Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Beasts Of Chaos

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Why Play Beasts Of Chaos?

• Because you thought Satyrs in Greek mythology were better at killing and raiding than being pipe players.
  • well, they still probably rape everything that once breathed, so not too different. Also they got some rad musicians.
  • Really, you just want Grimdark Satyrs-slash-Pop culture barbarians.
• You like armies that are styled around CELTIC warbands and despite the Celts losing nearly every battle against the Roman Empire and their culture being nearly eradicated from history you feel you can do better ...after all you have shamans and minotaurs, not to mention big fuckin monsters.
• Because they look cool with their horns and shaggy fur.
• Because Chaos Warriors are too civilized as they don't shit where they stand, have fleas, and smell like piss all year round.
• You like massive, lightning-using foot dragons native to the World-That-Was who made a shitty deal with the Chaos Gods.

Pros:

• Can swarm the board with cheap fast and flanking Brays, big stompy people eating minotaurs or big ass dragon ogres. Oh wait, you can do all of them at once.
• CHARIOTS! three straight into that dwar- I mean duardin shield wall
• Monsters. Monsters everywhere.
• Almost everything is fast as fuck, boi.
• You can watch civilization crumble into ruin with one of the most annoying magic lore in the game and a terrain piece which makes those Stormcast tincans look like they're covered in smartphone screens instead of actual armor.
  • In fact, you probably have one of the best anti-armor in the game with how many ways you can increase rend and the Herdstone's anti-save aura
• Chaos Spawns are now pretty damn gooSPRVMWGLWLM
  • Praise Morghur! Great Devolver!
• You can mark your herds with any of the 4 chaos marks!
• Individual models are quick, fun and relatively easy to paint (although they are old as shit, so the paint WILL come off)

Cons

• Weak and few ranged units, except for the monsters and sykfires.
• Very few units have any kind of rend and not a lot of reliable sources of Mortal Wounds. High armor armies will be a problem.
• Ungors, even with bows are still ungors and not even battleline...
• If you are not a bestigor or a melee hero, your armor is probably defined as "loincloth".
• Almost all of your models are real old.
• Unless you are a lucky bastard son of a mutant bird, the only truly devoted Beastmen models are Tzaangors. Want some hound-or-lion-faced Khornegors? some horrendously deformed Pestigors? slim and fast looking Slaangors? you will need tons of green stuff if you wanna do that. And only aesthetically, no actual rules for them!
• Only Slaves to Darkness allies, so no Ogroid Thaumaturges for purely Tzeentch warherds.
• Whilst individual models are quick to paint, you'll be needing LOADS of them, so get your paints and brushes ready, because you'll be painting for a while.

Rulebooks

The Beasts Of Chaos Battletome has all the Warscrolls, Battations and Allegiance Abilities.

• This should be supplemented with the Beasts Of Chaos Errata and Designers' Commentary from the FAQs.
• Matched play points are in the Battetome. Ignore the points in the General's handbook 2018.
• Alternatively up to date warscolls can be found in the WH AoS app. Warscrolls on the GW webstore match those in the Battletome.

As with all factions you'll want:

• The core rules are either downloadable or in the Core Book.
• Games taking place in a Realm need the Realm of Battle rules from the Core Book.
• In you want to take advantage of realm specific artefacts you'll need the Artefacts Of The Realms section from the Malign Sorcery book.
• Matched play battleplans are split across the Core Book and General's handbook 2018.
• All books should be supplemented with any updates from the FAQs.

Allegiance

Battle Traits

• Brayherd Ambush: you can set up a BRAYHERD unit into an ambush during deployment for each Beasts of Chaos you place on the board during setup. At the end of your first movement phase, you must place them within 6" of the board edge and more than 9" away from any enemy models.
  • While not as flexible as some other deepstriking abilities (Stormcasts, Nighthaunt) it can be an effective way of getting large Brayherd hordes quickly up the board when confronting the enemy and taking objectives. Many artillery crews find it hard to worry about shooting down a monster when goatmen are next to them.

• BloodGorge: at the end of a combat phase when a Warherd destroys a unit, heal 3d wounds, good to Rejuvenate injured bulls after a fight

• Creatures of the Storm: during the start of your Hero phase, each Thunderscorn unit rolls a d6 and move that many inches if not within 3" of an enemy nor move within 3" of them. Good to get your Dragon Ogors closer to their targets or get them out of danger in rare circumstance.

• Primordial Call: At the start of your turn, gain a Primordial point. You can gain more during your hero phase by having a Beasts Of Chaos Hero sacrifice another unit if both are within 3" of a Herdstone. if you do, inflict 3d mortal wounds on the sacrificed unit and gain that many points for each wound that is lost. At the end of your movement phase, you can spend points to summon one or more units and place them on the board in the same manner as Brayherd Ambush.
  • Chimera 10
  • Ghorgon 10
  • 3 Tzaangor Skyfires 10
  • Chaos Gargant 9
  • Cygor 9
  • 10 Tzanngors 9
  • 3 Bullgors 8
  • Jabberslythe 8
  • 3 Dragon Ogors 7
  • 3 Tzaangor Enlightened on Discs of Tzeentch 7
  • 10 Bestigors 6
  • Cockatrice 5
  • Tzaangor Enlightened 5
  • 5 Centigors 4
  • 10 chaos Warhounds 4
  • 10 Gors 4
  • 10 Ungor Raiders 4
  • Chaos Spawn 3
  • Tuskgor Chariot 3
  • Razorgor 3
  • 10 Ungors 3

Command Traits

Brayherd Alphabeast

• Bestial Cunning: Up to half (rounding down) of your Ambushing units can arrive during your second movement phase instead of the first.
• Indomitable Beast: Gain 1 Wound characteristic.
• Apex Predator: Re-roll the general's wounds rolls of 1.
• Malevolent Despoiler: Enemies don't benefit from cover when they are 12" of the general. Remember, cover works in melee in AoS, so it might be worth a look.
• Oracle of the Dark: -1 Bravery penalty to enemies within 12"
• Shadowpelt: -1 to hit rolls from attack that came over 3".

