Stomping All-Comers! (Sons of Behemat vs. Forces of Order AOS Battle Report)

Blackhole Wargamers, 04 June 2022

3,000pt Age of Sigmar game

Dan – Sons of Behemat, Stomper Tribe

vs.

Tris (Idoneth Deepkin), Tom (Stormcast Eternals) & Phil (Kharadron Overlords and Gotrek Gurnisson)

Battleplan – Feral Foray (General’s Handbook 2021)

Previous - Stormcast Eternals try to stop Mighty Magbragog!

 

It is almost exactly one year (to the day!) that the giants last stomped forth to battle the Stormcast Eternals. I'm not sure what they've been doing in the interlude, but the Tribe's ranks have swelled - doubled in size, in fact! 

We decided it would be fun to put a load of giants on the table (3,000 pts worth) and see if a combined force of 3 players could take them out... so far, the Sons of Behemat, led my Warstomper Magbragog Maneater, have stomped all before them - starting with some Kharadron Overlords in their flying machines, followed up by tasty Beastmen snacks, and most recently the Stormcast Eternals. They seem to be fairly unstoppable, but I'm sure they will come up against something that will test them. One day. For this game, Phil had said that he would bring Gotrek Gurnisson - he actually claimed that Gotrek could take all the giants on single-handed, but just in case they decided to bring some back-up. You know, in case Gotrek was a bit hungover or something. 

I brought along everything from the tribe that was assembled - unfortunately not all painted. I do have a Bonegrinder and one more Mancrusher to assemble, which will bring the entire tribe up to around 3,600 points... a real trouble-causing tribe of enormous monsters to make the ground tremble! For now, we kept it to 3,000 points, which would hopefully be manageable on a Saturday morning. 

I also brought along my temple terrain to give us something exciting to fight over, as bringing that many giants clearly wasn't enough to carry! I also had one of my Deep Cut Studios gaming mats to play on - this one is generic enough to work for a whole bunch of game systems, I really like them. Element Games stocks these mats (check them out here), which is good as the shipping from Europe can be a bit expensive buying them direct.     

Magbragog’s Stomper Tribe (2,905 pts)

Footsloggers Core Battalion  

Magbragog Maneater

(Warstomper Mega-Gargant, General, Monstrously Tough & Ironweld Cestus – 470pts)

The Stompy Brothers – Fat Glurg, Dronk Stonty-Stomper & Grumbog Aleguzzler

(Mancrusher Gargants, Battleline – 475pts)

Wanderers of Albion – Bruinen the Wise, Cachtorr & Bologs One-eye

(Mancrusher Gargants, Battleline – 475pts)

Bosses of the Stomp Core Battalion  

Tarbag Dragon-Smasher

(Gatebreaker Mega-Gargant – 525pts)

Odler the Colossus

(Kraken-Eater Mega-Gargant, The Arcane Tome – 490pts)

Hrothgar Icebreath

(Warstomper Mega-Gargant – 470pts) 

Prelude 

Magbragog bellowed at the tribe, getting them moving forwards. The flashy lightning king and his merry followers had been taking far too many liberties, encroaching on territory that by rights belonged to the Sons of Behemat and scaring off the beasts that he and his brethren fed on. This would not stand. Magbragog Maneater was a mighty Warstomper, a Mega-Gargant of incredible size and voracious appetite. He would lead the other gargants in an orgy of slaughter and take back their land from the occupiers. He licked his lips as he saw the opposing army. Fortunately, this time it wasn't just Stormcast - that was good news, there wasn't any proper eating in those tin cans. He saw some armoured stunties and some pointy eared elves riding on fish. Odler the Colossus, the Kraken-Eater who had recently joined the tribe, stank of fish. It wasn't most appealing to Magbragog, but he would make do with a seafood meal this time. 

The Battle

The Battleplan 'Feral Foray' encourages moving up to destroy the opponent's objectives, while protecting your own from their attempts to take them. Moving forwards to smash things? Yes, that feels right. Hanging back to protect parts of the battlefield from the pipsqueaks? Not so much. But, with a huge wall of flesh stomping forwards, I was fairly confident that the combined forces of Order would struggle to get past my lads to cause trouble anyway. Besides, my Sons of Behemat were far more concerned with pulping the enemy than doing anything so pedestrian as 'tactics'. 

