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Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Wood Elves

2018-08-07T21:28:01Z

2A02:C7F:5E7B:A00:94D6:71E8:538A:DC10: /* Core Units */

==Why Play Wood Elves==
Wood Elves have been redone and almost completely rewritten. Everything has been turned on its head and old Wood Elf players have to adapt to the new changes. However they have recently not only reclaimed the title of being the fastest army but being arguably the best shooting army too. Wood Elves appear to be of equal parts of light and dark outlooks. They are the middle ground for elves. This is shown by them having magic arrows which are keyed to wounding forces of order and destruction respectively and with their best wizards having access to High and Dark magic. Wood Elves still have access to their old free wood.

Wood Elves are an army almost completely made up of trees, bowmen, or fast cavalry. They rely on speed, shooting and picking their fights. Wood elves still lack war machines but have in exchange a megaton of poisoned weaponry.

The name of their game is speed and maneuverability. By the end of turn 2 you can be behind the enemy lines, ready to unleash deadly co-ordinated flank charges, and against slower armies you can quite simply run circles around your enemided as some of the best archers in the game, the wood elves' possible greatest strength is not in their shooting, but in their prowess fighting in forests. They combine the best of both High Elves & Dark Elves when defending areas of wood. They are formidable in combat but lack staying power. You will need to use your maneuverability to ensure that you win the first combat resolution. If the elves get bogged down, they will quickly end up on the losing side.

Lastly, they have the widest variety of spells to chose from amongst the three Elf factions.

The Wood Elves require perhaps the most skill and nuance to play well, but this directly translates into them also being one of the most rewarding armies to play. Plus they're bad ass vengeful guardians of the forest, so that's pretty cool too.

Be warned that they aren't a good starter army.

In short, play Wood Elves if you want to play an army that requires a lot of skill, strategy and tactical thought to do well. You can't rely on Armor nor Warmachines or crazy shenanigans. Only a quick aim, a steady eye and a hungry forest will aid you in Athel Loren.

''(Matt Ward did have a hand in working on this book. However, GW decided to stop putting author's name in the book, most likely to preserve Watt Mard's tender feelings. What is known is that this was his last army book with GW and after having a hand in End Times:Nagash and End Times:Khaine he has now left).''

==Army Rules==

Wood Elves have four new army rules. They are the following:

'''Blessings of The Ancients''': Any model with this special rule (IE your wizards) gets a +1 to all casting attempts if they are inside a forest. ONLY when they're in a forest.

''The full list of models that have this rule is: '''Spellweaver''', '''Spellsinger''', '''Shadowdancers''', '''Branchwraiths''', '''Treeman Ancients''', '''Durthu''', and '''Drycha'''''

'''Ambush of the Worldroots''': You may place a single forest (of any type, you decide) anywhere on your half of the table. It must be placed before any units are deployed. It ''must'' be wholly within your half of the table. If it can't fit, move the other terrain pieces to make room. If it still can't fit, or you're in a scenario where you don't have a deployment zone, you don't get a forest.

''See '''Army Composition & Tactics''' for ideas and recommendations on how to use this rule''

'''Forest Spirit''': Models with this rule has Forest Strider, Magical Attacks and Immune to Psychology special rule and a 6+ ward save. A weaker save, but no longer mundane like in the previous army book. Mounts do not get the ward save.

''The full list of models that have this rule is: '''Unicorns''', '''Great Stags''', '''Dryads''', '''Branchwraiths''', '''Tree Kin''', '''Treemen''', '''Treeman Ancients''', '''Forest Dragons''', '''Durthu''', '''Hounds of Orion''', '''Drycha''' and '''Ceithin-Har'''''

'''Forest Stalker''': Models with this rule have the Forest Strider special rule. If at least half of a unit with this rule is inside a forest, it will be able to do the following:

* They may fire with one more rank. For the purpose of Volley Fire, this means a full three ranks may shoot, before you have to round down the following ranks.

* They may fight in close combat with one extra rank than normal, just like High Elves. This is cumulative with other similar effects.

* They may reroll to wound any rolls of 1 in close combat, just like Dark Elves. Their mounts, however, may not.
**''Basically, in terms of special rules, all your elves are worse than high elves and dark elves in the open, but equal to both of them combined while in forests. (In truth Eternal Guard is more effective than Spearelves/Dreadspears, Glade Guard beats HE Archers and Glade Riders are Ellyrian Reavers on steroids; but they all cost much more. Model for model - WE are better. Point for point - WE are worse.)''

''The full list of models that have this rule is: '''Glade Lord''', '''Glade Captain''', '''Spellweaver''', '''Spellsinger''', '''Eternal Guard''', '''Glade Guard''', '''Deepwood Scouts''', '''Glade Riders''', '''Warhawk Riders''', '''Wildwood Rangers''', '''Wardancers''', '''Shadowdancers''', '''Sisters of the Thorn''', '''Wild Riders''', '''Waywatchers''', '''Waystalker''', '''Orion''', '''Araloth''' and '''Naestra & Arahan'''''

==Unit Analysis==
===Lords & Heroes===

====Named Characters====
'''Note:''' Under the current edition, named characters tend to be overpriced; you can pretty easily emulate most named characters from scratch and save yourself some points. That said, a few named characters do have abilities and wargear or wargear combos unique to them, so if you absolutely need to have them, go ahead. Just make sure you're really getting your points worth.

* '''Orion, The King of the Woods:''' Orion is what in general is refered to as a Glass Cannon: Incredibly expensive, requires a massive tax on your resources, can be incredibly powerful and yet is very fragile. Orion costs 600 points. He can also beat in almost anyone's face (9,8,8,6,5,5,9,5,10), comes with a Bolt Thrower and machine gun and is Unbreakable and Frenzy, regains a wound on a 6 at the start of each of your turns. Also comes with two War Beasts (for 20 pts) that share his Frenzy and Unbreakable rule. Here's the downside: He's only T5 with a 5+ Ward and MR 2, making him somewhat less durable than a Treeman, but more durable against spells. He's a Monster, so he has Thunderstomp too, however, he doesn't have the Large Target rule. He will drop like a fly to high volume S4 and above attacks. He also has Always Strikes First but will have trouble winning combats against large units (he'll probably tie or grab a minor win on round 1 and then start losing from then on, not that it matters so much anymore). Not great but has potential. He is basically a Greater Daemon with leafy clothing that gives units within 6" of him Devastating Charge (Everyone of your units gets DC. Including mount)) every turn. Charge him along with your Wild Riders or Warhawk Riders into something. Anything. Then watch the mother hurt of ALL the People's Elbow decend upon your foe. Nothing bar the Dice Gods will stop you. That, or Phoenix Guard. Giggle like an Elf if you get to fight in a forest.

* '''Drycha:''' Orion is fighty, the Twins are shooty, Drycha is weird. She's rather expensive for a Hero, at 255 points, but she doesn't come with nearly enough stuff to justify this. For starters, she's a Level 2 caster and only has access to Lore of Shadows. While she's reasonably fighty (she gets +2 attacks per lost wound, no life shenanigans), T4, 3 wounds and only a 6+ Ward means she's easy to drop. She needs units with the Forest Spirit rule to be effective, but while her kinda ganky Deep Strike ability seems fun, you're only guaranteed d3+1 Woods max (IE the one you brought, sitting in your half of the table, and the acorn of eternity if you buy it) it's probably easier to just have them join her from the front. Don't bother.

* '''Araloth, Lord of Talsyn:''' This is Skaw the Falconer reborn. Sadly, Matt Ward clearly hates him and has not only changed his name but made him the only Wood Elf whose sole purpose is to be repurposed for conversions. 260pts for a 4++, stubborn, unbreakable on his own (don't let him go on his own EVER), Glade Lord with a 6+ armour (Seriously. He doesn't even have Light Armour, even though his model is wearing it. Wild Riders, meanwhile, [[Derp|go around bare chested and count as wearing them]]), armed with an amazing-looking spear that is...a regular Asrai Spear, and who comes with a bird. At least 60pts overpriced. The bird is a free S4 hit on one model within 18", and functions like a weird Killing Blow that causes blindness instead of death (somehow it makes the model worse in combat but not at shooting... go figure). Cute, I guess? This model's only use is to troll Tomb Kings, but with End Times taking away crumble he can't even do that anymore. Don't buy the model to play Wood Elves.
**''Note: Actually, I have found skaryn to be a pretty effective character hunter. The six to wound comes up much more often than you might think (one in three chance of any sort of wound blinding a T 4 model) and if your opponent skimped on armour for that bsb then they just became a lot less effective. Also, this guy combined with a waystalker or two can make a trolltastic wizard sniping team. Still overpriced, but not entirely useless.

* '''Durthu:''' Once again a recycled character from the far distant past which is bad. At first his stats don't look bad; Ws 7, str 6, t6, w6, 6 attacks, frenzy, hatred. But he only has a 3+ armour with a 6++ ward save and is flammable. The greatest of the Treemen can die from a single flamming bolt thrower if it gets lucky, let alone a flaming cannonball. To add salt into the wound he is only a level 1 Lore of Beasts wizard, has a pretty hand weapon of no significance save fluff, and a 2d6 str 2 killing blow ranged attack (which is awesome since he has BS7). All of this is for 385 pts. If you have already ordered the Treemen kit make a basic Treeman instead and convert a Wraithknight/Wraithlord. If you really want to play with him, get him into combat, any combat, as quickly as you can and either get '''The Savage Beast of Horrors''' to make him eat Greater Daemons/Monsters or go with the default '''Wyssan's Wildform''' to make him do 7 WS7 (rerollable to hit) S7 attacks. 666 is the name of the Beast, but 777 is carved on the Tree.

* '''Naestra and Arahan, The Sisters of Twilight:''' Anyone who makes a 'Twins are hot' joke gets kicked out of Athel Loren. As for the girls, they can be hilarious. You don't only take them to win, you take them to [[troll]]. For 275 points you get the pair on the back of Gwindalor the Great Eagle and for a few 220 more can have them ride the forest dragon Ceithin-Har. Why you ever would take them on a dragon is a mystery since the eagle gives them more wounds and t4 thanks to it being monstrous cavalry, while also allowing them to reroll failed to hits. Their Dragon is 80pts cheaper than the glade lord's since gwindalor is clearly 80pts. They have the Always Strikes First, Forest Stalker, Conjoined Destiny, and Sisters of Twilight special rules. The Conjoined destiny rule means that they must always stay together if their mount dies and that if one of them dies then she is revived at the end of her phase with all of her wounds, while the Sisters of Twilight makes Naestra gain a +1 to wound forces of destruction units in combat and Arahan gain a +1 to wound forces of order in combat. They also have 2 special bows. Naestra has a str 5 d6 wound long bow which gives her mount a wound back if she wounds with it and Arahan has a bow which fires 2d6 str 1 poisoned shots. Between them have good shooting and survival thanks to their previous rules and weapons and stats: M5, WS 6, BS 6, str 4, t 3, w2, 3 attacks, i7 and Ld9. These compete badly with the waystalker, lvl 1 spellsinger and BSB in the Heroes section so chose wisely. Pitty you can't take these guys on foot though...
**''Alright, someone explain this to me. Since N&A are now MC on Big G, isn't the Conjoined Destiny rule quite worthless if you get shot? Since the three birds are counted as one model, have practically no saves AND you have to use the profile with the most wounds (which is 3 for Big G), how does this work? Are they able to survive a cannon ball to the face, or does the entire model die after 3 wounds?
***''To counter that which is below, if you stick near 5 Warhawk riders you can get a 4+ look out sir, you can seriously boost your survivability. So long as one twin survives then your foes cannon ball was for naught.
***''A single cannonball won't kill them - and certainly it won't kill Gwindalor, since, according to MC rules, it can't be targeted (yes, this means that the rule that lets the mount regain wounds is useless for G). When N&A are hit, you have to randomize, according to their rules. Then you wound, then the sister that was hit probably dies; then she pops back to full life if the other hasn't been killed by the end of the shooting phase. In melee, you have to allocate attacks, as you would do with two normal characters. N&A can indeed take risks that would be suicidal for other wood elven characters. Quite worthy of the points you pay to field them.''
''

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

* '''Glade Lord:''' Generic combat lord, reasonably fighty but you'll pale in comparison to most other Lords. (Basically, he is identical to High Prince or Dark Dreadlord, but the army's style and racial items work against making him a similar meatgrinder) He can be kitted out in a variety of ways to be more fighty and can be given magic arrows which is a plus, he also dishes out a LD10 bubble. He also got an extra point of BS, probably to compensate for the loss of free moving and shooting. One new rule, The Arrow of Kurnous, lets him deal a auto str 3 hit on your opponent's general if they are within 36" of a character with the rule and in line of sight. If your foe has a caster lord as his general then I guess it will force him to deploy further back so not bad. Should not be your first Lord choice, but is by far not the worst. One popular choice is to give him Daith's Reaper and the Armour of Destiny for a stabtastic warboss.