Warherd Alphabeast

• Eater of Heroes: Re-roll failed hits that target heroes.
• Rampant Juggernaut: Re-roll charge rolls for Warherd units wholly within 12"
• Gorger: Warherd units wholly within 12" always heal 3 wounds from Bloodgorge.
• Gouge-tusks: Roll a dice for an enemy within 3" at the end of the combat phase. on a 2-5 deal 1 mortal wound, and on a 6 deal d3.
• Roaring Brute: Subtract 1 from enemy bravery within 12"
• Rugged Hide: Reduce the rend of attacks against the general by 1

Thunderscorn Alphabeast

• Tempestuous Tyrant: Re-roll wound roll agenst monsters
• Magnetic Monstosity: Enemies within 3" can't retreat.
• Father of the Storm: You can reroll the Creatures of the Storm Trait
• Lighting-fast Monstrosity: Attacks first before all others during the combat phase if you charge
• Adamantine Scales: Add 1 to save rolls
• Ancient Beyond Knowing: At the start of the first battle round, gain d3 command points.

Artifacts of Power

Spoils of the Brayherd

1. Ramhorn Helm: After a charging pick a enemy unit within 1". That unit gets D3 mortal wounds.
2. Brayblast Trumpet: Brayherds ambushing within 18" of the bearer get +1 to hit.
3. The Knowing Eye: You get a command point on a 4+ at the start of your hero phase.
4. Volcanic Axe: One of the bearer weapons get +1 damamge and 6 To-Hit inflicts an extra mortal wound
5. Bleating Gnarlstaff: If the bearer is within 1" of a terrain, roll a dice. On a 3+ all enemy units 1" from the terrain gets a mortal wound.
6. Troggoth-hide Cloack: The bearer regenerate 1 wound at the start of your hero phase.

Spoils of the Warherds

1. Cleaver of the Brass Bull: Add 1 to the rend of one of the bearers weapons. Also, if you roll a 6 to hit with said weapon it gets +1 damage for that attack.
2. Gilded Horns: After a charge, pick an enemy unit within 1" and roll a number of dice equal to your charge roll. For every 5+ inflict one mortal wound to the enemy unit
3. Gliph-etched Talisman: The bearer can unbind a spell for turn like a WIZARD
4. Blackened Armor of Chaos: The bearer ignores mortal wounds on a 4+.
5. Champion's Doomcloack: Add 2 to charge rolls for the bearer.
6. Herdstone Shard: BULLGOR units wolly within 6" from the bearer trigger the Bloodgreed ability on a roll of 5 or 6.

Spoils of the Thunderscorn

1. Ancestral Azyrite Blade: One of the bearer's weapons gets 2 better rend.
2. Lightning-chained bracers: The bearer can reroll hits, all of your hits.
3. Thunderstrike Lodestone: Once per battle you can activate this to gain D3 wounds and deal 1 mortal wound to enemy units within 1" on a 2+.
4. Horn of the Tempest: THUNDERSCORN units wholly within 18" can run and charge.
5. Tanglehorn Familiars: Once per battle you can pick an enemy wizard within 12" in the enemy hero phase. They can't cast any spell in that phase.
6. Ruinous Icon: The bearer can ignore the effects of spells and endless spells on a 4+.

Spell Lores

Twisted Wilds

Brayherd wizards pick a spell from here

1. Viletide: Casting Value 6, an enemy within 12" takes d3 mortal wounds, d6 if within 6"
2. Vicious Stranglethorns: cast 7, an enemy within 3" of a terrain takes d3 mortal wounds.
3. Savage Dominion: Casting Value 5, pick an enemy MONSTER and if you beat their bravery on a 2d6, they move to the closest model. pick an enemy 1" of it and roll a number of dice equal to the monster's wound characteristic. on a 4+ the enemy unit takes a Mortal Wound
4. Tendrils of Atrophy: Casting Value 6, pick a visible enemy unit within 12". That units get -1 to save rolls until your next hero phase.
5. Wild Rampage: Casting Value 6, pick a friendly unit within 12". Until your next hero phase, That unit can reroll to wound in melee but suffers -1 to their save rolls.
6. Titanic Fury: Casting Value 7, pick a friendly Beast of CHAOS MONSTER within 12". That monster gets +1 attack to every melee weapon it has.
   • Titanic Fury is best to cast on units with multiple weapons, Chimera, GARGANT, or Gorgons.

Dark Storms

1. Thunderwave: Casting Value 7, each unit within 3" suffers d3 mortal wounds. Does not affect THUNDERSCORN,
2. Hailstorm: Casting Value 6, pick a visible unit within 21". Halve its run, charge, and move characteristic
3. Sundering Blades: Casting Value 7, a friendly unit within 18". Improve their weapons' rend by 1.

