Saturday 4 July 2009

Raetian Goblins - Storm Giant

A significant part of my WMA Later Raetian Goblin army is my Storm Giant.




Huge and dumb, when he's going in the right direction he can be quite effective...


This is a slideshow of the second WMA battle of my Later Raetian Goblins, featuring this said Storm Giant, vs. my Early Imperial Romans. (Warning, the whole thing lasts just under 10 minutes!)

I adapted the following stats from The Battle of the Five Armies, a Tolkien derivative of the original Warmaster...

Troop Type
Type
Attack
Range
Hits
Armour
Note
Strom Giant
[Elephant]
8
-
8
5+
Storm Gt

...with the notes lifted straight from BOTFA...

  1. All Storm Giants have to be given separate orders – they cannot be brigaded with other units, not even with other Storm Giants.

  2. If you attempt to give an order to a Storm Giant and fail then you must take a Giant Goes Wild test.

  3. All Storm Giants cause terror in their enemies.

  4. Because of their extreme size, Giants are allowed to charge fortified enemies – they attack troops by sweeping their clubs along the ramparts and bawling. Although they are high enough to easily reach their enemies, they are not tall enough to move over high linear obstacles or city walls – and so cannot pursue retreating fortified enemies.

  5. Storm Giants have a great many hits (8) and we must consider the possibility of hurting the Giant and reducing his effectiveness. Therefore, if a Storm Giant has suffered 4-7 hits by the end of the Shooting phase or Combat phase he is deemed to have been badly hurt. Once badly hurt, the Giant’s outstanding hits are discounted and his Hits and Attacks values are halved for the rest of the battle (to 4 Hits and 4 Attacks).

GIANT GOES WILD
Roll a D6 to determine what the Giant does.
D6 Result
  1. The Storm Giant will neither move or fight this turn but simply stands rooted to the spot looking bewildered.

  2. Move the Storm Giant directly towards the nearest table edge. If he moves into another unit he will attack it regardless of which side it is on. If victorious in combat, the Storm Giant will stand his ground.

  3. The Storm Giant picks up a rock, tree, abandoned cart, small building or whatever comes to hand and throws it at the closest unit he can see – friend or foe. The object travels up to 5 x D6cm and if it travels far enough to reach its target, it strikes with three attacks worked out in the usual way.

  4. The Storm Giant moves straight forward at full pace in the direction he is facing. If he reaches an enemy unit he will charge and fight as normal. If there is a friendly unit in his path he will walk straight through it. A friendly unit that has been walked through is immediately confused – but ceases to be confused at the end of the command phase along with other confused units.

  5. The Storm Giant moves as fast as he can towards the nearest enemy unit that he can see. If he reaches the enemy unit, he will attack as normal. If friends are in the way, he will walk through them causing confusion as described above.

  6. The Storm Giant gives a mighty bellow and rushes straight at the nearest enemy unit he can see. Move the Storm Giant at double his normal full pace. If friends are in the way, they are walked through and confused as described above. If the Storm Giant reaches the enemy he fights by furiously jumping up and down on the foe, crazily doubling his Attacks in the first round of combat.

In terms of HOTT, it is classed as a God, though I have yet to actually use it in a game. I did briefly consider using it as a Behemoth, but it's just too big, way bigger than the Troll...

As for the model itself, well its simply a Zvezda 28mm Troll without the teeth or pointy ears. I painted it grey (in layers), and then over coated it with Cabots stain and that's kind of where it went a little wrong. The Cabots was too thick, and instead of flowing into the crevasses of the mini, it acted as a thick drybrush and sat on top! Still, I quite like the finish - it still highlights the shading etc, just in reverse!

Nick

3 comments:

  1. I'd call it a Behemoth! That way you might actually get to play with it!

    From HOTT:

    "BEHEMOTHS, including all ground creatures or machines of exceptional size and physical or magical strength or invulnerability, such as the largest humanoid giants, afreets, ogres, troops of large trolls, elephants..."

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  2. Thanks Tim,

    I sit corrected!

    And yes, you're right - classed as a Behemoth it would get some game time. So long as I didn't stand it near the Troll!

    I'll put up some size comparisons soon...I'm off to a HOTT Day in July this morning. Wish me luck!

    Nick

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  3. :-) aka Storm Mother goes wild5 July 2009 at 14:11

    Storm Giant goes wild? OMG I love it! I was pmsl at the test. I want one! I don't wanna play HOTT or anything - I just want a Storm Giant.

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