* '''Spellweaver:''' This should be your first Lord choice. Level 4 at 220 points now, a variety of magic items to make her better, the only character who can take the Acorn of Eternity (technically, the Glade Lord can take it too, but naked combat lord suffers much more than naked wizard lord) and most importantly, access to all rulebook lores and Dark and High Magic. Plus she can buy an Asrai Longbow for 5pts, which means that while she's hanging in the back with your Glade Guard, she can ping off the odd casualty herself, which is hilarious by the by. If you want a Lord choice, this is the one you should go for in (almost) every situation.

* '''Treeman Ancient:''' While Treemen are alright, Treemen Ancients fail for many reasons. First off, they're 290 points, don't get spites any more, are lvl 2 life wizards only (who can upgrade to level 4) have a 3+ 6++, can buy magic levels, can tree whack and have the kind of melee stats that make cherubs cry. Ws4, Str5, A3, I2. I guess old age shows? Also, being an old coot, he gets the 75mm long side of his base pointed forwards for some insane reason. The best thing that can be said about them is probably that they are large targets with Ld 10. Actually, against anything that hasn't got a particularly threatening shooting phase, the ancient will be basically immortal unless it gets killed in combat. 3+, 6 wounds, 6T and lore of life means that light shooting will be almost useless against it, and even bolt throwers will struggle to down him.

* '''Glade Captain:''' This is the generic combat and battle standard bearer character for wood elves. And actually comparing him to other non-elf race's characters he isn't too bad. He can't buy anything armour-wise better than a shield and light armour but then he is a wood elf and he does have some decent combat stats and a bow to make up for it. Also he shares the Arrow of Kurnous with your general so you are not punished for taking a caster lord. Overall, while not having as much access to armour as the Dark Elf Master, this hero is a decent battle standard bearer, especially if you spend a few points to make him tougher. Consider adding a dragon helm, helm of the hunt or any cheap magic armour to make him less squishy. Keep in mind, that most Wood Elf lists are quite mobile (if not outright full-cavalry) and have good Ld, so BSB might not be the best investment.

* '''Shadow Dancer:''' Your Wardancer character. Worth consideration. For 100pts you get a ws8 s4 I8 a4 (two hand weapons) Always Strike Firsts combat character, with the amazing new wardancer dances. You have a 25 points magic weapon/item allowance and for 60pts become a lore of shadow wizard. Sadly she doesn't have a way of moving any more quickly, without switching her across the battlefield with lore of shadows lore attribute and also doesn't have a better save than a 6++, unless you use one of the dances to give you a 3++ for 1 turn. Hit hard, hit fast.
** '''Note:''' For those enterprising gentle...elves, a Shadow Dancer can be used as a pretty nifty rank breaker for a close combat army. Use the Dance of the Woven Mist to rob a horde of their rank bonus and watch them lose instantly.
* NEVER put her into Wardancer unit, their dances do not stack. Put her with Eternal Guard or, better, with Dryads - her attacks and dances will help them overcome their downsides.
** Good items to give her are Glittering Scales (most core will hit her on 6+, with most elites hitting on 5+), Bow of Loren (making her pretty shooty) or Helm of the Hunt (making her [[RAPE|RAPE]] things on the charge).
*** Arguably, making her a level 1 wizard is a pretty bad choice, as you can no longer take magical armor. This leaves you with 25 points to either make her your walking dispell scroll slot or give her the Bow of Loren. Also, as she is only a level 1, you get one spell, and there is no grantee you can actually get it off (On the other side, give her Mystifying Miasma and watch a unit of Chosen get slaughtered at M1 by your archers with starfire arrows). Unless you are really in need of saving points, you are probably better off buying a Level 2 Spellsinger if you want the Lore of Shadow.

* '''Waystalker:''' Is a hero version of the Waywatchers. Just think of this guy as the replacement for the waywatcher kindred hero (sadly there is no replacement for the alter kindred). He has bs 7, a bow and a 25pts weapons allowance. Bow of Loren is an option that allows you to fire 2 ignores armour shots which can also be combined with the Savage Beast of Horos from the Beasts lore to grant 5 ignores armour sniper shots that do suffer from multiple shots penalty (though with BS7 will you care). An interesting combo if you're going to be running with the beasts lore. The guy is dirt cheap, only 115 points with the bow of loren, 90 without.

* '''Spellsinger:''' One word. Amazing, when compared to the old wizards. Five points cheaper than the high elf equivalent, +35 for a level 2, and 5 points for a bow. Now has access to all battle rule book lores but not to the Wood Elf specific lores (ie the opposite of its sixth edition form). Shame. Take a dispel scroll and the lore of shadow or fire on this hero since their spells are the most effective at level 1/2.

* '''Branchwraith:''' The Branchwraith has 2 advantages: 1, she's fairly effective (WS6, S4, T4, I7, A3, 6+ Ward). 2, she's cheap. She is 75pts and a level 1 Lore of Life wizard. She's a cheap way of beefing up a Treekin or Dryad unit. It is also of note that if you're taking the Lore of Beasts for your casters, and you're running a Branchwraith, you can use 2 of the spells to buff her up to insane levels.

* '''Mounts:'''

** ''Elven Steed:'' You know it, you love it. M9 Forest Strider, 20pts for lords, half that for heroes, and allows you to keep pace with all your cavalry. Take it for your mages to hide with your cavalry.

** ''Great Stag:'' Really, why aren't you taking it? Better stats than it's closest cousin (IE the Eagle), you can still join units, you get a monstrous mount. One of the better mounts. [The reason not to take it, is that you don't get look-out-sir when joining units (because no units you can join are MC)]

** ''Great Eagle:'' Worth taking to make your models more mobile for 50 pts. I wouldn't take it on every hero but on a lvl 1 mage without the scroll or the bsb it should be worth some consideration.

** ''Unicorn:'' Unicorns are weird. They seem to be designed to deliver a Hero/Lord directly into combat, but it's only available to Casters and all it really does for them is make them a tiny bit more durable. A mage on a unicorn may be able to scare away some chaff. It gives you movement 10 and still can skewer some models but is outshone by the elven steed easily. Magic Resistance (2) may seem nice, but it is better to just put your mounted wizard with Sisters of the Thorn and give them Lichebone Pennant.

** ''Forest Dragon:'' It's a Dragon, what do you want? Considering that this funky-looking dude with wings is a green, environmental-friendly lizard who smokes faeries, makes others stupefied and dumb when they inhale (presumably from forcing the enemy to second hand smoke whatever herbs the elves use to mellow out the dragon), and is a beast when he thinks you're going after his stash, he's actually just that little bit better than most Dragons. Also, there's only one poser who's cool enough to hang with him, and that's the Glade Lord (who, if you don't kit out for combat, really '''''is''''' a poser; the GL has same statline like Prince and Dreadlord, and his dragon is tiny bit stronger than Black/Moon Dragon for same points, so it's not a much worse investment than any other Elf Lord of Dragon. Plus, Helm of the Hunt). Still, if you are running MSU, a dragon equal a giant target with "SHOOT ME!" written all over it in dwarven runes.

===Core Units===
Currently, all Wood Elf Core units are kind of sub-optimal and are no no-brainers. But on the other hand, none of them are precisely duds either, and most can find uses (and you might as well, since you HAVE to take them). Tailor your tactics and choose wisely. Ironically, our Core units now feel more like Specials, role-wise.

* '''Dryads:''' Why Matt Ward! Dryads went from being overpowered to good to one of the weaker units in the game is the initial impression, but in reality Dryads are just trash if you try to use them in their old role. (People tend to judge them based on their old profile, understandably.) They can't take anything other than a champion and cost 330 for 30 of them - then again, they cost as much as Witch Elves and cheaper than Plague Monks, while fulfilling the same role. The Dryads can still be good, and do have a place in combat armies (which are a thing these days and we now have 10 lores of magic to back them up. Seriously, you can make them tough or strong - they work well with either buff). Most armies would kill for toughness 4 core with a ward save and 2 attacks. For 11pts you get WS 4, S3, T4, A2, I5, Ld8, hatred, immune to psychology and a 6++ save. Though they have no armour save to mitigate the lower ward save (though they can now take it against magical attacks), and no more skirmisher, they are basically our assassins, crashing into enemy flank and tearing it shreds, while taking not so much damage in return. They are not so useful in a shooty or cavalry army, but if you are running a combat wood elf army, which can actually do well in this book, dryads and eternal guard are what you're gonna take.

* '''Eternal Guard:''' 11 points WS 5 armour piercing, ASF, stubborn, elven spearmen, who can fight better in forests. They can also buy shields too and have a 5+ armour save. Considering that the more well protected units in the wood elf army get just a 4+ and 6++, these guys have a pretty good save. Don't get me wrong, their save will be laughed at by every army out there, (apart from beastmen) but for wood elves, it's respectable. At the first glance their cost - 270 points for 20 of them with shields and a full command squad and 390 for a horde - is a high one, but comparing them to other spearelves, for measly 3 points they gain Stubborn, Armor Piercing, +1WS and +1LD, making them an incredible anchor - almost unbreakable when within BSB range. Also, you don't take them in such big units - small units (10-15) can hold off pretty long even against elites. Many people don't like them, since these generally do not fit in with the traditional Wood Elves' Hit and Run or Run and Shoot style of play. Also, they are incredible in the now-viable melee Wood Elf lists and are one of the better places to hide your wizards.Also so durable because of ws5 If you don't kill all of them then you'll have to face them again.

* '''Glade Guard:''' Glade Guard are of debatable worth. For 12 points you get a bs 4 model with no armour, an armour piercing long bow, the option to take full command and a magic standard worth 25 points. In forests they get to reroll ones to wound in close combat and can fire and fight in 1 extra rank. They also can buy any of the magic arrows (discussed in magic arrows section). It is up to you whether you chose to deploy them in multiple small units or in one horde, though generally msu is better since they will have more time to fire. All in all, Deepwood Scouts do same job better for just 1 point more (except of course, they won't fill up your manditory 25% core).

* '''Glade Riders:''' Out of all the core choices, this is perhaps the only unit which has been priced correctly. For 19pts you get m9 fast cavalry with a Asrai Bow and Asrai Spear, who have to ambush (Being forced to ambush can sometimes be an issue, keep this in mind when taking Riders.), that can take the magic arrows. They can also take a magic banner worth up to 25pts which is neat (I would recommend Gleaming Pennant - cheap and nice for fast cavalry). Generally you will want to take these in multiple small units that can come up behind the opponents and cause havoc. In a pinch they also make good warmachine hunters. A downside of this unit is that you cannot depend on them to act early in the game, since they can only move onto the board from turn 2 onward. If you have a treeman that you don't want to get hit by artillery that could kill him in one phase, you may not want to use these guys as warmachine hunters. However, it can be incredibly fun in friendly games and is inevitable in full cavalry lists.
** ''And no, they cannot choose Vanguard deployment over Ambush deployment, because you Vanguard-move ''after'' you have deployed - which you don't with Ambush. Feel free to Vanguard-move in the model case, waiting for your ambush roll.''

===Special Units===

* '''Deep Wood Scouts:''' Don't let their fancy new name fool you. These are the Glade Scouts of the past, simply moved and renamed. For 1 point more than a Glade Guard they gain scout and skirmish and still keep the option to buy magic arrows. They can also buy a full command interestingly and can be taken in units as small as 5. Pity that you can only have so many special unit duplicates. Whenever you feel the urge to buy glade guard that don't contribute to your core allowance, choose Deepwood scouts instead. If anything they are one less unit you have to deploy at the start of a game before the roll off thanks to scout. As a side note; 12 of these armed with '''poisoned arrows''' will kill a warmachine each turn, on average, without a modifier.

* '''Sisters of the Thorn:''' The Wood Elf alternative to Dark Elf Warlocks. While wildriders rock out with their cock out and kill and get killed in a blaze of gory glory, the sisters are more subtle and indirect with their attack. For 26 points they get a 4++, T3, BS5 and a poisoned javelin. They can buy full command and a 50pts banner. They also count as a lvl 2 wizard with the Shield of Thorns and Curse of Anraheir spells, with a +1 to cast with equal to your rank bonus (maxing out at +3). You can pull some crazy stunts with these Druidic Elven Nuns, but they are pricy, have one good spell and one mediocre with great lore attribute, though both will be difficult to cast with less than 3 dice. One thing that is really good about them is that despite their massive cost, they are tough, they do look awesome and they are one of two cavalry units you can deploy your mounted characters in and that they don't have frenzy when compared to the Wild Riders. They are an awesome retinue for a mounted Spellweaver. Get them a Lichebone Pennant and you can laugh at both enemy spells and any miscasts (Edit: as per the errata, MR doesn’t help with miscasts). They also can help/substitute a Lifeweaver or a Branchwraith, providing healing with Shield of Thorns (with thorns themselves being just a little bonus). They ain't a no-brainer, but can be very effective with proper application.
** ''Doomfire Warlocks:'' These guys are often bench-marked a against SotT. For just one point less you get a Dark Elf version of the sisters in the rare units (or more correctly, the sisters are a Wood Elf version of the warlocks since the DE book came out first). These guys don't throw poisoned javelins and they don't get the lore of life attribute on one of their spells. If you find yourself in a friendly game where you two decide to do unbound lists (somehow), the sisters are probably worth considering over warlocks.

