Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Chaos/Beasts Of Chaos

Grand Alliance Chaos Beasts Of Chaos

Cry havoc, and let slip the beasts of war.

Lore Tactics General Tactics

Step aside Mr. Everchosen. The Cloven Ones are here to prove themselves as the true Children of Chaos.

Why Play Beasts Of Chaos?

• Because you thought Satyrs in Greek mythology were better at killing and raiding than being pipe players.
  • They got some rad musicians.
  • Really, you just want Grimdark Satyrs-slash-Pop culture barbarians.
• You like armies that are styled around CELTIC warbands, 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 most of them don't shit where they stand, have fleas, and smell like piss all year round.
• You like massive, lightning-eating foot dragons native to the World-That-Was who made a shitty pact with the Chaos Gods.
• Because you played Total War: Warhammer and were too dumb to manage cities.

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! Two or three straight into that dwar- I mean duardin shield wall
• Monsters. Monsters everywhere. And now they can rampage all over the board. And now they're stupidly cheap, too.
• Almost everything is fast as fuck, boi.
• Your free terrain piece is one of the better ones out there - unless you're fighting Nighthaunt. Then they just don't care.
• A pretty sweet endless spell box, with a FLAMING BULL in it.
• Individual models are quick, fun and relatively easy to paint
• You have a stupidly-wide variety of saying "lolNO" to enemy armour saves with shitloads of Rend buffs and save roll reductions through artefacts, spells and the Herdstone. Ossiarchs are terrified of a Beasts player that knows their synergy...

Cons

• Literally one mediocre accessible ranged unit, except for Skyfires and a couple of the monsters.
• If you are not a Bestigor or a melee hero, your armor is probably defined as "loincloth".
• NOTHING in the army can actually take a hit. Rend is all over AOS 3.0, so get used to getting a 6+ save at best. Even your massive scary-looking beasts beasts can be brought down by chaff with relative ease.
• Almost all of your models are real old.
• Unless you are a lucky bastard son of a mutant bird or a gender-confused hedonistic goat, the only truly devoted Beastmen models are Tzaangors and Slaangors. Want some hound-or-lion-faced Khornegors? Some horrendously deformed Pestigors? You will need tons of green stuff if you wanna do that. And only aesthetically, no actual rules for them!
  • GW seems to be rectifying this problem as they've realized "Oh shit, people actually like these guys, we should give them more stuff!" given the aforementioned Slaangor models.
• Only Slaves to Darkness allies, so no Ogroid Thaumaturges for purely Tzeentch brayherds.
• 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

Faction rules and abilities: Battletome Beasts Of Chaos

Latest Matched play points: Beasts Of Chaos Errata

Core rules: here

Matched play rules, battleplans and expansions: General's Handbook 2022-23 Season 2, plus the battleplans from the Core Book.

Supplement all the above with any Errata and Designers' Commentary from the FAQs.

Allegiance

Battle Traits

• Beastherd Ambush: You can set up a Beasts of Chaos unit into ambush as a reserve unit instead of setting them up on the battlefield as normal. At the end of your first and second movement phases, you may place them within 9" of the board edge and more than 9" away from any enemy models. Add 1 to charge roles for units that arrived from reserve that turn via Beastherd Ambush. Models that are still in reserve at the start of the third battleround are slain.
  • specifically notes that this ability allows you to place your entire army in reserve instead of setting them up on the table. So definately somthing to consider. Also much improved as now it applies to everything rather than just Brayherd units like in the past. Also while obviously bad to lose units their are abilities that may even encourage you to keep them in reserve even if slain. More on that below.

• Masters of the Winderness: In your hero phase if your general is in reserve at the start of that phase you recieve 1 additional command point in addition to any else you get.

• Rituals of Ruin:A unique set of heroic actions you may carry out in addition to the usual heroic actions you get. You can only carry these out in your hero phase specifically, however you can carry out all of them in the same phase though each must be carried out by a different hero. If you choose to carry out a ritual you must allocate Dd3 mortal wounds that cannot be negated to that hero or to another friendly Beasts of Chaos unit within 3" of the hero. If the mortal wounds slay the hero than the heroic action has no effect. In addition in your hero phase you can carry out ONE of the heroic actions listed with 1 friendly Beasts of Chaos hero that is in reserve. If you do so that hero automatically takes Dd3 mortal wounds that cannot be negated. Again if these mortal wounds slay the hero the heroic action fails. If the heroic action instructs you to pick an enemy unit, pick a point on the battlefield edge and the effect is counted as coming from that position. If the Heroic action calls for picking a friendly unit the hero can only pick itself as the beneficiary of the ritual of ruin.

Rituals are listed as follows:

1. Warping Curse: Pick one enemy unit within 12" of the Beasts of Chaos Hero carrying out this heroic action. That unit suffers Dd6 mortal wounds.
2. Blood Taunt: Pick one enemy unit with 12" of this hero carrying out heroic action that is more than 3" from all friendly units and is visible to the hero. Your opponent must move 2d6" with that unit toward the hero carrying out the heroic action and end as close as possible. They must also end more than 3" from all friendly units.
3. Brand of Wild Fury: Pick one Beasts of Chaos Hero wholly within 12" of the hero carrying out this heroic action. All friendly Beasts of chaos units have a ward of 6+ while they are wholly within 12" of that hero.
4. Alphabeast Instinct: Pick one friendly Beasts of Chaos unit wholly within 12" of the hero carrying out this heroic action. Do not take Battleshock tests for that unit this turn.

