Warhammer

Chronicles takes a
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its rules,
background and
game mechanics,
frequently stolen
fromin-progress
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It also acts
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Warhammer players
who have produced
inspired, well
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If you have
a good item for
Warhammer
Chronicles then
write to:
Gav Thorpe
(Warhammer
Chronicles)
Games Workshop
Willow Road, Lenton
Nottingham, NG7 2WS
Please note that any
letters containing
rules queries, requests
for a Mercedes Benz or
cooking recipes etc.
will be terminated
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Prejudice. You have
been warned.
W
arhammer
This month I havelashed scribeThornton to within an inch of his lifeto producea
document on theancient Albion Giant sport of theBigBash.
Presented by Gav Thorpe
chronicles
Everyseason, sometimes moreoften,
theGiants gather in theancient stone
circles to bash each others brains out.
Nobodyis reallysurewhytheGiants do
this, and few peoplecareverymuch.
Its just anicechangefromtheGiants
bashingeveryoneelses brains out. Over
theyears thelocals havecometo accept
theBigBash as just another exampleof
how deranged and violent Giants can
be. Moretolerant souls suggest that it
isnt niceto meddlein other folks
cultureand that it might even bepart of
theGiants religion. Thesepeople
generallyget their brains bashed out.
GET READY TO RUMBLE
To playtheBigBash youll need atable
to playon, aGiant model each and
about adozen rocks. Usesmall
pebbles, sparediceor coins to
represent these. Youll also need
somethingto mark out your arena, one
copyof theFightingChart for each
player, aScatter diceand afew D6s of
various colors, and somepens and
paper to keep track of theGiants
wounds. If you havemorethan two
Giants fighting, you will also need one
counter each to decideinitiative.
ARENA
Thevenuefor this ancient riteis oneof
theancient circles of Oghamstones that
dot theAlbion countryside. For your
games, set up acircleof standingstones
18" across. SeeDiagram1. At thestart
of thegamethereareno rocks in the
arena, but dont worry theyll soon
turn up.
SETTING UP YOUR
GIANTS
Giants start with 20wounds each.
When theylosetheir last wound they
areremoved fromthegame. TheGiants
start thebattleevenlyspaced around
theedgeof thearena.
WINNING
Thelast Giant standinginsidethecircle
of stones is thewinner. AnyGiant that
is knocked out or moves outsidethe
circleis out of thegame. Removethe
model immediately. Usean imaginary
lineto definetheedgeof thecircle
(seeDiagram1). If theGiants base
touches this hehas stepped out and
is removed.
OVERVIEW
In each turn all theGiants get achance
to do somethingunless theyare
knocked to theground or contacted by
another Giant beforetheyhavea
chanceto act. Theorder in which the
Giants act is determined randomlyby
drawingacounter fromacup, the
Giant whosego it is beingsaid to have
theinitiative. Thegamecontinues until
oneGiant wins.
THE TURN
Each turn aGiant can normallydo one
thing, wecall this an Action. If heis in
closecombat, i.e., in basecontact with
another Giant, hecan do two things,
i.e., 2Actions.
INITIATIVE
If thereareonlytwo Giants fighting
you can roll adice: 1-3it is oneGiant,
4-6theother has theinitiative. If there
aremorethan two Giants then youll
need to makecounters or someother
formof token to put in acup. Each
turn draw themout oneat atimeand
let each Giant takehis turn as his
counter is drawn.
If your Giant is in combat you must
decidehis actions beforeinitiativeis
decided (seelater for fightingactions).
If your roll for initiativeindicates a
Giant in closecombat then it means
that you should resolvethat fight next,
startingwith thefirst action of the
Giant who has theinitiative. Resolve
both Giants fightingactions and
removetheother fightingGiants
initiativecounter beforemovingon to
determiningthenext initiative.
NORMAL ACTIONS
Anormal action is either Moveor
Chuck aRock.
MOVE
If your Giant is not in contact with
another then you maymove. Roll two
D6and keep thehigher number as the
distanceyou maymove(in inches) this
turn. If you moveinto contact with
another Giant then you aresaid to have
charged and will get abonus in combat
next turn.
