Editing Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Beastmen (section)

==Unit Analysis==
The first thing to note about Beastmen is that most of the army benefits from a rule called "Primal Fury." In close combat, the unit takes a Ld test and if successful, gets hatred for the round. If the unit passes on a double 1, they get hatred AND frenzy for the rest of the round. While this sounds good, you must understand that one of the Beastmen's major weaknesses is their low LD, so they won't be passing as much as you want them to. Keep close to a general and BSB to maximize results. 

The other thing to note about the Beastmen is that a number of units can be held in reserve for a Beastmen ambush:

*'''Old (and shitty) version:''' Gors, Ungors and Ungor Raiders can all do this, which requires a duplicate unit of the one you want to ambush with (excluding characters and upgrades, it just has to be the same size).  Ambushers can strike on the first turn if you roll well enough; after that, the table edge they come in on is determined by the roll of a die and if you roll a 6, you get to choose the side. Again, this sounds good but Gors and Ungors are still running with a weak LD, and the randomness of where they show up can often screw you over (I need them to show up on the left and they...show up on the right). Never mind that even if they show up where you want them to, they can't charge on the turn they arrive, giving everyone a turn to react to them being there. Therefore, this tactic is best used as a distraction, with shitloads of cheap, annoying surprise-attacking little cunts. You will however need many of them... Get ready to MSU (Multiple Small Units) the hell out of part your army, and now with the new Glottkin rules, you can also bring a big fookin' scary block of Gors in as a hammer in the ass of the enemy! 
**Please note that while this would appear to be (and should be) the Horned Horde's superpower, it is deceptively underpowered instead.  As noted above: the seeming randomness of their arrivals coupled with the requirement of having a similar unit on the board at deployment makes this a tentative proposition at best.  If you are going to use this, be prepared to accept random outcomes, and use it for what it is good for: a monkey wrench with occasionally hilarious results for one of the players.

*'''New version:''' With the Glottkin book out now, Beastmen Ambush works out a little differently, you no longer need a duplicate unit (which was a very stupid rule), and since Beastmen can now take Marks of Chaos Beastmen Ambush can actually do something, Having Gors show up in the flank with extra hand weapons and the mark of Khorne can really fuck shit up even with an average statline, Ungor Raiders can now show up to shoot the enemy at close range (If you give them Mark of Slaanesh they'll never run away if they're getting shot back), and even Ungors can do something, ideally attacking somebody in the flank or rear  and then getting them to pursue the Ungors off the board (if you're worried about them dying outright then give them Mark of Nurgle or Tzeentch).


===Lords & Heroes===
====Named Characters====
'''Note:''' Under the current edition, named characters tend to be overpriced; you can pretty easily emulate most named characters from scratch and save yourself some points. That said, a few named characters do have abilities and wargear or wargear combos unique to them, so if you absolutely need to have them, go ahead. Just make sure you're really getting your points worth.

*'''Gorthor, The Beastlord:''' The Archaon of Beastmen, which is kinda sad when you think about it. Costs 125 points more than a Chariot mounted Beastlord and you are willing to pay that because of the 18 inches of Inspiring Presence. That is the ONLY reason why. Combat wise, he's okay, but unreliable. Killing Blow is nice, but his mediocre I and only slightly above average WS (especially for a lord) hurts him a lot. His magic casting ability is pretty useless (as you need to use dice to cast Bound Spells now) and the fact that he's hanging out on his own in a chariot is essentially an invitation for any Lord with a mount and magic weapon to walk up and take a swing at him (more on this later, under the Beastlord). He's still fairly useful, but you might need to keep him out of combat and behind your main units.

*'''Khazrak, the One Eye:''' Here we go. 80 points less than Gorthor, helps your Ambushing units to arrive better (never roll a 1 again) and can actually join units and help keep them from fluffing rounds of combat (and unlike Gorthor, he can actually survive the odd round of combat with another lord). If you want a special character Beastlord, this is the one. Also, he has a surprisingly good combat ability, while his base stats are very little above a regular beastlord, he comes with a free 2+ armour save and just to give him that little extra challenge boosting bonus, he completely nullifies enemy magic weapons; his whip is also something to strike fear into the hearts of hordes because it will tear them in 2.