Command Traits

Alphabest Instincts

Just one table all heroes can pick from. But some solid choices overall

1. Bestial Cunning: Pick one friendly Beasts of Chaos reserve unit after deployment. When you set it up at end of movement phase you may set it up within 7" of the enemy instead of 9".
2. Propagator of Ruin: If your general is on the battlefield and you picked them to carry out a heroic action from the Ritual of Ruin table you may carry out a second different heroic action from the Ritual of Ruin table with that general this phase. In addition the general does take mortal wounds when carrying out the second heroic action from the Ritual of Ruins table.
3. Skullfray Gorehorn: While this general is within 3" of any enemy units, add 1 to the Attacks characteristic of melee weapons used by friendly Beasts of Chaos Brayherd units wholly within 12" of the general.
4. Twistfray Cursebeast: Add the number of the current battleround to the casting roll for this general when casting spells and endless spells.
5. Rotfray Plaguepelt: At the start of the combat phase roll a dice for each enemy unit within 3" of this general. On a 2+ that unit suffers Dd3 mortal wounds.
6. Slakefray Reveller: If this general is on the battlefield at the start of the movement phase add 3" movement characteristic of friendly Beasts of Chaos units on the battlefield that start a normal move within 6" of a terrain feature until the end of the phase.

Artifacts of Power

Anarchic Relics

1. Slitherwrack Helm: After the bearer makes a charge move, pick 1 enemy unit with 1" of them and roll a dice. On a 2+ the strike-last effect applies to that unit until the end of that turn.
2. Brayblast Trumpet: Once per battle at the end of your movment phase you can say that the bearer will sound the brayblast trumpet. If you do roll a dice and on a 2+ you can summon a new unit of 10 Gors or 1 unit of Ungors or 1 unit of Ungor Raiders to the battlefield and add it to your army. On a 1 you still summon the unit but it must arrive at the end of your next movement phase instead. Set up the new wholly with 9" of the battlefield end and more than 9" of any enemy units.
3. The Knowing Eye: If you take the first turn in the current battle round you recieve one extra command point in addition to your other ones. If you take second turn your HERO can make a 6" normal move after recieving starting command points in hero phase.
4. Axe of Morghur: Pick one of the bearers melee weapons. Ward saves cannot be made from attacks with that weapon.
5. Bleating Gnarlstaff: At the end of your movment phase, pick one terrain feature with 6" of the bearer than roll a dice. On a 2+ every unit within 6" of that terrain feature suffers 2d3 mortal wounds. This ability has no effect on Beasts of Chaos units.
6. Blackened Talisman of Chaos: Every time the bearer is effected by a spell or prayer or by the abiliites of an endless spell or invocation roll a dice. On a 4+ ignore the effects of that spell or prayer or endless spell or invocation on the bearer.

Spell Lores

Lore of the Twisted Wilds

Brayherd wizards pick a spell from here

1. Viletide: Casting Value 6, an enemy within 12" takes d3 mortal wounds and cannot recieve commands until next turn.
2. Vicious Stranglethorns: cast 5 and range of 18". Pick 1 enemy unit within range and visible to caster. That enemy unit cannot make a pile-in move until your next hero phase.
3. Primal Dominion: Casting Value 5, range of 18". Pick an enemy MONSTER and until your next hero phase that monster counts as 1 model when contesting objectives and cannot carry out monstrous rampages.
4. Tendrils of Atrophy: Casting Value 7, pick a visible enemy unit within 12" and visible to caster. Until your next hero phase add 1 to the damage inflicted by each successful attack made with a melee weapon that targets that unit.
5. Wild Rampage: Casting Value 6, pick a friendly unit within 12". Until your next hero phase each unmodified hit roll meade with a melee weapon by that unit is 6 and that attack scores 2 hits on the target instead 1.
6. Titanic Fury: Casting Value 6, 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 Ghorgons.

Lore of the Darkstorms

Thunderscorn wizards get one of these.

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. Fulgurous Blades: Casting Value 6, pick a freindly beasts of chaos unit within 18". Subtract 1 from the attacks characteristic of melee weapons (to min 1) that target that unit until next hero phase.
4. Furious Gale: Casting Value of 6 and a range of 18". Until your next hero phase subtract 1 from the attacks characteristic of missle weapons of enemy units whil they are within range of the caster (to a minimum of 1 obviously).
5. Raging Storm: Casting value of 8. If successfully cast you can heal 1 wound to all Thunderscorn units on the battlefield. In addtion all enemy units on the battlefield suffer 1 mortal wound.

Endless Spells

Beasts Of Chaos Only:

• Doomblast Dirgehorn: Subtract 1 from hit rolls for attacks made by units within 6" of this model. BEASTS OF CHAOS models are not affected. Grows by 6" 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. And trust me, they will FEEL it of they decide to let it grow...