Endless Spells

• Doomblast Dirgehorn: Subtract 1 from hit rolls for attacks made by units within 3" of this model. BEASTS OF CHAOS models are not affected. Grows by 3" at the start of each battle round. This one is pretty damn cool but comes with the problem of having a casting value of 6 and thus being fairly easy to dispell.
  • On the other hand, it presents the opponent with the interesting dilemma of either wasting his casting attempts to dispel it or letting it get bigger and bigger.

• Balefire Taurus: A big horde cleaning Endless Spell. It moves 12" a turn and has the Fly keyword. Anything it moves over or ends within 1" of it takes D3 Mortal Wounds, and if the unit has more than ten models, it takes D6 Mortal Wounds instead. Furthermore, Units it damages must fight last at the end of any Combat Phase. While brutal in most situations, it really shines when cleaning up blobs of infantry.

• Ravening Direflock:Spawns three tokens of evil Chaos murderbirds. Anything that is not a BEASTS OF CHAOS unit within 6" of one of these tokens has their Bravery reduced by -2. However, if any unit finishes a move within 1" of the tokens, they have to set the Tokens up again somewhere within 3D6" of the place they were previously.
  • These are phenomenal, especially since it only requires a BEASTS OF CHAOS Wizard to cast it, but not Beasts of Chaos Allegiance. Find some nice Bravery gimmick and add these birds to increase its effectiveness exponentially.
  • Nurgle comes to mind. Have a Nurgle General with Hideous Visage and Carrion Dirge, then a friendly bray wizard to zap in the crows. Under all 3 effects, enemy units will have -6 bravery! But keep in mind your General will certainly also be in range of the crows....

Greatfrays

If you have a Beasts of Chaos army, you can give it a Greatfray Keyword. This works exactly like the Stormcast version - everyone in your army gains the Keyword, except any named characters (not that you have any right now). On the upside, you get a unique Command Ability, Command Trait, Artifact, and a unique ability. On the downside, your General must take the unique Command Trait, and the first Artifact you give to someone must be your Unique Artifact before you can assign any others. Like the Stormhosts, it's up to you if you want more freedom to choose, or gain some benefits from having important decisions locked off.

Allherd

• Ability: Bestial Might: Subtract 1 from battleshock rolls made for ALLHERD units in the battleshock phase if they were picked to fight in the combat phase of the same turn.

• Command Ability: Booming Roar: You can use this command ability at the start of your hero phase if your general is on the battlefield. If you do so, you receive 1 Primordial Call point.

• Command Trait: Dominator: An ALLHERD general must have this command trait. You can re-roll charge rolls made for friendly ALLHERD units wholly within 18" of this general if this general is within 3" of any enemy units.

• Artefact of Power: Blade of the Desecrator: The first ALLHERD HERO to receive an artefact of power must be given the Blade of the Desecrator. Pick one of the bearer's melee weapons. Improve the Rend characteristic of that weapon by 1 for attacks that target a unit of 10 or more models. Improve the Rend characteristic of that weapon by 2 instead for attacks that target a unit of 20 or more models. Attacks made by this weapon cannot have a rend characteristic great than -3.

Dark Walkers

• Ability: Shadowbeasts: WARHERD and THUNDERSCORN units in a DARKWALKERS army are considered to have the BRAYHERD keyword for the purposes of the Brayherd Ambush battle trait. In addition, up to half (rounding up) of the reserve units that are set up in ambush can arrive in your second movement phase instead of your first movement phase.

• Command Ability: Savage Encirclement: at the end of the movement phase, remove a unit 9" away from any enemy unit and wholly 18" of a DARKWALKER hero. Remove it and during your next movement phase return it to the field with the usual Deepstrike restrictions.
  • While you can't ambush most of your Behemoths with your Allegiance ability. You can do deep-strike them with this.

• Command Trait: Nomadic Leader: Add 1 to run rolls of units wholly within 12"

• Artefact of Power: Desolate Shard: The first DARKWALKERS HERO to receive an artifact of power must be given the Desolate Shard. Once per battle, at the start of your hero phase, the bearer can use the Desolate Shard if they are within 3" of a terrain feature. If they do so, roll a dice for each enemy within 1" of that terrain feature. On a 4+ that enemy unit suffers D3 mortal wounds.
  • Works best if you ambush your hero and go after terrain-boosted heroes and mages.

Gavespawn

• Ability: Gift of Morghur: If a friendly GAVESPAWN hero dies, you can place a Chaos Spawn within 6" of the dead hero. If said guy had a chaos mark Keyword, the spawn gets it as well.

• Command Ability: Propagator of Devolution: Pick a GAVESPAWN unit wholly within 12" from a GAVESPAWN Chaos Spawn, at the start of the combat phase. Add 1 attack to all the weapons of that unit until the end of the phase.

• Command Trait: Unravelling Aura: The bearer can dispell one spell per turn like a WIZARD. If he already is one, he can dispell one extra time per turn.

• Artefact of Power: Mutating Gnarlblade: One of the weapons of the bearer gets +2 damage, but each time you roll a 1 to hit, the bearer gets a mortal wound.
  • Turns the meh Beastlord into a powerful character. And when he inevitably dies, you (likely) get a spawn!

