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Custom Faction Concept: Citycrusher Gargants


HiddenElephant

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I've got ideas.  Too many ideas.  This is one of them.  It's a faction of Gargants (Giants) who go around and destroy cities.  Pretty simple concept.  However, I haven't 'rulesd-it-out'.  This is just a large set of concepts that can be developed further.  Beware of a few jokes, I couldn't help myself.

(Updated 5/28/2018)

Fluff Concept:  The Citycrusher Gargants are a race of Gargants with a profound hatred of the cities built by the smaller races.  Where this hatred stems from is hard to say - some believe it’s that the Gargants do not like what Cities do to the landscape, others believe it is out of jealousy.  Whatever the reason, the Citycrusher Gargants thunder across the lands to bring ruin to all cities - regardless of allegiance.

    Citycrusher Gargants organize themselves into loose tribes, typically lead by the women.  They are highly nomadic by nature, always moving and never truly settling down. Unusually for a Destruction Faction, they are not stupid.  At least, most of them aren’t. They don’t like fighting with each other, and when tribes meet, they will typically trade knowledge and boast of their accomplishments.  In addition, they delight in convincing the followers of Gork and Mork to join their rampaging crusade, not that it’s hard. However, they can often be frustrated by the idiocy of the orruks and the grots, are unnerved by the ever-hungry ogors, and despise the Aleguzzler Gargants - that last one in particular seems to only fuel the Citycrusher Gargants’ resentment.

 

Why play this faction?

You like playing as the Adeptus Titanicus and Adeptus Custodes in Wh40K.

You like paying 60 bucks or more per model.

You don’t want to move around several 20-man groups every moving phase.

You enjoy stepping on other people.

 

Faction Overview:

Weapons have high reach, Rend and damage, but lower To-Hit odds.  The Gargants can struggle to hit things smaller than they are, but when they hit?  Well, not even armor will save you.

Good Mobility:  Legs longer than Ogors’.

Good Ranged Attacking capacity from throwing rocks and things at the enemy.  Don’t mock it when the rocks weigh 300 pounds plus.

Almost exclusively behemoths.  They have favorable damage charts, with Move, Rend, and Damage going down very slowly, but even losing one unit can sting.

 

Ideal Faction Aesthetics:  Celtic Barbarians. They have very little in the way of metal (comparatively), and use it all for their elite and leaders.  Their weapons are often wood and/or stone lashed together. They wear jewelry fashioned out of stones, and in fact are expert stone carvers.  Gold and other fine goods, thought of as the trappings of the City-Dwellers, are used as trophies; great warriors have display poles where they string up the bodies of defeated knights and captured works of art.

 

Alliance Ability Concepts:

Army of Giants:  Allows for easier times capturing objectives in objective-based scenarios, and lifts the restrictions on Behemoths when building a force.

Realm Shakers:  Allows for the faction to destroy terrain and remove any effects it may have had.  Whenever they destroy a terrain, or completely destroy a Unit, they gain a Devastation Point.  Devastation Points are spent to ignore the effects of a damage chart on a model for a turn, and therefore are hard to come by.

 

Unit Concepts:

Gahl’ra Mountain Breaker:  Character Hero, Kit A Model.  A unique Gargantess, and a major political force within the faction.  She wields a special spear and a unique shield, but also has the floating stones of the Earth Maiden option.  She attacks in melee with her Spear, Stomps, and Shield Smashes, and attacks at range with her Floating Stones.  She ignores the rend of attacks made against her. She is a Wizard that can cast and unbind 2 spells a turn. Her innate spell draws a line from her to a certain distance away, and any enemy units that line crosses will take Mortal Wounds.  Her innate Command Ability grants a target Gargant Unit to make more attacks in Melee for the turn. Uniquely makes the Mountain Guard Battleline.

Earth Maiden:  Magic Hero, Kit A Model.  A Gargantess surrounded by floating stones.  She attacks with stomps, and throws rocks as a ranged attack.  Can only cast/unbind one spell a turn. Her innate spell allows one unit to ignore the rend characteristic of whatever is attacking them.