The opposing forces of Order and Destruction

The Sons of Behemat deployed as far forwards
as possible, eager to get to grips with their
lunch. I mean, opposition 

Magbragog and Bruinen looking across the battlefield

The Idoneth deploy behind some standing
stones - like that's going to protect them! 

Calm before the storm

The game was a lot of fun. I didn't manage to record a blow-by-blow account as there were too many giants with too many things to hit, I couldn't keep up! On the left flank, the three towering Mega Gargants (Tarbag, Odler and Hrothgar) were too much for the Kharadron to deal with, but they ended up in a titanic battle with Gotrek, son of Gurni, famed slayer from the World That Was. He really was a total beast in combat (rightly so!). Ultimately, he couldn't stand up to three enormous giants, but he gave it a good shot - it would have been an epic Doom to record, if only Felix Jaegar was still around to do so.  

On the other flank, Magbragog led his Mancrushers against the Idoneth Deepkin and Stormcast Eternals. The Stormcast had some success with their big burly hammer boys, but ultimately they couldn't do enough damage to take the giants down before they were jumping up and down all over their bloodied corpses. Sheer brutality and strength won the day. The gargants probably took some of the objectives too, but that was almost as an afterthought! 

Aftermath

Magbragog pulled another spear from his side, wincing as he did so. Those little pipsqueaks had poked and prodded him relentlessly - it had really started to get irritating. He glared down at the mashed armour of a Stormcast Eternal on the ground beside him and pummelled it with the flat of his hand a few times, grinding it into the dirt for good measure before picking the corpse up and flinging it away into the distance. That made him feel a bit more cheerful. 

Dronk Stunty-Stomper was still moaning about not being able to fight the flying stunties because Odler, Tarbag and Hrothgar had already killed them all. 

"Shut up wiv your belly-aching!" yelled Magbragog as he shoved the smaller giant backwards, causing him to fall into one of the ancient pillars and knock it to the ground where it smashed into rubble. Dronk picked himself up as the other Mancrushers guffawed loudly. 

It had been a pretty good fight, and at least now there was plenty to eat. Odler was stuffing his face with the fishy mounts the pale elves had been riding on, the Kraken Eater clearly enjoying himself. Magbragog was more keen on the taste of dwarf, so stomped over to where Tarbag and Hrothgar were poking through the ruins of the Kharadron Skyfleet. It turned out they were looking for a little orange haired pipsqueak who had caused them all sorts of trouble with his magic axe, but they couldn't find his body anywhere. Magbragog had heard Odler complaining about how painful that axe had been, between mouthfuls of elvish calamari, so he was interested in seeing this dwarf as well. But he was nowhere to be found. Strange. Surely he couldn't have survived all three gargants jumping on him? Well, if he had, it would certainly be interesting to find him again, maybe he would be able to give Magbragog a good fight one of these days. For now, he let the Tribe pick over the spoils of battle. There would be more pipsqueaks to fight another day. There always were.    

Sons of Behemat - growing Stomper Tribe

The Tribe so far

So far I've got about 1,200 points of Sons of Behemat fully painted up for Age of Sigmar, with a load more in progress. I really like the concept of an army of giants led by even bigger giants - they look great on the tabletop and are fun to play. 

Magbragog's Stomper Tribe

Warstomper Mega Gargant - Magbragog Maneater

Mancrusher Gargant Mob - The Stompy Brothers (Fat Glurg, Dronk Stunty-Stomper and Grumbog Aleguzzler)

Mancrusher Gargant Mob - Wanderers of Albion (Bruinen the Wise and Bologs One-eye. Cachtorr still needs some painting!)

Magbragog is my Warstomper leader. I love this giant model - you can get it from Heresy Miniatures here. While you're there, Andy has a load of other really cool fantasy miniatures too. I have more of his stuff painted up, but also a load of demons and other monsters from a kickstarter he did years ago that are desperately in need of me getting them finished. I've even got one of his epic dragons, which really needs painting! Anyway, there are some 'lovely' ghouls (that he has now redone in plastic), which starred in Session 15 of my D&D campaign, as well as a version of Big Boris, his signature model I suppose, and some gribblies here. I didn't initially buy the giant during the kickstarter as I didn't quite get what he was doing with it, but once it was finished I loved it. And, timing wise, it was perfect as it was just as Games Workshop were talking about doing an army of giants!