* '''Treekin:''' Treekin are the younger brother of Treemen and not the force they once were. With the unit size limit removed, treekin can now be taken in hordes and with a 20 point reduction, they won't eat up as much of your points. Compared to an O&G troll for the same price, treekin suffer from a distinct lack of S5(that the troll has), but they also benefit from a distinct lack of stupidity(that the troll has). Overall treekin are evenly matched with river and stone trolls as they should be for the same point cost. They are the best of the forest spirits the wood elves have to offer but still are no longer a must-take. For 45 points you get S4, T5, 3 wounds, 3 attacks, Stomp, 4+ armor, 6++ Ward, and flammable. Beware they are vulnerable to Great Weapons, fire and high volumes of S4 attacks and have trouble overcoming large amounts of static combat res, so be careful to not send them into battles they can't win.
** ''Additional Thought:'' Proper use of these guys is against large S3 units (Spearelves of all flavors, Clanrats, Empire Spearmen, Skeletons...the list goes on). Your archers won't be able to bring the unit down to size very effectively, and most of your CC units will just bounce off, but Treekin have enough attacks (2 ranks have 18 attacks) and high enough toughness to grind them into powder. It's a niche, but it's one not filled very effectively elsewhere in the army. Combine with a flank charge from your Wild Riders for great success.

* '''Wardancer Troupe:''' Wardancers are still a reasonably good unit let down by a few flaws and a fairly high cost of entry. They cost 15 points a pop and with T3 and a 6+ Ward, they're still about as hard as tissue paper, but that's par for the course with Wood Elves and Skirmishers in general. They no longer gain +1 S on the charge and have 3 new dances. The first gives you armor piercing and killing blow, second one gives you +1 attack, another gives you a 3++ and the final dance [[AWESOME|strips your foe of their rank bonuses]]. What lets these guys down is the fact that because they're not Scouts, they have to start in your deployment zone, and M5 does not let them cross the board very quickly, as well as being unable to repeat any of their dances the turn after it is used. To overcome this take a small unit of 5 and hang them back, then proceed to laugh as you charge them into an on-going combat and win it by a landslide due to the -3 combat res. If the dice gods are high that day and the combat goes on for another turn, your shadow dancer can do a different dance if it is not in the wardancer unit (which it should never be).
** Keep in mind, both War Dancers and Shadowdancer are very useful due to disruption dance and are located in very contested sections. Choose well, whom will you use (unless you use both).
*** As a side note, any models in the squad '''(not the whole squad - you can choose)''' can replace two weapons with an Asrai Spear. Which is kinda useless, since if you are taking more than 5 Wardancers in a single squad, you are doing it wrong.
**''It is also highly disappointing that taking a musician does not do more to help the unit of dancers. How did Matt Ward not see the connection between music and dancing?''
***''He must like dubstep. It would explain a lot of things.''

* '''Warhawk Riders:''' You think your Glade Riders are fast? Think again. These guys are one of the best units in the Army Book, acting troubleshooters, since they can bring down War Machines like they're not there, punch out shooting units, ping wounds off lightly armored units and even help out in large combats (this is only for emergencies though). For 45 points you are getting fast flying monstrous cavalry with the Asrai Bows, W3, T4, Asrai Spears, and killing blow on the charge. They deal out 1 str 4 AP with ASF as well as 2 str 4 AP killing blow hits and a stomp. Possibly, the best flying unit in the game with the exception of the frost phoenix and pegasus knights. Take as many units of 3 as you can. Also they make Great Eagles look very sad and useless.

* '''Wild Riders of Kurnous:''' While they may be quite fragile for cavalry, Wild Riders of Kurnous move like an arrow and hit like a ton of bricks (glass bricks). Similes aside, they are the only fast cavalry in the game with the potential to get a 4+ 6++ and they eat monsters(or damn near anything) for breakfast. For 26 points you get a WS5, S4, T3, model on stagback with light armour, which can buy a shield for 2 extra points, Full Command for 30, and a magic banner up to 50pts. In combat they dish out 3 str 5 AP, ASF and 2 str 4 attack on the charge, thanks to frenzy (which also applies to the mounts) asrai spears for +1 strength on the charge and devastating charge for an extra attack on the charge. Conveniently they also have fear, <s>which is always nice when facing something else with terror</s> You do know that Frenzy makes you Immune to Psychology, right? A unit of 5 on the charge with a champion will cause an average of 12 wounds with -3 to armour and 4 Wounds with -1 to anything at T3 with less than WS5 - that unit is looking a lot less threatening with 15 less guys now isn't it. Also have a lot more staying power than most other cav, retaining 4 st4 attacks per model until you lose frenzy. That's better than having lances. Also, they keep their spears in following rounds, so their attacks still have AP. Bear in mind, they're reliant on a 4+ 6++ (one of the best saves the wood elves get is still not that good), so don't get them charged, or they will die in troves. ''Ironically enough, they are no longer Forest Spirits, but their new models actually look like forest spirits, unlike their older models of regular elves.'' (Don't let them get charged, they suddenly hurt a lot less. 2 S4 armor piercing attacks per is just "ok")

* '''Wildwood Rangers''' New to the Wood Elf Army Book, 11 points per model gets you light armor, Eternal Guard stats, immune to psychology, and a great weapon. They are slightly more resilient than Gnoblars but do carry a Great Weapon. What makes these guys special is that if they're in combat with a unit that causes fear or terror they get an extra attack (good against Chaos, Undead and Ogres). On the upside they are better than Great Swordsmen(In forests and against fear causers), but are worse than almost every other race's Great Weapon elites (however also cheaper per model). With the End Times bringing undead-summoning for everyone, these fellers become more useful, easily clearing freshly-summoned shamblers with their special rule.

===Rare Units===
*'''Great Eagle:''' They would be reliable, cheap and versatile for 50pts. However, Warhawk costs 5pts less, has KB and a rider (who can shoot), and only loses 1WS. Take Eagles only if you are full on Warhawks, otherwise Hawks will give you much more for less points. Also they can't be upgraded like High Elf eagles. Don't bother. If you insist on using your Great Eagle models, stick a Glade Rider or Glade Guard with spear on it back and have yourself a Warhawk.
** Counterpoint: you would want to take a great eagle instead of a warhawk if you had less than 135pts to spend on flying dudes. Warhawks need to be taken in units of at least 3, and have enough whoopass to draw more attention from the enemy than the eagle. A pair of eagles is great for topping off the last hundred points in your list. Place one of these between your enemy death star and your death star so your death star can get the charge next turn. The eagle is one of the cheapest chaff units in the game. Skaven could probably field a unit of slaves for less than 50pts, but those slaves won't give you the same coverage as an eagle.

* '''Treeman:''' The best that can be said about this unit is that it is priced correctly, but it is nowhere near the monster it was in the past. It is still quite tough with T6, W5 and a 3+ scaly skin and 6++ ward. It also has 5 attacks at WS6 S5 in combat with the option to swap them all for a tree whack which deals d6 armour ignoring wounds to a model if your enemy fails his initiative test (each wound must be saved seperately in case of ward saves). Also, Thunderstomp. It also appears that the strangle roots have become a better ranged attack. Str 5 d6+1 attacks may not seem like much but every little counts I guess. While the treeman is not amazing and necessary for most armies, sadly it is the best value monster we have and, perhaps, our best monster killer.
**Side note: The current Treeman model is mounted on a 50X100 mm chariot base. The 50mm short side goes at the front/rear based on the way you are supposed to assemble the model. This can be seen in GW images in their online store. I believe that the base is 75x50mm with the longer side being the front and the 50mm sides being his flanks.

* '''Waywatchers:''' This is potentially the best unit in the Army Book, so place your bets now on how 9th ed will nerf these guys (9th? We wish). For 20pts you get a BS5 skirmishing scouting archer who can chose whether to add the multiple fire 2 rule to his bow or to ignore armour saves with his shooting. They also come with 2 hand weapons for some mild protection against chaff units in combat, but don't expect them to be able to take the enemy head on with T3 and no armour. Everything they do is very wood elfy. They shoot well, avoid the enemy well and die easily if the enemy puts any real firepower on them. Take a unit of 5 and annoy the living hell out of your opponents. For 100pts you can thin out the enemy if they ignore them, or distract what ever the enemy sends to stomp these guys down. It actually isn't a bad idea to fill your rare allocation up with these. Keep in mind, their bows are still S3 only, so pick your targets carefully and use Withering (lore of shadows) or you're going to be sorely disappointed. Calculation of disappointment can be seen on the talk page.

==Building Your Army==
===Buying Your Army===

The battalion set was a good value. You could get a fairly decent army out of it. ''It is still mighty cool if you manage to find it at some backwater hobby shop (I even managed to get one with discount "'cos no one wanted it for long time" from, apparently, completely ignorant shop assistant).
The battalion shared models with regular kits, so following old guidelines still apply.

From the Glade Guard sprues, you can build Waywatchers. If you have some spare High Elf or Dark Elf spearmen/warriors, giving them a Glade Guard head can turn them into Eternal Guard. You get a ton of heads with the Glade Guard, so you're spoilt! Especially now, when they look like High Elves.

The Glade Riders you can build as Wild Riders with the spears. Or even Sisters of the Thorn.

For your Lords/Heroes choices, you can build them out of the sprues provided. You can make a mounted Glade Lord or Captain (even a BSB), as well as a Waystalker and, with a bit of imagination, a Spellweaver.

Otherwise, for the Spellweaver, the Dark Elves' plastic Sorceress is a good alternative if you don't want old/metal models.

You could make a Treeman with the LotR Ent as it's cheaper, but the two have different dimentions, so be warned.
It is taller, but can fit on a 50x50mm base that you can buy seperatly.(and still be cheaper than a treeman.)
Especially now, when Treemen are taller, slimmer and look more like -Men, than Tree-.

Dryad bits are awesome in making Wild Riders, Sisters of the Thorn and characters. Their back-branches make pretty cool saplings to add foresty clutter on elf bases. You can also glue the extra dryad arms together to make treekin looking things. It will take some patience but you can build three or four sleek looking treekin from a box of a dozen dryads. The ghetto treekin don't look as tough or macho as the GW treekin, so it is easier to picture them as just strength 4 instead of the strength 5 they used to have.

If you want Dryads and Treemen (though they've been nerf-sawed) - you should hurry to grab the Guardians of the Deepwood box, which contains three Treemen and 36 Dryads - and is actually cheaper than cost of those models combined. Either GW are trying to be kinder, or their head manager made a typo. Most likely the latter. Hurry, it is limited edition and stuff.

If you are OK with using mediocre models made from shitty resin, D&D Treant and Roc miniatures make pretty good Treeman or Great Eagle/Warhawk. Be advised, D&D resin is crappy and bendy, but they come pre-painted. The Guardians of the Galaxy Heroclix version of Groot could fill the roll of your treeman easily.

==Equiping Your Army==

'''Asrai Bow''': Just like an ordinary Longbow. 30" range, but now comes with AP.

'''Asrai Spear''': Follows the same rules as regular spears, except for having AP.

Basicly, all Wood Elf spears and bows have AP. Because inch-thick armor is of little use when there's an arrow sticking out of your eye and a spear in your throat.

===Magic Items===

No more Spites, no more Kindreds. Matt Ward, after having given High Elves a meta changing item and Dark elves at least some decent ones, he decided to balance out his previous mistakes by not giving Wood Elves any good items. He even made sure to prevent broken combos this time. It's especially surprising as Wood Elves are reputed to be Matt Ward's favourite elf faction.

'''The Spirit Sword:''' 85 points for ignoring armour saves (as if Wood Elves didn't have enough of this already), and if you cause an unsaved wound on a character/champion/monster, you and your foe both take a leadership test. For each point you beat your opponent by, it causes a wound. If you lose the test nothing happens(Though it can hurt the wielder if you want to use the more amusing 6th ed rules for the sword). I guess it is neat and will kill monsters like hell, but this weapon is overpriced and relies on you hitting/wounding your target. Rely on the rulebook's magic items instead.

'''Daith's Reaper:''' This weapon would be amazing for almost any race but Wood Elves. For 50pts you can reroll to hit and to wound and force your opponent to reroll successful armour saves. Considering you can only take this on a hero who is likely to get to hit rerolls from ASF and that 8th favours ward saves rather than armour saves, this weapon is only slightly better than useless. Buying great weapon or sword of +1 str wound be a far better/cheaper alternative.

'''The Bow of Loren:''' For 20 points you get a bow that fires your character's attacks +1 shots. You can use it on the Waystalker to get 2, armour ignoring, sniping shots or on the Glade Lord to fire 5 bs7 shots. Note that these are Multiple Shots (so -1 to hit and can't stack with Waystalker multiple shots and don't get any bonus from extra hand weapon). The best that can be said about this bow is that it is properly priced. All other races ranged magic items aren't though...

