Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Beastmen

Why Play Beastmen

Let's say you like Chaos in Warhammer Fantasy, but you're not that hell-bent on winning every game you set out to play. A strange thought to many, I know but let's entertain this one. What would an army of this sort look like? I'll tell you what it would look like - it would look like Beastmen! Like Daemons and Warriors, Beastmen have all that cool chaos flair, like spiky bits, evil and malice, awesome looking models, etc. - and none of the cheese! If you like an army of angry, bitter, drunk pseudo-furries (it's actually a lot cooler than that sounds), you will like the Beastmen.

Also, if you like tough, fast-moving cores supported by awesome lords and heroes, one of the most bad-ass special units and literally terrifying rare choices, Beastmen are for you.

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.

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

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 Archaeon of Beastmen, comes riding a Tuskgor chariot upgradable to a Razorgor chariot. Wields a killing blow spear, randomly casts spells in the magic phase and fucks shit up in close combat!

• Khazrak, the One Eye: As his name implies, he has one eye, but that doesn't seem to hinder him much. He lost his eye during a bout with Boris Todbringer, but Old One-Eye took that panzy faggot's eye for the insult. In game, he's a deadlier Beastlord, armed with a nasty whip (sacrifice all attacks to hit everyone in the front rank) and some pretty hard armour (2+, negates magic/runic weapons) with +1WS. However, the best thing about Khaz is his Bestial Cunning rule, which allows you to reroll either the turn or side for where your Beastmen ambush strike!

• Malagor, the Dark Omen: His name sounds metal as fuck, and he's the Beastman wizard du'jours. He stores unused enemy dispel dice as power dice for the next turn, frenzies your own troops on a PF test that rolls a double and blocks inspiring presence. Did we mention that he can fly, too?

• Taurox, the Brass Bull: THIS RAPE TRAIN HAS NO BRAKES! Holy fuck, seriously, Taurox is outrageously deadly even when compared to minotaurs which are already outrageously deadly. He sports a stat-line that's almost entirely 6's, deals D3+1 impact hits, has a 1+ armour save, two hand weapons that grant flaming attacks and no armour saves, is frenzied, has Slaughterer's Call and Bloodgreed. He really is that deadly - this wikifag saw Taurox eat a Dwarf Slayer Lord, the slayer unit attached to him and two war machines after losing the regiment of minotaurs that were supporting him.

• Morghur The Shadowgave: Quite possibly one of the most OP hero-level characters in Fantasy. He's Unbreakable, turns things into that which must never be named and cannot be hurt by shooting or magic unless it was loosed within 12" of him - also known as prime spawning range.

• Slugtongue: One of two bray shaman special characters in the book, being the weaker of the two. Stock level 2 wizard with the ability to randomly inflict wounds on enemy units without armour saves. Also has poisoned attacks.

• Moonclaw, Son of Morsleib: The other bray shaman special character, and yes, he is apparently the son of the chaos moon. Level 1 wizard, may ride an M7, T5 beast of sorts and has a better strength (of 4) compared to other bray shaman. His wave of insanity is nifty for disrupting enemy formations (or your own) and the fact that he can summon a fucking comet is always good times.

Generic Characters

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

• Beastlord: A decent Lord choice, though overshadowed by other choices. Best to kit out with magic items for army-wide benefits (like the Horn of the First Beast) plus a few gifts/magic items. Great if you are in a pinch for points or if you go against Bretonnians/Empire a lot because of the Manbane rule (re-roll failed Primal Fury tests).

• Great Bray Shaman: The wizard lord of the Beastmen. Can cast either from the Beastmen's own Lore of the Wild as well as the Lores of Beasts (shock!), Death and Shadows. A fun thing to do with this guy is tool him up with a Razorgor Chariot, Skin of Man (magic item, allows the shaman to scout) and the hunting spear.

• Doombull: Pure fucking awesome! Like Minotaurs, they don't get Primal Fury but instead cause Fear and get access to Bloodgreed (successful rounds in combat cause Frenzy unless frenzied, then just grant bonus attacks; can only pursue D6"). On top of that, they come frenzied and frenzy any unit they join. An absolute no-brainer to stick in a squad of Minotaurs, buff this guy with armour/ward saves and give him the Stonecrusher mace for initiative order S9 attacks!

