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

===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.