Warscrolls

Leaders

Brayherd

• Beastlord: Meh, good at taking Hero challenges but to be honest your better off with a Shaman and Doombull as a general. He has a situational Command ability that if he kills something in melee, All Brayherd units wholly within 18" and attack after him can re-roll all wound rolls. This upgrades to include all hit rolls if he kills a hero. Take him along with some Gors, Bestegors, or Tzangors into an ambush to support them.
  • There is a thing to be said for this lil' guy: if you give him the gavespawn artifact, he becomes a very scary hero killer with a potential of 18 wounds per combat phase. The artifact is especially good on this guy since he can reroll those very harmful ones to hit.
  • The Volcanic Axe is also a great artifact on him.
• Great Bray Shaman: You need this guy because he is the cheapest Twisted Wilds Caster and he increases the Move of all Brayherd around him by 3", which is incredible combined with their run+charge musicians. Sure, those first turn charges are still not likely (kinda, since chronomantic cogs exists), but they're possible thanks to him. His spell, Devolve, which casts on a 7 and just takes an unengaged enemy unit within 18" and pulls it towards your closest unit by 2D6". Best used to pull the enemy away from objectives, cover, or buffers while improving your Chances for a successful charge. In a brayherd/warherd heavy army, always take at least two.
• Tzaangor Shaman: The mage you want in a Tzaangor-heavy army. Thanks to his Disc, he's not all that bad in melee, but that is still only a last resort, as he's too important to risk. The fun part is that he is a 6 wound Mage with high movement and a decent spell: Enemy unit takes D3 Mortal Wounds. Afterward, you can add a Tzaangor to a nearby unit for every model the spell killed. Roast some Saurus Guard and fill up your Beastmen all in the same breath. The Shaman also carries a nice energy drink with him that, once per game, lets him cast twice and re-roll casting rolls while he's at it.

Thunderscorn

• Dragon Ogor Shaggoth: One of the better picks by a long shot. Gee, that can't have anything to do with the Shaggoth being one of the most expensive kits in the WoC range, can it? 10 Wounds aren't all that high, but thanks to his Summon Lightning spell the problem is remedied. The Shaggoth also has an awesome special rule where, if the roll to see who goes first in a turn is a tie, every Dragon Ogre unit, including the Shaggoth, immediately heals D3 Wounds on a D6 roll of 4+. And those ties happen way more often than you expect them to. Also, the Shaggoth has some absolutely devastating attacks in close combat.
  • Why in Gurr does that big ass axe not have rend -2?
    • Why do huge ass Dragon Ogors only dish out 1D on their weapons (while gutbusters do 2D)? The world works in mysterious ways....

Warherd

• Doombull: The murder cow has a two-handed axe (3x 3+/3+/-2/3). Overall, the Bull an absolute melee monster. His attacks are great and he shares the Bloodgreed ability with his lesser kin - on an unmodified 6 to wound, inflicts an additional mortal wound. Although it may look a bit gimmicky and definitely weaker than some of the absurd stuff that the Stormcasts have access to, it is very much relevant. his Command ability grants a +1 To Wound roll to a Warherd unit wholly within in a huge bubble. Play him, CHOP EVERYTHING IN HALF. Also, like his lesser kin, he's very fast with a Move of 7".
  • If you make him a Gavespawn and give him the unique artifact, his weapon becomes a damage 5 rend -2 nuke on a stick, fairly able to down a big enemy monster in one turn. This is expecially good if you take him as part of the Khorne battalion, since he will reroll 1s to hit most of the time.

Battleline

Brayherd

• Bestigors: BATTLELINE if your General is a Beastlord or Great Bray Shaman. Silly armor wearing tits, comparable to Freeguild Greatswords but better, they aren't a hammer unit like Gorebulls,but they do better at killing and most masses of Gors with shields will create a fair tarpit. If only we had access to good ol' pestigors, now they did their job. This unit got quite the fuckin buff in the new book and can easily put out a pretty scary amount of rend -1 wounds on the charge, especially if they are infantry (that will almost always have at least 10 models, if not they are going to die anyway to them) or ORDER units. Spells and command abilities can buff them even more, to the point of being overkill. If you run Brayherd dont look further for Battleline units, this is where the blood flows.
  • As tempting as it is to run 30 man units for Horde Discount, 32mm bases and very unwieldy model numbers makes MSU Bestigors the more obvious choice. 3 10 man units are far more flexible than 1 30 man unit.

• Gors: Your Default mass melee infantry. The first thing you notice is that Gors are pretty fast, pretty tough and not too killy to start out. gains +1 attack if the unit is +20 models. All in all, they're good. Either +4 melee save with shields or decently killy and still pretty survivable with two weapons. Though be advised that they painfully miss a spear-option, so while sizes of 20 to 30 are encouraged, never go beyond that, as you can never attack in two rows. Also, if you stack on the buffs, they can go from 1 attack at 4+/4+/-/1 up to 2 attacks at 3+/3+/-/1 that reroll 1s To Hit and To Wound. Sweet.
  • There is some confusion about Gor's true role. They are obviously not as punchy as Bestigors (who are only a mere 30pt upgrade, and also can be battleline with brayherd general so the Battleline argument can't be used) and they can't Horde as well as Ungors (32mm bases screws units with 1" weapons). Their +1 attack buff works at 20+ models, which really means taking 30 of them since one shooting phase screws 20 man units, and huge units have their own issues (ask khorne players how fun it is to take huge hordes of 32mm based bloodreavers). Unless you're really attached to taking Gors, either A. Bestigors are worth the point bump for power, or B. Ungors are your better chaff option that can actually output more attacks with their 25mm bases and 2" spears.
  • A potential option for them given their cheaper price than Bestigors and better durability than Ungors would be as hardy objective and backfield holders. With their relatively good save in combat in large enough squads they can be surprisingly hardy and can make good charge breakers and objective defenders so more killy units like Minotaurs or Bestigors can mop up after. In essence, leave the actual killing to the Bestigors and leave the role of cannon-fodder to the Ungors. The Gors are your hardy shield-wall from enemy counter-attacks.