• Wargor: These basic heroes are a must! Cheap, tough, fast, Manbane, Primal Fury and can pack lots of goodies for small point games. Take two with great weapons and stuff them into a regiment of Bestigors, one with a battle standard and the other with the horn of the first beast and watch the fun ensue.

• Bray Shaman: Pretty good as far as wizards go, but could be better. T4, M5 are nice things to have in a wizard and they are a swell addition to a unit of Gors. Great for taking a herdstone shard for magic or the steel talons for close combat.

• Gorebull: Has all the same rules like the Doombull above, but hero-level stats and price. EXCELLENT taken by themselves or supported by minotaurs. In the former, take two with great weapons and one with the dark chalice. Otherwise, stick one in a minotaur regiment with a great weapon and trollhide.

Core Units

• Gors: The Beastmen bread and butter, M5 and T4. Don't bother with shields, just load them up with extra hand weapons and run screaming at your foes. Generally advised to duplicate your squads so you can send one screaming at your foes as stated earlier while the other one sets up for a Beastman ambush.

• Ungors: Give them shields and spears, line them up in a horde and march. They are the Beastmen's tarpit so use them as such. For added fun, take a duplicate squad and ambush with it - a successful roll will make your opponent's eyes explode in shear WTF-ness.
  • Ungrel Four-Horn: An upgrade for your Ungor champ and what an upgrade he is! Randomly turns into a Wargor or a Bray Shaman and gets to re-roll Rrimal Fury tests against Empire, Bretonnians and even other Beastmen. He's also the only special character that can ambush.

• Ungor Raiders: One of the few missile troops available to Beastmen, equipped with short bows, skirmishers and can ambush. Don't bother with a standard bearer but do take the half-horn and field in two squads of 10 - one for setting up normally, the other for ambushing.

• Warhounds: Identical to their Warriors of Chaos counterparts, can be given a worthless scaly skin save or (much preferably) poisoned attacks! a pretty good, fast-moving meat shield.

• Tuskgor Chariots: Pretty fucking awesome if you ask me. Whereas most armies have chariots in special or rare, these guys take them in Core and the entire chariot has primal fury!

Special Units

• Minotaurs: If you're not taking Minotaurs, then that means you don't have a Gorebull or Doombull. Otherwise, what the fuck is wrong with you? M6, S5, T4 and 3 each of wounds and attacks per model. Not cheap, but who gives a fuck? Field in small units to support a Gorebull or Doombull, but be sure to take one of those as a lord/hero first. Nothing's worse than your rapetrain getting derailed from a failed morale test from a weak-ass shooting phase.

• Bestigors: The special unit that you never leave home without. Best equipped with a war banner to supplement their despoiler special rule, which causes them to automatically seize banners from victorious combats and add to their combat resolution. Points permitting, field them in a horde and dare your opponent to charge you. Slap a couple of Wargors inside with great weapons, a beast banner and the horn of the first beast and you will dish out so many S7 great weapon attacks! It's rather amusing to break your opponent's heavy infantry squad, seize his banner and pretty much never lose combat from that point on.

• Razorgors: They are quick, but face stiff competition from other choices in this section. Can be fielded as chariots instead, but are better taken as upgrades for heroes and lords.

• Centigors: The fun special unit as well as the only cavalry unit for Beastmen, their drunken special rule makes these guys shine (granting stubborn, +1M or re-rolls to primal fury), in addition to a decent armour save, cavalry spears and available throwing axes. The cheap alternative to minotaurs and razorgors.

• Harpies: Just don't. They fly - so what? The rest of your army already moves fast and unless you absolutely cannot afford Centigors, then take Warhounds because they're cheaper and you can take as many as you want!

Rare Units

• Giant: You know him, you love him. Special attacks, terror, stubborn, etc. The affordable alternative to the other rare selections in this list, definitely worth taking if you have the points to slot him in.

• Chaos Spawn: Unbreakable, fear causing, random attacks and movement with a T5 to boot. Great for fielding in multiples to distract, guard flanks, setup charges, etc.