The model has so much character, and I had the new TerrainCrate stuff from Mantic so decided to make a scenic base to show that the paladin being eaten might have been in the middle of his campfire dinner when Magbragog scooped him up as a snack. I love having details like this that tell a story with a model, and when it comes to giants it's really nice to have something that indicates their sheer size - he clearly isn't an upscaled man, he's a huge and terrifying colossus! As I was assembling him before the official Mega Gargant model came out, I ended up using a non-standard base for him, but the tent and eveything fit much better on this oval base anyway. I think with bases this large it isn't going to make much of a difference in a game, but I have mounted all my other Mega Gargants on the 'proper' bases. Rule of cool wins out over tournament pickiness anyway!  

Magbragog Maneater, Warstomper Mega Gargant

When I was a young 'un, I always wanted the Giants of Albion - I thought they were great, but my pocket money never quite stretched to it! I got them more recently off Ebay. Cachtorr is still being painted, but I completed Bologs. He had a broken let so I repositioned it on a rock so you can really see him leaning back, ready to throw his menhir - I like being able to see him a bit easier from above when playing. Dronk Stunty-Stomper is one of the old Orc and Goblin giants that I had in a bits box for a long time, finally finding his home in Magbragog's tribe!   

The Mancrushers Bologs One-eye and Dronk Stunty-Stomper

Talking about old models, Grumbog Aleguzzler is the classic old Marauder giant. Again, I coveted this model as an even younger young 'un! So full of character, I had to find one to include. As he has a barrel of Bugman's XXXXXXX on his hip, I decided he must have smashed his way into a brewery and used more Mantic TerrainCrate stuff to put some barrels on his base. Next to him is Bruinen the Wise. He's a giant from Atlantis Miniatures (now Blue Giant Studios), though doesn't seem to be available any more. I liked him as he seemed to have a sort of druidic vibe that I thought fit with Cachtorr and Bologs, so decided the three of them could be the Wanderers of Albion. He looks sort of more with it than most of the other giants, so I figured he could be called 'the Wise' - like, he can talk in full sentences or use long words. I don't imagine the threshold for being considered wise is particularly high in giant society! 

Again, Bruinen isn't on a properly legal base, but he was just too big and it looked daft, so I put him on a slightly bigger one. I think it looks much better, and helps him stand out as the leader of that mob. He's bigger than the rest of the Mancrushers but not big enough to be a Mega Gargant. I think some variation in size is good, and the fact he is a bit bigger makes it more likely he would be bullying the others around - just like his counterpart, Fat Glurg! This is a Hill Giant from Nolzur's range of D&D monsters. It's a great model, cheap as chips and a single piece (I know they have a new Frameworks version, this is the older flexible plastic one). The detail is OK on it and he is chunky enough that the flex isn't a problem. As he is a bit bigger, I put him on the same size base as Bruinen and decided he could be the bigger, fatter, brother of Dronk and Grumbog, bossing them both around - he's clearly taken the loot for himself and stuck it in his pack!  

Grumbog Aleguzzler, Bruinen the Wise and Fat Glurg

Might makes right in the Stomper Tribe, so there's no mistaking that Magbragog is clearly in charge, with Bruinen and Fat Glurg commanding the two mobs of Mancrushers.   

Magbragog's Stomper Tribe - so far...

What's Next?

I have another three Mega Gargants assembled and ready for painting: Warstomper, Hrothgar Icebreath; a Kraken-Eater, Odler the Colossus; and Tarbag Dragon-Smasher, the Gatebreaker. 

And then there are a couple more Mancrushers, a Bonegrinder and a couple more Mega Gargants to assemble... lots to do, I think in the end it will be pushing 5,000 points! I'll be hoping to arrange a massive game for the tribe to take on all-comers at my local club, Black Hole Wargamers... that could be a long one! 

So far, the Tribe have been pretty successful in the games I've played with them - I've written up their adventures stomping all over the Realms previously. I've found them good fun to play, but some of my opponents have been a bit dismayed when they've been unable to take them down. As I've said to them, you only need to take out one or two Mancrushers to start really taking a toll on the army, so I think focused fire is probably the way to go... I haven't played any games with the newest rules yet, but I've got one coming up next month so we'll see how Magbragog and his lads get on then. 