*'''Malagor, the Dark Omen:''' Not too bad as far as Beastmen Special Characters. If he starts casting he gets hard to stop, he helps your guys around you get Frenzy and he helps hold up your enemy's general. Maybe a little on the pricy side, but worth it for his abilities, especially since he can fly around and troubleshoot. Not bad, not bad. Also, you need to be careful of magic missiles and even normal missiles because toughness 5 but no armour or ward means that he can get shredded if he's on his own, and if he's in a unit <s>then it kinda wastes his wings,</s> (harpies bro) but he's fun. Also do not forget that once he starts to build momentum he starts becoming unopposed by any wizard because he suddenly realises that he's proud of what he's done (or some shit like that) so he starts being better than Nagash somehow?

*'''Taurox, the Brass Bull:''' THIS RAPE TRAIN HAS NO MODEL! An awesome chance for you to practice your modelling by upgrading and NMM painting a Doombull model. So - Taurox is really here for those players who want to run a megaton-grade Minobus (see tactics).  Probably not seen in games less than 2500 points, Taurox really comes to the fore when supported by egregious spending of points and magic, and a horde of Minotaurs following him in.  Some feel that he is quite worth it his high price tag: Tons of S6 attacks that are magical, flaming and ignore armor saves.  He hits like no other and is more than capable of destroying entire units by himself, but other players feel that a kitted out Doombull beats Taurox, as you can emulate him fairly well with the Armour of Silvered Steel and the Ramhorn Helm (works out to 40 points less, you get more attacks but are slightly less durable there not a doombull is T 5 Taurox is T 6). His weak spot might look scary considering his points, but it doesn't happen that often (it'll only happen about 1 in 216 times against normal and Strength 4 Spearmen Hordes, and 5.55% of the time against normal S3 and S4 hordes). One of the better special characters in the Beastmen book without a doubt. Remember though that the amount of points invested into the Bus means that your Gors now will be less well led, so you'll need some buffs for those Gor blocks. 

*'''Morghur The Shadowgave:''' Unbreakable and kinda fun in the stats department. He kills one friendly (AND ONLY FRIENDLY) model per turn and turns it into [[Chaos Spawn| that which shall not be named]]. If you want to take him, keep some Ungors near him to try and turn them rather than something more worthwhile and be aware that if no other friendly model is near enough, nothing happens.  Can be fun in a non-competitive list, especially if you really wanted to run some [[Chaos Spawn| grblrlgrbrlrlgrrrr]] but were turned off by the points cost. Kill 5 or 6 Ungors and get 3 chaos spawns on average? Yes please. Chaos Spawns may not be great for 50+ points but they're amazing for 5 points. Wait, I said it, didn't I? '''[[Rage|FFFFUUUUUUUUU]]- BRLARGMURLRLRLRLRFUCKYOHBFLFLFLL'''

*'''Slugtongue:''' Slugtongue costs nearly 80 points more than a level 2 Bray Shaman for a 50 percent chance to cause up to D6 wounds (usually D3) to all enemy units within 36" before the game begins, which is awesome against heavy cavalry lists or MSU spam.  Other pros are that he has Regeneration (making him marginally less squishy than a normal Bray-Shaman) and has poisoned attacks (for what that's worth).  Sadly, he loses access to Lore of Beasts which is one of the main reasons you take a shaman.  On the other hand the lore of Death isn't all that bad, nor is Lore of the Wild. He is a situational Bray Shaman, but doesn't mean he is useless.