Beast Mistress:  Support Hero, Kit A Model.  A Gargantess wielding a spear with a Mountain Hawk on her arm.  She attacks with the spear and stomps in melee, and uses the Hawk to attack from a range.  She increases the bravery of Gargant Beasts and Cloud Hawks by being around them. Grants Gargant Beasts Battleline Status.

War Mother:  Combat Hero, Kit A Model.  A Gargantess wielding a spear and a shield.  Attacks with the spear, stomps, and shield smashes.  She ignores the rend of attacks against her. Natural army commander whose command ability increases the to-hit odds of Gargant allies within her radius.

Ruinstone Bearer:  Anti-Magic Support Hero, a Totem, Kit B Model.  A Gargant carrying around a carved monolith that he can squash the enemy with, as well as the customary stomp attacks..  The monolith also has the additional effect making it harder for enemies to cast spells within a radius of the model.

Stoneroarer:  Musician Support Hero, Kit B Model.  A Gargant carrying around a giant horn that he blows.  Squashes and kicks the enemy with hands and feet. Effectively acts as an army-wide musician by allowing charges to be rerolled and adding distance to a charge naturally.

Pulverizers:  Melee Unit, Kit C Model.  Gargants carrying a large melee weapon that could be a pick, a hammer, or even just a club.  Attacks with stomps and their weapon. Gain a bonus to hit against monsters and war-machines due to more equal footing.  In groups of 1 to 5, but has no formal leader. Battleline with Citycrusher Faction Allegiance.

Avalanchers:  Ranged Unit, Kit C Model.  Gargants carrying stones used for throwing in a bag.  Attack with stomps and smashes in melee, and can throw boulders as a ranged attack.  Get a universal bonus to hit against war-machines; demolition is their specialty. Special feature:  If they kill at least 1 model with their melee attacks, they can make 1 immediate ranged attack against another unit, ignoring the unit they are standing next to.  In groups of 1 to 5, but has no formal leader.

Earthshakers:  Special Attack Unit, Kit C Model.  Gargants that have been magically enchanted, but carry no weapons.  They attack with stomps and smashes. Any unit within a certain radius of them suffer an Armor Save negative as the area around them shakes from enhanced vibrations caused by their stomps.  In groups of 1 to 5, but has no formal leader.

Catastrophics:  Elite Unit, Kit D Model.  Gargants wearing crude armor pounded out of the armor of their foes and wielding long Greatclubs.  They attack with their Greatclubs and by Stomping and Smashing. Their blows are incredibly powerful; if they get a 6 on the to-wound, then their damage gets turned into mortal wounds.  In groups of 1 to 3, but with no formal leader.

Mountain Guard:  Elite Guarding Unit, Kit D Model.  Gargants who wear crude armor pounded out of the armor of their foes and wielding massive tower shields.  They attack with their Tower Shields and by Stomping and Smashing. If they are standing close to a Hero Model, there is a chance any attack directed at that Hero Model will be directed to them instead.  In addition, when they make a charge attack, they can always travel the full distance and move over enemy units. Units they ‘move over’ are pushed away from them and must roll to see if they take mortal wounds.  In groups of 1 to 3, but with no formal leader.

Gargant Beasts:  ‘Cavalry’ Unit, Kit E Model.  Appear as prehistoric mammalian monsters with large, toothy crocodilian heads.  They attack with their powerful snapping jaws. Get a bonus on the to-wound roll during a charge.  The Pack Alpha gets an additional attack. In groups of 3 to 12.

Cloud Hawks:  Fast-Attack Flying Unit, Kit F Model.  Quick, flying hawks the size of men that attack with their ripping beaks.  They can start off of the battlefield initially and come on later, like several other units.  Also have terrible bravery, and are not very tough. The Cast Alpha gets an additional attack.  In groups of 5 to 20.

 

Command Traits Concepts:  Given to the commander.

Basic +1 Wounds

Basic Enhance Command Ability Radius/Range

Increased To-Hit versus Heroes

Increased To-Hit versus Monsters

Increased natural Armor Save.

Heal wounds after killing X models.

 

Magical Artifacts:  A special doohickey for 1 hero and every hero for every battalion used.

