History Main / BeastOfBattle

* ''VideoGame/ParaWorld'' is built around this trope. InAWorld where dinosaurs stroll through villages, and no one sees it as weird, someone is bound to have come up with the idea of using them as mounts. From regular wagon-pulling reptiles to massive armored Titan-class [KingOfTheDinosaurs T. rex]], seismosaurus, and triceratops used as ultimate war machines. The [[{{Vikings}} Norsemen]], living in colder climates, tend to use mammals such as sabertooths and mammoths, although they do use a few dinosaurs such as their triceratops titan. They also have SteamPunk technology, allowing them to field steam tanks and ironclads. The Dustriders (Bedouin-like nomads) are the faction that tends to use the dinos the most, given their low technological level. The Dragon Clan (an East Asian isolationist culture) has gunpowder and BambooTechnology which they mostly use for traps.

* Another tablet game is Brisk Mobile's ''Roaming Fortress'', set in a fantasy world where cannons exist and humanity has been overrun by goblin-kind. To take back their territory, the humans mount a fortress on a giant, dinosaur-like creature. This beast of burden can carry various kinds of fortresses that have slot spaces to house various weapons such as spears, bows, catapults, cannons and magic users. Your "roaming fortress" then rampages through the conquered kingdoms, pushing back the goblins.
* Another tablet game featuring a heavily armed turtle with riders is Slick Entertainment's ''Shellrazer'', you lead a band of heroic orcs who are searching for their brethen. Initially you only have a machine gunner on the giant turtle, but later on you can stack up to three different gunners who range from a guy with a cannon to mad wizard and a dragonrider.

* This is the premise for Foursaken Media's tablet game ''War Tortoise'', you field a small force of heavily armed animals which are spearheaded, by an armoured giant tortoise. The tortoise initially only has a machine gunner on a howdah, but you can upgrade the tortoise to be equipped with a sniper cannon, a multi-gun carousel, multiple mortars and a howitzer.

* Dragons: in many films, from ''Film/DungeonsAndDragons'' to ''Film/{{Eragon}}'', dragons are not evil flying monsters, but war-machines ridden by attacking forces.

** The darkspawn themselves use "ghouls" -- creatures that have been corrupted by the darkspawn taint — as beasts of battle. The most popular of these are wolves, bereskarn (corrupted bears), [[GiantSpiders corrupted spiders]] and dragons.

*** In UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror, donkeys have been used by insurgent forces as bombers.

* ''Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}'':
** ''Comicbook/TheSupergirlFromKrypton'' has Comicbook/{{Darkseid}}'s dog cavalry, soldiers trained to ride the Demon Dogs: armored, dog-like, T-Rex-sized creatures trained to track a prey down and tear it apart.

** the ''Tiberian Sun'' manual mentioned that the Forgotten have managed to tame tiberium fiends to use as guard dogs. This comes into gameplay as well; in any map where Umagon is a playable character, having her approach a fiend will automatically recruit it as a playable unit.

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''

* ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain: Soul Reaver 2'' has armored war dogs.

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* The series ''WesternAnimation/DinoRiders'', where humans and aliens fought each other using Dinosaurs strapped with missiles and [[SlowLaser Slow Lasers]]. Think ''Zoids'' without the mecha.

** Similarly [[DistaffCounterpart She-Ra]] from WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower had Swift Wind, a winged unicorn perfectly capable of out flying Horde fighters as well as kicking his way through solid stone. It helps that, unlike Battle Cat, Swifty's normal form was Spirit, an actual army horse. Not to be outdone, Hordak also had a robotic mantis named Mantisaur he could ride into battle, though that rarely showed up in the series.

* ''VideoGame/ParaWorld'' is built around this trope. InAWorld where dinosaurs stroll through villages, and no one sees it as weird, someone is bound to have come up with the idea of using them as mounts. From regular wagon-pulling reptiles to massive armored Titan-class [[TyrannosaurusRex T. rex]], seismosaurus, and triceratops used as ultimate war machines. The [[{{Vikings}} Norsemen]], living in colder climates, tend to use mammals such as sabertooths and mammoths, although they do use a few dinosaurs such as their triceratops titan. They also have SteamPunk technology, allowing them to field steam tanks and ironclads. The Dustriders (Bedouin-like nomads) are the faction that tends to use the dinos the most, given their low technological level. The Dragon Clan (an East Asian isolationist culture) has gunpowder and BambooTechnology which they mostly use for traps.