• Cygor: Giant, anti-magic, terror-causing stone-thrower. This thing is really as insane as that sounds and he's great fun against undead and daemons. He re-rolls to hits against wizards, undead, daemons, anything with magical attacks and anything with a ward save. He also has magic resistance 2, large-target, stubborn and scares the shit out of mages into causing them to miscast. Oh, and did we mention he's a fucking stone-thrower to boot? You wan walk his ass out 7 inches and then throw a pie plate on your opponent - good times!

• Ghorgon: The other gigantic minotaur horror of the army. Large target, terror-causing, stubborn and frenzied, this guy dishes out plenty of S6 attacks, which can be buffed with the Bloodgreed special rule. To top it all off, he can munch on infantry to regain any lost wounds from those pesky shooting attacks!

• Jabberslythe: This thing is so ugly it scares the enemy army into killing itself. It also flies, causes terror, has a S5 shooting attack, poisoned attacks and dishes out a S5 hit to anyone that successfully wounds it. The reason to take this thing though is because of said aforementioned ability, the aura of madness. Fly him out to your low-Ld enemy line and watch as his men crack under the shear ugliness and take wounds equal to the amount they fail their Ld tests by. Did we mention that this will hit everything within 12" of it? Yeah.

Building Your Army

Like any army, start with a hero and two core. Namely, a Wargor and a regiment each of Gors and Ungors. From there on out, grab a Bray Shaman, a bull of sorts, another Wargor, Bestigors and then the rest is really up to you.

Army Composition

You will field many Gors and Ungors. If you do not, your army will not survive an enemy shooting and/or magic phase very long. Fielding lots of Gors/Ungors also allows you to field ambushers, which will generally cause your opponent to panic when 12 Gors shows up within charge range right behind his cannon/bolt-thrower/wizard/etc. on fucking turn 1!

Magic Items

Weapons: The Beastmen get no shortage of nasty magic weapons, but they're actually not the part of this section you should be looking at, same with the magic armour. Granted, there are magic weapons that raise the eyebrows, like the Primeval Club (wound enemies using leadership instead of strength), Stonecrusher Mace (+3S hand weapon, count as S10 against warmachines and buildings), Mangelder (killing blow, terror, wounded targets -1Ld for the game), Hunting Spear (spear, enables bolt-thrower shots) or the Steel-Claws (requires 2 hands, +d3 attacks and rolling a 6 causes attacks to ignore armour). Most of these weapons are too expensive to be wielded by anything but a lord-level character save for the talons, which are actually pretty great on Bray Shaman or Doombulls (paired with a Ramhorn Helm, Many-Limbed Fiend and a ward save of sorts). As the other mentioned weapons, the Stonecrusher Mace should only ever be used on Doombulls, the Hunting Spear on Great Bray Shaman and the other two on Beastlords exclusively. Everyone else would do well to take their magic weapons from the rulebook or special mundane weapons and armour.

Armour: As above, nothing really good hear except there's even less to look at and it's not as impressive. The only thing that does stand out is Trollhide, which does well on a Gorebull! The other magic armour to recommend is the Ramhorn Helm, which bestows a 6+ save that can be combined with other armour AND grants an additional attack for every successful armour save made all for 15 pts.! Beastmen armour is rather unimpressive and your magic items points are better spent on Gifts, Enchanted items and Talismans.

Enchanted Items: One item here is a MUST for any Beastmen army and that is the Horn of the First Beast. It clocks in at a weight 50 pts. eating all the gear selections off your Wargor and half from your Beastlord, but it's so worth taking because of its ability allow re-rolls on failed primal fury tests within 36". Primal Fury is what transforms the Beastmen from a fast-moving meat wall into the renders of armies by granting hatred and potentially frenzy on top of that in the close combat phase on a successful Ld test. Let's be honest, Beastman Ld is fucking terrible, which makes the Horn of the First Beast all the more necessary.

The other good enchanted item is the Shard of the Herdstone, which lets the Beast player plonk down a piece of terrain representing a herdstone. Any friendly wizard within 6" of this terrain generates an additional power dice. If however you are strapped for points and are looking at an enchanted item, buy yourself a Stone of Spite for 25 pts., burn through your opponents dispell dice in a magic phase then blow up his wizards' arcane items within 18".