Trophies of Destroyed Kingdoms:  Bonus to hit Heroes and War Machines.

Spell-Eating Shield:  This hero can unbind 1 more spell per turn, or unbind 1 spell per turn as if it were a wizard.

Ancient Lens:  To-Hit bonus with Ranged Attacks.

Skulls of Fallen Armies:  1 weapon (chosen at start of battle) gains an additional attack for every 10 models in target unit.

Statue of Victory:  Bravery Buff Radius.

Landforged Crystal:  Ignore the effects of terrain.

 

Lore of the Earth Concepts:  A bonus spell for the wizards.

Feet of Clay:  Target enemy unit, they lose a lot of speed.

Rubble-Flinger:  Target enemy unit, deal damage, do more damage if there are more models in the enemy unit.

Upheaval:  Target non-flying enemy unit, move them a certain distance as you see fit.

Crushing Weight:  All flying units within radius of caster lose Flight for the turn, which results in a huge speed debuff - some might not be able to move!

Skin of Stone:  Target friendly unit gets to reroll failed armor saves against attacks w/o Rend.

Unbreakable Form:  Target friendly unit or self.  In exchange for speed going to the pits, all wounds taken are halved, rounded up, akin to the Stonehorn.

 

Battalion Concepts:

Trinity:  1 each of Earth Maiden, Beast Mistress, and War Mother:  Gain a Devastation Point during the hero phase of the models part of this battalion are within a certain distance of each other.

Hunting Party:  1 Beast Mistress + 2-5 units of Gargant Beasts + 0-4 units of Cloud Hawks:  Units part of this battalion gain a To-Hit bonus against the enemy unit that the Beast Mistress hits with her Mountain Hawk.

Roar of Falling Empires:  1 Stoneroarer + 1-3 units of Pulverizers:  When charging, units part of this battalion roll 3 dice and drop the lowest.  If rerolled, all 3 dice are rerolled.

Tremble of Crumbling Cities:  1 Ruiner + 1-3 units of Earthshakers:  Enemy units within a radius of this unit get a penalty on their To-Hit rolls for all weapons.

Rocks Fall….:  1 Earth Maiden + 1-3 units of Avalanchers:  Units part of this battalion deal mortal wounds on their ranged attack if they get a 6+ on the To-Wound.

Titanic Rampage:  1 War Mother + 1-3 units of Pulverizers:  All units part of this battalion can run and charge in the same turn.

Gigantomachia:  Trinity Battalion + Roar of Falling Empires + Tremble of Crumbling Cities:  Begin game with 3 Devastation Points. Also, get congratulated by Games Workshop for buying that many gargants.

 

Original Google Docs Edition: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V93UjDL1_-2uY8f0o1Ckt6uugfia8y77u3rqhNfXrjY/edit?usp=sharing

 

Thank you for checking this out.  Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

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Looks good, back in the days of yore when Sigmar was young and open play was the only play I had an army of giants that was fantastically fun to play as, the giant kit itself is massively versatile and with the other kits in the range of similar size you can really go massive lengths in terms of models. My take was expanding ale guzzlers themselves rather than making a new faction but the arrogance and outrage of these new giants at their destruction kin is a fantastic stance to explore.

 

For "Army of Giants" I'm guessing the best way would be to go something like:

Army of Giant - These monolithic creatures stand many times the size of men and other such lesser beasts, where as a battalion of soldiers might defend a strongpoint in a Freeguild army a single Gargant can hold the way. In objective scenarios each GARGANT from a CITY CRUSHER GARGANT army counts as 5 models for the purposes of capturing and holding objectives. Additionally when taken within a CITY CRUSHER GARGANT list these models no longer occupy Behemoth slots.

Realm Shakers - In your combat phase if any of your GARGANTS are in terrain and not currently engaged in combat they may opt to decimate the terrain feature instead. Roll 1D6 and add 1 to the result for every GARGANT wholey within that terrain feature after the first, on a roll of 6 or more that terrain feature is removed from the battlefield. 