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* ''Anime/PokemonLucarioAndTheMysteryOfMew'' showed a number of battle scenes in ancient times, showing that Pokemon were understandably a big factor in armies a long time ago.
* ''Franchise/{{Zoids}}'' dips a paw into this territory, given that the title HumongousMecha also happen to be part of the local wildlife. There're partially {{weaponized animal}}s called Organoids but most are artificial creatures derived from the local wildlife. No, we're not quite sure how that works....

* In the ''Anime/MonsterRancher'' anime, the series' {{Mons}} were originally genetically-engineered pets by an advanced {{Precursor}} civilization, then were utilized as soldiers and weapons when war broke out between two rival superstates. The series BigBad was developed as a type of Superweapon, and you can guess [[GoneHorriblyRight how well]] ''[[GoneHorriblyRight that]]'' [[GoneHorriblyRight worked out]].
* Fu'unsaiki, Master Asia's pet horse from ''[[Anime/MobileFighterGGundam G Gundam]]'', who isn't just badass and capable of combat on his own, but has his own HumongousMecha which is ridden by both Master and Domon's Gundams in battle. In one SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome, [[spoiler:Domon defeats Wong Yunfat in the Walter Gundam by having Fu'unsaiki kick its head off.]]

* Creator/KurtBusiek's ''ComicBook/{{Arrowsmith}}'' has a version of World War 1 fought with various fantasy creatures.

* In Creator/PoulAnderson's novel ''Literature/OperationChaos'', it's mentioned that the Allied forces utilized basilisks as war machines during World War II. Also dragons (the phrasing leaves it uncertain whether they're ''flying'' dragons or the equivalent of tanks) and, in the Navy, krakens for an amphibious assault.
* Dragons in the ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'' series are a major part of every military force in the world, and act as something rather like an Air Force. In addition to fighting each other claw-to-claw, they're used to drop bombs and the like, and breeds with {{breath weapon}}s like fire or acid are especially valued for their destructive ability. Instead of the usual one-dragon-one-rider type, they have full crews with officers, lookouts, and complements of riflemen, and aerial boarding actions are a common tactic. Dragons are also fully sapient, and the growing realization that they’re basically SlaveMooks is a plotline running through the whole series, as dragons begin demanding things like pay, military ranks, and proper housing.

* Creator/ScottWesterfeld's series ''Literature/{{Leviathan}}'' have the Darwinists who use [[{{Mixandmatchcritters}} fabricated beasts]] not only in battle as well as in everyday life. See: [[GiantFlyer the Leviathan]], which is essentially its own ecosystem based on the back and innards of a flying whale, including things like bats that crap flechettes onto the enemy, and [[BearsAreBadNews Russia's War Bears]].

* ''Literature/TheWindupGirl'' by Paolo Bacigalupi. War megadonts (giant genetically-engineered elephants) have carbon fibre armour, blades attached to their tusks and machine-gun cages on their backs.

* Creator/TadWilliams' ''Literature/TheWarOfTheFlowers'' features dragons. To give a sense of scale, he was tempted to remove the scene in which they initially appear due to its similarity to an event that occurred during writing; the 9-11 terror attacks.

* The Literature/{{Animorphs}} are the battle beasts themselves when in morph.
* ''ComicBook/DarkEmpire'' introduced creatures called Cyborrean Battle Dogs, or Nek Battle Dogs, vaguely caninelike and often cybernetic beasts that go out and swarm people. They come up in various later books -- in ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'' they're part of a FedToTheBeast threat, in ''Literature/JediApprentice'' a character who loves the kennels says they're nice enough animals and their viciousness is overstated.
* The camp animals in ''Literature/TheJungleBook'' are a downplayed version, being samples of fairly ordinary animals you would find in a nineteenth century [[UsefulNotes/KiplingsFinest Indian Army]] camp.
* In the web-novel ''Literature/{{Domina}}'', most of the fey monsters fit into this category. Special mention goes to the gargants, which vary in size from the brick-plated gargants (the size of a very large wolf) to the blind-rammer gargants (which are big enough to tear through buildings).