'''Helm of the Hunt:''' For 20pts you get a dragon helm which instead of giving you a 2++ vs flaming attacks, gives you the devastating charge special rule and +1 ws on the charge. Cute I guess for Wood Elves but is it really worth it? Basically, it allows you to make a Wild Rider Noble from older editions (especially with Wild Riders wearing noticeable horned helms now)

'''Acorns of Ages:''' This is the item that Wood Elves have been waiting for. For 100pts you get d3 forests in addition to the starting one, which all have to be the same type and are deployed like drop pods, since they scatter but can't land on other terrain. Lots of tactics are circulating around this item, Drycha/Moonstone of Hidden Ways for teleporting units or almost deep striking treemen. See Talk page for tactics and stuff. As for the item - if nothing else, it's fluffy.

'''Moonstone of Hidden Ways:''' This item's potential power is immense, while it's actual usefulness is varied. For 40pts you can teleport your unit at the end of a movement phase, from one forest to another. The only restriction on what can be teleported is whether it can fit wholly inside the forest. The "forest walking" unit can't be placed in another forest that is too small and counts as having marched. While interesting this item makes you a sitting duck for 1 turn and either relies on the luck of the terrain deployment table or the Acorns of Ages. Buy another gimmick.

'''Hail of the Doom Arrow:''' If only this item was 5 points cheaper so Waystalkers could take it (This does prevent the abuse from being able to hail of the doom arrow snipe combo - <strike>almost</strike> guaranteed dead wizard. Seems like it could have been fixed better with a 'cannot be used in conjunction with the sniper special rule' as opposed to just making it too expensive to take). For 30pts, you get a 1 use str 4 armour piercing arrow that causes 3d6 hits. Some people swear by these things since they can instantly mince lightly armoured units though there are dissenting opinions. Still it is the best magic item Wood Elves have. Sadly, Asyndi's Bane was removed as a magic item, so you can no longer use the HoDA to take out an enemy unit and the guy who fired the arrow in the same turn.

'''Calaingor's Stave:''' Such a depressing item. For 20 points you get the privilege of swapping a spell for Tree Singing. Tree Singing is cast on a 8+ now and can move an empty forest d6+1 inches, which is not much more than the forest moves by being accidentally bumped. If the forest is partially occupied, then instead you can deal 2d6 str4 hits on an enemy unit that is at least partially within the forest. You can improve the spell so that, when cast on a 16+ it affects all forests within 12". If the spell could be cast more than once, was given as an additional spell, had a lore attribute, could be cast on all forests on the board instead of those within 12", cast on a 4+, to name a multitude of reasons, then it would be worth taking. Otherwise, unless you wish to move the destination forest of the moonstone of hidden way's unit or Drycha's helpers, it is the worst magic item in the game.

'''The Banner of the Eternal Queen:''' For twice the cost of the Banner of the World Dragon, this banner provides Magic Resistance 3 and for 1 turn the ability to be unbreakable. No thanks. The traditional overpriced banner does not fail to disappoint me even if you don't compare it to the Banner of the World Dragon.

'''The Banner of the Hunter King:''' Another banner which gives to it's unit vanguard and, that allows you to reroll the first failed charge of the game for 75pts. Dwarfs get these rules for 35pts and 15pts respectively. Also almost everything that can take this banner has Vanguard already. Competes with Calaingor's Staff for being the worst magic item ever.

====Enchanted Arrows====

(Note, all arrows have AP and volleyfire, 30 inch range). All of these are available to Glade Guard, Scouts, Glade Riders, Glade Lords and Glade Captains.
They replace the profile of regular bows wielded by models and count as magical attacks. <s>Note, that until we get a FAQ, they are ''not'' Asrai Longbows and prevent using Hail of Doom Arrows!</s> The enchanted arrows are Enchanted Items which do not prevent you from holding a second Enchanted item. As such they are NOT weapons, and do not prevent you from using the HODA.

'''Arcane Bodkins:''' 5 pts per model, confers ap -3 instead of normal armour piercing. Expensive for what they do. I prefer to do more wounds than reduce armour saves but these arrows kill cavalry like nobody's business. All the same, if your plan is to screw over enemy armour, just use Waywatchers instead. For three more points waywatchers can spite that guy with a 1+ re-rollable armour save while the arcane bodkins have a 50/50 chance of beeing saved. And they can also fuck up light infantry like nobody's business, if no heavy cavalry presents itself.

'''Hagbane Tips:''' 3 points per model, confers poison attacks. Amazing. This will probably be your go-to magic arrow, since wood elves have troubles vs monsters. It is nice to have Skink-like firepower on the move at 30" (With BS4+ throughout most of the shooting units, your problems will probably lie in wounding. Might as well turn those 6's to hit into wounds, and save yourself the possibility of connecting a hit that won't wound anything)

'''Trueflight Arrows:''' 3 points per model, confers no penalty to shooting whatever you do. This is probably going to be the second most used arrow. Best taken on your Glade Guard as they will suffer the most penalties. These should be your first choice against Skaven and their shenanigans.
*''As of now there are many opinions about the merits of these arrows which should be shared on the talk page.

'''Moonfire Arrows:''' 4 points, confers flaming and +1 to wound versus Forces of Order. Great against warmachines, which almost all Forces of Order have. BUT against war machines, poison is still better (and cheaper) unless buffed by magic.

'''Starfire Arrows:''' 4 points per model confers flaming and +1 to wound versus Forces of Destruction. Great against monsters and repeater bolt throwers. The better choice of the "...fire Arrows" duo as almost everything with Regen in the game is from a Forces of Destruction army. If you buy a unit of 10-12 this in stead of the flaming banner you can make OK monster hunters out of them.

'''Swiftshiver Shards:''' 4 points per model confers multiple shot, making your Glade Guards into Dark Elf repeater crossbowmen. Interesting, but Waywatchers have this basic and do this better than any of the other unit. One recommendation is to fill your core with a big block of swiftshiver shard glade guard (fun to say) and then buff them with hand of glory from the high magic. Your swiftshiver shard glade guard should eviscerate anything that is not protected by the high elf banner of game breaking.

==Magic==

Wood elves have gone from being, magically, the least diverse race with the least choice of all when it came to spells, to the most. All Wood Elf wizards now have access to ALL rulebook lores, which is amazing for them, and the Spell Weavers are the only models who now have access to the new Wood Elf specific lores, the Lore of High and Dark Magic. Yes both are directly stolen from the High and Dark elves (this is confirmed by the fluff) but have different lore attributes (this can be seen as good and bad). As such a Spellweaver can now choose 10 lores with a chance to pick 3/4 of 72 different spells.

The following overviews are in my eyes, in the order of importance. However that is up to debate and which most important is dependant on your list and situation.

===='''Lore of Life'''====

This Lore is really good for Wood Elves as you can restore wounds on your best units (ie:Warhawks and arguably Treekin). It provides you with a way to give your Glade Guard saves, revive your most expensive units, kill your foes with a characteristic test, and has a safety net for you, if you miscast. It is best taken on a lvl 3/4, so you can get throne of vines up and not have to worry about any more miscasts.

===='''Lore of Shadow'''====

The Lore of Shadow allows you to switch and save the most important characters while debuffing your foes. It helps your shooting by reducing your opponent's toughness and weakens them in combat by reducing their strength, weapon skill and intiative. Withering is the must-have spell for Wood Elves, as it solves their greatest weakness - Str 3 bows. By using Melkoth's Mysitifying Miasma you can slow down your foes, giving you more time to fire. It can make one your heroes fly but that isn't as useful as the others. It also comes with a semi-cannon ball and a blast initiative test spell which can destroy your enemy's tougher units. Finally it comes with a buff that allows you to shred through tougher units. It is useful since it works on any wizard of any level. The Lore attribute can be good but it is very situational.
Some calculations can be seen in the Talk page.

===='''Lore of High Magic'''====

This Lore is really quite neat. It has a wide variety of cheap to cast spells which give you a better shorter ranged fireball as a signature spell, a buff the complete opposite of the MMM importantly buffing your BS, a spell which dispels all effects (very useful against any foe dependant on magic) as a signature spell, a small blast, the ability to redeploy one of your units 10", to dismantle magic items and to deal a str 4 hit to all your foes in one unit. Matt Ward has also given a good lore attribute which stacks well with it's multiple low level spells. Every time you successfully cast a spell you gain a counter. If you suffer an unsaved wound, then the counter nullifies the wound. Great if you are hiding your General anywhere, but especially with the sisters of the Thorn. I feel it is very much like a proactive version of the lore of life, preventing damage rather than repairing it.

===='''Lore of Metal'''====

The Lore of Metal is mostly aimed at helping armies like the wood elves deal with heavily armoured foes. It can debuff your foe's armour, pick off standards, has a 5+ pit of shades which causes stupidity and can give your troops a 5+ scaly skin save and +1 to hit (almost everything has armour piercing already). It isn't bad but the other lores often help more.

===='''Lore of Beasts'''====

The Lore of Beasts lets you run train on things that you normally would not be able to run train on. Arguably, it has the best signature spell of the 8 base Lores. +1 Strength and Toughness make even glade guard dangerous in hand to hand. They are still rubbish, but they may hurt someone. If applied to Treekin, they will each have Dragon-like stats, and go from being 'decent' to 'good' super fast. It really shines on wild riders and warhawks, though, since it takes them from squishy, to survivable, and from dangerous to just death. High initiative Strength 5 will scare anything. It will also give you the amber spear which helps you deal with monsters and a couple of character buffing spells which can help your shadow dancers. Curse of Anraheir has great synergy with all the forests you might bring along (Acorn of Ages). Making a third of an enemy unit that follows you into a forest die is pretty great.

===='''Lore of Heavens'''====

The Lore of Heavens is a mixed bag.You get 2 of the spells with the largest areas of affect and potentially the biggest damage output in the game, 1 high strength magic missile, 2 debuffs which synergise well, preventing your foe from ever getting poisoned or killling blow attacks or -1 to hit and a 50/50 chance to put warmachines out of commision for one turn, a buff which makes you reroll all ones (which Wood Elves do in woods anyway) and a very situational knock back spell. Also it's lore attribute turns all of it's spells into lvl 1 fireballs when cast at something with wings. Not bad but it is often outshone. Still, can be used as a monster-hunter lore (since its damage spells inflict low number of very strong hits).

===='''Lore of Death'''====

The Lore of Death is good for situations when the enemy has some tough (literally) Lord or Hero, who laughs off your S3 sniping shots and has a chance to wreck your game - like a T4 Grey Seer with the Dreaded 13th ratifying your MSUs. Doom and Darkness also has nice synergy with Fear of your Dryads and Wild Riders, while Soulblight does a fine job equalizing some S4 T4 brutes with your fragile elves. Just a pity you can't cast Aspect of the Dreadnight on enemies (to exploit Wildwood Rangers' special rule).

===='''Lore of Fire'''====

The Lore of Fire is best for level 1s since it comes with the best guaranteed magic missile in the game. If you lose your lvl 4 then go and pump all your dice into a super fireball. Beyond that the only spell of great use for wood elves is the Flaming Sword of Rhuin, which you sadly can't guarantee.

===='''Lore of Dark Magic'''====

Pity you can't take it on a level 1. On a level 4 it isn't bad but is beaten by almost all the other lores.

*'''Power of Darkness''':
**'''''Augment'''''. While it does give your unit a much needed strength bonus and extra power dice it will eventually wear you down ( you take a wound with no armor saves if you roll a 3 for power dice) unless you protect yourself with a decent ward save. Often, you'd be best served not getting bogged down in combat. For a stupid elf trick, use when your caster is with Sisters of Thorn and watch those javelins get nasty.

*'''Doombolt''':
**'''''Magic Missile'''''. Always take it. It gives you a much needed high strength shooting attack.

*'''Chillwind''':
**'''''Magic Missile'''''. Is an easy spell to cast, is good against low toughness units and will help you against other shooting armies.

*'''Word of Pain''':
**'''''Hex'''''. Good against shooting/high WS armies that seek to match you prowess. The boosted version will save a lot of your elves in combat, ''especially'' since you don't have much, if any, armor.

*'''Bladewind''':
**'''''Direct Damage'''''. Is a good choice for big blocks of infantry, like the always pleasant Slavebus or Zombietrain or even some tougher units.

*'''Shroud of Despair''':
**'''''Hex'''''. Simply fantastic when you get into combat. No Inspiring Presence and no Hold Your Ground! for you enemies. This will make breaking enemies easier, which is good, because you don't wanna hang around for Round 2.

*'''Soul Stealer''':
**'''''Direct Damage'''''. Once again, great against big horde units/busses/trains. If you get this off, place the 3" template anywhere of the wizard within 18". You can go nuts with '''Power of Darkness''' and never worry about it, if it lands right.

*'''Arnzipal's Black Horror''':
**'''''Magical Vortex'''''. Oh baby. This thing is crazy. Like warpstone-laced cocaine. No wonder Ariel got hooked on this Dark Magic stuff... Anyway, should you get this off, pop it down and sing ''"Snitches's gonna die/This bitch is gonna fly/My wizard's rollin' high/Or she's gonna fry"''. It will then travel anywhere between 6"-40" in the form of a 3" template in a straight line (of your choice) depending on your wizards magic lvl and how much you roll on the arty dice. Everything hit must pass a strength check or die (ward save allowed). As with arty rolls, should you misfire, place it on top of your wizard and scatter it D6. It ''Remains in Play''. Every turn, it jollies around randomly, spreading more laughter and happy thoughts with another arty roll. Misfire and it will stop working. Boost it and you get to use the large 5 incher, then pray to Isha that you don't screw up. Not as powerful as the '''Lore of Death''' version, but still good fun.

