
and jumped to his feet. The herdstone fell over as his massive bulk shook the
ground. Reaching out, he took the shiny thing from Tarbag and shoved the
Gatebreaker away with his other enormous hand.
“Oh yeah, good job Tarbag, good job,” he said as he cradled
the meteorite and held it close to his face. A sudden twinkling on the ground
caught his eye and he kicked the corpse of the Beastlord away, uncovering a
second star rock. Magbragog whooped with delight as he snatched up the rock,
while the dead leader of the beastmen landed some sixty feet away with a wet
thud.
“Dat greeny Gordrakk’s bin making an armee,” said the
Warstomper, “but you and me, little brother, we’s gonna show ‘em all who’s biggest
and who’s strongest. ME! MAGBRAGOG!!!!”
The two huge giants roared and pounded their fists against
their chests. They had felt it, them and all the Destruction lads. A thumping
throughout the land, almost like a throbbing heartbeat, insistent and
increasing in intensity. Something was coming. Something big. And Magbragog was
going to ‘edbutt it.
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