* In ''The Saga of the Bordenlands'', of the argentine writer Liliana Bodoc, Drimus, an EvilSorcerer at the service of [[EldritchAbomination Misainaes the Son of Death]], breeds huge dogs to use them in battle (this is a reference to how in the RealLife the Spanish conquerors they used dogs in combat)

* ''TabletopGame/IronKingdoms'': One of the main differences between ''HORDES'' and ''WARMACHINE'' is that the forces in the former game utilize various creatures instead of the {{Mechanical Monster}}s of the latter.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Chronopia}}'', almost all of the non-human races uses these. The Elves have the reptilian Dragonbane, Swamp Goblins have their mosquito-like Drones and Arachnid cavalry, and so forth etc. Only the Stygians lack these, having no cavalry or mounts (though arguably their whole army might count), while humans are stuck with horses and, in one case, a stag.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Splicers}}'', the Human Resistance uses War Mounts, genetically-engineered creatures used to take the place of the tanks and other military vehicles they can no longer use. For instance, there's the Behemoth (a rhino-like creature used for artillery support), the Draco (a huge dragon used for troop transport), and the Leviathan (a crab used for amphibious assault).
* Although rarely seen in the game, ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' has rules for beast-mounted infantry, including horses, elephants, kangaroos, killer whales, the flying, venom-spitting Branth, and finally the semi-aquatic 30 ton Hipposaurus, which is powerful enough to mount heavy artillery on its back and damage Battlemech armor with its melee attacks.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' subverts this trope with the siege lizards. People have ''tried'' to train them for war, hence the name, but the foul-tempered and stubbornly independent reptiles almost inevitably end up killing their handlers.

* In ''VideoGame/DinoDDay'', ThoseWackyNazis [[StupidJetpackHitler develop cloning technology]] which they use to bring back [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs a wide variety of dinosaurs]] to use in the war, often [[WeaponizedAnimal with armor and mounted guns]] they can control by biting on a trigger. The Allies also get in on the action by taking in a Triceratops cast off by the Nazis for a deformed leg.
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomUnderFireTheCrusaders'', along with Heroes, the Dark Legion uses giant mammoths from swamps that fire larva out of their bellies and use giant scorpions and flying beasts in battle.
* The ''VideoGame/GoldenAxe'' series was famous for adding mounts to the action, from fire-breathing dragons to giant scorpions and those weird little parrot-beaked lizard things from ''VideoGame/AlteredBeast'' that whipped with their tails.
* Taking a page from ''VideoGame/GoldenAxe'', fellow side-scroller beat'em up ''VideoGame/DragonsCrown'' has your characters capable of riding on sabretooths and dracolisks.
* ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'':
** ''II'' has the dragons enslaved by the Horde, while dwarves throw hammers from the back of trained gryphons.
** ''III'' has the Kodo Beasts used by the Horde, which carry huge drums into battle and can eat enemies. Also the Chimerae, Hippogryphs and Faerie Dragons used by the Night Elves, as well as the Frost Wyrm (skeletal dragon) used by the Undead. In ''Frozen Throne'', the Naga use a variety of non-sapient creatures to swell their ranks including Mur'guls (cannon fodder), Snap Dragons (ranged fire support) and Couatls (air support).
** In the backstory the initial Orc invasion of Azeroth was quickly routed by Azeroth's mounted knights. The Orcs were unprepared to face the fearsome armored warriors riding what Garona described as "great beasts of muscle and sinew who did almost as much damage to our troops as their riders".
** Hunters in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' can tame nearly any beast and use it in battle. Turtles, lions, wolves, ''moths''; they can all be used as a pet in battle. Beast-Master specialized hunters can eve tame special pets such as ''T-Rexes'' (they shrink to a fraction of their original size on being tamed).

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''
** In the series' background lore, the [[CatFolk Khajiit]] have 17 different sub-species dictated by the phases of Nirn's [[WeirdMoon two moons]] under which they were born. The largest of these sub-species, the Senche and Senche-raht, can be as tall as two men and weigh updward of ''four tons''. Built like apes and moving as quadrupeds, they [[HorseOfADifferentColor allow their kin to ride them]] in battle. [[BadassArmy Imperial Legion]] troopers have [[InUniverseNickname nicknamed]] them "battle cats" as a result.
** Various [[OurGoblinsAreDifferent Goblin]] tribes have managed to tame some of Tamriel's vicious wildlife for use in this role. For example, the Shadowsilk tribe managed to tame [[BigCreepyCrawlies giant spiders]] for this purpose.
** Likewise, the Rieklings (a race of diminutive blue-skinned humanoids native to [[GrimUpNorth Solstheim]]) tame Tusked Bristlebacks (Solstheim's native wild boars) to be this and [[HorseOfADifferentColor as mounts]].
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'''s ''Dawnguard'' DLC, the Volkihar [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Vampire]] clan raises Death Hounds, monstrous undead dogs, for this role.