• Ungors: Weaker Save than Gors and weaker size bonuses. The main reason you use regular Ungors is so you can sacrifice them to summon more units. The other redeeming factor to these guys is the fact that they can take spears, which let them fight in more rows.
  • Once the Herdstone kicks in, their poor Bravery becomes moot.

• Tzaangors: BATTLELINE if your general is a Tzaangor Shaman. Incredible. They are slightly slower gors with more attacks. No matter what you equip them with, they will always have a 4+/5+/-/1 beak attack each. Then you can choose between three weapons, twin swords, sword and shield, and Greatsword (only two on every five models can use Greatswords). The shield gives you a nice save-after-the-save, the twin swords get you better hit rolls and the Greatblade only give you 1 attack instead of 2 but at damage 2 and Rend -1. They also have a nice rule where you gain +1 attack to all weapons if you have 9 or more models. Since this stacks nicely with the few strong attacks from the Greatblade, you want Greatblades if you want to go for raw damage output and shields to keep them safe, and they can have one mutant for every 5 models, who always have two blades and make 1 additional hit with them. The good thing? You can mix-and-match so that you can do both! They can also run and charge like normal Beastmen, thanks to their musician and can channel mortal wounds onto enemy units if the Tzaangors have Wizards chilling with them. Having an Arcanite Hero hanging with them also gets them better Wound rolls, so keep that Tzaangor Shaman nearby to buff and replenish. There 0 to no reason to not include them in a Tzeentch Beast army.

Warherd

• Bullgors: BATTLELINE if your general is a Doombull. Get the same Bloodgreed rule as the Doombull, а weapon choice of great axes (2x 4+/3+/-2/3) or axe(s)(3x 4+/3+/-1/2) with the option of an additional axe to reroll hit rolls of 1, or bull shields which add +1 to the save rolls against attacks from melee weapons. These options are in addition to horn attacks made by each bullgor (2x 4+/4+/-/1). But the really interesting trait is their Drummer and Banner Bearer abilities: namely, they give +1 respectively to charge rolls and Bravery for each enemy unit within 12" from them. If you want to go full Warherd, take one unit of each and see which ones perform best, but if you take only one unit of them and a Doombull, you're going to want great axes.
  • Arguably the dual axes may be the better option for a higher chance of mortal wounds with the additional attack and rerolling 1's to hit. The loss of rend isn't that big of a deal as we have many ways of reducing saves already.
  • Other than that, they're fast, have more raw, balls-out power than almost anything in the game and have lots of Wounds. The high Wound-count combined with the meh Save also means that targeting them with Mortal Wounds will almost feel like a waste to your opponent, which might keep them safe longer.
  • Cynical BoC players say that as cool as Minotaurs/Bullgors are, they're statistically inferior to Tzaangor Enlightened on Disks. Up to your own experiences though. And also way worse than similarry priced troggoths.

Thunderscorn

• Dragon Ogors: BATTLELINE if your general is a Dragon Ogor Shaggoth. Not bad, either. Five Wounds with a 4+ save, okay Bravery and scary weapons. Each has what is basically a Chaos Knight's horse bolted to it and in addition fights with a big weapon. You get either Ancient Weapons which are three Double-Hammer Liberators in one, Glaives which exchange 2 attacks with 1 more inch of range and a Rend of -1, or Crushers which only have 3 attacks, but with 2 damage each. Re-roll hit rolls of 1 if wholly within 12" of a Shaggoth.
  • Glaives have an interesting use in that you can hide your dragon ogors behind your 25mm/32mm based guys (just in case may want 2 ranks of 25mm bases to have maximum distance). Enemies with 1" weapons won't be able to touch your DO, while the glaives let your DO wack enemies (though you do lose your claw attacks).

Others

Brayherd

• Ungor Raiders: Same as Ungors, but with bows instead of shields and a basic scouting rule. Don't think their bows are good, by the way, but the mass of shots really helps.
  • Don't underestimate 30-40 strong ungor raider units. They can output a surprising amount of dakka (for Beasts anyways, they're not crossbow freeguild!). Combine this with Desolation battalion (RAW it affects shooting) for some hilarious extra Dakka.

• Centigors: Light Brayherd cavalry unit that can Run and Charge. Fairly useless as the other player can lay down even light fire and wipe them out. Their good to at moving across the board, harassing, tieing down or grabbing an objective but not much else. Each turn you can decide to have them get drunk on beast piss to add +1 to their hit rolls but at the cost of your opponent getting +1 on them.
  • Don't underestimate these old models. They can be taken in many battalions and are pretty cheap for minimum units. Too bad it'll cost you an arm and a leg for either official models - or you convert them cheaply from Marauder Horsemen. While chariots may be the better (and cheaper) unit, having some centigors isn't a terrible idea.

• Tuskgor Chariots: It's a chariot. Aside from the fact that the model is painfully showing its age, it's actually damn good. Lots of Wounds, good Save, tons of attacks that are great on the charge and okay normally. Play three of them and make sure they have a Bray Shaman close to them in your first movement phase. Like Bestigors, its Despoiler Axe can re-roll 1s against Order units and add 1 to hit rolls if the unit has 10 or more units. FIll your army with chariots! they are one of the best beast units! If you don't like the Tuskgors, simply build your own chariots from Gors, Warhounds and assorted wood splinters.