• 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 on a 2+. Furthermore, Units within 3" suffer from the Strike Last rule in the Combat Phase.
  • Playtested vs. Idoneth, and lemme tell you right now, when High Tide hits, this spell can be an utter Hail Mary when parked next to the units your seafaring cunt-of-an-opponent REALLY wants to swing first. Slam this thing into a Leviadon, hurl a buffed-up Ghorgon at it, and witness the miracle of the eyeless still being able to cry rivers as your angry murdercow deshells the flying turtle with stupid ease.

• Ravening Direflock:Spawns three tokens of evil Chaos murderbirds. Anything that is not a BEASTS OF CHAOS unit within 12" can no longer use Inspiring Presence or Rally, in addition if a unit issues a command within 6" of this endless spell roll a dice, on a 5+ that command is not recieved but your opponent still loses a command point.
  • What used to be -2 Bravery has now been given a tad more utility of locking-out the use of CAs that can prove potentially damning in the wrong situation. Park a murder of these crows behind that stubborn block of 60 Clanrats, throw in the Bestigors and watch your opponent yoink their hair out as they can do nothing but watch 30 rats get cleaved and the other 30 shit themselves and run for the hills with no way to get them back if they try the 'Retreat, Rally, Charge' shenanigans.
  • Placement is key with these. The extra 6" range and the lack of needing enemies to be -wholly- within gives you a lot more flexibility to blanket multiple squads with the inability to bark orders over the noisy crows, but one wrong move and you'll find the spell placed in the ass end of the board doing nothing, meaning either diverting a unit to reposition them, or dispelling it for a recast; neither options are obviously ideal.

Slaanesh Only:

• Wheels of Excruciation. Predatory Spell with 12" flying movement. Casting Value 5. Set up within 6" of the caster and immediately make a move with it. Roll 6 dice for each unit passed. For each roll that is lower than the unit's save, they take a mortal wound.

• Mesmerising Mirror.Predatory Spell with 6" flying movement. Casting Value 6. Set up within 18" of the caster. Does not affect CHAOS SLAANESH. Units that start a move within 12" of the model suffer D3 mortal wounds unless they end closer to the mirror than when they started.
  • Also, after the model moves or is set up, roll 6 dice for each hero within 6", rolling separately. For each 6, the hero takes n-squared mortal wounds. Even though this part of it can do 36 mortal wounds to an enemy hero, the odds of that are 1 in 46656. Don't bank on it. Does 1.83 mortal wounds on average and has a 33.5% chance of doing nothing, with a 60.3% chance of doing 1-4 Mortal Wounds and a 5.35% chance of doing 9 mortal wounds. You will note that it has about a 6% chance of killing a footslogging hero and less than a 1% chance of killing a 10+ wounds hero.

• Dreadful Visage. Predatory Spell with 8" flying movement. Casting Value 7. Set up within 12" of the caster and immediately make a move with it. After it moves, pick the closest unit and roll 6 dice. For each 4+, they take a mortal wound.
  • Also, this model gives -1 bravery to units within 12" unless they are CHAOS SLAANESH, in which case they get +1 bravery.

Tzeentch Only:

• Burning Sigil of Tzeentch: (40pts) Summons a floating 12" bubble of RANDOM, with a mix of results helpful and harmful to a single unit. (d3 MWs that risks a Chaos Spawn if someone dies, halved movement, d6" movement after running, +1 attacks, or -1 to hit) The issue is that this sigil cannot move on its own, meaning that you really need to find a good place to set it up and then pray some more that Tzeentch blesses your rolls for the right results.

• Tome of Eyes: (40pts) Summons a magical book that becomes part of the caster's unit. Alongside letting the caster reroll any casting tests, it lets results of snake eyes or double 6s count as auto-casting with immunity to dispels (though the caster also takes d3 MWs in the process) and grants a special spell that deals mortal wounds and robs the target of 1 point of Bravery for each casualty you deal. What better way to stick it to those filthy rats than to smite them with your evil spellbook and then see them fail battleshock for once?

• Daemonic Simulacrum: (50pts) This predatory spell has a...thematic move speed of 9", and each turn it has 9 chances to deal MWs to the closest unit within 6" on a 5+ (4+ if they're wizards). While the range is nice for a spell that would otherwise be considered underwhelming, it also leaves you very open to the chance of it all being for naught on a bad roll. Potential to backfire horribly if your opponent gets to move it so be wary of positioning.

Greatfrays

If you have a Beasts of Chaos army, you 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 special rule and some can unlock battleline options.

Allherd

• Ability: Bestial Might: At the end of battleshock phase you can return D3+3 slain models to each friendly Allherd Gor Herd, Ungors or Ungor Raiders unit on the battlefield.
  • Keep in mind that since this is not rally you can do this even if they are locked in combat, making this an excellent way for Beasts to play the attrition game.