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', Fereldens use mabari hounds as war dogs. Originally bred by a mage, they are incredibly strong and intelligent. As one solider puts it, a well-trained "mabari hound" is as dangerous as any sword. You can recruit one of these massive dogs into your party.
** The dwarves utilize large rhino-like creatures called brontos as pack mules and living battering rams.
** The darkspawn themselves use "ghouls" -- creatures that have been corrupted by the darkspawn taint — as beasts of battle. The most popular of these are wolves, bereskarn (corrupted bears), [[GiantSpiders corrupted spiders]] and dragons.
* The Force-sensitives Felucians at ''VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed'' used Rancors as war beasts against Galen Marek and the Imperial forces who attacked their homeplanet Felucia. The rancors were still nothing compared with [[OneManArmy Marek]], who usually curb stomped every one of them. Not even the Bull rancor, the alpha male of Felucia's rancor community, could defeat him.
* Command and Conquer show-cased explosive cows so often that by the time the game was released it was an expected tactic.
** The ''VideoGame/RedAlert'' sub-series featured attack dogs ([[OneHitKill one bite kill]] against infantry), giant squids, and dolphins armed with sonic weaponry. In the third game, the Soviets start fielding tamed bears instead of dogs.
** the ''Tiberian Sun'' manual mentioned that the Forgotten have managed to tame tiberium fiends to use as guard dogs. This comes into gameplay as well; in any map where Umagon is a playable character, having her approach a fiend will automatically recruit it as a playable unit.

* ''VideoGame/ParaWorld'' is built around this trope. InAWorld where dinosaurs stroll through villages, and no one sees it as weird, someone is bound to have come up with the idea of using them as mounts. From regular wagon-pulling reptiles to massive armored Titan-class [[TyrannosaurusRex T. rex]], seismosaurus, and triceratops used as ultimate war machines. The [[{{Vikings}} Norsemen]], living in colder climates, tend to use mammals such as sabertooths and mammoths, although they do use a few dinosaurs such as their triceratops titan. They also have SteamPunk technology, allowing them to field steam tanks and ironclads. The Dustriders (Bedouin-like nomads) are the faction that tends to use the dinos the most, given their low technological level. The Dragon Clan (an East Asian isolationist culture) has gunpowder and BambooTechnology which they mostly use for traps.
** Due to the mechanics of the game, the different units from the three factions hardly differ aside from cosmetic differences. For example, a Norse steam tank is about as powerful as a dinosaur with a catapult on its back.
* ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain: Soul Reaver 2'' has armored war dogs.
* ''VideoGame/AztecWars'' has one or two of these for every nation. The Aztecs have [[PantheraAwesome big cats]] and spy eagles, the Russians have [[BearsAreBadNews war bears]], the Chinese use [[BigfootSasquatchAndYeti yetis]] and WarElephants. They are available after specifically building a nest, a cave or a stable in your base.

* Another tablet game featuring a heavily armed turtle with riders is Slick Entertainment's ''Shellrazer'', you lead a band of heroic orcs who are searching for their brethen. Initially you only have a machine gunner on the giant turtle, but later on you can stack up to three different gunners who range from a guy with a cannon to mad wizard and a dragonrider.
* Another tablet game is Brisk Mobile's ''Roaming Fortress'', set in a fantasy world where cannons exist and humanity has been overrun by goblin-kind. To take back their territory, the humans mount a fortress on a giant, dinosaur-like creature. This beast of burden can carry various kinds of fortresses that have slot spaces to house various weapons such as spears, bows, catapults, cannons and magic users. Your "roaming fortress" then rampages through the conquered kingdoms, pushing back the goblins.
* In Microid's ''Warrior Kings'', the Pagan faction can summon demons to fight for them. Among these demons are the Fomorians (giant lizard that slings boulders with its tail) and Deathwyrms (giant maggot that spits lethally gross things). Pagans can control these two beasts by putting howdahs on them and riding them.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' the Garlean Empire’s canis pugnaces are armored war dogs the size of ''bears''.
* In ''VideoGame/DuneII'' and UpdatedReRelease ''Dune 2000,'' the Fremen can use a thumper and maker-hooks to catch and ride SandWorms to battle.
* In ''VideoGame/PortalRunner'', There are a few levels that are played entirely from Vikki riding atop Leo. Other levels typically have Leo following alongside Vikki and acting independently.
* ''VideoGame/PhoenixPoint'': The Disciples of Anu do not field vehicles like the other human factions. Instead, they have the ability to produce Mutogs, mutated war-beasts the size of an APC. Depending on their body part variations, Mutogs can have a variety of abilities like spitting poison, leaping from one elevation level to another or over obstacles, and an armor-breaking mace head at the end of their tail.

