Titanic Effort.. The Biggest of the Big Guys
Long ago, in a time when war was preferred to Blood Bowl and wanton destruction on the battlefield occupied the hearts and minds of every mortal across the world, there lived a race known as the Sky-titans. As befittting of such a grandiose title, the Sky-titans lived atop the tallest peaks, building their halls and towering castles at the top of the world. Solitary beings, the Sky-titans would gather once a year to renew their kinship, throwing and catching boulders in a contest of athleticism that many believe was rooted in the worship of Nuffele!
THE GIANTS OF THE GAME
Today, there are no more Sky-titans. Their tale ended in tragedy, for they were consumed, quite literally, by a great migration of Ogres fleeinng the destruction of their tribal lands. Those few Sky-titans that survived were forced into small, huddled tribal groups that dispersed across the Old World, and over time degenerated into the race of Giants we know today. Historically, many Giants were kept captive by Ogre tribes; the mightiest Tyrants (as Ogre tribal chieftains are called) enjoyed hunting Giants and wrestling them into submission to prove their prowess. In less enlightened times, these captives were prized for their destructiveness in battle. In later years, thanks in part to strict NAF regulations regarding the inclusion of Giants on Blood Bowl teams, Giants came to be viewed as too expensive to keep around, due largely to the damage they do to stadia and the outrageous expense of equipping them with offcialal, branded kit. Consequently, possession of the creatures fell out of favour in Ogre society. Until, that is, a famed Ogre coach known as Skorag Gristlebrook took a fresh look at ancient Sky-titan carvings.
In mosaics depicting the Sky-titans' games, Skorag saw a form of Blood Bowl. Proclaiming that Nuffle, himself a tooth of the Great Maw, wished Giants to walk upon the gridiron in larger numbers, Skorag set about making it so. Following the collapse of the NAF in 2488, the only known all-Giant team of the era, the Bifrost Berserkers, were invited to play a string of friendly games against the Ogre teams of the Mountains of Mourn Mega-maul League. Sadly for the trusting Giants of Norsca, the invitation was little more than a ruse to lure the skilled Giant players into a trap...
Welcomed by Coach Skorag and his team, the Tusk Peak Tyrants, the Bifrost Berserkers were treated to a great feast. Sadly for the Giants, this feast was actually the cover for a cunning trap. Well-fed and extremely drunk, the Giants were fallen upon by Ogres from a dozen teams. The fighting lasted many hours, but the outcome was never really in any doubt. In the space of a single evening, the Bifrost Berserkers team was the victim of a hostile corporate takeover by the Tusk Peak Tyrants!
With a healthy stock of captive Giants acquired, Coach Skorag first experimented with forming a full team, essentially fielding the full strength Bifrost Berserkers squad in one go to see what would happen and if he could recreate the Berserkers' former glory. This experiment ended in disaster for Coach Skorag as 11 shackled, clumsy Giants crammed onto a pitch, all rather determined to undermine their coach at every opportunity, resulted in a crushed stadium and a stampede of panicking Gnoblars! Coach Skorag quickly worked out that, whilst the Berserkers players performed well as a team, they did so only of their own volition and were unlikely to behave for their new owner without serious financial recompense; a price Skorag was unwilling to pay (both literally and figurratively).
Skorag quickly settled on a new plan. Realising that a single Giant could just about be controlled by an Ogre team, and taking the example of many Human teams from the west that would field an Ogre as a 'Big Guy', Skorag decided to trial the idea of hiring out his Giant players to other Ogre teams for a considerable fee. Thus was founded Gristlebrook's Giant Emporium ("We Put the 'Big' in The Big Leagues", as the advertising slogan goes).
Over the next few seasons, a glut of Giants took to the field as part of the Mountains of Mourn Mega-maul League, and countless unfortunate stunty players became permanent features embedded in the astrogranite of many a pitch. After a lengthy litigation period involving accusations of a rogue Giant running off with the heiress of an Imperial noble family, Giants were banned from regular play on the orders of the RARG.
Today, Gristlebrook's Giant Emporium caters to teams with gold enough to hire a Giant, but which are lacking in both caution and scruples. Whilst the number of leagues or tournaments that allow such brutes is quite low, the market for their services in exhibition games and grand events is most lucrative. Many celebrations, sacred holidays and feast days are marked by a Blood Bowl game where one (or both!) sides include a Giant player, a format especially loved by northern fans and Ogre Tribes. Though cumbersome and far from coordinated, the sight of a Giant crushing players and tossing ball carriers into the stands is one few people will miss. One thing is sure the death toll will be high when a Giant takes to the field!