It's lore attribute is best likend to that of the '''Lore of Fire'''. Everytime you cast it on an enemy unit, it creates a vengeance counter (on the unit) which activates when damage is next applied through a spell to that unit. It causes d3 extra hits when it does so, for each counter on the unit. If you can take 2 lv 3/4 mages then this is a good secondary lore but beyond the Storm of Magic I doubt it will see much use. Try it out and see how useful it is to you.

===='''Lore of Light'''====

It's quite good against Undead and Daemons and could still be considered against Elf armies. Against most other armies, it sadly won't be of much use, as many of the other lores gives you better options. High strength flaming attacks, superb WS, exellent skirmisher [[Troll|trolling]] and M10 A4 Tree Kin is nice when playing the mirror match, but again, other lores give you a better selection of choices all-round.

==Army Composition & Tactics==

Build your tactics around your army.
Basically Wood Elves need to ambush, pick their fights carefully, and throw multiple units into every combat they fight if they want to win. One unit on its own is not going anywhere unless it's Wild Riders vs a monster or if the unit is charging the enemies flanks or rear.

Currently, there are four main methods of building your army:

*A) '''Shooty army.'''
**Don't get charged and keep on shooting. Circle around your foes, slow them down, and don't be afraid to sacrifice a unit if it saves your army.

*B) '''Fast combat army.'''
**You could take an entire horse army. Very hard to use but pays great dividends. This army should always get to choose when and how it fights. Abuse the Wood Elves' superior movement to ridiculous levels.

*C) '''Infantry army.'''
**Units of 5 or 6 Treekin have high Strength and Toughness, multiple wounds, good weapons skill and nearly 20 attacks per turn. Spearelf units are expensive but good for holding characters and is now stubborn even without a glade captain or lord. The enemy will need to kill everyone, so they are not going anywhere for some turns. However this army will die to anything stronger than a stiff breeze.

*D) '''Hybrid army.'''
**A mix of any of the above.

'''Ambush of the Worldroots'''

''To once again clarify, for future reference, the precise wording of the rule is "'''This forest is not mysterious terrain - declare it's type when you place it'''"

''With "Mysterious" being a fancy word for "Random type", no?''

*The most obvious tactic for this is to chuck one in the middle of your Glade Guard. However, for an interesting option, to cater towards more close combat orientated armies, you can stick it between your big unit of Eternal Guard, etc and the most likely enemy deployment to mitigate a lot of return shots and hopefully force a fight in the woods. Or simply hamper the enemies movement towards you, forcing them to trudge through the forest or having to split around it

*Pick a Venom Thicket since your entire army (except Eagles) ignores Forest DT tests, but do notice that a Venom Thicket won't grant Poisoned Attacks to your shooting attacks. The rulebook specifically states that Poisoned Attacks from Venom Thicket only applies to close combat attacks.

*Abyssal Wood imposes no penalties and serves as a perfect place to station your Glade Guard, Eternal Guard or Wildwood Rangers. Fear will grant them an edge in melee (which all WE badly need), and luring an enemy far enough into the Abyssal Wood will give it Fear as well - directly empowering your Rangers when hacking them. An Abyssal Wood with a bunch of Rangers stationed in it (with just enough space to accommodate an enemy unit) can be quite effective in a choke-point.

*The other woods should NEVER be considered for two reasons:
**1) Strider only stops Dangerous Terrain checks, so Abyssal Wood/Venom Thicket are the only forests you can survive in while still doing damage to your enemies.
**2) You don't really want to use your guaranteed forest as barrier. You want to stand in it and gain bonuses distilled from HElf and DElf tears.

'''Tips'''

''Many of these tips might seem redundant, but one extra reminder is better than forgetting a small detail that might help you later ''

*With the introduction of Enchanted Arrows and generally improved shooting units, Wood Elves favour a mix between Shooting and Fast Combat armies. As a general rule, avoid putting any more points into core than necessary, always take a Level 4 wizard, 2 Great Eagles, some Waywatchers, and try to avoid any foot based combat unit. This is not to say that you should never take footsloggers, but most of your units will have neither the toughness nor the saves to match other armies.

*Most, if not all of your army has M5 or more. Use this maneuverability to it's utmost to ensure that you stay alive and pick your fights with care.

*Remember that units fighting in forests lose their steadfast rule (this goes for your units as well). This could make a difference when fighting big blocks of Skavenslaves or other similar units that relies on keeping your units tied up until help arrives. Eternal Guards (Stubborn LD9) can shine here, even in relative few numbers.

*Beware of Monsters or units with high toughness! Unless you have units with Poisoned Attacks, Wild Riders (S5 on the charge) or Wildwood Rangers, it's gonna be difficult to wound most of the time when you're in combat. Almost every other Army has access to Warmachines to pick off your Treemen/Treeman Ancients, but you won't have the same luxury.

*[[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX|DISTRACTION FAERIE]]: You need at least one of these. Either a Treeman, a Forest Dragon or some Waywatcher. Why? Because you need something that is gonna rob your enemy of his reason and make all his Empire/Skaven/Bolt Throwers/Leadbelchers warmachines go "''Huuuurr... Dat's a purdy unit yoo's got there mate... Be a real shame if sumfink hap'n to it, roight?'', so that the rest of your army survives and gets into position.
**''Bear in mind that against Dwarfs this will be less of a distraction and more 220 points of free victory points for their Flaming Cannon.

*What's that? Having trouble with High Elves and their ''Banner of The World Dragon'' on a beefy cav unit you say? What you're actually saying is that you don't have enough Waywatchers in your army, am I right?

*Seriously consider the ''Recipe for Success''
**You will need the following:
***1) 5 Wild Riders
***2) 1 Forest
***3) Flank Charge on the Enemy

Mix it all together, add command, a War Banner if you like it thick and put it in the oven for about 1 Magic and 1 Shooting Phase at 200 and ''voilà'': 16 Fear-causing ASF S5 AP attacks (reroll 1s to wound) + 10 S4 attacks with no enemy parry saves, supporting attacks or steadfast. The cost? 160-195 points. (Add more Wild Riders to really hurt those 40+ man units)

{{Warhammer_Tactics_Races}}
[[Category:Warhammer/Tactics]]

Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Beastmen

2018-08-07T21:12:45Z

2A02:C7F:5E7B:A00:94D6:71E8:538A:DC10: /* Named Characters */

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

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

Sadly, Beastmen were written when 7th edition was in vogue and they were able to go head to head with the other factions on a more balanced scale. Prior to the new army book the "only" way to play Beastmen was chariot spam and while the new book added ''more'' options, lists didn't change all that much. Today, they are overpriced and nowhere near as durable as they used to be. Essentially, they're now a casualty of 8th edition; pity that WHFB had to be rebooted because of an [[Warhammer/Tactics/Daemons_of_Chaos|exceptionally OP army]] made by a particular [[Matt Ward|cocksucker]]. As a side note, the Beastmen faction is still perfectly viable to play as, it just takes more manoeuvring, strategy, and brains than previously, much like how the [[Dark Elves|Dark Pansies]] USED to be in this regard.

Update: So The End Times: Glottkin is out and with it comes a Beastman update, they can now have marks, ambush works a little differently, and you're given extra rules like Eye of the Gods (with Daemonhood becoming Spawnhood) and the Reign of Chaos magic chart. There's a different page for it here: [[Legions_of_Chaos|Legions of Chaos.]] If for any reason you don't want to field other units alongside your Beastmen (and still want your Beastmen to be better) then you'd be better off with this tactica for a LoC Beastmen army (as the other assumes you want to mix units).

But don't be disheartened by all the bad things, you can still get the killing done when you need to tear and shred units if you use a little creativity and hatred, tonnes of hatred.

==Unit Analysis==
The first thing to note about Beastmen is that most of the army benefits from a rule called "Primal Fury." In close combat, the unit takes a Ld test and if successful, gets hatred for the round. If the unit passes on a double 1, they get hatred AND frenzy for the rest of the round. While this sounds good, you must understand that one of the Beastmen's major weaknesses is their low LD, so they won't be passing as much as you want them to. Keep close to a general and BSB to maximize results.

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

*'''Old (and shitty) version:''' Gors, Ungors and Ungor Raiders can all do this, which requires a duplicate unit of the one you want to ambush with (excluding characters and upgrades, it just has to be the same size). Ambushers can strike on the first turn if you roll well enough; after that, the table edge they come in on is determined by the roll of a die and if you roll a 6, you get to choose the side. Again, this sounds good but Gors and Ungors are still running with a weak LD, and the randomness of where they show up can often screw you over (I need them to show up on the left and they...show up on the right). Never mind that even if they show up where you want them to, they can't charge on the turn they arrive, giving everyone a turn to react to them being there. Therefore, this tactic is best used as a distraction, with shitloads of cheap, annoying surprise-attacking little cunts. You will however need many of them... Get ready to MSU (Multiple Small Units) the hell out of part your army, and now with the new Glottkin rules, you can also bring a big fookin' scary block of Gors in as a hammer in the ass of the enemy!
**Please note that while this would appear to be (and should be) the Horned Horde's superpower, it is deceptively underpowered instead. As noted above: the seeming randomness of their arrivals coupled with the requirement of having a similar unit on the board at deployment makes this a tentative proposition at best. If you are going to use this, be prepared to accept random outcomes, and use it for what it is good for: a monkey wrench with occasionally hilarious results for one of the players.

*'''New version:''' With the Glottkin book out now, Beastmen Ambush works out a little differently, you no longer need a duplicate unit (which was a very stupid rule), and since Beastmen can now take Marks of Chaos Beastmen Ambush can actually do something, Having Gors show up in the flank with extra hand weapons and the mark of Khorne can really fuck shit up even with an average statline, Ungor Raiders can now show up to shoot the enemy at close range (If you give them Mark of Slaanesh they'll never run away if they're getting shot back), and even Ungors can do something, ideally attacking somebody in the flank or rear and then getting them to pursue the Ungors off the board (if you're worried about them dying outright then give them Mark of Nurgle or Tzeentch).

===Lords & Heroes===
====Named Characters====
'''Note:''' Under the current edition, named characters tend to be overpriced; you can pretty easily emulate most named characters from scratch and save yourself some points. That said, a few named characters do have abilities and wargear or wargear combos unique to them, so if you absolutely need to have them, go ahead. Just make sure you're really getting your points worth.

*'''Gorthor, The Beastlord:''' The Archaon of Beastmen, which is kinda sad when you think about it. Costs 125 points more than a Chariot mounted Beastlord and you are willing to pay that because of the 18 inches of Inspiring Presence. That is the ONLY reason why. Combat wise, he's okay, but unreliable. Killing Blow is nice, but his mediocre I and only slightly above average WS (especially for a lord) hurts him a lot. His magic casting ability is pretty useless (as you need to use dice to cast Bound Spells now) and the fact that he's hanging out on his own in a chariot is essentially an invitation for any Lord with a mount and magic weapon to walk up and take a swing at him (more on this later, under the Beastlord). He's still fairly useful, but you might need to keep him out of combat and behind your main units.

*'''Khazrak, the One Eye:''' Here we go. 80 points less than Gorthor, helps your Ambushing units to arrive better (never roll a 1 again) and can actually join units and help keep them from fluffing rounds of combat (and unlike Gorthor, he can actually survive the odd round of combat with another lord). If you want a special character Beastlord, this is the one. Also, he has a surprisingly good combat ability, while his base stats are very little above a regular beastlord, he comes with a free 2+ armour save and just to give him that little extra challenge boosting bonus, he completely nullifies enemy magic weapons; his whip is also something to strike fear into the hearts of hordes because it will tear them in 2.

*'''Malagor, the Dark Omen:''' Not too bad as far as Beastmen Special Characters. If he starts casting he gets hard to stop, he helps your guys around you get Frenzy and he helps hold up your enemy's general. Maybe a little on the pricy side, but worth it for his abilities, especially since he can fly around and troubleshoot. Not bad, not bad. Also, you need to be careful of magic missiles and even normal missiles because toughness 5 but no armour or ward means that he can get shredded if he's on his own, and if he's in a unit <s>then it kinda wastes his wings,</s> (harpies bro) but he's fun. Also do not forget that once he starts to build momentum he starts becoming unopposed by any wizard because he suddenly realises that he's proud of what he's done (or some shit like that) so he starts being better than Nagash somehow?