*'''Moonclaw, Son of Morsleib:''' Just what you need, something to make your units worse. As low LD is one of the major weaknesses of a Beastmen army, his Stupidity causing is MUCH more likely to hurt you than your opponent. His once per game ability to drop stone throwers could be fun, if he's inside a unit, you're gonna end up firing at the same unit 3 times (and if you're in combat then your opponent is just going to laugh at you). Oh and did we mention he's Level 1 for 125 points more than a Bray Shaman? <s>Skip him hard.</s> BUT WAIT, crack AND insanity, very useful and practically essential (you're playing beastmen what did you think I would say, something useful?)

====Generic Characters====
'''Note:''' While named characters are judged against their generic counterparts, generic characters are examined based on their role in your army.

*'''Beastlord:''' Leadership 9 is what this guy brings to the table and holy shit are you paying for that privilege.  He has a respectable S and T of 5, but that's really the most outstanding part of his statline.  Properly kitted out he can bring the hurt just like any other combat Lord but toe-to-toe he ''will'' get put down like... well, like an animal.  Having to pay for Gifts and Magic Items from the same pool limits your ability to outfit him ''a lot''.  Almost mandatory for that Ld 9, though. Also, do watch out because while he has good attack he has worryingly low initiative which means anything moderately fast with a giant's blade will kill him before he even realises he's getting attacked.

*'''Great Bray Shaman:''' The wizard lord of the Beastmen. Useful as far as Wizards go, but a tiny bit on the pricey side. His LD8 could help in a pinch, but don't rely on it.  Lore of Beasts is an incredible choice for him for reasons which should be obvious.  Expensive for what he does, but still useful.

*'''Doombull:''' Doombulls bring the murderfest to the table for those players who really want to center their army around the Special Units section ('''MINOTAURS''', '''BABY!''').  These powerhouses have a gnarly stat line, are mean as a starved dog, and give a LD buff to any unit of minotaurs that they lead.  There are some detractions: they're expensive and hard to keep in line (Frenzy plus Bloodgreed means he and his unit are easy to strand, and will be abused by experienced opponents). As well, being Lord level, you now have less access to that LD9 that your Gors need.  LD8 makes him unreliable after a fluffed round of combat, BUT they can become a rape train under the right circumstances: kit him out to the max (Ramhorn Helm and a magic weapon are almost mandatory here) and engage trollface while you steamroll rank and file troops. They should almost ''never'' be run as solo characters - they're not the lone ranger and can be crushed or led astray too easy. He needs to be stuck in with Minotaurs, but remember that when you do this you need to think about screening units: odds are you're spending a lot on that unit, you don't want it to get isolated and shredded. However - with back up and screening, you are looking at a lawnmower that can really bring the pain to the enemy. Kit him out with some gear and consider some sort of magic banner to boost that LD8/buff his unit, and you could be looking at the reason why the Beastmen have one of the most awesome Special Units in the game!

*'''Wargor:''' What with Beastmen LD being both critical and piss poor, and your Beastlord being unable to be everywhere at once, you're going to be buying a lot of these guys to do unit babysitting and troubleshooting. As with Beastlords, most people can kick their teeth in, so be careful with them.  Also, get a BSB. Seriously, you need it. A lot.

*'''Bray Shaman:''' Cheap level 2 wizards are always useful for when things go tits up for your Level 4's and Bray Shamans fill that role nicely. Worth taking. Don't be fooled though, they can't fight in combat so don't try it. Also try putting him with a unit of gors and leave him a level 1 to spam wildform.

*'''Gorebull:''' He has all the issues of a Doombull with none of the advantages. At least a Doombull has a brutal statline and higher base LD than the Minotaurs' weak base LD of 7. Combined with limited access to magic equipment, makes the Gorebull just a fucking awful choice. Frankly, the only reason you should ever see this is in a Minotaur themed army, specifically a Minobus (see the tactics section at the end of this article), where you want a Minotaur Hero as a BSB.  Otherwise ignore with prejudice.