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Thanks for the feedback!  I've updated this faction a little bit just because I was pokin' about on the forums and saw what other people wanted.  I added in two new unnamed units.  One wields a great club and is armor, and would be one of the hardest-hitting units in all of existence.  The other, from the same kit, wields a tower shield and can go plowing through enemies.

I've also given the faction a named character, who is an amalgamation of the primary melee hero and the wizard hero, and can cast more spells.  I suspect that she'd be 500 points, if not more.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've been looking at doing a Aleguzzler Gargants army as I think it would just be great to play! Or doing a chaos gargant list with a cygor, gorgon, shaggoth and a couple of chaos Gargants! The kits are great and there are lots of interchangeable parts to make a great looking force. A bit like facing an imperial knight army in 40k.

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On 5/28/2018 at 1:04 AM, Melcavuk said:

Realm Shakers - In your combat phase if any of your GARGANTS are in terrain and not currently engaged in combat they may opt to decimate the terrain feature instead. Roll 1D6 and add 1 to the result for every GARGANT wholey within that terrain feature after the first, on a roll of 6 or more that terrain feature is removed from the battlefield. 

Awesome post!  And you make a great point on the versatility of this kit, I use bitz from it throughout my collection.  

I love the idea of them smashing up people's terrain!  Especially because it will troll gamey people who use it to block off objectives.  (Not being salty by the way - it's never cost me a game - I just think it's a very poorly conceived game interaction.)

Just a comment though, the way you have it written currently would make it easier to smash up larger terrain than small, because you can fit more of those big bases in.  Whereas logically, it should be easier to smash something up the smaller it is.

Is it worth considering either making it a straight 5+?

Or maybe making it say "within 1" (or even 3") so it's more about how many Gargants you have committed to it, rather than the size of the terrain piece itself?  A puny Fec Gnarlmaw should be the easiest thing to smash up, not the hardest ?

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On 5/28/2018 at 12:37 AM, HiddenElephant said:

Fluff Concept:  The Citycrusher Gargants are a race of Gargants with a profound hatred of the cities built by the smaller races.  Where this hatred stems from is hard to say - some believe it’s that the Gargants do not like what Cities do to the landscape, others believe it is out of jealousy.  Whatever the reason, the Citycrusher Gargants thunder across the lands to bring ruin to all cities - regardless of allegiance.

 

Love your work!

One suggestion on their motivation.  Order have been confirmed as "Empire builders, colonists and settlers", i.e. they are at best on the wrong side of history:

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2018/05/12/your-intro-to-the-mortal-realms-may-12gw-homepage-post-4/

I wrote some lore for my Troggoths whereby they have a special hatred for Stormcast and Free Peoples, because during the Seeds of Hope they drained their swamp to make farmland, thereby destroying their home.

You could easily have a motivation whereby they are freedom fighters against Grand Alliance: Fascism, fighting back on behalf of the discplaced indiginous populations of the Realms.  It could be an interesting hook to tell a story from the Destruction point of view.

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10 hours ago, PlasticCraic said:

Love your work!

One suggestion on their motivation.  Order have been confirmed as "Empire builders, colonists and settlers", i.e. they are at best on the wrong side of history:

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2018/05/12/your-intro-to-the-mortal-realms-may-12gw-homepage-post-4/

I wrote some lore for my Troggoths whereby they have a special hatred for Stormcast and Free Peoples, because during the Seeds of Hope they drained their swamp to make farmland, thereby destroying their home.

You could easily have a motivation whereby they are freedom fighters against Grand Alliance: Fascism, fighting back on behalf of the discplaced indiginous populations of the Realms.  It could be an interesting hook to tell a story from the Destruction point of view.

The concept of justified destruction is a good one, and one I'm currently exploring in my Suneaters battletome, whilst to the factiosn of order they are city burning savages in truth they are simply reclaiming land that was theirs long before this tide of order without reason encroached on the wilds of their lands. Every life they take is just a drop in the ocean compared to the number of Ogor lives taken when duardin and men sought to burn encampments of destruction that they might raise their great cities.