• Tzaangor Enlightened: Elite Tzaangors. They have the "option" of putting them onto Discs, or converting normal Tzaangors to Enlightened with the leftover spears you have from Skyfires. For the low price of being affected by anti-Daemon abilities and costing 40 points more, all your Enlightened gain 10" extra Move, an extra Wound and a massively scary melee profile on top of their own massively scary melee profile. They get better when a Tzaangor Shaman is nearby. Other than that, they have a beautiful psychological tool in the Guided by the Past ability, which grants them full rerolls To Hit and Wound if an enemy unit within 3" has already attacked this turn. This puts your opponent into an unpleasant situation: Either attack them first and give the survivors powerful rerolls or let them attack first and pray he'll still have models left once they're done.

• Tzaangor Skyfires: Ranged Elite Tzaangors. These fellows are the unholy cross between a Tzaangor Enlightened, a Kurnoth Hunter and a Warplock Jezzail (guess who did what, I don't wanna imagine that scene). They have the obscene 16" Movement of the Enlightened, the 24" range of the Kurnoth Hunters and unmodified 6 Hit rolls immediately deal Mortal Wounds. This is even stronger considering close proximity to a Tzaangor Shaman grants them +1 To Hit, and the leader already has an additional +1. You owe yourself a favor playing this guys, considering the rest of your army has an abbysal range damage potential, the archer chickens shine even more.

Others

• Chaos Spawn: That Which Must Not Be Named. Not actually terrible anymore, though far from reliable. A Move of 2D6" makes for potentially fast movement. Similarly, 2D6 attacks per Spawn is potentially strong, but even better is the special rule these attacks come with: If you roll a Double, instead of Hitting and Wounding on 4+, you Hit and Wound on 3+. Just think about it, 12 attacks apiece with good Hit and Wound rolls... Also, five Wounds with a 5+ save makes for pretty hardy models. It can also dedicate itself to a chaos god.
  • You'll need a few of these guys for Gavespawn, even if you go crazy and field 6 heroes to transform.

• Chaos Warhounds: They're warhounds. Each is just as durable and twice as powerful in combat as a Marauder but without any of the buffs and an awful Bravery of 4. They're pretty fast, though, so that's good. Use them with Bulls after they break the lines send in Warhounds to mop them up quickly.
  • Combat wise these guys are TERRIBLE compared to Centigors (who cost the same points). BUT they have one interesting use, the cheapest source of Cavalry sized bases. Wanna prevent ambushing and deep strikes? Have a unit of warhounds make a hilariously long conga line!
  • Honestly Warhounds might be in every third or so army if they were Battleline like other faction hounds (dire wolves and flesh hounds).

• Razorgors: The bacon missile! A cheap beast that you would somewhat play like a Cairn Wraith. it has 4 wounds, 10" move and 4 above average attacks, that on the charge that deal additional Mortal wounds on unmodified 6s to hit. Razorgors look threating glancing at the warscroll, Making them good Distraction Carnifexes. They are as cheap to field in large numbers.
  • Addicted to ambushing? Razorgors will be able to fulfill your "one unit per ambushing unit" tax very cheaply.

Behemoth

• Cockatrice: It's a cheap flying monster with a low Wound count of 8. However, because of this low Wound stat, it doesn't lose effectiveness as it gets damaged. It's Petrifying Gaze has you pick a unit in range (10"), roll a D6. At 4+, the enemy unit suffers D6 Mortal Wounds. Aside from that, the Cockatrice is okay, not devastating, but nothing you want to see charging your squishy units.

• Chimera: Very fragile, but very fast and extremely damaging, with four weapon profiles in melee after a flame breath. The flame breath is D6 MORTAL wounds at full health. That's the equivalent of 'point-click-die' to any lone heroes if your opponent is stupid enough to allow this beast to go unmolested too long for it to get close to his lines. As well as that, it has a number of different weapon profiles. The leonine head is 3 attacks, 4+/3+ with a -1 rend and D6 damage at full health, this alone is pretty brutal. The avian head is also 3 attacks, except with a 3+/4+ and (at full health) -3 rend, D3 damage, the dragon head is basically a middle ground between the other two; 3 attacks with a 4/4+, -1 rend and 2 damage. Also has 6 meh attacks with no rend from claws and tail. All in all, this has the potential to be an absolute beast and can very easily maul a lot of things in one turn of combat. The problem is ensuring it gets there as it's 5+ save won't do a huge amount to block any artillery fire that's aiming at it unless you have other deadlier choices. A good tactic is to get it a Re-roll saves of 1 and then send it up the flank to any priority targets. D6 mortal wounds can get slapped on in advance and then charge it in to finish it off if it's still moving. It also gets +2 to charge rolls so this makes doing so a little easier.

• Cygor: Can unbind two spells in each Hero Phase: If he manages to do it, he deals a mortal wound to the caster healing a wound for himself. He can also reroll hit rolls when attacking wizards, which he really really needs, having Hit rolls of 4+ across the board. Two of them can add some okay shooting, but the fact that the damage table influences his range makes him unreliable at best.

