Stegadon

Stegadons are creatures which feature in Games Workshop’s Warhammer Fantasy and Age of Sigmar settings.

Description
Colossal dinosaurians which have lived on the continent of Lustria for untold aeons, Stegadons closely resemble terrestrial Triceratops, having long horns which sprout from their forehead, and a large, bony frill to protect their relatively vulnerable neck. However, Stegadons also sport an armoured hide, possess a thagomizer similar to that found on Earth’s Ankylosaurs, and are omnivorous: the amount of food one of these creatures requires on a daily basis meaning that they are forced to feed on virtually anything which lies in their path.

Stegadons are generally herd animals, living in groups which range from no more than a handful of individuals to many thousands, although on occasion an older bull will detach itself from a herd and establish its own territory, fighting off any who would pass through. Why this happens with some Stegadons and not others has yet to be established.

As Domesticated Beasts
Stegadons are often employed by the ancient jungle-dwelling race known as Lizardmen, who hand rear the creatures from hatching. There, they fulfill a variety of roles, from simply carrying or dragging loads too large for the Lizardmen to efficiently manage themselves, to functioning as actual living bulldozers, clearing pathways through the thick rainforest in order to build roads.

In Battle
When the Lizardmen go to war en masse, Stegadons are frequently outfitted with heavy brass plates and banding to augment their natural defensive attributes, and are often equipped with large wooden or brass howdahs strapped to their back. These howdahs are either used to carry Skink mages into the thick of the fighting, offering them a measure of protection from attack, or alternatively used as platforms for immense siege crossbows and cohorts of javelin-armed warriors.

In either case, a charging Stegadon is capable of doing an incredible amount of damage to an enemy formation, goring its foes with its sharp horns, crushing them to a bloody pulp with its heavy tail and powerful beak, or simply trampling them underfoot.