Dark Walkers

• Ability: Shadowbeasts: At the end of movement phase you can pick one Gor Herd, Ungor or Ungor Raider unit that is wholly within 9" of the battlefield edge and remove it from the battlefield and set it up anywhere wholly within 9" of the battlefield edge and more than 9" of enemy units.

Gavespawn

• Ability: Gibbering Congregations: You can include Gibbering Congregations in your army allowing you to field the superior Gravespawn Mourgorite Chaos spawn. They also count as battleline.
  • Gravespawn unlock regular chaos spawn as battleline.

Quakefray

• Ability: Living Idols of ruin: Quakefray Cygor units gain the PRIEST keyword. In addition, friednly Cygor priests know a unique prayer in addtion to any that they know.
• Unique prayer: Earthshatter: Answer value 3, range of 12". If successful pick 1 objective in range, all eneny units within 6" suffer D3 mortal wounds and until your next hero phase those units count as having half the number of models when contesting objectives.
  • Unlocks Cygors and Ghorgons as battleline units. Finally letting Beast of Chaos to go full monster mash should they so choose.

Warscrolls

Leaders

Brayherd

• Beastlord: (145pts) Major overhaul from previous mediocre incarnations. Kitted out now with a greatly enhanced attack profile (that new 5 attacks 2 damage profile GW seems to be given to all foot heroes now) he is much more viable in a fight. And honestly that is probably where you want him wit his new abiliites. Namely he now does mortal wounds equal to his melee damage characteristic on 6's to hit. Plus his Hatred of Heroes ability has been changed that now he just needs to be within 3" of an enemy hero to give all Beast of Chaos units +1 to hit and wound rolls in 12". Lastly and probably his best upgrade he allows one non-hero Brayherd unit whooly within 12" fight immediately after him. Drag along a horde of Bestigors and chop down the enemy before they even get to swing.
• Great Bray Shaman: (95pts) You probably want this guy because he is the cheapest caster in the army. He unfortunately no longer gives any movment bonuses but he does get an additional 6" to the range of Rituals of Ruins that he attempts. Potenially giving more range to snipe out enemy units with the D6 MW ritual. He also has the spell Devolve with an ok cast of 7 and 18" range. If sucessful you pick an enemy unit and until your next hero phase every time the unit moves, runs, charges or retreats they roll 3D6 against their bravery and if the result exceeds bravery that unit halves its move maxium distance.
• Tzaangor Shaman: (115pts)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 one extra spell and and add 3 to the casting roll. Not bad
• Grashrak Fellhoof:(unique, must be taken with Grashraks despoilers unit, 180) Named unique Bray Shaman that comes with a unique unit that he can pawn wounds off too. Other than that he is virtually idential to a typical Bray Shaman except for his unique spell. A 7 cast spell that causes D3 mortal wounds to an enemy unit and allows melee attacks to add one to hit against that unit until your next hero phase. An ok rule when paired up with a hammer unit.

Thunderscorn

• Dragon Ogor Shaggoth: (275pts) 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 thankfully has now a much improved melee profile from previous versions making him actually decent in a fight. Whats more the designers seemed to remember that these guys channel lightning so finally gave him a a 12" 2D6 shooting profile, so he can do more outside of combat. Still a wizard and now has a 4+ to ignore the effects of spells and endless spells. Like all Thunderscorn at the end of combat phase he can heal D3 wounds on a 2+ and deal D3 mortal wounds to enemy units within 3" on a 2+. As an inbuilt spell he has Summon Lightning which allows him to pick D3 Thunderscorn units and heal D3 wounds to them. Overall a very solid unit only held back by his relitive fragility for a Monster and his insane price tag. More than likely they were factoring in he is the the only one who can access the Thundercorn specific spells and those are spectacular, still he could afford to drop 20 pts.

Warherd

• Doombull: (180pts) The murder cow has a two-handed axe (3x 3+/3+/-2/3). Overall, the Bull an absolute melee monster. His attacks output are great and he shares the Bloodgreed ability with his lesser kin - on an unmodified 6 to hit cauness a numbe of mortal wounds equal to the melee weapons damage profile. In addition he has an improved charge damage bonus, causing D3 mortal wounds after he finishing charging on a 2+. However his truly massive benefit and probably the reason you bring him is his unique command ability that allows him to command a Warherd unit to charge at the begining of the combat phase. Which is absolutely huge, allowing units of Warherd up to three attempts to charge in one turn or even charge in your opponents combat phase, creating all kinds of ways to mess up your opponents plans and near guaranteeing certain distance charges when factoring in rerolls and bonuses. All in all a solid general or just Hero beatstick.

Battleline

Brayherd

• Bestigors: (BATTLELINE if your General is a Beastlord or Great Bray Shaman, Min:10 Max:30 200/600pts). Silly armor-wearing tits, finally got their glow-up moment in that they are now (finally!) 2 wounds each with 2" reach on their weapons. Like all the base Breyherd units their banner allows them to rally on 5+ and muscician adds 1 to run and charge (excellent for ambushing obviously). As for rules their Despoilers ability has changed to now it adds 1 to their attacks characteristic if the unit they are attacking has used the All-out Defesnse command in the same phase so definate upgrade their (the prevoius banner thing was honestly kind of dumb). Also their other ability allows them to reduce wound rolls by 1 from missle attacks recieved from the Unleash Hell command. Overall they have recieved some definite upgrades, however some may argue that they haven't recieved as much a glow-up as their competition in Gors and Ungors (with Gor Herds especially near matching them in attack out put and defense). In addiiton while obviously intended as hammers the book gives them serious competition in this regard (Especially Tzaangors and Bullgors). Overall better than before but face more serious competition in the new book.