*'''Taurox, the Brass Bull:''' THIS RAPE TRAIN HAS NO MODEL! An awesome chance for you to practice your modelling by upgrading and NMM painting a Doombull model. So - Taurox is really here for those players who want to run a megaton-grade Minobus (see tactics). Probably not seen in games less than 2500 points, Taurox really comes to the fore when supported by egregious spending of points and magic, and a horde of Minotaurs following him in. Some feel that he is quite worth it his high price tag: Tons of S6 attacks that are magical, flaming and ignore armor saves. He hits like no other and is more than capable of destroying entire units by himself, but other players feel that a kitted out Doombull beats Taurox, as you can emulate him fairly well with the Armour of Silvered Steel and the Ramhorn Helm (works out to 40 points less, you get more attacks but are slightly less durable there not a doombull is T 5 Taurox is T 6). His weak spot might look scary considering his points, but it doesn't happen that often (it'll only happen about 1 in 216 times against normal and Strength 4 Spearmen Hordes, and 5.55% of the time against normal S3 and S4 hordes). One of the better special characters in the Beastmen book without a doubt. Remember though that the amount of points invested into the Bus means that your Gors now will be less well led, so you'll need some buffs for those Gor blocks.

*'''Morghur The Shadowgave:''' Unbreakable and kinda fun in the stats department. He kills one friendly (AND ONLY FRIENDLY) model per turn and turns it into [[Chaos Spawn| that which shall not be named]]. If you want to take him, keep some Ungors near him to try and turn them rather than something more worthwhile and be aware that if no other friendly model is near enough, nothing happens. Can be fun in a non-competitive list, especially if you really wanted to run some [[Chaos Spawn| grblrlgrbrlrlgrrrr]] but were turned off by the points cost. Kill 5 or 6 Ungors and get 3 chaos spawns on average? Yes please. Chaos Spawns may not be great for 50+ points but they're amazing for 5 points. Wait, I said it, didn't I? '''[[Rage|FFFFUUUUUUUUU]]- BRLARGMURLRLRLRLRFUCKYOHBFLFLFLL'''

*'''Slugtongue:''' Slugtongue costs nearly 80 points more than a level 2 Bray Shaman for a 50 percent chance to cause up to D6 wounds (usually D3) to all enemy units within 36" before the game begins, which is awesome against heavy cavalry lists or MSU spam. Other pros are that he has Regeneration (making him marginally less squishy than a normal Bray-Shaman) and has poisoned attacks (for what that's worth). Sadly, he loses access to Lore of Beasts which is one of the main reasons you take a shaman. On the other hand the lore of Death isn't all that bad, nor is Lore of the Wild. He is a situational Bray Shaman, but doesn't mean he is useless.

*'''Moonclaw, Son of Morsleib:''' Just what you need, something to make your units worse. As low LD is one of the major weaknesses of a Beastmen army, his Stupidity causing is MUCH more likely to hurt you than your opponent. His once per game ability to drop stone throwers could be fun, if he's inside a unit, you're gonna end up firing at the same unit 3 times (and if you're in combat then your opponent is just going to laugh at you). Oh and did we mention he's Level 1 for 125 points more than a Bray Shaman? <s>Skip him hard.</s> BUT WAIT, crack AND insanity, very useful and practically essential (you're playing beastmen what did you think I would say, something useful?)

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

*'''Beastlord:''' Leadership 9 is what this guy brings to the table and holy shit are you paying for that privilege. He has a respectable S and T of 5, but that's really the most outstanding part of his statline. Properly kitted out he can bring the hurt just like any other combat Lord but toe-to-toe he ''will'' get put down like... well, like an animal. Having to pay for Gifts and Magic Items from the same pool limits your ability to outfit him ''a lot''. Almost mandatory for that Ld 9, though. Also, do watch out because while he has good attack he has worryingly low initiative which means anything moderately fast with a giant's blade will kill him before he even realises he's getting attacked.

*'''Great Bray Shaman:''' The wizard lord of the Beastmen. Useful as far as Wizards go, but a tiny bit on the pricey side. His LD8 could help in a pinch, but don't rely on it. Lore of Beasts is an incredible choice for him for reasons which should be obvious. Expensive for what he does, but still useful.

*'''Doombull:''' Doombulls bring the murderfest to the table for those players who really want to center their army around the Special Units section ('''MINOTAURS''', '''BABY!'''). These powerhouses have a gnarly stat line, are mean as a starved dog, and give a LD buff to any unit of minotaurs that they lead. There are some detractions: they're expensive and hard to keep in line (Frenzy plus Bloodgreed means he and his unit are easy to strand, and will be abused by experienced opponents). As well, being Lord level, you now have less access to that LD9 that your Gors need. LD8 makes him unreliable after a fluffed round of combat, BUT they can become a rape train under the right circumstances: kit him out to the max (Ramhorn Helm and a magic weapon are almost mandatory here) and engage trollface while you steamroll rank and file troops. They should almost ''never'' be run as solo characters - they're not the lone ranger and can be crushed or led astray too easy. He needs to be stuck in with Minotaurs, but remember that when you do this you need to think about screening units: odds are you're spending a lot on that unit, you don't want it to get isolated and shredded. However - with back up and screening, you are looking at a lawnmower that can really bring the pain to the enemy. Kit him out with some gear and consider some sort of magic banner to boost that LD8/buff his unit, and you could be looking at the reason why the Beastmen have one of the most awesome Special Units in the game!

*'''Wargor:''' What with Beastmen LD being both critical and piss poor, and your Beastlord being unable to be everywhere at once, you're going to be buying a lot of these guys to do unit babysitting and troubleshooting. As with Beastlords, most people can kick their teeth in, so be careful with them. Also, get a BSB. Seriously, you need it. A lot.

*'''Bray Shaman:''' Cheap level 2 wizards are always useful for when things go tits up for your Level 4's and Bray Shamans fill that role nicely. Worth taking. Don't be fooled though, they can't fight in combat so don't try it. Also try putting him with a unit of gors and leave him a level 1 to spam wildform.

*'''Gorebull:''' He has all the issues of a Doombull with none of the advantages. At least a Doombull has a brutal statline and higher base LD than the Minotaurs' weak base LD of 7. Combined with limited access to magic equipment, makes the Gorebull just a fucking awful choice. Frankly, the only reason you should ever see this is in a Minotaur themed army, specifically a Minobus (see the tactics section at the end of this article), where you want a Minotaur Hero as a BSB. Otherwise ignore with prejudice.

===Core Units===
*'''Gors:''' Toughness 4 infantry, a good stat line save for their poor Ld, and aggressive in h2h. Take them in big hordes and buff them with Lore of Beasts (preferable) or debuff their enemies with Lore of Shadow. Throw in leaders in the form of heroes and lords to try and bolster that weak LD - you'll need it so you don't lose a huge block due to a flubbed round of combat. If you're gonna buy additional equipment (you should), make it Extra Hand Weapons, Shields might as well not exist for them. Extra hand weapons become worth it when you consider you'll be rerolling your hits almost every turn if you took a BSB and a Lord (which you should have). Keep these blocks near or with the BSB and El Jefe and you have a really good hammer/anvil for killing the enemy.

*'''Ungors:''' Ungors are a tough core unit to swallow: they are supposed to be this army's skavenslaves/goblins but are overpriced for the role at 5pts, and generally don't perform as well as their counterparts. Beastmen don't make use of tarpits, they make use of MSU flankers - which is how these should be used. Blah upgrades (a spear, kind of meh) means that they are less than appealing than their raider counterparts (see below). You're probably going to need some just to keep your Gor/Bestigor units from getting flanked, just be aware: Without a general/hero nearby they can't even function as a Horde (be Steadfast all you like, you're still likely to break when you lose combat at LD6). You shouldnt be blocking them up anyway - they underperform in combat and make a horrible tarpit. Keep them near the General and pray. '''Tip''' - if MSUing them, try to keep them 6" apart because they ''will'' break, and you don't want a chain reaction to wipe all of your flankers off the board ''and'' possibly upset a core block. Your enemy's laughter mixed with your tears of bitterness makes not for a fun night.
** '''Ungrel Four-Horn:'''A 75 point upgrade that occasionally turns into a Wargor and allows you reroll Primal Fury tests against Empire, Bretonnia and other Beastmen. Oh and he traps you at his basic LD, IE 7. Spending 75 points on a unit that will still break under any direct pressure is not a good call. Skip him hard, middle finger raised high.

*'''Ungor Raiders:''' Skirmishers got nerfed in 8th edition and these lads are no exception... BUT, these guys are probably the best chaff we have. For 30 points you get a small unit that can pepper lone characters, ambush, and march 10" to protect your flanks. These are great for turning enemy elites in the wrong direction, sniping war machines, trying to appear in the rear with the gear as ambushers, and in general making a giant pain in the ass out of themselves (fitting, as that is what they would be good at in the fluff). Take 4+ units of these in MSU form and get to work.

*'''Warhounds:''' The main reason to take Core units in a Beastmen army is to try and hit the minimum requirement as fast as possible and since Warhounds don't count towards that, these guys are iffy. They make okay screening units, but are vulnerable to Panic and cause Panic in others. Also, they are good with flanking, as well as hunting down siege weapon crews and being distractions for lone Lords and Wizards to deal with.

*'''Tuskgor Chariots:''' Tuskgor Chariots are exactly as the lore would describe them: utterly brutal (if used properly, of course). Be advised, there will be that one guy who thinks that you can never have enough of these filling out your core choices...don't be THAT guy. You're not Tomb Kings, you can't make an entirely chariot army (at least have it work efficiently). They are effective at flanking and skirmishing, but they are not going to replace the Gors, Ungor Raiders and Bestigors any time soon. Also remember that the primal fury works on the beasts pulling the chariot as well. This is no doubt not intended but as things are written now, the entire chariot gets primal fury. No reason in not taking full usage of all your available effects after all.

===Special Units===
*'''Minotaurs:''' The true glass hammers of the Beastmen. Minotaurs are your blunt force instruments and are indicative of the army as a whole: Powerful on the face of it, weak in the details, overpriced, prone to running away on tough rounds of combat or unlucky rolls. Killer models, they are brutal in hand to hand, but this contrasts with their shitty Ld, Bloodgreed and weird movement to role ratio within the army as a whole which makes Minotaurs a hard unit to use right. If you're willing to invest the points and the time (not to mention a necessary hero), they can truly maul the enemy. Be careful about how you move them, and investing in a screening unit or two is ''mandatory''. They won't be chasing down any units (read bloodgreed again - it puts the brakes on what could be a brutal unit otherwise), so try to get a Razorgor in the flank to help run the fleeing enemy down.

*'''Bestigors:''' If you want to take Bestigors, you're going to have to commit to them. Units of 10, 15, even 20? No, if you want Bestigors you're going to want HUGE units of 30+. Yes they're overpriced for their abilities, but at least at that size they're unlikely to get shot to pieces. In units of that size, they can actually accomplish quite a bit, but don't let them operate on their own. You're going to want a Beastlord nearby and a BSB in the unit would not go amiss. And you definitely should use their magic banner allotment - the only infantry in the list with one (Get the War Banner, Standard of Discipline, or Banner of Swiftness). As we said: Commit.

*'''Razorgors:''' Two units of 1 should always be an auto include. For 55 points you get a unit that can kill lone characters in the front ranks of units, such as wizards. Good at clearing chaff, combo charges to help run down units, and as flank protectors. Only LD6 so keep 6" away from other units so they won't flee; for this same reason, never take razorgors in units of 2, because if one dies, the other little piggy will run all the way home.

* '''Razorgor Chariot:''' For 15 points more you could get 2 Tuskgor Chariots, which is the better choice. Overall though, not a bad choice, as it provides a fairly nasty blunt-force hitter. Just, as always, be careful. As with the Tuskgor Chariot, the razorgor all of the sudden got primal fury if you make him pull a chariot, making him more nasty.

*'''Centigors:''' Not very good. They're overpriced and they'll crumble if they hit a unit head on that's not made of cardboard, if you are getting them then give the throwing axes (almost mandatory) for a S5 shooting attack, and make sure they cover your flanks! Don't ever give them great weapons because that wastes one of your drunken results (all three of which are good in their own way).
** '''Ghorros Warhoof:''' Spend 155 points to make your Centigors slightly less shit! Honestly, this guy would be 100% better if you could field him and then just cause him to die out of nowhere, and you actually can if you take Morghur (an expensive sacrifice, but it makes you far more likely to pass Primal Fury rolls), but as it is, he's not very good. He's so shit his main advantage to your list is the +1 to Primal Fury checks every else gets after he dies. While this strategy likely won't make your army all that competitive (unless you're playing the higher points games) it can be very fun in casual games, and is the only way in your basic army to take Primal Fury checks on LD 10.

*'''Harpies:''' It's amazing how much the omission of one special rule can change the Harpies from being pretty good (in the Dark Elves book) to being a risky difficult proposition. They cause panic. Remember, Panic is the easiest way to get your units heading for the hills and never returning, and Beastmen don't exactly need a reason to panic. But they make okay screening and war machine hunting units, so if you're running Minotaur heavy, you could think about investing in a small unit or two. It is also worth noting, however, that this is pretty much the only unit to run Malagor in so he can fly around and do his hilarious antics but not get killed by every archer/mage in the game, make them your favourite flying gang, teach them to beatbox and then make them your idles, or don't.

*'''Putrid Blightkings (End Times)''' : Not part of the Beastmen list. Move along, citizen.

