Giants?

Hello fellow Ogres I've been thinking about adding a Giant to my army but I don't want to waste $50 on something that turns out to be useless. Can anyone give me some tactics or how Giants work for you?

Gaints are great, but the old metal ones are much better than the new plastic ones.  They are VERY useful. I use them as paper-weights, substitutes for rocks and for propping the door open on warm days.

Seriously though, don't bother.  If you want to add something big to your list other than a Ironblaster, then add a Stonehorn or thundertusk.

I'd agree with those sentiments. I have two of them and have found them to be lacklustre compared to the other options we have. You're much better off taking two IBs than spending those points on Giants and you'll have change left for other units. Giant's problems are obvious and for the same points you can put together Ogres that will do more damage over the course of a game.

As much as I love giants (and most of the models) they are more a comedy piece in battles.  You get one just to see what happens if it actually does get into combat.

As the above have said a stonehorn is generally more value for points.

Attention! The following idea is NOT mine and has been borrowed from an another contributior on this forum:

The most reasonable way to field a giant is to buy a giant, equip him with a a spare Ironblaster cannon (or a big toy gun does as well in a pinch) and use him as an Ironblaster. Bonus points for adding an Ogre handler and a Gnoblar loader.

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Sorry for being a tad snarky, but I 'm the proud owner of 2 Marauder Giants and loathe the fact that they 're literal museum pieces when it comes to WHFB games. Oh, well, there's still Kings of War...

Other than that, I might see the merit in employing a Giant against armies that are light on shooting and have lots of light infantry, but then, these are armies are the ones our Ogre lads don't have much trouble with.

To be the most competitive as possible, a giant is not the best way to go.

However, I field one in every ogre game I play, in my frost tribe. I think it's an awesome model that was easy to paint that yields a very fun and interesting perspective to my army.

On top of that, giants are not terrible. They typical draw fire away from my mournfangs cavalry which is what I care about the most when it comes to reaching combat intact. In games that he doesn't, he still has not really let me down. He will sodomize other monsters... Sphinxes, dragons etc.. its sad really. Play him correctly and you won't regret fielding a giant.

Mine die with an almost relentless passion. It's depressing. One even tilted whilst falling at the perfect angle to crush a nearby wizard of mine. I think the only time they did some damage was when they fell on top of some Black Guard.

Annoyingly, they'd almost be fine if they were T6. Their CC rules aren't too bad if you send them against S3 stuff, but they get shredded very easily against S4, and their low movement value doesn't help either. They just tend to bimble along, get peppered, get in CC, maybe do a slight bit of damage, then die.

The Stonehorn's just so much better. T6, good save, immune to multiple wounds... and the Thundertusk isn't too bad either. I like the idea of giants, but they really need to be given a proper overhaul if they want people to justify buying them... well, I say that, but most people don't realise how bad they are until they start using one themselves...

Giants in an O&G army are great and have amazing synergy with NG nets.  In an Ogre army, they are just redundant units that double as easy points for the opponent to pick up. If you really want a monster, stonehorns are about as good as it gets in the book.

With my 25+ years of experience playing Warhammer, perhaps the most common answer to the "giant dilema" has been, "If the enemy is shooting at your giant, they are not targeting your units". While there is truth in this logic, the first element you need to consider is whether your playing against a shooting (or magic) heavy opponent. If so, and especially with the "volley fire" rule, an enemy can down a giant in the first turn, and still have enough resources to target other units. The clear answer here would be to deny your opponent the easy 200pts. and invest more in units to force your opponent to spread-out his/her shooting or magic.

Against "non-shooting" armies, and take into account that every race is capable of fielding one, a giant may play a more major role; being an expensive re-directer, a very maneuverable flanking unit, or simply a very tall (and expensive) chariot to offer additional support in multi-charges. One thing for certain, a giant on the tabletop demands attention, and this may just be the right distracter to throw your opponent off his/her gameplan.

Wrapping this up, if you already know the opponents you are facing, you can pretty much build a list to counter those players. Although this tactic takes away much of the creativity in designing new lists and strategies, there are players who simply want to "punish" their opponents, which is all fair and fun... for one of you. Playtesting different lists prepares a player for elements of unknown and offers opportunities to try (and learn) new strategies and tactics that may applied in later gameplay. This is especially true if your intention is to participate in local club or tournament gaming, for by having the experience of knowing your entire army's capabilities before knowing your opponent, you will be less surprised when faced with certain decisions that may determine to outcome of the game.

I agree they definitely take Finesse to use. You have to use them with kid gloves..

Another Tactic is you can run them directly behind Mournfang Cavalry. Those are tall enough to provide hard cover. That should keep him alive for a few turns.

I bring one in my Frost army because who doesn't want to field a FROST GIANT!? I mean come on....

He dies sometimes. Sometimes he rapes and pillages. Either way, it challenges me and allows me to bring some unexpected fun to the table!