• Gors: (BATTLELINE, Min:10 Max:30 110/330pts) Your Default mass melee infantry. The first thing you notice is that Gors are pretty fast, pretty tough and pretty killy all in the bargain. Their load outs include a blade and shield which gives them a base 4+ save characteristic and 2 attacks Or they can escew the shield for a base 3 attacks for maximum damage output, and don't forget thanks to their Herdstone they will be rocking -1 to -2 rend before the game is out. Their Standard bearer gives them a bonus to rally where they rally on a 5+ instead of 6+ to keep them around longer and Musician which gives bonuses to run and charge rolls. Their true clinching ability however is their Gor Stampede ability. If there unit outnubers an enemy unit they just charged you roll a 3+, if successful the Strike-last effect applies to that unit in the following combat phase. This is huge and combined with their rally boost obviously encourages you to take large units. A unit of 20-30 Gors can lay the hurt on just about anything in the game and can even make a decent anvil to boot with shields. Overall a solid unit.
• Ungors: (BATTLELINE, Min:10 Max:30 80/240pts) Weaker Save than Gors overall and weaker attacks. They still have some things going for them however. They have the same benefits from Standards and mucisians as Gor so the rally bonus is welcome. While their attacks profile is nothing special they have gained a ranged ability if you bring the spear with it dobuling as a missle weapon at 8" so theirs that. The real reason you bring them though is their ability in the combat phase to choose to retreat from the battle instead of fighting when it is their turn to be selected to fight. So basically they got the old Skink rule of fleeing out of combat. Amazing on these guys as they are crap in combat anyway and allows them to survive combat to flee onto objectives.

Warherd

• Bullgors: (BATTLELINE if your general is a Doombull, Min:3 Max:6 210pts). Get the same Bloodgreed rule as the Doombull, а weapon choice of great axe (2x 3+/3+/-1/3) or regular axe(3x 4+/3+/-1/2) and shield with the option of losing the shield for paired axes to get 4 attacks base instead of 3, the bull shields give the unit a save characteristic of 4+ instead of 5+. These options are in addition to horn attacks made by each bullgor (2x 4+/4+/-/2). All weapon option barring the horns are 2" reach now (finally). But the really interesting trait is their Drummer and Banner Bearer abilities: namely, they respectively give +1 to charge rolls and the standard allows the unit to reroll dice for their Warherd charge. What is that you ask? Well when this unit charges into combat you roll a dice for each model in unit and cause a mortal wound to enemy unit on a 2+. And the mortal wounds don't stop there. There Bloodgreed ability has been overhauled to now unmodified hit rolls of 6 cause mortal wounds equal to the attacks damage characteristic. Keep in mind both their axe and horn attacks are 2 damage each, with the Great axe at damage 3. With a good spike you can dish out an insane amount of mortal wounds. If you want to go full Warherd, take one unit of each weapon type and see which ones perform best. And when paired with the Doombull they have great utility being able to charge in any combat phase to catch unnwary opponents off guard.
  • Arguably the dual axes may be the better option for a higher chance of mortal wounds with the additional attack. However the greater hitting potential of the Man-splitter Great axe is not something to ignore.
  • 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.
  • There is still a bebate going on whether to take these guys over Tzaangor Enlightened on Disks. While the Enlightened are definately faster and have great utility (such as messing with commands), the Warherd can get to some crazy damage output when the effects of the Herdstone really kick in. This also counting their high mortal wound output (plus mortal wounds on the charge). Ultimately it will be up to the individual to decide on each one's merit.

Thunderscorn

• Dragon Ogors: (BATTLELINE if your general is a Dragon Ogor Shaggoth, Min:3 Max:3 225pts). Not bad, either. Five Wounds (which is great for objectives) with a 4+ save, okay Bravery and scary weapons. The weapon debate for Dragon Ogors was finally put tot rest as now their weapons are combined into one profile (5, 3+ ,3+, -1, D2) in addition to their Foreclaws attacks. A pretty decent combat profile that stacks well with the Herdstone buff. Abilities wise at the end of the combat phase they heal D3 wounds on a 2+ and also cause D3 mortal wounds to all enemy units within 3" of them. In addition if this unit made a charge move in the following combat phase unmodified hit rolls of 6 auntomatically wound the enemy unit. Not quite as good as just doing mortal wounds but they can already do that through other methods, and can even be situationally better against some opponents (Chaos Warriors for example).
  • Don't forget when paired with a Shaggoth the Shaggoth has additional ways to heal Thundescorn units and can give them excellent buffs with his spell lore. So don't forget your combos.