 

This kind of context to destruction can expand an otherwise quite 2D faction (much like Khornes "hit it" response) into a deep and slightly tragic faction, lack of order doesnt make them "bad" and the fact that they want to destroy the cities of Order is no more wrong than if an order faction sought to burn a raiding camp that encroached on their lands.

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12 hours ago, PlasticCraic said:

Love your work!

One suggestion on their motivation.  Order have been confirmed as "Empire builders, colonists and settlers", i.e. they are at best on the wrong side of history:

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2018/05/12/your-intro-to-the-mortal-realms-may-12gw-homepage-post-4/

I wrote some lore for my Troggoths whereby they have a special hatred for Stormcast and Free Peoples, because during the Seeds of Hope they drained their swamp to make farmland, thereby destroying their home.

You could easily have a motivation whereby they are freedom fighters against Grand Alliance: Fascism, fighting back on behalf of the discplaced indiginous populations of the Realms.  It could be an interesting hook to tell a story from the Destruction point of view.

I have a similar angle in mind for theFurnace Kong’s faction of mine, they remained out of the Gorkamorkas Waaagh, only forging armor and weapons, but the forces of order still hated and tried to exterminate them, so they banded together and began to harness the flames of the suneater himself.

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My concept with the Citycrusher Gigants was that they had a 'Gaia's Children' approach, and/or like the original giants of Norse Mythology.  Both sets of giants embody the natural world untainted by man, so the process of pulverizing everything that the other grand allegiances do would fit into that quite easily.  Other thoughts were that the Gargants were jealous of the smaller races because they built and maintained cities, while it was too hard for the Gargants to do so.  The only real lore surrounding the Aleguzzlers is that they all get stinking drunk to avoid feeling miserable about the fact that their race is degenerating.  Citycrusher Gargants are basically Aleguzzlers without the alchoholism and a big chip on their shoulder.

Also, while I've tried to put more work into this faction, I either get side-tracked by more important projects or find myself with a lack of energy to do anything.  I'll mention a few desires.

The basic box, Pulverizers and Avalanchers, would be a 50 USD box with 1 figure in it that, in game, is about 150 points, a lot like the regular Aleguzzler.  They'd both be 10-health monsters.  Health would scale up depending on the giant's position.  The small heroes, the Ruinstone Bearer and the Stoneroarer, would be 12 health models, the elite units of Catastrophics and Mountain Guard would be 14 health, and so would be the Beast Mistress, the Stone Maiden, and the War Mother.  Meanwhile, the named character would have 16 health, because she's kind of a big deal.

Speaking of which, that big character box would be a hundred bucks, or maybe over.  It'd be a big deal.

The two beast sets would really kind of be points filler, but from a logical perspective there would be no reason not to take Mountain Hawks for harassing whoever is in the back lines.

I do want to fiddle with the army composition.  I'm not happy with the Earthshaker concept.  I'm not sure why, but I think that it would do better as a small hero option in the Ruinstone/Stoneroarer box.  I'd also like to add some more units to the mix.  This is just from a unit number perspective, but unfortunately, I've kind of done all I can think of.  To crunch some numbers, the most recent force of the Idoneth Deepkin have 14 different units released in a ratio of 8 heroes and 6 units.  Daughters of Khaine have 8 heroes and 6 units again, if I'm recalling it correctly.  Ironjawz, an early faction, have 5 heroes and 3 unit options  A lot of these factions are slated towards heroes.  Right now, the Citycrusher Gargants have 6 heroes and 7 unit options, or 7 heroes and 6 unit options if the Earthshaker becomes a small hero.  That's 13 different options, including a named character, which IS pretty good.... but I feel like I need just... one.... more.  Any suggestions?

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19 hours ago, PlasticCraic said:

I wrote some lore for my Troggoths whereby they have a special hatred for Stormcast and Free Peoples, because during the Seeds of Hope they drained their swamp to make farmland, thereby destroying their home.

My Troggoths are too dumb to hate.  They don't really remember anything that happened more than 30 seconds ago....

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Quick update:  I've fiddled around with the preliminary army list.  Instead of the Earthshaker being a unit concept, it's now a hero and a wizard.  It comes in a box that makes another type of wizard.  Here's the summary write-ups.