GIANT-SIZED INDUCEMENTS
The following pages contain rules for using Giant players in your games of Blood Bowl. Coaches should note that these rules are entirely optional.
Their inclusion in a league or tournament is at the discretion of the league commissioner or tournament organiser. Otherwise, coaches who wish to use these rules for an exhibition game should decide this between themselves.
0-1 GIANT MERCENARY PLAYER INDUCEMENT
350,000 GOLD PIECES, AVAILABLE TO ANY TEAM
Unlike regular players, Giants are not hired as permanent additions to a team. Instead, they are Induced during the pre-game sequence in exactly the same way as other Mercenary players. Giants may be used alongside the Mercenary Player Inducements in the Blood Bowl rulebook, or those presented previously in this supplement.
Giants have the following profile:
| MA | ST | AG | PA | AV | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Giant | 6 | 7 | 5+ | 5+ | 11+ |
Skills & Traits Always Hungry, Bone Head, Break Tackle, Juggernaut, Loner (4+), Mighty Blow (+2), Multiple Block, Stand Firm, Throw Team-mate
SPECIAL RULES
Giants are big. Bigger than Ogres, Minotaurs, Trolls or any of the other Big Guys that regularly take to the Blood Bowl pitch. A Giant is subject to the following special rules:
BASE SIZE AND TACKLE ZONES
Unlike other players, a Giant occupies not one but four squares on the pitch. A Giant will always occupy four squares; when they are standing up, when they are Prone and when they are Stunned.
Additionally, the direction in which a Giant faces is important as, due to their immense size, a Giant's Tackle Zone does not extend to every square adjacent to the four squares they occupy. Like other players, the Tackle Zone of a Giant covers eight squares; those to the Giant's front and sides. A Giant's Tackle Zone does not extend to the four squares directly behind the Giant, as shown in the diagram below. The controlling player must make it clear to their opponent which direction the Giant is facing and where its rear lies.
Finally, should any of the four squares occupied by a Giant's base be targeted by an in-game effect (such as a spell cast by a Wizard or by the effects of a Special Plays card), the player is considered to have been hit by the effect just as any other player would be.
MOVEMENT
When a Giant moves it does so just like any other player, moving a number of squares equal to its Movement Allowance. A Giant may move forward, backward, to either side, or diagonally, as long as they do not enter a square occupied by another standing player (from either team).
If any of the four squares a Giant occupies is within the Tackle Zone of an opposition player, the Giant is considered to be Marked by that player and must dodge to leave that square, just like any other player. If when dodging any part of a Giant's base moves into a square in which it is being Marked, apply a -1 modifier per player Marking them as normal.
STEPPING OVER PRONE OR STUNNED PLAYERS: Unlike other players, a Giant is large enough to simply step over downed players that would block the path of other players. A Giant does not need to Jump Over a Prone or Stunned player; it may instead move freely over Prone or Stunned players if it has sufficientt Movement Allowance to do so.
However, a Giant may not end its movement with any part of its base occupying a square that contains a Prone or Stunned player. Therefore, should a Giant Fall Over whilst stepping over a Prone or Stunned player, that player is pushed back one square in a direction chosen by the coach of the team the Giant belongs to, exactly as if a Push Back block dice result had been applied against them.
SURROUNDED!: Coaches should note that, due to the large size of Giants, they may find it impossible to move through small gaps. If at any point during its movement a Giant finds one or more of the four squares its base occupies obstructed by a Standing player, it cannot move into that square.
PUSH BACKS
Just like any other player, a Giant must be pushed back into empty squares. If this is not possible, then the Giant is pushed into one or more occupied squares and any players that originally occupied the square or squares are chain-pushed in turn.
PUSHED INTO THE CROWD: If any part of a Giant's base is pushed off the pitch, the player is pushed into the crowd and removed from play. In other words, it doesn't matter how big they are, a Giant cannot be half on and half off the pitch. They are either entirely on the pitch, or they are off it!
THROWING OTHER PLAYERS
Giants are particularly effective at throwing smaller players. When a Giant attempts to throw a team-mate, you may re-roll a Fumbled throw.
A GIANT OBSTRUCTION
Giants do tend to get in the way of other teams' passing plays. When a Giant interferes with a pass, it reduces any negative modifiers that would normally apply by 2.
SCATTER
As Giants occupy four squares rather than the usual one, the normal Random Direction template cannot be used for them. Instead, Giants use the Random Direction template shown below. To use this template, simply roll a D16 rather than a D8, re-rolling any rolls of 13 or above.