===Core Units===
*'''Gors:''' Toughness 4 infantry, a good stat line save for their poor Ld, and aggressive in h2h. Take them in big hordes and buff them with Lore of Beasts (preferable) or debuff their enemies with Lore of Shadow. Throw in leaders in the form of heroes and lords to try and bolster that weak LD - you'll need it so you don't lose a huge block due to a flubbed round of combat. If you're gonna buy additional equipment (you should), make it Extra Hand Weapons, Shields might as well not exist for them. Extra hand weapons become worth it when you consider you'll be rerolling your hits almost every turn if you took a BSB and a Lord (which you should have).  Keep these blocks near or with the BSB and El Jefe and you have a really good hammer/anvil for killing the enemy.

*'''Ungors:''' Ungors are a tough core unit to swallow: they are supposed to be this army's skavenslaves/goblins but are overpriced for the role at 5pts, and generally don't perform as well as their counterparts.  Beastmen don't make use of tarpits, they make use of MSU flankers - which is how these should be used. Blah upgrades (a spear, kind of meh) means that they are less than appealing than their raider counterparts (see below). You're probably going to need some just to keep your Gor/Bestigor units from getting flanked, just be aware: Without a general/hero nearby they can't even function as a Horde (be Steadfast all you like, you're still likely to break when you lose combat at LD6). You shouldnt be blocking them up anyway - they underperform in combat and make a horrible tarpit.  Keep them near the General and pray.  '''Tip''' - if MSUing them, try to keep them 6" apart because they ''will'' break, and you don't want a chain reaction to wipe all of your flankers off the board ''and'' possibly upset a core block. Your enemy's laughter mixed with your tears of bitterness makes not for a fun night.
** '''Ungrel Four-Horn:'''A 75 point upgrade that occasionally turns into a Wargor and allows you reroll Primal Fury tests against Empire, Bretonnia and other Beastmen. Oh and he traps you at his basic LD, IE 7. Spending 75 points on a unit that will still break under any direct pressure is not a good call. Skip him hard, middle finger raised high.

*'''Ungor Raiders:''' Skirmishers got nerfed in 8th edition and these lads are no exception... BUT, these guys are probably the best chaff we have. For 30 points you get a small unit that can pepper lone characters, ambush, and march 10" to protect your flanks. These are great for turning enemy elites in the wrong direction, sniping war machines, trying to appear in the rear with the gear as ambushers, and in general making a giant pain in the ass out of themselves (fitting, as that is what they would be good at in the fluff).  Take 4+ units of these in MSU form and get to work.

*'''Warhounds:''' The main reason to take Core units in a Beastmen army is to try and hit the minimum requirement as fast as possible and since Warhounds don't count towards that, these guys are iffy. They make okay screening units, but are vulnerable to Panic and cause Panic in others.  Also, they are good with flanking, as well as hunting down siege weapon crews and being distractions for lone Lords and Wizards to deal with. Or keep them with your Minotaurs as they suffer from bloodgreed and will stop dead in their tracks after breaking a unit, the Warhounds can chase down the retreating unit. 

*'''Tuskgor Chariots:''' Tuskgor Chariots are exactly as the lore would describe them: utterly brutal (if used properly, of course). Be advised, there will be that one guy who thinks that you can never have enough of these filling out your core choices... DO be THAT guy, beastmen need some sort of heavy mobile unit, its certainly not their  Centigors. You're not Tomb Kings, you can't make an entirely chariot army (at least have it work efficiently). They are effective at flanking and skirmishing, but they are not going to replace the Gors, Ungor Raiders and Bestigors any time soon. Also remember that the primal fury works on the beasts pulling the chariot as well. This is no doubt not intended but as things are written now, the entire chariot gets primal fury. No reason in not taking full usage of all your available effects after all.

