Godzilla 
As a boy in the mid-1970’s, I spent many a Saturday morning parked in front of the TV, snarfing down Count Chocula cereal and watching monster movies. It was then that I made the acquaintance of monsters from American films—the Mummy, the Wolfman, the Creature from the Black Lagoon—and from Japanese cinema—Rodan, Mothra, Ghidorah. But my favorite monster was Godzilla, who was not only the King of the Monsters, but the coolest, too. 

More than 25 years have gone by, but I’ve maintained a fondness for Godzilla. You can only imagine my dismay at the 1998 American version, where Our Beloved Monster didn’t breathe fire and spent most of the film running and hiding from tanks and jet fighters. Sacrilege. SACRILEGE. I don’t know what they hell the producers were trying to make, but it sure wasn’t a Godzilla movie. 

You can imagine my glee, then, when I realized that it was possible for one to use the “Tyranid Monstrosities” rules from the 2001 Chapter Approved* (pages 98-103) book to build a creature similar to Godzilla:

*This book is out-of-print
 

	Points	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
Godzilla	1000	6	4	10	9	5	2	2	10	3+

Mass: 5
Normal speed
Fiery Breath: Equivalent to a massive, clustered deathspitter w/ increased range (S 10, 48" range, AP 4, Assault 1, Ordnance template)
Razor Claws: See page 100 of the 2001 Chapter Approved
Amphibious: Treats water as clear terrain
Wrecker: See page 101 of the 2001 Chapter Approved
Terror: As per The Horror (page 9 of Codex: Tyranids)

Using Godzilla 
Obviously, any game with Godzilla is going to be a special event, done for fun, that your opponent must agree to beforehand. You certainly can’t show up at a Grand Tournament with him!

While built using the “Tyranid Monstrosities” rules, Godzilla is obviously not a Tyranid. Nor is he meant to accompany Tyranids or any other army: he is his own army! The quintessential opponent for Godzilla would be the Imperial Guard, but players might want to try their luck against him with other armies. 

Godzilla is slow (only moves 6" a turn), is an easy target, and is not all that in close combat (he’s better at killing single, big foes—like a Carnifex or a Greater Daemon—than he is at killing lots of little foes—like a mob of Slugga Boyz). But what Godzilla does have going for him is the breath weapon (which can melt a Leman Russ and will fry squads not in power armor) and his unbelievable resilience (Toughness + Save + Mass Points + Wounds). Godzilla just ignores most hits from autocannons, battle cannons, missile launchers, even lascannons. Maybe he might notice a railgun or two…or five…or nine. Other than that, though….

Fighting Godzilla
I suggest you allow Godzilla’s opponents to bring 1000 points of whatever they want, ignoring the Force Organization Chart’s mandates and restrictions on HQ, Elites, Fast Attack, whatever. If your friend wants to bring 1000 points of nothing but Leman Russes, Terminators, Hive Tyrants, or Gretchin, let him. After all, one can hardly claim that Godzilla constitutes a “legal” 40K army. 

This is not to say that your opponent should be allowed to field a totally bogus army: say, 40 Tactical Marines, each armed with a missile launcher instead of a boltgun. Nor should one pick and choose units from several different armies (“Some Dark Reapers, plus some Broadsides, maybe a Killer Kan or two, and then some Long Fangs”). He may be a monster, but give Godzilla a break! 

I also that suggest you allow your opponent to tune his army specifically to fight Godzilla: for example, an Imperial Guard army might bring nothing but lascannons for heavy weapons. Some players might balk at this approach, but it makes for a more interesting battle. After all, it’s no fun fighting Godzilla if you feel like you don’t have a chance. Just ask Bambi. 

Battles against Godzilla are best on large tables, preferably in a ruined cityscape (for atmosphere). Typically, the opponent will want plenty of sight lines for long-range fire. In keeping with the movies, missions should probably involve Godzilla attempting to destroy an important landmark (a crucial bridge, say) or devour something tasty (several barrels of nuclear waste). I’d be extremely surprised to see any army “kill” Godzilla in six turns, so you should probably agree to double the number of turns in a game or establish alternate victory conditions…or both (“If Godzilla hasn’t destroyed the power station within twelve turns, he gives up and goes back to the ocean.”).

Background
Some folks who take their 40K “fluff” very seriously might argue that Godzilla has no place in the 40K universe. To this, I can only reply, “Duh.” Of course Godzilla doesn’t belong. So what? Again, this Themed Army Idea is just for fun. 

Philosophy
Destroy! Because history shows again and again how Nature points out the folly of men.

Modeling and Painting
When I was a kid, I had a plastic Godzilla model that I glued together. You could try to find something like that, assemble it and paint it, or you could buy a pre-made, pre-painted figure, like I did. Mine wasn’t cheap, but it was a lot less than I would have spent on 1000 points of anything else.

General Tactics
Tactics? What tactics? There’s not a whole lot of thinking involved with Godzilla (hence, he’s perfect for me). Trudge him across the field, blast targets with his breath weapon, and take some time to stop and smash a building or two.
 

Related Pages
Other Tyranid Themed Army Ideas
 
 

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© Copyright Kenton Kilgore, October 2004 
 

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