===Rare Units===

Beastmen Rare choices are overpriced and (somewhat) underpowered, like all of the Beastmen book right now. However, unlike most of the rest of your army, they operate just as well with or without Hero/Lord supervision. Thus they can fill gaping holes in your army, cause casualties where you normally can't and hit the flanks. Don't feel bad if you wind up with no Rares in your army - quite often, the points are better spent on buffing your Cores and Specials.

*'''Giant:''' You know him, you love him and he's slightly over priced (225 pts. vs the Ogre Kingdoms' or Orcs and Goblins' Giants' 200 points, because those two armies' Giants aren't immune to Panic. However, contrast that with ALL of the Ogre Kingdom's Giant's Pick Up And... resulting in auto-death for the target). In all seriousness, the Giant is a safe and colourful rare choice and combines with any of the other big choices for a perfect 500 points in Rare units. In most cases, you will want the Giant!

*'''[[Chaos Spawn]]:''' Worthless here. Their inherent movement unpredictability might work with another army but since everyone in your army has Movement 5 minimum you'll usually be zooming right past them by just by marching and even if they do stay ahead of the rest of your army somehow (you'll need to consistently roll 11's and 12's) they'll be destroyed by any competent combat unit (T5 and 3 wounds does NOT make them survivable since they have no save). Maybe if they could take marks they might have some use but as it is they're outdone by literally every other Rare choice. Every time you take a Chaos Spawn, Tzeentch kills a kitten. Think of the kittens.

*'''Cygor:''' Cygors are useful but somewhat iffy and probably require more careful use than most of the other monsters. Basically they are your ONLY semi-reliable form of long range attacks, which can be ridiculously useful for softening up key units before combat. The downside is that this will make him a big target for your enemies shooting. Next to being an overpriced movable stone-thrower, Cygors also have some anti-magic abilities. In close combat they can re-roll their attacks against anything that smells like magic (mages, magic items, undead, demons, ward save, hexed/augmented enemies,...), although with a WS of 2 you better not expect miracles here. Also with a T/W/A of 5 each and no saves he's rather fragile for a monster. Lastly, he has a thing for enemy mages, making that any failed casting attempt also counts as a miscast, thus the potential of blowing both the mage and part of his unit to bits. Sadly enemy mages need to be within 24" AND fail a Ld test so again...no miracles. Overall you're probably better off with a Ghorgon.

*'''Ghorgon:''' This (insert derogatory term about 'your mom') is scary and under the right circumstances can cause a lot of carnage, but requires careful use. For starters, Frenzy and Bloodgreed increase the possibility of him being led by the nose (yes I know you need to fail an LD test to accidentally charge, but he will still pursue that unit of Fast Cavalry that flanked him, whose asses he kicked in return. Trust me, canny opponents know how to use Frenzy against you if you aren't careful), and being stranded in a bad situation (if he gets into combat with 2 ranks of Swordsmasters, White Lions, Witch Elves, etc, you might as well just remove him). His swallow whole is of limited usefulness and his mediocre WS makes him an possibly risky proposition. Most importantly: the Ghorgon has '''NO ARMOUR SAVE'''. On the other hand, he's one of the 2 units in your army that can operate entirely self-sufficient (even Jabberslythes and Cygors need general or unit backup, the Giant is the other) which might make him worth it all on it's own. Be careful with him though, he's expensive and can easily be put in a situation where he'll drop like a fly. Hence it's best to take advantage of the Ghorgon for being one of the very few monsters in WHFB with WS4 that can be an efficient flanker, as much as possible. Use some of your smaller chaff/finesse units (harpies/other fast warmachine hunting units) combined with the Ghorgon to get rid of the main threats to the Ghorgon and position as required to rip out some kidneys.

*'''Jabberslythe:''' This thing is so hideous it drives your enemy insane (and it's model costs so much it drives YOU insane - not to mention it's the ugliest thing ever to come out from GW. Probably intentionally, but still). Not as all around good as the Giant, Cygor or Ghorgon, due to a lack of Stubborn and comparatively low S and T, but he flies, he shoots, he causes wounds when he gets wounded, he thunder stomps and he drives enemy models insane. Will probably be worth his points so long as you ''don't'' use him carelessly and keep him away from Vorpal Swords. '''VERY IMPORTANT NOTE''': Despite being a flying monster, he is '''NOT''', I repeat, '''NOT''' qualified to go head to head with a Dragon without backup. A Dragon with a halfway competent rider will knock his ass down. Sending him up against anything above a Manticore qualifies as using him carelessly.

==Building Your Army==

===Army Composition===
Play [[Legions of Chaos]] instead.

Okay, that's harsh so I'll explain. Legions allows you to fix a lot of the problems of this list by adding WoC units that are, let's face it, more reasonably priced and better at fighting and standing their ground. Sad but true.

What's that, you say? Playing Warriors is for chumps? Okay, you mad bastard. I like you, so listen closely.

Your Core choices are shitty so you'll have to deal with that. Big horde units will give you some holding power (you brought that BSB, right?), small units making the most of the Ambush rule may help by throwing a wrench in your opponent's plans. Tuskgor chariots are handy and will bring some pain but not if you send them in one at a time like ninjas in an episode of Walker: Texas Ranger.

Your real tools lie in the Special slot so when you get to list building your eyes are going to start here. Razorgors for flanking, Minotaurs for smashing. Bestigors will fuck some shit right up but if you expect them to do work all by themselves then you deserve the spanking you're about to receive.

===Magic Items===

'''Gifts of Chaos:'''

* ''Crown of Horns:'' Steadfast makes this mostly pointless unless you're taking on Horde armies.

* ''Slug-Skin:'' Not very good, you're paying 30 points for a S3 hit on 1-3 models (unless you are on a chariot which makes it a lot better), usually the casualties don't add up enough to make the points back.

* ''Many-Limbed Fiend:'' Useful on anybody S5 and higher, not so useful on others. Combines nicely with a Gorebull with an extra hand weapon for 7 S5 attacks.

* ''Gouge Tusks:'' Here we go. Helpful for breaking through heavily armored fuckers and keeping you from fluffing those important rounds of combat.

* ''Gnarled Hide:'' This one is excellent, 10/10 WOULD BANG, especially when combined with existing armor.

* ''Rune of True Beasts:'' Slightly more useful against the combined profile characters, but unless it's on a Doombull with the Armour of Destiny (or Glittering Scales), they are unlikely to survive against even the weaker ones or regular monsters and their rider/handlers. With that armour though they can Doombulls can kill the weaker Combined Profile characters.

* ''Uncanny Senses:'' Good if you're combining it with The Swift Sword of Slaying and might face initiative 5 troops to make sure you get those rerolls. Just be sure to NOT combine it with a Great Weapon.

* ''Shadow-Hide:''If you have 5 points to burn on a Gorebull or Doombull you could do well with this to prevent archer spam against him, making him virtually impossible to hit with normal troops.

'''Magic Weapons:'''

* ''Primeval Club:'' Beastmen lords usually don't need help wounding, they need help hitting, not to mention this one weapon uses your Lord's ENTIRE points allowance (who thought that was a good idea?) and its effects can almost always be replicated with a great weapon or the Ogre Blade for far less. This is just a much, MUCH worse version of most other races equivalent, runefang is 15 points LESS but is much better, the fellblade of the Skaven is infiniately more damaging, there is no possible good reason for this, just move on.

* ''Axe of Men:'' A little on the expensive side and lacks a way to make the enemy accept the Challenge. Maybe if he could take a more proactive role in Hero killing (IE, if he had a mount). As it is? Nah.

* ''Stonecrusher Mace:'' HERE we go. Great for a combat Lord, especially if you're going to face Empire and you want to see the look on your opponent's face when you break his Steam Tank. Still a bit on the pricey side.

* ''Mangelder:'' Very pricy for very little effect. Now Terror only really sometimes stops enemies from charging you and combat is where you want to be.

* ''Hunting Spear:'' Having been officially FAQ'd to be a throwing weapon, this one can actually be worth it, just of it's potential for Monster Hunting (big scary monsters that fly, like Dragons, are one of your worst enemies). Best for a cheap Hero, just be aware that your BS will cause you frustration.

* ''Axes of the Khorgor:'' Good on a Doombull to make sure you get those attacks in, but it will really eat into his magic points with its high cost.

* ''Steel Claws:'' Wielding this weapon comes with a cigar and a penchant for calling people Bub. Amnesia is optional. Seriously though, a good item for it's points, combine with Gnarled Hide for an effective combat Hero, or with both Gnarled Skin and Trollhide for an effective Lord. The chance for ignoring armour saves could be handy but is unlikely to happen when you need it.

* ''The Brass Cleaver:'' It's 30 points for on average two or three extra attacks. Not a bad value at all compared to the extra attacks weapons in the core book. A Doombull carrying it around ''will'' mince infantry. It is worth noting that in a challenge it is only +1 attack, so it's not great for challenges. Otherwise it is simply a better version of the steel claws. It should also be noted that unlike the steel claws these do not require both hands, so you can combine it with a charmed shield for a 1+ armour lord.

* ''Everbleed:'' Considering how many attacks your Lords can get on average, you'll be getting one to three unsavable wounds per game and so it's only really worth if you combine it with several attack increasing items, and if not there's other things you can spend your points on.

'''Magic Armour:'''

* ''Blade Blunter Armor:'' Worth it considering the large increase in heroes you'll be fighting, put it on a Wargor, run him at Tyrion/Karl Franz Ascendant/Malekith to get rid of their magic weapons as your hero doesn't need to survive in order to make combat monsters a lot weaker.

* ''Trollhide:'' Not as good an item as others, for example the Armour of Destiny outstrips it in every way, but if you've already put that on somebody else and aren't going to be up against many flaming attacks then go for it.

* ''Pelt of the Shadowgave:'' Light armor, causes spells targeting the wearer and his unit to be slightly harder to cast, but that's not why you want it. All shooting attacks directed at the bearer and his unit are at -1 to hit. Yea, read Chalice of Dark Rain, and now put that on a single unit for the entire game. Stick this on a hero in your deathstar so they don't get shot to pieces while you march them up the middle.

* ''Blackened Plate:'' Good on Minotaur Bloodkines, but could be good just because of the ubiquity of Flaming Attacks. Still, you could very easily buy this and have it not do a single thing.

* ''Ramhorn Helm:'' AWESOME, again 10/10 would bang. Sweetness when combined with Gnarled Hide, Heavy Armour and Shield, giving you 1+ Armour Save that gives you an extra attack every time you make an armour save. Very good with this combo. Send a Doombull out on his own with this combo while he's saying "come at me bro!" and watch him decimate rank and file troops. Give him a Brass Cleaver for the full near unlimited attacks.

'''Enchanted Items:'''

* ''Shard of the Herdstone:'' Extremely awesome, but keeping all your Wizards in one place is just begging for a unit of flyers to come eat them, though with your statlines and lore buffs available you should be able to handle them.

* ''Horn of the Great Hunt:'' Great in a Chariot list or if you need to get into combat fast. Beastmen resist shooting damage in the same way an infant fights Mohammad Ali, you want ANYTHING that will get them into combat faster. You're not dwarfs so don't think that T 4 will make you invincible.

* ''Horn of the First Beast:'' While your Battle Standard Bearer already gets you those Primal Fury rerolls on Higher Ld, this has far more range and is a lot more useful if you plan on spreading out your forces.

* ''Stone of Spite:'' Could be fun, especially against Dark Elves/High Elves but it's worthless against Daemons or Dwarves (though, see above). Not a bad item though, especially for friendly play and with the increase on Heroes and Lords you'll be getting more uses out of it.

* ''Skin of Man:'' Perfect for a Bray-Shaman who, in your opinion, should not live past turn 2. If you have some silly desire to keep your Shaman alive long enough to affect the game, you should probably skip this one. If you want to use it effectively though, get a Bray-Shaman, try to get Bray-Scream and then fuck up some flanks. Keep in mind this still works if your Shaman is mounted on a Chariot, so if you have the points try out a scouting Razorgor Chariot.

* ''Cacophonous Dirge:'' Since Musicians only work in combat if you've drawn (and ONLY if you've drawn) this one is limited in usefulness, but it could be okay at ending drawn out combat.

'''Talismans:'''

* ''Eye of Night:'' [[Overcosted]] and weirdly specific in its effect. If you really want Magic Resistance then the Obsidian Lodestone does the job better but costs the same.

* ''Chalice of Dark Rain:'' Fucking fantastic, everything in your army favours combat over shooting and unless you KNOW you're not facing an army that's not using shooting (and it can be useful against some of those: Read it, it says that Banshees can't scream except on a 4+), you should really be considering this.

'''Arcane Items:'''

* ''Skull of Rakos:'' Odd, but effective, especially if you grabbed Shard of the Herdstone. Probably worth it even it only affects the one Shaman.

* ''Staff of Darkoth:'' Remember how we said that you want to tip the odds in your favor? This item is exceptional at helping you do that. Well worth taking.

* ''Hagtree Fetish:'' Beastmen magic is lacking in offensive spells, but this could help in a pinch. Worth taking in larger lists.

* ''Jagged Dagger:'' If your Great Bray-Shaman is trying to run touchdowns or getting into combat, he'll have to be built correctly or he's gonna bite it too quickly to make use of this. Keep in mind it's not actually a magical weapon, so if you want to use it effectively get a Great Bray-Shaman, put him on a chariot, give him Skin of Man and whatever other options you find appropriate and send him into small vulnerable units.