===Special Units===
*'''Minotaurs:''' The true glass hammers of the Beastmen. Minotaurs are your blunt force instruments and are indicative of the army as a whole: Powerful on the face of it, weak in the details, overpriced, prone to running away on tough rounds of combat or unlucky rolls. Killer models, they are brutal in hand to hand, but this contrasts with their shitty Ld, Bloodgreed and weird movement to role ratio within the army as a whole which  makes Minotaurs a hard unit to use right. If you're willing to invest the points and the time (not to mention a necessary hero), they can truly maul the enemy. Be careful about how you move them, and investing in a screening unit or two is ''mandatory''. They won't be chasing down any units (read bloodgreed again - it puts the brakes on what could be a brutal unit otherwise), so try to get a Razorgor in the flank to help run the fleeing enemy down.

*'''Bestigors:''' If you want to take Bestigors, you're going to have to commit to them. Units of 10, 15, even 20? No, if you want Bestigors you're going to want HUGE units of 30+. Yes they're overpriced for their abilities, but at least at that size they're unlikely to get shot to pieces. In units of that size, they can actually accomplish quite a bit, but don't let them operate on their own. You're going to want a Beastlord nearby and a BSB in the unit would not go amiss. And you definitely should use their magic banner allotment - the only infantry in the list with one (Get the War Banner, Standard of Discipline, or Banner of Swiftness). As we said: Commit.

*'''Razorgors:''' Two units of 1 should always be an auto include. For 55 points you get a unit that can kill lone characters in the front ranks of units, such as wizards. Good at clearing chaff, combo charges to help run down units, and as flank protectors. Only LD6 so keep 6" away from other units so they won't flee; for this same reason, never take razorgors in units of 2, because if one dies, the other little piggy will run all the way home. 

* '''Razorgor Chariot:''' For 15 points more you could get 2 Tuskgor Chariots, which is the better choice. Overall though, not a bad choice, as it provides a fairly nasty blunt-force hitter. Just, as always, be careful.  As with the Tuskgor Chariot, the razorgor all of the sudden got primal fury if you make him pull a chariot, making him more nasty.

*'''Centigors:''' Not very good. They're overpriced and they'll crumble if they hit a unit head on that's not made of cardboard, if you are getting them then give the throwing axes (almost mandatory) for a S5 shooting attack, and make sure they cover your flanks!  Don't ever give them great weapons because that wastes one of your drunken results (all three of which are good in their own way).
** '''Ghorros Warhoof:''' Spend 155 points to make your Centigors slightly less shit! Honestly, this guy would be 100% better if you could field him and then just cause him to die out of nowhere, and you actually can if you take Morghur (an expensive sacrifice, but it makes you far more likely to pass Primal Fury rolls), but as it is, he's not very good.  He's so shit his main advantage to your list is the +1 to Primal Fury checks every else gets after he dies.  While this strategy likely won't make your army all that competitive (unless you're playing the higher points games) it can be very fun in casual games, and is the only way in your basic army to take Primal Fury checks on LD 10.

*'''Harpies:''' It's amazing how much the omission of one special rule can change the Harpies from being pretty good (in the Dark Elves book) to being a risky difficult proposition. They cause panic. Remember, Panic is the easiest way to get your units heading for the hills and never returning, and Beastmen don't exactly need a reason to panic. But they make okay screening and war machine hunting units, so if you're running Minotaur heavy, you could think about investing in a small unit or two. It is also worth noting, however, that this is pretty much the only unit to run Malagor in so he can fly around and do his hilarious antics but not get killed by every archer/mage in the game, make them your favourite flying gang, teach them to beatbox and then make them your idles, or don't.

*'''Putrid Blightkings (End Times)''' : Not part of the Beastmen list.  Move along, citizen.

===Rare Units===


Beastmen Rare choices are overpriced and (somewhat) underpowered, like all of the Beastmen book right now. However, unlike most of the rest of your army, they operate just as well with or without Hero/Lord supervision. Thus they can fill gaping holes in your army, cause casualties where you normally can't and hit the flanks. Don't feel bad if you wind up with no Rares in your army - quite often, the points are better spent on buffing your Cores and Specials.