Others

Brayherd

• Ungor Raiders: (One unit becomes BATTLELINE for each Unger unit in your army Min:10 115pts) Same as Ungors, but with bows and no shield. There standard gives the Rally buff same as other Breyherd and Musciian allows them to run and shoot. There big shake up comes in their speical rule however. Once per battle at the start of movement phase if this unit is in reserve you can declare a hiddden volley, if you do so pick a point along the battlefield edge and this unit can shoot the nearest enemy unit to that point as if they were on the table. Also this doesn't prevent them from shooting again if they come out from reserve for a double tap. While their bows are nothing speical they can do some real damage through sheer missle output.

• Centigors: (BATTLELINE if your General is a Brayherd Shaman Min:5 170pts) Light Brayherd cavalry unit with perhaps one of the best glowups in the most recent edition. Come standard with two wounds and a 4+ save base (finally!), Standard to retreat and still cahrge and musican for +1 to run and charge as well. Their Drunken Revelry now lets them ignore the first two wounds or mortal wounds taken in the combat phase and if they fail a battleshock test roll a dice for each model that flees and on a 2+ it doesnt. Cobine this with their durabiliyt buff and these little critters become surprisingly hardy objective contesters. But it doesn't stop there. They finally got rend on their spear attacks and even gained a shortrange missle attack with it as well. On top of this they add 1 to the attacks characteristic of their melee weapons while wholly within 9" of an objective.
  • While before their default role was as objective contesters. Now they are pretty much designed to come in from reserves and quicklly move up with their 14" move to strike at opponents back-field. Like how light cavalry is supposed to behave really.
• Tuskgor Chariots: (Min:1 95pts) 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 and is great on the charge with a modified Ogre charge where they roll a dice for their charge distance but cause mortal wounds on 5's but add one to the role if the target unit has a wounds characteristic of 1 or 2. Also has a high enough attack output to slug it out in melee. Even has an ok shooting attack for what its worth. Can be taken in multiples, if so one chariot becomes the Alpha and you can add 1 to the attacks characteristic of that models melee weapons (which is actually pretty good as these things come with like 3 different melee profiles).

• Tzaangors: ( 10, 170). No longer able to be Battleline, but still a very solid unit. They are slightly slower gors with more attacks and an extra wound. No matter what you equip them with, they will always have a 4+/3+/-/1 beak attack each (with Herdstone bonus), which they also get an additional attack with if they charged. Then you can choose between three weapons, twin swords for more attacks, sword and shield, and Greatsword (only two on every five models can use Greatswords). The shield gives you a nice 6+ ward save, the twin swords get you 3 base attacks and hits on 3's instead of 4's. The Greatblade only give you 1 attack instead of 2 but at damage 2 and extra rend (something too remember when herdstone kicks in). 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. With the changes to other Breyherds musicians they are the only Breyherd unit that can still run and charge, and they can channel mortal wounds onto enemy units on a 4+ if the Tzaangors have Wizards chilling with them giving them an additional dice for every wizard, so encouraging you to bring a few if going Tzaangor heavy. Overall a solid unit that is easily one of the best offense units in the book, and one of the fastest.

• Tzaangor Enlightened: (3, 165pts) Elite Tzaangors on foot. They have a beautiful psychological tool in the Guided by the Past ability, which grants them plus one to wound if you have taken the second turn in the Battle round. Plus in the combat phase enemy units within 3" of them cannot recieve command abilities. Perfect for gimping units in combat and are actually no slouches in combat themselves and are pretty durable.

• Tzaangor Enlightened on Discs of Tzeentch: (3, 215pts) Same profile as above with 10" extra Move, Fly, an extra Wound and a massively scary melee profile on their mount on top of their own massively scary melee profile. Honestly can't really go wrong with them.
  • In fact you so much can't go wrong with them that besides points there aren't really a lot of reasons to take unmounted Enlightened. Their mount adds so much utility that you should probably only ever take these ones.

• Tzaangor Skyfires: (3 210pts) 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 when your relize these guys ignore all negative modifiers to hit with their bows and also ignore any positive modifiers to their targets save rolls (meaning that all-out defense command the enemy just used won't mean squat to them). 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.
  • keep in mind however they are a little pricey, so use that speed to your advantage to keep these guys alive as long as possible.
• Slaangor Fiendbloods: (Min 3, 130pts) The Slaanesh variant of beastman have finally gotten their Glow up. Still fragile with only 5+ save with 3 wounds (but a still fast move of 8"). They have now gotten a major upgrade to their attack profile coming it at four attacks base with 2 damage a swing! Also the leader comes with 5 base! Thats not all, at the end of any phase if they take any wounds and mortal wounds and their are no enemies within 9" they can immediately move D6". Ow a ranged unit did a couple cheaky wounds to them? Well now we get free movement right towards you. Also once per battle after this unit has fought in combat they can fight again in the same combat. However the strike-last effect will apply to them the second time so be mindful of this.
  • the unit that forever had been mocked for its blatent terrible warscroll now is actually something half-way decent. Finally achieving its goal of being a fast-moving glass-hammer.