You cannot moveawayif you arein
contact with another Giant. If another
Giant moves into contact with you
beforeyou haveyour chanceto act then
you do nothingthis turn. Next turn you
will both fight. Notethat you cannot
moveinto contact with an opponent if
heis alreadyin contact with another
standingGiant. Rocks dont impede
movement at all and should besimply
moved asideif theyarein theway.
CHUCK A ROCK
AGiant maypick up and chuck arock if
heis in basecontact with it (and not in
closecombat) when it comes to his
turn. This is his action for theturn.
Nominateatarget and roll 2D6to seeif
youvehit. You need to roll atotal that
is morethan thenumber of inches to
thetarget. For example, if therangeis 6
and abit inches, you need to roll a7or
moreto hit (seediagram2). If thetarget
is two Giants fightingthen measureto
theclosest one. If you scoreahit then
roll aD6to seewhich Giant is hit.
AGiant in contact with afallen
opponent is still in closecombat, but
you maychuck rocks at thestanding
oneas if hewasnt. If you wish to target
thefallen onethen you must randomize
who is hit as normal.
Rocks do D3damageand Knockback.
Roll aStun check as normal (see
below). As usual, if thetarget was in
closecombat then theopponent of the
injured Giant mayfollow up when he
suffers theKnockback.
You can pick rocks up again and chuck
emback. When theyhit theyscatter D3"
in arandomdirection fromthetargets
head. When theymiss theytravel 12" in
astraight line(past thetarget) and
scatter D3" fromthere. Put thethrown
rock in its new location, touchingthe
baseof aGiant if it scattered to land on
top of him. Notethat if arock misses its
intended target it wont hit anyone
elseeither.
The Big Bash
A fast and fun game of fighting Giants
By Jake Thornton
STANDING (OPTIONAL)
In additional to simplywinningor
losingscraps, you might want to
keep track of your Giants fame.
This is known as his Standing, and is
ameasureof his success in theBig
Bash. For each BigBash hetakes
part in hegets 1point of Standing,
with 1extrapoint for each Giant he
knocks out (reduces to zero wounds
or pushes out of thecircle) and 3
points if heis theoverall winner.
8
8"
12"
18"
Diagram2. Throw a Rock.
Giant A needs a roll of a 9 to hit Giant B but only rolls a 7 and misses. The
rock travels the full 12" and then scatters a further D3 inches fromthat point.
Giant A Giant B
Diagram1. Big Bash Arena.
WARHAMMER CHRONICLES - 90 - AUGUST 2001 WARHAMMER CHRONICLES - 91 - AUGUST 2001
FIGHTING ACTIONS
When fighting, Giants get two fighting
actions. At least oneof thesetwo
actions must bean Attack. Theother
could beeither asecond Attack or a
Defense. Theymaybein anyorder.
At thestart of aturn your Giant is in
combat with another Giant, secretly
placetwo dice(onefor each Action) on
your copyof theFightingchart. The
number showingon each diceis the
Strength that theGiant is puttinginto
that attack or defense. This maybeany
number from1-6, but thetotal between
thetwo dicemust add up to 7. Oneof
thediceshould bewhiteand theother
colored. Thecolored diceis always the
first action.
FIGHTING
Giants mayonlyfight one-on-one;
gangingup two against oneis not
allowed bytradition. It would surelybe
asign of both weakness and cowardice.
Startingwith thefirst action of theGiant
with initiative, compareit with his
opponent. If it is adefense, then
initiativepasses to theGiant heis
fighting. If it is an attack then seeif the
target has defended himself for this
action. If hehas dodged or blocked
then look on thefightingchart and
subtract theStrength of theDefense
fromtheStrength of theAttack.
ThedefendingGiant loses anumber of
wounds equal to theStrength of the
attack left (i.e., after anydefensehas
been deducted). If your Giants loses any
wounds then immediatelymakeaStun
check (seebelow).