• Ghorgon: Same Blood Frenzy as Doombull and Bullgors, but deals d3 mortal wounds on an unmodified 6. Also, he can slay a specific model within 1" after he makes all his attack if he rolls a dice equal or greater than its wounds characteristic, do remember that it's a model so you can chomp on any leader or musician you can get your grubby hands on. This thing is your sledgehammer, with insanely strong attacks, but very slow for a monster. If you manage the charge and a Doombull is nearby, this thing can rip apart whole units, otherwise, it will stop cannonballs with its face for two turns and then die.
  • If you are using the Darkwalker Greatfray, then you can ambush this badboy up your opponent's ass with quick ease and with an entourage of other WARHERD to support it.

• Jabberslythe: It screams Distraction Carnifex. A fast flying monster with 10 wounds, -2 rend attacks, acid blood that mortal wounds enemies that wound it on 4+. Its unique gimmick is that at the start of the hero phase, each enemy within 6" can't do anything on a roll of 6. This monsters goal is to draw in enemy fire while getting in the center of enemy lines to disrupt formations. The threat of being shut down for a turn is unlikely, it’s still credible, so use it to chase units out of position.

• Chaos Gargant: For 180pts he can instant kill a model before attacking if you roll on a D6 a number that is double or more than that model's wounds. When you roll a double on a charge (or when he dies) you and your opponent throw a dice to decide the direction he will fall and every unit that would be squished in a 2" radius within 3", suffers D3 mortal wounds. If he is dead he just dies, if he was charging he just rises up again and doesn't charge. Also, gain the ability to take a mortal wound if near a Beast of Chaos hero in exchange for +1 attack to all his weapons.
  • Wack him with your hero and stack Titanic Fury, suddenly the humble gargant has 6 extra attacks with 2 of his weapons normally being 1 attack wonders. Not as cool as Titanic Fury on a Chimera though.

Scenery

• Herdstone: This big ass untraversable piece of scenery exudes not one but two nasty ass auras, both with a 6" range, one that make your guys autopass battleshock tests if wholly within the range and the other lowers enemy save stat by 1. Already pretty good rigth? Well, what if I told you that said auras increase their range by 6" each turn? Yikes. Enjoy your 24" no battleshock and basically +1 rend bubble at turn 4. Also you can use it to sacrifice your poor ungors with the Primordial Call mechanic.

Battalions

• Brass Despoilers (190 p) (Min: 620.pt. Max: 10770.pt.) 1-4 combination of Beastlord and Doombull; 3-8 combination of Bestigors, Bullgors, and Gors; 0-8 combination of Centigors, Dragon Ogors, or Tuskgor Chariots; 0-2 combination of Cygors or Ghorgons.
  • Give all units in this Battalion the Khorne Keyword and grants them re-roll hit rolls of 1 if the unit is wholly within 9" another unit from this Battalions. Also once per battle, during the hero phase, you can extend the re-roll ability to also include all failed wound rolls until the next hero phase.
    • Might as well just pick Bullgors instead the other gor flavors. This battalion does not include any wizard (wonder why...) so no Bray Shamans, so no extra movement.
    • Well nothing prevents you from simply fielding separate wizards, just that they won't be part of the one drop.
  • Pair up units of centigors for scarily accurate flankers.

• Phantasmagoria of Fate (200 p) (Min: -.pt. Max: -.pt.) 1-4 combination of any Beast of Chaos Hero; 3-9 combination of Bestigors, Gors, Tzaangors, Ungors, Ungor Raiders; 0-9 combination of Bullgors, Centigors, Dragon Ogors, Tzaangor Enlightened, Tzaangor Skyfires, Tuskgor Chariots; 0-2 combination of Cygors or Ghorgons.
  • Give all units the Tzeentch keyword and non-wizards can unbind spells within 9" as if they were wizards.
    • Might just as well use only Tzaangors, over regular shaggies.

• Pestilent Throng (200 p) (Min: 470.pt. Max: -.pt.) 1-4 combination of Beastlord, Dragon ogor Shaggoth, Doombull, Great Bray Shaman; 3-7 combination of Bestigors, and Gors, Ungors, Ungor raiders; 0-7 combination of Bullgors Centigors, Dragon Ogors, or Tuskgor Chariots; 0-2 combination of Cygors or Ghorgons.
  • Give all units in this Battalion the Nurgle Keyword and when one of the Battalion units are destroyed, enemy units within 7" take a mortal wound on a 2+.
  • Field 7 single unit of chariots as part of the battalion for 7 amazingly cheap and surprisingly punchy nurgle bombs.
  • Combine this with Gavespawn. Then field 4 Beastlords and send them straight into the enemy. They might actually get a few kills before blowing up in a nurgle shower, then having a spawn take their place (sadly won't further explode). Maybe if you have the points up them into Doom Bulls for more threatening and bigger base nurgle bomb into spawn.

• Depraved Drove (150 p) (Min: -.pt. Max: -.pt.) 1-4 combination of Beastlord, Dragon Ogor Shaggoth, Doombull, Great Bray Shaman; 3-6 combination of Centigors, Gors, Tuskgor Chariots, Ungors, Ungor raiders; 0-6 combination of Bestigors, Bullgors , Dragon Ogors; 0-2 combination of Cygors or Ghorgons.
  • Give all units in this Battalion the Slaanesh Keyword and Re-roll failed charge roll if the unit is within 12" of an enemy hero with an Artifact and re-rolls To-Hit if the target has an Artifact.