I haven't considered the new Beast Smasher variant yet, but I figure that Hrothgar would work well if I want to use him as one (he's covered in pelts and things, very beastly). Likewise haven't really thought about King Brodd, the new ruler of all the giants. I've heard he's pretty useful in the game, but I'm not really taken with the model - it's just a minor variation on GW's normal Mega Gargant and, although the model is awesome, I'm not convinced about the variations they've made for him. The big club is nice, but other than that... besides, I'm too taken with Magbragog, he's my giant boss! I think he'll have to proxy in for the king and use Brodd's rules if I ever want to do that. 

Magbragog's battles against the Pipsqueaks

Taking on the flying machines of the Kharadron Overlords

Brutal battle against the Beasts of Chaos

Taking on the Stormcast Eternals

Fighting a combined Order force

The land will tremble as the Stomper tribe marches forth in search of food, ale and a good scrap! 

Lightning Tickles! (Sons of Behemat vs. Stormcast Eternals AOS battle)

Blackhole Wargamers, 05 June 2021

1,500pt Age of Sigmar game

Dan – Sons of Behemat, Stomper Tribe

Tris – Stormcast Eternals

Battleplan – Battle for the Pass (General’s Handbook 2020, pg 78)

Previous - Magbragog takes on the Beasts of Chaos!

 

Magbragog’s Stomper Tribe (1,500pts)

  

Magbragog Maneater

(Warstomper Mega-Gargant, General, Eager for the Fight & 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 

The Stompy Brothers had taken a while to recover from the wounds they suffered at the hands of the Beastmen – but then, it had taken a while for the two Mega-Gargants to munch their way through the dead chaos beasts. In fact, there were enough furry corpses littering the ground that there was still quite a feast for the wounded Mancrushers to gorge themselves on while their larger brethren slept off their meal, leaning against the herdstone. The rich, dark minotaur meat in particular seemed to impart restorative energy to the three smaller giants and they were soon back on their feet and ready to follow Magbragog to the next scrap. They didn’t have to travel far.

Marching further into Ghur, the Realm of Beasts, the Stomper Tribe descended into a broad canyon between huge, impassable mountains. A derelict settlement of greenish-grey rock lay within the pass, amongst several thickets of trees. Tarbag looked despondent at the sight of the buildings as they were already mostly tumbled down, taking the fun out of smashing them himself. But the Gatebreaker’s mood improved when Magbragog pointed at the far end of the canyon, where a group of the God-King Sigmar’s armour-plated warriors stood defiantly. The challenge was clear; if the gargants wanted to proceed, they would have to fight their way through these Stormcast Eternals. So, things were looking up as far as Tarbag was concerned! 

The Stomper Tribe strides into the pass

Stormcast Eternals are arrayed opposite the giants' left flank

Turn 1 

Seeing the Stormcast Eternals arranged in a clump all together, the Sons of Behemat shouted their warcries and advanced. Moving into the centre of the ruined settlement, Tarbag stood at one side of the pass, his bulk blocking a large portion of it, while the smaller Mancrushers loped up towards some trees on the opposite side. Magbragog strode purposefully towards the very centre of the ruins, feeling confident that he and his brethren controlled the pass. He shouted at the Stompy Brothers to chuck some rocks at the big bolt thrower in front of them, with one of the rocks managing to hit the artillery piece and splintering the wood slightly. Tarbag was too far away for even his massive arms to chuck a rock at any of the enemy, and the distance was too far for Magbragog to charge in so the Warstomper stood and bellowed a challenge at the Stormcast.

Sons of Behemat hold two centre objectives: +4 VP (4 VP Total)

The Sons of Behemat advance to the centre of the battlefield, claiming two objectives

With steely determination and the discipline of well-trained troops, the Stormcast host stood firm in the face of the Mega-Gargant’s shouting in front of them. They drew on their magicks to empower one of their bolt throwers and cast mystical protection on some of their warriors, then calmly lined up their shots.

The bow-armed Judicators on the far right let fly with their arrows, one of which hit Fat Glurg – the electric tingle tickled him and made the giant’s chins quiver as he giggled in response. The giggling soon stopped, however, when the two bolt throwers loosed their much larger missiles, which each split into several bolts as they flew through the air. Glurg was peppered by bolts that turned into arcing flashes of blue lightning, burning his broad chest and dropping him to the ground, smoking. His two brothers were surprised by the violence of the war machines and knew they needed a good smashing. On the other side of the battlefield, Tarbag raised the portcullis on his right arm to cover his face as arrows flew from the second squad of Judicators, but one of the projectiles managed to pierce the flesh of his forearm and make the Mega-Gargant growl in irritation.  