For example, imagine that the Giant
Ummumm Eadbutts his arch-rival
Oggogg for 4 points. Oggoggs first
action was to Dodge for 5 points, but
on the table when we cross reference
the two we find that Dodges are only
worth half when used against
Eadbutts. The result is 4 (the Eadbutt)
minus half of 5 (rounded up to 3), for
a result of 1 damage on Oggogg.
Oggogg now has to make a Stun check
to see if he will fall over. He will be
stunned (and lose his second action)
and knocked back automatically,
because that is the special rule for this
kind of attack.
If thetarget survives, then resolvehis
first action (unless hehas lost it through
beingstunned). Then do thesecond
action of theGiant with initiative, then
finallythesecond action of theother
Giant. Notethat beingknocked back
and followed up does not alter the
remainingdiceplaced for actions
that turn.
If you moveinto contact, you have
charged. This does not count following
up an opponent who has been knocked
back as, in reality, you arenever actually
out of contact. If you do chargeyou get
+1to anydamageyou might do. Add
this onlyif you havealreadyworked out
that you havedonesomedamage.
THROTTLE RULES
Damageis taken as normal on theturn
theThrottleis attempted, except no
Stun check is made. If anywounds are
lost bythedefender, theGiant grabs his
opponent bythethroat and proceeds to
throttlehim. This then ends both
Giants turn. Unfortunatelythis also
makes himan easytarget for his
opponent to throttlein return, which
hewill always do. Thus in thefollowing
turn either Giant maytakedamageas
theyboth tryto strangleeach other.
Until theybreak freefromeach other
theywill usethis special sequence
instead of thenormal allocation of
actions for closecombat.
In subsequent turns, when thefight is
resolved, each Giant rolls 1D6instead
of anyother actions. TheGiant who
makes thelower roll loses anumber of
wounds equal to thedifferencein
scores. Also, theloser is pushed back
1/2" for each wound caused. TheGiants
remain locked in combat and haveno
choicebut to follow up. This special
turn sequencewill continueuntil the
Giants both roll thesamenumber or
oneis pushed out of thering. At this
point theybreak off and areeach moved
back D3" (roll separately). Remember
that Giants do not makeStun checks
when throttlingeach other.
KNOCKBACK
ResolveKnockbacks beforeyou make
Stun checks. TheGiant beingknocked
back is moved D3" directlyawayfrom
theattacker. If hewas in closecombat
then his opponent must immediately
follow up thesamedistanceto remain
in meleewith him.
STUN CHECK
Whenever you takedamage, you need
to roll aStun check. Do this even if you
areautomaticallystunned, as it also
includes thepossibilityof fallingover.
In order to pass aStun check you need
to roll equal to or morethan the
number of wounds you havejust taken
on aD6. Aroll of a1always fails and a
roll of 6always succeeds. In addition, if
you roll a1your Giant falls over. If you
fail to pass thetest then you are
stunned. If you arein closecombat and
havenot yet resolved all your actions
(dice), then you losethenext attack
(defenseis unaffected). If you have
alreadymadeall your attacks this turn,
then adifferent penaltyapplies. Next
turn you mayonlyallocateatotal of 4
points instead of theusual 7, though
you must still useboth dice. If you are
not in closecombat then you maydo
nothingelsethis turn. Beingstunned
has no effect if you havefallen over.
FALLING OVER
If oneof thecombatants falls over then
theturn ends for theGiants in that
closecombat. In subsequent turns
remember that theGiants arestill
effectivelyin basecontact and are
thereforein closecombat. If either of
themgets theinitiativethen the
followingspecial sequenceis used.
TheattackingGiant rolls 2D6for his
Jump Up And Down attack, regardless
of who had theinitiative. This is how
much damagehell do. However, its
unlikelythat theother Giant will just lie
still to betrodden on, so roll aD6to
seehow manypoints of damagehecan
dodgeas herolls around. Subtract this
fromtheattackers roll to seehow
much damageis actuallytaken and
makeaStun check as normal.
In addition, if theproneGiant dodges
all thedamage, or if hepasses theStun
check, then hecan stand up
immediately. Otherwise, hell remain
on thefloor and probablyget jumped
up and down on again. If aGiant
stands up, hemaytakeno other
actions in that turn.