Talismans: Of the two talismans available to the beasts, only one is any good and that distinction belongs to the Chalice of Dark Rain. And oh what a good item it is! Let's put it this way, the Beastmen are very vulnerable to missile fire as they wear little to no armour and have almost nothing to contribute with in the shooting phase in return. The Chalice of Dark Rain will fuck up one turn of enemy shooting, causing war machines to not work on a failed 4+ and slapping a -1 to-hit modifier on all other shooting attacks using ballistic skill, all for 40 pts. This is how you cover your ass when you finally get within charge range of your enemy.

Arcane Items: Bray Shaman get some weird gear in the Beastmen book, like the expensive Skull of Rarkos (60 pts., gives +1 on casting rolls to friendly wizards within 6") and the usual bound-spell casters, but the inexpensive Jagged Dagger is possibly the best one. 10 pts. buys you bonus power dice for every wound caused by owning shaman, which can be saved and used whenever he wants. What's not to like?

Magic Banners: The Beast Banner is a nice and inexpensive banner compared to those foisted by other armies. Even though it is the most expensive at 75 pts., this grants the bearer and unit +1S, which is great for making Gor and Ungor herds surprisingly dangerous, and can turn Bestigor herds into heavy cavalry shredders! Some might argue that there isn't much difference between S6 and S7 for armour modifiers, but when facing knights that have a 1+ save, that extra strength is invaluable. Otherwise, DO NOT buy a rust totem - ever! You NEED what little armour your Beastmen wear (if any) to defend them from arrows and the odd musket ball. You do not need an additional deduction to your armour even if it will reduce your enemies. Either pony up for a beast banner or buy great weapons for your dudes, but don't use this banner! The last note for this section is the Manbane Standard and what a bargain it is! 35 pts. for a -1Ld on enemy units within 6" is very useful for breaking squads, especially for Bestigors.

Gifts: Like other Chaos armies, Beastmen get access to the gifts of the dark gods that they don't particularly distinguish. Gouge Tusks (attacks inflict an additional -1 armour save), Gnarled Hide (5+ scaly skin) and Uncanny Senses (+1 initiative) are easily worth their cost, although it's not recommended pairing Uncanny Senses with a great weapon. Crown of Horns would be worth it on a Beastlord, but not much else; Shadowhide works well almost exclusively with Bray Shaman; Rune of the True Beast is excellent if you're fighting Bretonnians; Slug-skin mulches tarpits and Many-Limbed Fiend has debatable use.

Tactics

This is My Clone Essentially just spamming the Beasman Ambush with a shit-ton of Gors, Ungors and Ungor Raiders. Take in small units (12 Gors, 15 Ungors) except for Ungor Raiders, which should only be taken in full-strength units. Then just roll the dice and place them where you will.

Stealth Bolt-Thrower Chariot Doable, as ridiculous as that sounds. Take one Great Bray Shaman, give him the Skin of Man (thus allowing him to scout) and the Hunting Spear (thus allowing him to shoot like a bolt-Thrower). Mount him on a Razorgor chariot and let the funny begin. Yes, I just hurled a bolt at your knights in the side from under half-range. U mad?

Strategic Use of Ungors

Labrea Tarpit 50+ Ungors formed in a horde (10 wide, 5 deep, duh) with shields and spears marched straight out in the center supported with Warhounds and/or Centigors and/or Harpies (if you're feeling silly) on the flanks. Wait for your opponent to plunge into the soft, moist folds of the Ungors, get stuck in and then hit him on the sides.

Bull-buffer Take a small unit of basic ungors place them in front of a unit of minotaurs with a gorebull (or two) and/or a doombull, all armed with great weapons. When your opponent tries to charge the ungors, elect for them to flee and run through the frenzied bulls, which will not break. Then charge the suckers with the bulls and tear the motherfuckers apart, giving them bonus attacks for next round. Rally the faggy ungors and repeat. Even if your opponent whittles your 'taur unit down, the remaining bulls will have way too many high-strength attacks.