• Grashraks Despoilers (unique, must be taken with Grashrak Fellhoof though both are separate units, 180) An essential bodyguard unit that can intercept wounds targeted at Grashrak on a 4+. Beyond that they are ok in combat and get a bonus to hit when outside your territory. But its really nothing special. You are better off just keeping them near Grashrak to bodyguard him.

Others

• Chaos Spawn: (Battleline in Gavespawn army, 1 65pts) That Which Must Not Be Named. Not actually terrible anymore, though far from reliable. A Move of 3D6" 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.
  • Also if in a Gavespawn army since they are Battleline they can make a very cheap troop tax. Though you probably also want to just bring the buffed up version.

• Morghurite Chaos Spawn: ( BATTLELINE can only be brought in Gavespawn army,Min 3, 230) Unique buffed-up chaos spawn that can only broght in a Gibbering Congregation (they are taken in groups of three but each is than treated as a separate unit on the board) that itself can only be brought in a Gavespawn army. Oh boy these guys are interesting. Come flat with a 10" and a flat 8 attacks in melee, so no worrying about random roles. Also hit on flat 3's and wound on 3's so generally just flat-out better than regular spawn in combat and also keep the spawns running and charging. They also include an 8" missle attack that has D6 attacks and do 2 damage a piece. Overall not a bad shooting attack really. But you really want this guy in combat as his Aura of Insanity ability subtracts one from the attacks characteristic of all enemy units while they are within 1" of him (to minimum of 1). Think about it, get him up to a big 20 strong blob and BOOM. All their attacks go down by one.

• Chaos Warhounds: (Min:10, 110pts) They're warhounds. Each comes standard with two wounds, high speed an OK melee profile and terrible bravery (seriously you will almost certainly lose them in first Battleshock failure). As mentioned their pretty fast and when charging they can change one of the dice rolls to a 4. So they come with a min 4" charge. Making these guys actually not terrible for ambushing really.
  • Combat wise these guys are TERRIBLE compared to Centigors. 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).

• Cockatrice: (105pts) It's a cheap flying unit with a low Wound count of 8 and a paltry 6+ save. This thing will die if looked at intently. Its damage output isn't bad for its cost and actually doubles if it charged into combat making it not a bad melee fighter. However that is not why you bring it. It's Petrifying Gaze has you pick a unit in range (6") in the combat phase, roll a D6. At 4+, the enemy unit suffers D3 Mortal Wounds. If the mortal wounds go through until the end of the phase that unit can only hit with its melee weapons on unmodified rolls of 6+. I cannot even begin to tell you how potent this is. An superpowered deathstar unit all of sudden can only hit on 6's. Big 30 man blods, now hits on 6's. This thing can literally turn the tide of an entire combat phase all for a paltry cost to boot.
  • WARNING: Expect your enenmy to try to gun this thing down ASAP. So make sure it lives long enough to be useful.

• Razorgors: (Min:1 65pts) The bacon missile! A cheap beast that you would somewhat play like a Cairn Wraith. it has 4 wounds, 10" move and 4 pretty good melee attacks. They heal one wound each phase if they are within 6" of a unit that has lost models (remember this is every phase, so can easily heal 1-3 a turn if it parks near an enemy unit). Also, at the end of the charge phase if it made a successful charge an their are Ungor units within 3" at the end of the charge phase you can double its attack characteristic. So it can actually be pretty scary in combat after it makes a charge, and is something to consider if you are going heavy on Ungor units in your army.

Behemoth

• Chimera: (185pts) Very fragile, but very fast and extremely damaging, with four weapon profiles in melee after a flame breath. Also doesn't have a damage table so that is good. The flame breath is D3 MORTAL wounds and you don't need to roll either. As well as that, it has a number of different weapon profiles. The leonine head is 3 attacks, 4+/3+ with a and D6 damage, this alone is pretty brutal. The avian head is also 3 attacks, except with a 4+/3+ and -1 rend, 3 damage, the dragon head is basically a middle ground between the other two; 3 attacks with a 4/3+, -1 rend and 1 damage. Also has 6 meh attacks with no rend from claws and tail. It also comes stock with its unique Monstrous Rampage that adds 1 to the attacks characteristic of all its attacks as long as it focuses on one unit. 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. Best ambush it and pair it with a something that can issue commands as its 4+ to hits across the board can be a real hidrance to its attacks.

• Cygor:(210pts) now 16 wounds a head. Can unbind two spells in each Hero Phase. In addition if a wizard within 30" successfully casts a spell it automatically takes 1 mortal wound. So infact even it doesn't unbind it can punish wizards across the whole table. Has a unique Monstrous Rampage which allows him to select an endless spell in 6" and roll 2d6. If it beats its casting value it is dispelled and he heals a number of wounds equal to the roll. This works on friendly endless spells as well making him very durable with enough of them. Plus he has gotten a mighty upgrade to his attacks profile and now his rock hits on 3's and does 5 flat damage that degrades as he takes wounds. Not bad.
  • If taken in Quakefrey he becomes a priest as well and battleline. Don't forget as a priest he will know the base prayers like curse and healing plus the unique Quakefray one, so not something to discount.