Stormcast hold the objective in their territory: +1 VP (1 VP Total)

Turn 2 

Dronk Stunty-Stomper and Grumbog Aleguzzler charged forwards to avenge Fat Glurg, leaving the huge lump still smoking beside the trees. Magbragog shouted some encouragement at the smaller giants, driving them forwards so they were able to smash into one of the ballistae and a unit of Retributors armed with huge hammers. The two Mancrusher Gargants smashed the ballistae into kindling and squished the two crewman, while also decimating the Retributors and leaving just two of them alive. They were glad to be rid of the vicious bolt thrower, whilst also having several trees to their left that shielded them from the second war machine. 

Pleased with the Mancrusher’s charge, all down to his expert shouting no doubt, Magbragog himself charged in, stepping over the ruins in front of him and barrelling into the Stormcast in front of him. He smashed and kicked and jumped up and down, even picking one of the unfortunate Judicators up and throwing him at the Retributors who were fighting the Mancrushers, killing one and leaving a single Stormcast facing the two giants. Tarbag couldn’t quite get into range to help his brother, but Magbragog didn’t need any assistance and gleefully slaughtered all of the armoured warriors that he could get his hands on. None remained alive to challenge his dominance in the middle of what had been the Stormcast’s territory.

Sons of Behemat hold two centre objectives and enemy’s objective: +8 VP (12 VP Total)

The Sons of Behemat doing what they do best, and what they do ain't pretty

It's Magbragog's turn to show why he's the boss

The Stormcast were reeling from the charge of the giants. They attempted to bring their missile weapons to bear, but the remaining ballista was unable to draw a bead past the trees, while the Judicators shooting at Magbragog saw their arrows either fly wide or ping off his cestus. It was clear that the moment was here, and they would have to charge into combat.

Goading their Dracolines forward, the Evocators charged the Mancrusher Gargants. Though the Stormcast managed to deal a small amount of damage to the brutes, it was their mounts that really had an impact by managing to ferociously claw Grumbog into submission. As he fell to the ground, Dronk responded with his club and smashed one of the Stormcast to the ground, felling his Dracoline with a headbutt so it fell on top of the stricken warrior with a sickening crunch.

Bravely following the Evocators’ example, the Judicators assaulted the Mancrushers from the rear. Two of them were beaten into a pulp by Dronk, but the third did his best to do some damage to the final Mancrusher. 

Stormcast no longer hold any objectives: +0 VP (1 VP Total)

Stormcast charge into the Mancrusher Gargants

Turn 3 

The majority of the Stormcast Eternal host had been decimated by the rampaging Gargants, the casualties being whisked away to Azyr for reforging. Magbragog, finding himself with no enemies within arm’s length, decided to make his way towards what appeared to be the Stormcast leader, who was sitting on a tasty-looking chicken monster.

Tarbag finally managed to get close enough to use his flail, smashing it left and right at the Stormcast that were around his ankles till there was nothing but a red smear on the ground. Meanwhile, Dronk managed to defeat the final Evocator on his Dracoline, and kicked the final Judicator into the air before he landed with a thud, his armour bent and broken.

Magbragog roared and smashed the Stormcast leader with his club, picking the unfortunate warrior up and preparing to tear him in half while he held the squirming Gryph-Charger down under one enormous foot. Before he could do anything, however, the Lord-Aquilor’s armour began to glow with an internal heat that blistered Magbragog’s fingers. All of a sudden, the Sigmarite warrior exploded in a blinding flash, killing himself and his nearby companion in the blast. Even the Warstomper staggered backwards from the explosion, pulling bits of shiny green armour out of his chest and arms. It was surprisingly painful, but on the plus side the hot explosion had burned off the feathers of the Lord’s mount and given the flesh a nice, charred appearance. He was going to look forward to eating that, now not-so-feathery, creature.

Sons of Behemat hold two centre objectives and enemy’s objective: +8 VP (20 VP Total)

The Sons of Behemat surround the few surviving Stormcast

Victory Points 

Tris (Stormcast) – held their objective during turn 1

1 point

 

Dan (Sons of Behemat) – held centre objectives turns 1, 2 and 3, and enemy objective turns 2 and 3

20 points

Victory to the Sons of Behemat!