Earthshaker:  Wizard Hero, Kit C Model.  A Gargant covered in anklets made of bones, armor, rocks, wood, and whatever else they can scavenge.  Attacks with slams and stomps. He is a wizard who can cast and unbind one spell per turn. After he charges, he deals mortal wounds to whatever unit he charged.  His innate spell gives a unit a movement boost on moves, runs, and charges.

Cobblegrinder Shaman:  Wizard Hero, Kit C Model.  A Gargant equipped with a short hammer and shamanistic decorations.  Attacks with the hammer and with stomps. If the spell he is casting specifically targets 1 unit that is a war machine, then he gets a bonus to casting the spell.    His innate spell adds one to the attack characteristics of a chosen unit’s chosen weapon.

So, yeah, 2 more wizards.  That gives this faction 3 total wizards, 4 counting the character.  Honestly, though I like the Earthshaker Wizard concept, I'm not sold on the Cobblegrinder.  I may fiddle with this some more.  Swap the Cobblegrinder for the Ruinstone Bearer in Kit C, and remove the Cobblegrinder to make something else, maybe a 'Pulverizer Hero Model'.  I'm not sure, this is just rethinking at this moment.

I've also written up more 'rules-y' versions of the faction ability.  Check them out below and comment if you've got any suggestions or questions.

Army of Giants:  For the purposes of capturing objectives, all GARGANT units in this faction count as 5 models.  Furthermore, GARGANT models part of a multi-model unit count as being in formation if they are within 3” of another model of the unit instead of 1”.

    Devastators of the Realms:  During your Combat Phase, your models may attack and destroy Terrain.  In order to do so, declare that you are using a unit to attack a Terrain feature for that unit’s attack for this round.  Roll a die, and add 1 for every GARGANT within 5” of the terrain piece. If you roll above a 7, the Terrain feature is destroyed.  Remove if from the table and gain a Devastation Point.

    Invigorated by Ruination:  This faction has access to Devastation Points.  During your Hero Phase, you may spend any number of Devastation Points.  For each Devastation Point spent, you may choose a MONSTER unit in this faction and, until the end of the turn, you may treat that unit as if it was one row higher on its damage table, up to its top row.  You may choose the same unit multiple times if you spend multiple Devastation Points.

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Hell, I would not want to be the poor freeguild soldier on watch when those guys appear over the horizon. Just wondering, I know you said about the Celtic warrior aesthetic, but are these giants more visually ranging in their physique than traditional gargants since you said about the higher intelligence or are they all the same sort of pot bellied look of the aleguzzler gargants?

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6 hours ago, Necroshadow said:

Hell, I would not want to be the poor freeguild soldier on watch when those guys appear over the horizon. Just wondering, I know you said about the Celtic warrior aesthetic, but are these giants more visually ranging in their physique than traditional gargants since you said about the higher intelligence or are they all the same sort of pot bellied look of the aleguzzler gargants?

Nah.  I actually don't like the Aleguzzler Kit.  I know it's practically the Carnifex of Fantasy/AoS, but I find it unpleasant to look at.  Long, gangly limbs support a big round body like some kind of spider.  A massive gut, and not to mention the gargant's loincloth.  I did not want to be aware of that, thank you very much.

No, i was thinking more of an athletic or muscular build.  Still tall and lanky, but without the massive gut, kind of like more traditional, non-alchoholic giants.  Maybe with nice beards for the men.  The point is the Citycrushers are non-degenerate Gargants.  They've got a Gargant Pride to them that makes them despise the cities of the littler people.

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They sound like they’d be a very interesting force visually. Definitely intrigued by the earth maiden’s floating stones and other bits like the hunter’s mountain hawk and tower shields. Have you thought of making some mock up warscrolls for some of the ideas? Would be really interesting to see plus it’d be cool to test out in games. 

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On 6/13/2018 at 1:51 AM, PlasticCraic said:

You could easily have a motivation whereby they are freedom fighters against Grand Alliance: Fascism

I'm sorry, this literally made me gasp in laughter. Just had an image of a little model of Stalin riding a huge Soviet Dragon?

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