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. This thing is now busted as of 19/02/22.
• 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

• Beasts of Chaos was one of the first AoS 2.0 Battletomes... And 3.0 has not been kind to it. The new unit coherency rules make using hordes very hard. The inability to take the old Nurgle and Khorne battalions is especially bad.
• 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.
• No mortal wound output whatsoever. No way to protect yourself from mortal wounds, either.
• No ward save on anything in the army.
• Magic is not your strong suit. You have two mediocre casters and two spells worth anything between their two spell lores.
• 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 (and the latter are very pricey to make an army of these models). 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: (90pts) 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: (100pts) 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: (150pts)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

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: (100pts) 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 especially 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, Min10 Max:30 120/300pts). 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 high rend wounds on the charge (and since they start as one these guys will be base -2 rend to start with!), 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 don't look further for Battleline units, this is where the blood flows.
  • Friendly reminder 32mm bases can be unwieldy especially with greater coherency concerns. 3 10 man units are far more flexible than 1 30 man unit.
  • Chronomantic Cogs and a Bray Shaman general of the Darkwalkers Greatfray using At The Double command ability for a total movement of 19" will nearly guarantee the first turn charge. A group of 20 of these on the charge will obliterate the first unit that they come into contact with, so make sure it's more valuable than them.

• Gors: (BATTLELINE, Min10 Max:30 70/200pts) 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. Also, following the BR:Kragnos update they now can also reroll charges the turn they arrive through ambush. Meaning these guys are a good squad to use for Brayherd Ambush.
  • 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.
  • Another important remider following one of the recent updates these guys can reroll charge rolls when they arrive via ambush. So you can get more long-bomb charges off without sacrificing command points. Which you can save for more essential units like your monsters.

• Ungors: (BATTLELINE, Min10 Max:40 60/200pts) 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 which is an important thing to have with 2 model coherency. And don't forget they can get up to -2 rend come the third battle round so can be surprisingly killy for the cost.
  • Once the Herdstone kicks in, their poor Bravery becomes less of an issue.

• Tzaangors: (BATTLELINE if your general is a Tzaangor Shaman, 10, 170). Incredible. 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+/5+/-/1 beak attack each (with Herdstone bonus). 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 extra rend. 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, Min3 Max:12 140pts). 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 respectively give +1 to charge rolls and +1 Bravery for each enemy unit within 12" of them, meaning they can be very brave once they get stuck in. 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, especially in the third battle round when the full effects of the Herdstone kick in.
  • 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 overall more attacks, the Warherd can get to some crazy rend and damage output when the effects of the Herdstone really kick in (-4 rend on Great Axes crazy). This also counting their high mortal wound output (plus mortal wounds on the charge). And if the banner is aline they can have the bravery to stick around to potentially take advantage of the sweet 4+ rally. 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, Min3 Max:12 130pts). Not bad, either. Five Wounds (which is great for objectives) with a 4+ save, okay Bravery and scary weapons. In addition their battle trait lets them heal a wound a turn on a 4+ (2+ if its 4 or more models) and dish out a mortal wound to units around them on a 4+ as well. While also doing d6 movement in your hero phase, making them deceptively fast. Weapon wise each has what is basically a Chaos Knight's horse bolted to it and in addition fights with a big weapon (which you can mix and match, though having specialized squads may be more efficient). You get either Ancient Weapons which are 6 attacks on 3's and 3's, Glaives which exchange 2 attacks with 1 more inch of range and Rend , 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). In addition thanks to the Herdstone the Glaives will be -2 rend base, which can really do some damage.
  • Don't forget that while in range of the Herdstones aura these guys can rally on 4+. I don't think we need to debate the greatness of bringing back multiple 5 wound models a turn.

Others

Brayherd

• Ungor Raiders: (Min:10 Max20 90pts) 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.
  • That being said, the recent FAQ has given these little bastards the rule of getting +1 to wound rolls when there's at least 10 of them. That can turn MSU Raider blocks into deviously-annoying skirmishers that can potentially evict backline objective hoggers and also provide a fairly-nice threat to unsupported...uhm...support heroes or any chaff you want to soften up before your Gors/Bestigors close in for the smackdown.

• Centigors: (Min:5 Max10 90pts) 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: (Min:1 Max2 65pts) 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: (3, 95pts) Elite Tzaangors on foot. 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. Nearby Tzaangor Shamans buff the hit rolls of Enlightened spears and beaks by 1.

• Tzaangor Enlightened on Discs of Tzeentch: (3, 180pts) Same profile as above with 10" extra Move, Fly, an extra Wound and a massively scary melee profile on top of their own massively scary melee profile.
  • with the point increase as of 2020 these are probably your best value for summoning, especially if you are Allherd.

• Tzaangor Skyfires: (3 195pts) 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: (Min:1 Max6 50pts) 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: (Min:10 Max30 80/210pts) 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).

• Cockatrice: (90pts) 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.

• Razorgors: (Min:1 Max6 50pts) 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.

• Slaangor Fiendbloods: (Min:3 Max:12 140pts) They have the beasts of chaos keywords so you can take them on this aliegance, but they lack Brayherd so no ambush or speed boost from the great bray shaman. No Warherd keyword so no healing or +1 to wound from bullgors. No hero unit to buff them like the Tzaangors have. Utter garbage even in their own list. Just ignore them.

Behemoth

• Chimera: (220pts) 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:(140pts) 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: (160pts) 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:(160pts) 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 any time a unit within 3" of this unit is chosen for a fight roll 3d6. If the result is higher than the attacking unit's bravery that unit gets an extra attack with melee weapons that round, but any unmodified hit roll of 1 causes that unit to suffer a mortal wound after all attacks are resolved. Not terrible unless they have a way to reroll 1s to hit, but still kind of terrible.

• Chaos Gargant: (170pts) 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: As of the White Dwarf issue on 19/02/22, this thing is fucking ABSURD. The -1 to enemy save rolls aura has been upgraded to a BOARD-WIDE -1 rend to ALL BoC melee weapons. This increases to -2 rend from Round 3 onwards. I don't need to elaborate just how fucked this is; your Bestigors are Rend -2 from the get go, making pretty much every other rival battleline shit itself. The battleshock immunity aura has been tweaked as well. It now starts at 12" and increases by 6" every round. Instead of flat-out ignoring battleshock, you simply half the number of fleeing BoC minis rounding up. What IS nasty, is whilst in this aura, BoC units using the Rally CA get a dude back on a 4+ instead of a nat 6. Bringing back 3 full-wound minis to a 6-bull Bullgor unit? Yes fucking please.
  • Needless to say, your Herdstone is now the anchor in your army. Defend it with your lives- that goes double if your foe has a surplus of monsters at their disposal. If that Herdstone gets demolished, you've done something horribly wrong and you're being welcomed back to the bedrock of AoS tiers.

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.

• Brass Despoilers (180 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 (180 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 (180 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 (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