'''Magic Banners:'''

Please note that the only unit that can take magic banners is Bestigors. This may seem like a losing proposition since you already sunk a lot of points into that HUGE unit of Bestigors (to bring the large number of guys you need to have to keep them from getting shot to pieces/cut to ribbons before they get to combat) and you don't want to sink more points into one unit. To that I say: Bitch, did you think I was kidding? You ARE sinking more points into those Bestigors. Also, a magic banner bsb has every capability to be just as useful as one with a decent save.

* ''Beast Banner:'' Really good for a unit you NEED to survive or cause casualties, especially a large Gor unit. Great for a BSB. It is of limited usefulness on that huge unit of bestigors that you have made the centre of your army, there are better options, strength 6 tends to be enough.
'Counter Point' Er no, keep it off your bestigors as much as you can but for that huge horde of gors its just the perfect way to finally make them decent in combat, combine that with wildform when you need it (which might be easier than you think with a lvl 1) and you suddenly have a 40 attacks S5 T5 unit to tear things to shreds.

* ''Totem of Rust:'' Well, here we have a dilemma. -2 armour save for the unit and enemies in close combat, -1 save for all units within 6". Now you have two choices. A) give it to a BSB in a heavy unit of gors. You can soak a decent amount of damage simply by being T4 and a lot of enemies will seriously miss those two points of armour. Toss in some buffs and your blender is good to go. The downside to this plan is that you miss out on being able to take the pretty solid Beast Banner listed above. Since the Totem doesn't effect Scaly Skin saves your BSB really needs to be sporting that Gnarled Hide. Option B) give it to your Bestigors. Doing so will be a total waste of their heavy armour but will give you a unit that can make Chaos Knights go bye-bye. Definite high risk, possible high reward. Think about this item carefully. If you are going the ToR path you will want to be casting wild form on the unit every turn as T5 is better than a 5+ against pretty much everything.

* ''Manbane Standard:'' Could be worth it on the Bestigors, especially a center-field one.

* ''The Banner of Outrage:'' So let me get this straight: The Beastmen <s>get the chance to reroll their opportunity to</s> automatically get Hatred every turn and your enemies also get Hatred, just not every turn. You also lose the chance to get Frenzy from Primal Fury, at least according to the FAQ. What is it with these banners helping out the enemy, it's not like they need the help. NEVER take this banner not even as a joke just leave it in the hands of the corpse that the beastmen probably took it from.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

==Tactics==
Let's get down to brass tacks here eh? Beastmen, as an army, have some gaping holes. The biggest and most egregious: They have a terrible LD across the board: every single one of their infantry units faces the prospect of easily panicking and bolting. This means that you need, need, NEED most of your units to be either within your general's LD bubble or to contain a Lead boosting Hero (and even then, don't get excited, your LD max is just about equal to Dwarf base LD). This means you're going to be concentrated in huge blobs towards the center of the board and thus very vulnerable to flank charges.

====Preferable Units====

Here are some favorite unit designs that Beastmen players have used. You'll notice that the first three are Special Units - welcome to Beastmen:

*'''Bestigor Herd''': Remember how we told you to commit? Here it is. Take 30+ Bestigors (the optimal number is usually 35, but some players go large at 40+ or 50+!). This is a WS/S/T 4 warrior with a great weapon and heavy armor in a unit that can have a magic battle standard. Got a Great Bray Shaman, Wargor or Morghur? You can pop him in here along with a Standard of Discipline, and suddenly you have the Same Ld (9) as if you were in the General's bubble, but are now independent of that bubble and free to wreak havoc. Other options are possible, but make sure you utilize your magic banner allowance. COMMIT.

*'''The Minobus''': A favorite of players who like the awesome Minotaur models and want to field a rape train capable of boosting their murderboner into orbit. Minotaurs can be fielded in multiple orientations such as 2x2, 3x2.... but if you really want to bring the beef, the minobus is a generally minimum of 3x3. Again, commit (just like with the Bestigors) and get at least one hero/lord - you need it because if the Dice Gods frown on you, this very expensive unit of stone killers suddenly turns into a stampede for the rear that is fast enough to get off board before you can rally it! Quite often you will see a Doombull, a Gorebull, and a second Gorebull as BSB in the front row, and 6+ minotaurs in the back. Don't just run the three characters, you need ranks to maintain the bus's ability to combat. Insane players will field 9 to 16 Minotaurs along with Taurox and a Gorebull (or in bigger games, a Doombull) BSB along with a second Gorebull for a unit capable of class 5 hurricane levels of destruction. Remember - canny players KNOW how to redirect this thing, so make sure you are screening it with ungors/gors/razorgors/harpies so that they don't get led around by that ring in their collective snouts. Obviously this unit becomes a risky proposition as a potential one hit wonder, but it can be a thrill to see once the killing gets started. A unit this involved is around 1000 points, so the enemy ''must'' engage it if they want some serious VPs. This means a retarded amount of incoming will be directed at the bus: missiles, engine fire, magic, foul language. This will allow your Gore blocks, harpies and chariots to go and assault forward. This also means that your bus needs some serious support - Gores on the wings, and at least 2 wizards trying to keep it alive!
**Want some load outs? Here ya go: '''Doombull''' with Heavy Armour, Shield, Sword of Striking, Ramhorn Helm, Dawnstone, The Other Tricksters Shard, Gnarled Hide; '''Gorebull''' with Heavy Armour, Shield, Battle Standard, Beast Banner; '''Gorebull''' with Heavy Armour, Shield, Sword of Swift Striking, Dragonhelm, Ironcurse Icon. Obviously, tinker with moving the Sword around, different banners are a possibility as well (but that beast banner is nice).

*'''Bacon cruise missiles''': We told you before, and here it is again - get two units of one Razorgor each. Use them as flankers, wizard hunters or war machine hunters. They also excel at redirecting, chasing down and pinning units so your Minobus can finish omnomnoming them, and in general running around like a .... greased pig. Single model units only: don't buy doubles because the second one will bolt with that Ld 6.

*'''Ungor Ambush Spam''': MSU (Multiple Small Units - usually 6+ units of 5) of ungors or gors with the sole purpose of being meatshields and redirectors. Spam These guys into your enemy's rear. Now, with Glottkin book, you don't need an equivalent unit anymore! Make sure to get Khornate or Slaaneshi upgrades for them for staying/killing power. Multiple units of these little bastards means that eventually you'll wind up a few of them in the enemy's knickers. Best used in conjunction with Kazrak as your General so that you are really effective on landing these where you need them. Again, risky in that each unit is essentially 25-40 points that you are giving to the enemy, but you should think of that as you are spending it so that you can cause havoc and get the enemy looking in the wrong direction or turned for flank attacks.

*'''Big Block Gors''': Get two units of 40+ Gors and kit em out. Remember, no shields - you want AHW, and try to keep them near the BSB for re-rolls. This becomes the anvil for the enemy unit that your hammer will flank charge. Doesn't hurt to screen them - they can get weak in the knees if charged on the flanks. And you are prone to that.

*'''Harpy Havoc''': Facing a ton of wizards or warmachines? It may behoove (nyuk nyuk) you to acquire some harpies - they make descent warmachine and wizard hunters. YMMV. Use with caution as when they are broken, they can cause a chain reaction of panic and fleeing in your flanking units. It's an unfortunate reality that they can break, but their ability to fly allows you to pick off loners. Also act as backup redirectors and meatshields.

*'''Ham n' Hoof Drag Racing''': New Beastmen players are usually so worried about how underpowered their army allegedly is that they forget that there is some awesomeness here: Chariots, baby! Piggy powered wheeled death means that you get some fast and powerful core choices capable of fulfilling multiple roles: flankers, anvil, hammer, warmachine/wiz hunter. Take in 2+ units in smaller games, but try to go large here as this is a powerful core choice for you. Remember that CHARIOTS CAN'T MARCH (pg 86 BRB), so use their ability to wheel while moving to get them into prime charging position. Get aggressive with these, they can be the start of something beautiful if you can get stuck right in early before the enemy brings his magic and missiles to bear.

*'''Free magic dice''': Take a great shaman who is correctly kitted out. On average, you can get around 7 "free" power dice as long as you are in combat. Try running a 35 man gor unit with a wargor with the beast banner. Your wizard is then level 4 using beasts, he is equipped the jagged dagger and the steel claws. If you cast Wyssan's Wildform and The Savage Beast of Horros he then can potentially get up to 9 strength 9 attacks re rolling to hit. and each kill counts as a power dice. Even with the power dice cap, this is a nice regenerator for an army that desperately needs buffs.

====Strategy and Tactics====

The best strategy is to concentrate your Minotaur and Gor blocks towards the center and play big monster/screening units on the flanks. There should be no giant blocks of ungors - this is not their forte, they're not Skavenslaves: they function better in MSUs and as flankers for cheap hits or to force a unit to turn it's own flanks. Minotaurs do flank duty alright, but are unreliable and easy to strand; inherently, put them in the middle (army general helps their low LD) and put the Gor blocks nearby. Cores and Special blocks need flank support: screening units (these are your Ungor/Ungor raiders both on board and ambushing, also your razorgors and harpies, and even MSU gors) are all key to that.

Your Bestigors will likely fall into the above paragraph unless you set them up as stated earlier - with the Standard of Discipline and a Character, at which point they become independent of the General's Ld bubble (this is good). Even then, they cannot be run as a solo problem solver, or the inevitable paddling they get will be well deserved.

Cygors are decent flank units, but need the screening unit to keep dedicated combat units away. Ghorgons fair a little better but have the same problem that Minotaurs have in that they are easy to pull off in a bad direction. Jabbers are great mobile trouble-shooters, but automatically become winged shit magnets. Remember, keep all of these monsters away from dedicated combat units with lots of attacks, great weapons or poisoned attacks. They should be slamming into the flanks, not going nose to nose.

Avoiding your opponent's heaviest units is also important to your success, which naturally is easier said than done. Beastmen are at a disadvantage against pretty much everyone, so you need to strike the weak points hard with magical buffs from Lore of Beasts and huge blocks of Gors/Bestigors, while using lone Razorgors and Ungor Raiders to redirect the enemy's elites, get in the way and basically make a nuisance of themselves while your heavy-hitters crush the enemy's weaker units for the points. Don't fight defensively: you're not Warriors or [[Dwarfs_(Warhammer_Fantasy)|Dorfs]], you can't sit back and let them come to you. Strike hard, strike fast, and melt away before any real opposition comes to get you. Learn from the Beastmen in the lore, they know how it goes.

A nice big meaty unit of Bestigors (35+) or Gors (50 at the least) is very effective as a hammer for this purpose. Kit out the gors with additional hand weapons, a few heroes and Wyssan's Wildform, and run like hell towards the enemy. You should be buffing your Gors with either the Beast Banner for killing, or with the Totem of Rust when facing armies with plenty of disposable income. You need to get as many kills as possible to force Insane Courage from your opponent on the charge. Don't pull your punches, go all out on the offense. March everything forward, move to within inches of the enemy to guarantee charges, because you can't do jack sh*t when you're not in combat.

Now that you're stressed for points, let's not forget to add the fact that you should have 2-3 wizards if possible. Remember - be prepared to pay 600-700 points for a decent magic phase. You need buffs more than other armies and the way to get that is via magic. All of your magic characters will find their points allotments for magical items to be a bit tight - beastmen are poor from living in the woods after all. Buy those casters and try your best to buff buff and buff your units. And ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS try to pop Wildform.

Don't be afraid to stack the odds, no one came along and gave you a 175 point Hydra or decent cavalry. For instance, Gors will almost ALWAYS lose to their equivalent points in (fill in here)Elf Warriors. But, you toss in a Cygor or even a Chariot on the flanks, and suddenly you're doing okay. Gang up on enemy units, don't play nice.

Much of Beastmen playing will involve heavy maneuvering, unit redundancy, draw and counter-charge and avoiding getting shot to pieces. Welcome to Warhammer on Hard Mode.

VS Vampires - Kill the LoV wizards asap, kill them all. Do not challenge or accept a challenge from a Vampire with anything you will miss, there is a good chance that unless it is a Minotaur that it's going to get butchered. If you can do these things you drastically increase your chance of winning.

VS Tomb Kings - Due to your own low LD you will want to make killing skull catapults and boxes of doom (casket of souls) a priority, also Tomb Kings usually have a weak core, unless its buffed by a hero/lord or magic. Stopping the enemy's spell casters is a must.

VS Elves - If you can live through the first round of combat, your generally higher S and T will start to show, so you should use your numerical advantage to it's fullest. Get into combat fast: Elves tend to have a fair amount of shooting, the less they get to shoot at you the better.

VS Dwarves - Don't waist points on monsters, there will be far too many cannons for anything that does not fly or have good regeneration/ward save to be worth the points, unless it's there as a distraction. Due to Dwarves' generally high armor saves, any thing that reduces armor is valuable (''Totem of Rust'' comes to mind).

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[[Category:Warhammer/Tactics]]