Had an awesome game today against my roommates Dark Elves. He decided to use his seldom used dragon, which was great. He stopped alot of my charges with his Breath Weapon, and was generally a badass dragon.

After the game, which I lost (minor), I tried a few different ways to take out his dragon, staging some situations. The only thing in my list was the Slaaneshi Giant, which had a kind of good chance to win - the rest in my list was pretty screwed. But anyway, on to the questions -

when the giant attacks, I assume that I can choose either to attack the lord on top, or the dragon itself, and roll on the appropriate table. This is right, yes?

If so, Jump up and down would only be on the character? (and Thump only on the dragon?)

And what happens if he grabs the guy on top and throws him away - is the dragon on his own then, while the character tries to get back? Or what happens?

IMO the giant attacks are based on the model - not on the 'theoretical components' of the model.

So ogre sized and bigger targets use the 'big stuff' table. In this case that includes the lord.

Oh... Well, that sorts that out, I guess... Thanks.

But wait, what happens then? Do the Thump-wounds get distributed against both, like shooting. Or is just one of them hit (check who as for shooting again). And Chomp, same question...

I agree with gjnoronh that it should be done by the base size of the overall model. I haven't yet played with a WoC giant, but the way my group has done it the giant attacks the dragon (so any attacks required by the model are done by the dragon, however initiative is based on the characters) but if the hits are distributed then it can hit the lord.

Therefore, iirc, it would be:

1 - Yell and Bawl: Quite clear, combat over, break test.
2-3 - Headbutt: Dragon is head butted, 1 wound lost, dragon loses 1 round of attacks, lord free to attack as normal.
4-6 - Thump w/ Club: Initiative test based on the character, if failed distribute the wounds to both models.

Thump w/ Club may seen counter-intuitive, but think of like the giant flailing madly and the lord is restricted in the saddle too much to dodge the attack.

From what I've heard of 'Chomp!' it should be resolved against the mount.

Just checked the actual giant rules WoC and O and G. Specifically allows you to attack rider or mount using the appropriate table

Yup, you can absolutly toss, eat, squash, and stuff the dirty dark elf
rider.

Agree for the most part, but the inititiave test is based on the lowest inititiave of the model (like for our Tuskgor chariots, its a 2 because of the actual tuskgors).

Thanks guys. I looked again when I got home from work, and yeah, it says you can choose. That's good.

But then again, what happens with the rider hurled away? Does he get back up on the dragon, or join the "new" unit, or is he on his own, or what...

Although the example isn't a perfect fit, in the WoC FAQ the hurled model returns to his unit 'after regaining consciousness,' (I assume this is in time for the next round of attacks).

If you pick up a dark elf rider and hurl him, the dragon wouldn't benefit from hatred (nor would a khorne lord's dragon benefit from frenzy).

Why?

The Lord may not die and he returns afterwards it seems(going off the WoC FAQ) so technically the model continues to operate as normal.

Now if he was say picked up and put down the giants pants then the Dragon wouldn't get hatred or frenzy.

I guess it depends on your interpretation of when it exactly returns. For example, if a Slaanesh giant charges/is charged by DE dragon and rider then we can see the order of events being either

1) Giant hurls rider
2) Dragon makes attacks
3) Combat resolved, lord returned

OR

1) Giant hurls rider
2) Lord's initiative turn: Returns to combat, attacks.
3) Dragon attacks

Or even the same as the second example, but the lord doesn't attack, but spends his 'turn' regaining his mount.

Personally I would lean towards option 1 or 3 - the giant should receive some sort of advantage for having thrown the lord, even if it simply means the rider doesn't attack or the dragon loses hatred.

Wait a second....that FAQ is for rank and file models only (eg. Flesh Hounds or Flamers of Tzeentch). In the past, hasn't a character always just popped up within 1" of the unit he hit? The FAQ is just there so you don't end up splitting a single unit in half.

I did mention that the FAQ isn't a perfect example, but it's the closest FAQ answer I could find to the situation. Quite simply you can't hurl the rider and have him pop up an inch from the dragon/manticore etc. The logic the FAQ gives is in line with a character + mount.

decker_cky is correct: There is no reason that the FAQ operates here, as the lord is not a rank and file model. Rules don't work via analogy - doing so opens a ridiculous barrel of silliness.

Since the lord can operate independently, he does so. Play him where he lands. The real question is whether he can remount the dragon at all. He might just do so by moving and joining the unit, as he would with any other unit. I'd recommend a monster reaction roll when the rider gets tossed.

Similarly, a character who gets picked up and tossed from a unit should play from the point at which he lands - he can't skulk back like a rank and file model.

"Throw back into unit" presents no problem, but is hilarious of course - what's better than a giant beating on a dragon with the dragon rider?

Cheers.