Also, if theleapingGiant rolls adouble
for his attack then hehas fallen over
and theother Giant immediatelystands
up. No damageis inflicted. Next turn
thepositions will bereversed.
Example: Ummumm has knocked
Oggogg to the floor in the previous
turn. Now he starts to jump up and
down on him. Ummumm rolls 2D6
and gets 2+6 = 8 points of damage.
Oggogg rolls a 5 to avoid this,
reducing the damage to 3 (8-5 = 3). 3
points of damage are added to
Ummumms total so far and assuming
he hasnt gone over 20 he makes a
Stun check to see if he can get up. He
needs to roll 4 or more to make it and
gets a 6! Easy.
Lastly, if your Giant has fallen over, the
Giant whos been clobberinghimcan
becontacted byathird fighter, they
will now bebusyfightingeach other
and ignoringyou so your Giant can
stand up automatically. This will take
your wholeturn. However, as you
arent allowed to havemorethan 2
Giants in afight you must placeyour
Giant out of contact with theothers
when hestands up. Also, if your Giant
is on thefloor and not in contact with
another model then hemaystand up
as his action when it gets to his turn.
THE ROCKS
Theother Giants in thecrowd have
cometo seesomeblood spilt and get
upset veryquicklyif this doesnt
happen. Check at theend of each turn.
If nobodyhas lost anywounds this
turn then someonein thecrowd will
chuck arock at arandomly
determined standingGiant. They
ignorefallen ones. Roll to seewho the
target is and measuretherangefrom
thenearest edgeof thecircle. Work
out whether therock hits and what
effect it has as usual.
FRIENDLY GAMES
TheBigBash is not supposed to bea
serious tournament typegameand as
such I expect youll find someodd
situations occur when your Giants lock
horns (so to speak). As with
Warhammer or Warhammer 40,000, try
to resolvethesefirstlybyagreeingon
whats most likelyto happen. If you
cant agreesimplyroll adiceto decide
and carryon clobbering!
On afinal note, wealso allow players
to measuremovements, ranges and so
on at anytimeduringtheBigBash
rather than havingto guess as you
would in Warhammer. This keeps the
gamemovingand just seems
moreappropriate.
CLUB IDEAS
If you can get quiteafew friends
together, whynot tryoneof the
followingalternatives:
TheRoyal Rubble Traditionally
played at thesummer festival of
Beltem, this variant of theBigBash
was started byone-timeKingof the
Giants, Gogrogagog. Thegames start
as normal, with thefirst four giants
in thecircle. As soon as oneGiant is
taken out, byanymeans, thenext
contender enters. Keep fighting
until theres onlyonegiant left
standing(draw lots to seewhat
order thegiants enter). Oh, and
KingGogrogagogwas veryimpatient
and hencethecrowd now follow his
examplebythrowingarock every
turn! Hencethetitle, the
Royal Rubble.
Throneof Stone This is asimple
knock-out contest, with the
emphasis on knock-out! Start with
pairingup thecompetitors, and
then thewinners of thefirst two
matches fight, then thewinners of
thethird and forth matches, and so
on until you haveasingleGiant left.
However, theGiants dont get much
rest between bouts and so will start
with however manywounds they
finished thelast fight, plus theroll
of aD6(this cant takethemabove
20). Thewinner gets to sit on the
Throneof Stoneat thehighest point
of theGiants Causeway. Not that
theother Giants careat all
As two Giants exchange blows, a third grows bored and prepares to finish their argument for them.
BIG BASH FIGHTIN CHART
Action High block Low block Dodge Special Rules
Thump Def None 1/2Def Knockback.
+1damageif any
gets past defense.
Eadbutt Def 1/2Def 1/2Def Knockback.
Always stunned if
takeanydamage.
Put the None Def 1/2Def Fall over if stunned.
boot in
Grab & 1/2Def None 1/2Def Ends turn.
throttle Seespecial rules.
Permission granted to photocopyfor personal use. Copyright Games Workshop 2001.
WARHAMMER CHRONICLES - 92 - AUGUST 2001 WARHAMMER CHRONICLES - 93 - AUGUST 2001