* The Fire Nation's Komodo-Rhinos in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. During the Siege of the Northern Water Tribe, a number of them are shown with small catapults strapped to their sides as mobile artillery.
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' has the ANCIENT PSYCHIC TANDEM WAR-ELEPHANT.

* On ''WesternAnimation/{{Fangbone}}'', Skullbanians who earn enough {{Battle Troph|y}}ies can turn them all in to get one. Fangbone himself manages to get one in the episode "The Thundercrush of Responsibility" in the form of the eponymous creature, a massive rhino-like monster able to chew through a car.

* Dragons in the ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'' series are a major part of every military force in the world, and act as something rather like an Air Force. In addition to fighting each other claw-to-claw, they're used to drop bombs and the like, and breeds with {{breath weapon}}s like fire or acid are especially valued for their destructive ability. Instead of the usual one-dragon-one-rider type, they have full crews with officers, lookouts, and complements of riflemen, and aerial boarding actions are a common tactic.

* One of the main differences between ''[[TabletopGame/IronKingdoms HORDES]]'' and ''[[TabletopGame/IronKingdoms WARMACHINE]]'' is that the forces in the former game utilize various creatures instead of the {{Mechanical Monster}}s of the latter.
* In Swedish DarkFantasy game ''TabletopGame/{{Chronopia}}'', almost all of the non-human races uses these. The Elves have the reptilian Dragonbane, Swamp Goblins have their mosquito-like Drones and Arachnid cavalry, and so forth etc. Only the Stygians lack these - having no cavalry or mounts (though arguably their whole army might count), while humans are stuck with horses and in one case - a stag.

* The series ''WesternAnimation/DinoRiders'', where humans and aliens fought each other using Dinosaurs strapped with missiles and FrickinLaserBeams. Think ''Zoids'' without the mecha.

** Similarly [[DistaffCounterpart She-Ra]] from ''WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower]] had Swift Wind, a winged unicorn perfectly capable of out flying Horde fighters as well as kicking his way through solid stone. It helps that, unlike Battle Cat, Swifty's normal form was Spirit, an actual army horse. Not to be outdone, Hordak also had a robotic mantis named Mantisaur he could ride into battle, though that rarely showed up in the series.

** War beasts feature rather prominently in ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammer'', where most factions have the ability to field some type of animal or monster on the battlefield.

** House Everfree makes use of its home area's... ''unique'' fauna in battle, fielding [[Planimal. timberwolves]], gigantic hydras, [[GiantSpider giant wooden spiders]], WarElephants and voracious [[HordeOfAlienLocusts swarms of parasprites]] on the battlefield.

*** In TheWarOnTerror, donkeys have been used by insurgent forces as bombers.

* ''Literature/TheBeastPlayer'' has the Touda, giant amphibious reptiles that are used to protect the borders of the country. [[spoiler: In the past, the Ohju were used as such...resulting in the Great Crime and much tragedy.]]

* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters conquered Westeros despite the small size of their army thanks to the overwhelming advantage their [[DragonRider dragons]] gave them. During the series proper, the King in the North Robb Stark's direwolf Grey Wind serves his master well on the battlefield.

* Many historical armies used elephants in battle. They were trained to be more than passive on the battlefield -- aside from the obvious trampling and flinging of enemy soldiers, and [[BaseOnWheels carrying archers and spear men on their backs]], some elephants were taught more horrific techniques. The Mughals for example taught their war elephants to take an enemy combatant, pin one of his legs to the ground with the elephant's foot, grab hold of the other leg with the trunk, and pull in two different directions, to disturbing effect. It's certainly slower than simply trampling the man to death, but the psychological effect more than made up for this.