• Desolating Beastherd (150 p) (Min: 640.pt. Max: 5330.pt.) 1 Beastlord or Doombull, 1-3 Great Bray-Shamans, 1-3 units of Bestigors or Bullgors in combination, 1-3 units of Gors or Tuskgor Chariots in combination, 2-6 units of Ungors or Ungor Raiders in combination, 0-1 Ghorgon or Cygor.
  • If the unmodified hit roll for an attack made by a unit from this battalion that is wholly within enemy territory is 6, that attack scores 2 hits on that target instead of 1. Make a wound and save roll for each hit.
  • Hilarious with Ungor Raiders as THEY have to be in the enemies territory but NOT the enemy.

• Hungering Warherd (150 p) (Min: 950.pt. Max: 2790.pt.) 1 Doombull, 3 Bullgors, 1-3 combination Cygor or Ghorgons
  • Gives a +3" to pile ins.
  • This sounds neat! But doesn't change the actual range of pile in "range". You still have to be able to pile in to get the bonus pile in range, so you can't be 6" away and then pile in 6".

• Marauding Brayherd (180 p) (Min: 970.pt. Max: 8100.pt.) Beastlord, 1-3 Great Bray-Shaman, 2-6 combination Bestigors or Tustgor chariot, 3-9 Gors, 4-12 Combination Ungors, Ungors Raider, or Centigor
  • Give +1 to charges to Brayherd unit are set up on the table.
  • Whoever made this battalion apparently didn't read the other battalions despite them existing in the nearby pages. Why? because not only does this battalion cost quite a bit (more than the Desolation Beastherd) but requires an INSANE amount of units taxes. 3 gor units and 4 ungor unit is very hefty, especially for an ability that only works once (or twice with Dark Walkers). Meanwhile most other battalions in the book just need 3-4 units minimum.

• Thunderscorn Stormherd (190 p) (Min: -.pt. Max: -.pt.) 1-3 Dragon Ogor Shaggoths, 3-9 units of Dragon Ogors
  • During Each of your Hero phase, units from the Battalion heals on a +4, and damages nearby enemies on a +4.

• (Start Collecting Box) (Min: 460.pt. Max: 500.pt.) 1 Great Bray-Shaman, 1 unit of Ungors or Ungors Raider, 1 unit of Bestigors, 1 unit of Cygor or Ghorgon

Older Formations:

Army building

• 3 start collecting boxes and a Herdstone is a pretty good start. Around 1400-1500 points.
• Five chariots, smash them into the flanks or straight into a shield wall. Don't forget to add some macaroni to your cheese.
• A shaman or two (at least) is a must, he'll buff your shaggymen or debuff enemy units to piss off your opponent.
• Bulls, in groups of 3 or 4 are great at charging the enemy and breaking lines.
• 20 Ungors. Meh not really good at anything but giving them bows allows some missile ability. You could use them in small bands of 10 to stop your opponent re-routing your bulls.
• 20 to 30 Gors. Shield for hammer and anvil with Bulls or Two axes for chopping. Or just take bestigors and do both, we are not picky.
• Cygors, take two or three, useful to have some long range siege weapons and great at annoying enemy wizards.
• You never have enough big monsters.

• Advice from a veteran player: For a general non-tzeentch themed list consider the following:
  • • General of your choice
    • Ungors/Chaos Warhounds - for scouting and screening
    • Large unit of Bestigors/a couple of ghorgons/some units of bullgors - for the actual killing
    • Spawn/other chaff unit - cheap backfield objective holding
  • The idea behind it all: Don't bother with gors, ungor raiders or chariots. Use multiple small units of ungors/warhounds to screen the battlefield and rush onto objectives early to deny ground and prevent the enemy from actually charging your important stuff. Push some real nasties behind the screen - such as bullgors, ghorgons or a chimera supported by a caster behind. Bestigors are also excellent, especially with Sundering Weapons - but ONLY ON THE CHARGE. Make sure that they don't get charged. Use spawn to camp backfield objectives or cut for extra Primordial Call points.

Allied Armies

Slaves to Darkness - Only them. Warriors and Knights are always good picks in any army it can use them. This guys are even better with marked Beasts, since you can share the god keyword for funny shenaningans.

Tactics

For the Nurgle battalion you can take a bunch of minimum size units and smash them into opponents for a ton of free splash mortal wounds. Take Gavespawn for extra hilarity to have some of those bombs become spawn.

For how efficient the primoridal call points are, alot of value can be generated by having a bray-shaman sacrifice ungors near the herdstone. You can easily get 3 to 4 points on in your first hero phase and summon a new unit off the bat. Chariots make a good choice as they cost 3 primordial call points but cost 60 matched play points and with the ability to reroll charges you might even be able to charge with it the turn it comes out. Chaos spawn are another choice at 3 point for 50 matched play points.

A unit of 10 ungors can fill a battle line slot and provide cheap wounds for your blood sacrifices.

External links

Age of Sigmar Tactics Articles
General Tactics	Tactics Realm Of Battle Malign Sorcery Path to Glory Skirmish
Order	Cities of Sigmar Daughters of Khaine Fyreslayers Idoneth Deepkin Kharadron Overlords Lumineth Realm-Lords Seraphon Stormcast Eternals Sylvaneth
Chaos	Beasts Of Chaos Blades of Khorne Disciples of Tzeentch Hedonites of Slaanesh Maggotkin of Nurgle Skaven Slaves to Darkness
Death	Flesh-Eater Courts Nighthaunt Ossiarch Bonereapers Soulblight Gravelords
Destruction	Gloomspite Gitz Ogor Mawtribes Orruk Warclans Sons of Behemat
Others	Monstrous Arcanum Legends Old Rules