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

===Magic===
Beastmen magic is generally too situational, just like the army itself and (unless really dedicated to magic) can be beaten down by any dedicated magic armies.   However, taking the Shard of a Herdstone with some Shadow level 1 casters can change this around, you can miasma the BS of shooty armies, and the WS, M and I of the fighty armies. Even gutstars are no good if they have a movement of 1. Prepare to pay a lot of points for a decent magic phase though.  However with a L4 and a power scroll, you can potentially force through a couple of spells at crucial times.  In general the biggest problems with Lore of the Wild is what the spells work on and the fact that some can be done better by your own armoury (more on this in the spells themselves).

But it's not all bad, your casting Heroes and Lords are cheaper than MOST peoples and can hold up acceptably in combat (not on their own, never on their own). You're going to want your lower level Heroes to concentrate on Lore of Beasts and grab multiples of it's Signature Spell (and maybe try to grab an offensive spell or two) to try and tip an important combat in your favor. Lord level wizards should be nabbing Lore of Death right out, for it's usefulness at sniping enemy heroes and weakening enemy units. Lore of Shadows is okay if you want to try for Occam's Mindrazor, but Death and Beasts are more all purpose.  Note that the Beastmen's personal lore is situational, the casting values, and low range (4/7 of the spells have ranges of 6-12) means it has to be a high level Shaman near the front to make proper use of them, which is usually NOT where you want him.

Here is a breakdown of the spells of the Lore of the Wild. Remember, you'll get more bang for your buck (in terms of longer ranges, lower casting values, and over-all benefits/effects on the targets) by taking spells from Lore of Death and/or Lore of Beasts. Also note that with Lore of Beasts, you subtract one from each casting value, so it's like it's custom made for Beastmen!  Also, Beasts is where Wyssan's Wildform is... which you need very much. With each of these spells - look at the ranges (generally too short) and the casting values (generally too high) and you'll see why, for now, the Lore of the Wild is not as good as some of the others (though it does have its high points).

====Lore of the Wild====
*Bestial Surge (7+): ''Signature spell'' - Allows ALL friendly units within a whopping 6" to get an additional 2-7" in movement directly towards an enemy unit. Useful if you are under threat of missile fire or you just need that little extra bump to get into charge range. Remember that Beastmen survive by being aggressive, so this can't hurt. However, when compared to other Lore's signature spells, this spell leaves a Beastman underwhelmed, unless you are using more than one Bray Shaman to cast it per turn, in which case it decently useful.

*Viletide (7+): A 24" magic missile that hits an enemy for 5D6 S1 hits. Great for hunting warmachines, as a S1 hit is still a wound on a 6+, horrible for everything above T2 which is nearly everything else, for those you want ''Flock of Doom (Beasts)'' instead (5+ 2D6 S2 and boostable to 48" range).

*Devolve (9+): You know the Jabberslythe's ''Aura of Madness''? This is the spell version of that.  All enemy within 12" take a Lead test, if they fail, the unit takes wounds equal to the number failed by.  Considering the number of LD10 units out there, this spell is probably best used on... Beastmen and Undead.  Combos nicely with Doom and Darkness from Lore of Death.

*Bray-Scream (10+): Already into high 2 dice land, the third spell gives one friendly ''character'' within 12" a S3 breath weapon, no armour saves.  Fuck awesome, use on Malagor after flying into a flank to turn those Phoenix Guard or large hordes into mincemeat (the breath weapon can get a fuckload of hits in 8th edition), or use it on a character in close combat against any well armoured enemy, gaining 2D6 armour ignoring hits against Heavy Cavalry is huge.

*Traitor-Kin (10+): All enemy cav within 12" (basically, anyone on a mount or chariot) gets attacked by their own mount at its strength and attacks ('''KILL THE STAR DRAGON RIDER!''').  Engage trollface when playing Bretonnia or up against a monster happy army (monsters with handlers on it like Sphinx's and Araknaroks attack themselves)... otherwise sit down and wonder why you didn't take Lore of Beasts.  With the new Nagash book though, this is one of the few spells that can help you take down the new mounted heroes, since the FAQ states that the spell works on combined characteristic models.

*Mantle Of Ghorok (13+): One friendly character within 6" gains +D6 S and A.... but takes a wound for any 6s rolled for those characteristics.  It's useful for making that Doombull into the unholy rape train he was always meant to be without paying for magical weapons, but if you're packing a quite a few strength/attack boosting weapons (aka what every weapon in the beastmen armoury does) then you can safely skip it. You could use it on your caster if you get stuck in combat- takes him from S4 and A2 to possibly S10 and A8 (although at that point He's dead).

*Savage Dominion (16+): This spell had awesome potential, it lets you summon one Giant, Ghorgon, or Jabberslythe (your choice).  Sounds good so far... but any wound suffered by your beastie means that the caster has to make a T test for ''each wound taken'', and a failed test means taking a non savable wound, that's not too terrible, also - the caster cannot cast or attack after this point as long as the monster is alive.  If you use this spell with anything higher than a normal Bray Shaman at all you've effectively wasted the points, you might as well have bought the monster instead and placed it with your army rather than try to cast it, have it start at the table edge, then run it to the enemy while it most likely gets shot.  Pretty good though if you're lucky enough to get it on lower level wizards.