*'''Giant:''' You know him, you love him and he's slightly over priced (225 pts. vs the Ogre Kingdoms' or Orcs and Goblins' Giants' 200 points, because those two armies' Giants aren't immune to Panic. However, contrast that with ALL of the Ogre Kingdom's Giant's Pick Up And... resulting in auto-death for the target). In all seriousness, the Giant is a safe and colourful rare choice and combines with any of the other big choices for a perfect 500 points in Rare units. In most cases, you will want the Giant!

*'''[[Chaos Spawn]]:''' Worthless here.  Their inherent movement unpredictability might work with another army but since everyone in your army has Movement 5 minimum you'll usually be zooming right past them by just by marching and even if they do stay ahead of the rest of your army somehow (you'll need to consistently roll 11's and 12's) they'll be destroyed by any competent combat unit (T5 and 3 wounds does NOT make them survivable since they have no save).  Maybe if they could take marks they might have some use but as it is they're outdone by literally every other Rare choice. Every time you take a Chaos Spawn, Tzeentch kills a kitten. Think of the kittens.

*'''Cygor:''' Cygors are useful but somewhat iffy and probably require more careful use than most of the other monsters. Basically they are your ONLY semi-reliable form of long range attacks, which can be ridiculously useful for softening up key units before combat. The downside is that this will make him a big target for your enemies shooting. Next to being an overpriced movable stone-thrower, Cygors also have some anti-magic abilities. In close combat they can re-roll their attacks against anything that smells like magic (mages, magic items, undead, demons, ward save, hexed/augmented enemies,...), although with a WS of 2 you better not expect miracles here. Also with a T/W/A of 5 each and no saves he's rather fragile for a monster. Lastly, he has a thing for enemy mages, making that any failed casting attempt also counts as a miscast, thus the potential of blowing both the mage and part of his unit to bits. Sadly enemy mages need to be within 24" AND fail a Ld test so again...no miracles. Overall you're probably better off with a Ghorgon.

*'''Ghorgon:''' This (insert derogatory term about 'your mom') is scary and under the right circumstances can cause a lot of carnage, but requires careful use. For starters, Frenzy and Bloodgreed increase the possibility of him being led by the nose (yes I know you need to fail an LD test to accidentally charge, but he will still pursue that unit of Fast Cavalry that flanked him, whose asses he kicked in return. Trust me, canny opponents know how to use Frenzy against you if you aren't careful), and being stranded in a bad situation (if he gets into combat with 2 ranks of Swordsmasters, White Lions, Witch Elves, etc, you might as well just remove him). His swallow whole is of limited usefulness and his mediocre WS makes him an possibly risky proposition. Most importantly: the Ghorgon has '''NO ARMOUR SAVE'''. On the other hand, he's one of the 2 units in your army that can operate entirely self-sufficient (even Jabberslythes and Cygors need general or unit backup, the Giant is the other) which might make him worth it all on it's own. Be careful with him though, he's expensive and can easily be put in a situation where he'll drop like a fly. Hence it's best to take advantage of the Ghorgon for being one of the very few monsters in WHFB with WS4 that can be an efficient flanker, as much as possible. Use some of your smaller chaff/finesse units (harpies/other fast warmachine hunting units) combined with the Ghorgon to get rid of the main threats to the Ghorgon and position as required to rip out some kidneys.

*'''Jabberslythe:''' This thing is so hideous it drives your enemy insane (and it's model costs so much it drives YOU insane - not to mention it's the ugliest thing ever to come out from GW.  Probably intentionally, but still). Not as all around good as the Giant, Cygor or Ghorgon, due to a lack of Stubborn and comparatively low S and T, but he flies, he shoots, he causes wounds when he gets wounded, he thunder stomps and he drives enemy models insane. Will probably be worth his points so long as you ''don't'' use him carelessly and keep him away from Vorpal Swords.  '''VERY IMPORTANT NOTE''': Despite being a flying monster, he is '''NOT''', I repeat, '''NOT''' qualified to go head to head with a Dragon without backup. A Dragon with a halfway competent rider will knock his ass down. Sending him up against anything above a Manticore qualifies as using him carelessly.