Aftermath 

There was no good eating on a Stormcast – as soon as you peeled the armour off, there was nothing but wispy smoke inside! Lucky that a few of these blokes had some big cats that they were riding, and that funny looking chicken was tasty too thought Magbragog. He enjoyed fighting Sigmar’s warriors, he just felt that a good fight should always be followed by an even better meal.

The Warstomper looked over at Dronk, the sole member of the Stompy Brothers who had remained on his feet during this scrap. As he tore another chunk of meat off the chicken-thing, Magbragog shook his head. Those little giants certainly knew how to swing a club, but they did go down a bit too easy. He wondered if it would be good to find a few more Mancrushers from somewhere to fill out their ranks, whether that would help the little ‘uns. Or maybe him and Tarbag should take a detour to the Coast of Tusks and see if they could find a Kraken-Eater to join their warband. The slimy gits tended to walk around thinking they owned everything, but they were pretty handy in a fight and tougher than the titchy little Mancrushers.

Throwing down the chewed remnants of the Lord Aquilor’s Gryph-Charger, Magbragog was still hungry. He’d give the Mancrushers another go, assuming that Fat Glurg and Grumbog weren’t properly dead. A good shouting would probably help get them back on their feet, so he strode towards them and began to inhale deeply… 

Next - A combined Force of Order clashes with Magbragog's growing Tribe!

Anyone for Goat? (Sons of Behemat vs. Beastmen AOS battle)

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)

Previous - Magbragog vs. Kharadron Overlords

 

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. Tarbag, meanwhile, decided that he could come back for the shiny rock later so he charged into the gor herd in front of him, swinging his flail through the goatmen and almost wiping them out instantly.

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.   

Next - Stormcast Eternals try to stop Mighty Magbragog!

Fee Fi Fo Fum, beware of the Giants, cos here they come!

I'm a big fan of Heresy Miniatures stuff, and have used quite a number of Andy's models as proxies or stand-ins in numerous games - plus I have one of his awesome Dragons sitting in my 'to-do' pile waiting for me to get some paint on her!

I backed his kickstarter, Return of the Monsters, but during the campaign didn't get the Giant for some reason... I think I got most other things so I showed a little bit of restraint I guess. But with the release of the Sons of Behemat coming up for Age of Sigmar, I knew I would need to use his giant as a Mega-gargant - from all the rumours it sounded like it was the perfect size, and it just looked so cool. I also had a good idea for basing him using some Mantic Terraincrate pieces...

I will add some more photos of the full Giant tribe, with some size comparison pics between various vintages of giants and mega-giants (just a couple more to finish painting), but these are some quick pics I took of Heresy Miniatures Mucklegeet the Giant (in my tribe I renamed him Magbragog Maneater). He's so big that I struggled to get rid of the lines in the backdrop of the light box so I'll have to have another go at photographing him another day!

I just love the character that the sculpt has - the almost innocent look in the giant's eyes as he starts to scoff the poor hapless paladin. I figured that it would look great if the paladin had just been scooped up from his camp, part-way through cooking his own dinner, completely unaware of this monster that had turned up behind him - I wanted to use the tent to show the narrative in the model but also help give a sense of scale to the giant (it's easy to miss the paladin at first glance as you get distracted by the rest of the model). He was painted almost exclusively with Contrast paints, the great textures meaning they did a good job of adding depth to everything in a really quick and easy manner. 

Anyway, it was a joy to paint and he's already done a great job stomping some flying dwarfs in a game, so him and his tribe will be trampling some more enemies in the future I'm sure! 

Admiral Drakesbane gets a GIANT stomping! (Sons of Behemat vs. Kharadron AOS Battle Report)

Age of Sigmar battle report - 31 October 2020

I took my newly painted giants for a run against some Kharadron Overlords, commanded by Admiral Drakesbane. 

Magbragog Maneater, the Warstomper Mega-Gargant, led The Stompy Brothers (Fat Glurg, Dronk Stunty-Stomper and Gobstopple Aleguzzler) to smash apart the flying machines and eat the chewy dwarfs inside. A combination of lucky charge rolls and getting a double turn helped to get the big lads across and into combat nice and quick, avoiding the worst of the Kharadron firepower!

Next - Magbragog takes on the Beasts of Chaos!