• Ghorgon: (240pts) Big upgrade to attack profile, doubling its Maw attacks and its Butchering Blades now havine SEVEN attacks at 3 damage a pop. On top of that he heals like a king. His Swallow Whole ability allows him to pick 3 models and try to roll above their wounds characteristic, if he does they are slain and he heals wounds equal to their wounds characteristic (kill three paladins and heal 9 wounds!). This does degrade as he is wounded however. Also his unique Monstrous Rampage allows him to improve the rend characteristic of his attacks and if he slays any enmey models he automatically heals three wounds after he finishes attacking. So while only having a 5+ save if he can stay alive he can heal like crazy.
  • don't foget battleline in Quakefray so you can stock up on these bad boys if you want.

• Jabberslythe:(160pts) It screams Distraction Carnifex. Taken some hits. Still a fast monster with 10 wounds, but seems to have lost fly and its high rend. Still causes mortal wounds on 4+ and keeps its Auro of Madness monstrous action that allows it to lower the save characteristic of an enemy Hero by 1 on a 2+ (lower it by 2 on a 6). But beyond that its melee profile is strickly worse and however its Toungue attack has improved with a not to bad attack output. Still funcitons adequately as a somewhat cheap distraction monster.

• Chaos Gargant: (145pts) 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. Roll off 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. Also, if at the start of combat if within 6" of a hero he adds 1 to all of his attacks characteristic. Which is great as he has some great attack output (mind you his Club and headbutt attacks degrade as he takes wounds so keep that in mind). Though the greatest change to him in the new book is now he actually subtracts 1 from save rolls for enemy units within 3" of him. Which coupled with the armies rend buff from the herdstone makes this guy just flat out scary. Easily has a place in any list.

Scenery

• Herdstone: The -1 to enemy save rolls aura has been upgraded to a BOARD-WIDE -1 rend to ALL BoC melee weapons begining on the second battle round. This increases to -2 rend from Round 4 onwards. I don't need to elaborate just how fucked this is; your Bestigors are Rend -2, your regular Gor are rend -1. Heck even Ungors are clocking a -2 rend by round 4. Unfortunately beside the rend buff it has lost all its other abilities (such as the rallying buff). While unfortute the fact that you dont need to park a hero around it anymore is nice and the aura effect did cause problems for an outflanking army. Overall very handy set piece but its less essential to the army as a whole with the general across-the-board buffs the army has gotten in the updated Tome. Still you don't want to be careless and lose if you can help it.
  • Don't forget many of your innate Battle Tactics rely on this thing. Keep it safe if you are going for your own battle tactics.

Battalions

Due to how Battalions are now universal, expect see the whole lot of this on the trash bin outside of narrative games. Bonus rules, traits and doodads are going to be likely added to the faction rules as default.

• 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 (160 p) (Min: 790.pt. Max: 5770.pt.) 1-3 Dragon Ogor Shaggoths, 3-9 units of Dragon Ogors
  • During Each of your Hero phase, units from the Battalion heals 1 wound on a 4+, then enemies within 1" take 1 mortal wound 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.
• A shaman or two (at least) is practically mandatory must, he'll buff your shaggymen or debuff enemy units to piss off your opponent.
• Bullgors, in groups of 6 are great at charging the enemy and breaking lines.
• 20-40 Ungors. Not really good at anything except holding ground, soaking up potentially devastating charges and getting fed into the grinder for more Call points - but that's enough. Don't ever bother with but giving them bows or spears. Useful for cheap summons that can outflank on later turns and capture an objective near the end of the game. Keep them in range of your Herdstone and you'll get much more use out of them than their mediocre bravery would suggest.
• Bestigors are amazing at dismantling stuff on the charge, especially order units - just don't let them get charged, because they will go down hard if this happens.
• 0 or 30 Gors. Either go big with a unit with a huge number that can maul things, or don't bother with them at all. Don't use them as charge breakers - you have Ungors for that.
• Cygors, take two or three, useful to have some long range siege weapons and great at annoying enemy wizards.
• Have fun with your big monsters. Chimeras and gargants are particularly fun, and can be devastating if supported by some buffs. Both of the big cows are worth the points investment most of the time, and the rest of the monsters are kinda meh, but don't cost too many points either.

• A note on dragon ogors - they suck. They're not worth the monetary OR points investment, unless you're a huge fan of the models and just want to push them around on the battlefield. They just don't do much, even when they are well supported. The Shaggoth looks like he could be monstrous, but is actually inferior to a doombull.

• 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
    • Don't bother with battalions, unless you mean to take the Khorne, Nurgle or Tzeentch one. Those three are excellent, the others are... interesting, but clunky at best and downright ridiculously bad at worst.

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 shenanigans.

• One-Eyed Grunnok: A Warstomper Mega-Gargant available to all Chaos factions. Recruit a your own monstrous centerpiece at the cost of your entire allied points allowance. He’s a best used right in the heat of combat where he can throw enemies at each other and disrupt enemy formations. Re-rolls jump attacks of 1, plus enemies get -1 to hits on previous jump attacks of 6.

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