Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Beastmen

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.

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.

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

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 Gothgor, 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 Gothgor, he can actually survive the odd round of combat with another lord). If you want a special character Beastlord, this is the one.

• 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.

• Taurox, the Brass Bull: THIS RAPE TRAIN HAS NO MODEL! More seriously, you should never, ever take a Doombull and this one is no exception. His armor save is nice, but it has a silly weakness that will get him killed by any large number of attacks. Skip it.

• Morghur The Shadowgave: Unbreakable and kinda fun in the stats department but he kills one friendly (AND ONLY FRIENDLY) model per turn and turns it into that which shall not be named. If you want to take him, keep him near your Ungors to try and turn them rather than something more worthwhile and be aware that if no other friendly model is near enough, he takes the hit himself, so be careful. Generally not worth it, but can be fun in a non-competitive list.

• Slugtongue: Slugtongue costs nearly 80 points than a level 2 Bray Shaman for a 50 percent chance to cause up to D6 wounds (usually D3) to 1 enemy unit before the game begins. Oh and he loses access to Lore of Beasts. Not worth it.

• 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? Skip him hard.

Generic Characters

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

• Beastlord: You are going resent this guy. You need him, oh good lord do you need him, but you don't want him. He's expensive and he'll crumble under direct assault, but you NEED his LD9 bubble. Keep him in a unit, if he's in a chariot any lord or hero who wants to take a swing at him essentially can with impunity and almost any Lord (and a few heroes) can knock him out in one-on-one. Use him, but carefully and make sure you keep him away from Assassins.

• Great Bray Shaman: The wizard lord of the Beastmen. Useful as far as Wizards go, but a tiny bit on the pricy side. His LD8 could help in a pinch, but don't rely on it. As with before, keep him away from combat with other heroes, his combat stats are a trap, he will get killed.

• Doombull: Given that you need to keep your Minotaurs in line and going where you need them to, giving them Frenzy is quite literally the worst thing you can do for them. Anyone with a working brain can and will pull them out of line and then beat them to death with something heavy. Even if this doesn't happen, the mix of Bloodgreed and Frenzy does not make for a happy marriage. Oh and he costs 80 points more than a Beastlord at LD8. They can work alright on their own as a flanker, but if you're not careful they'll probably get shot in the face by a shooting unit or War Machine looking to grab some quick victory points. Oh and at LD8, they're about as reliable after a fluffed round of combat as the average unit of Elves (less so, Elves might have some static CR) Rarely worth it.

• 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.

• 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.

• Gorebull: Has all the same rules like the Doombull above, but hero-level stats and price. Causes all the same problems and has all the same issues of a Doombull. Unlike a Doombull, you can't even have them reliably hang out on their own. Oh and their base LD is freaking 7. A terrible choice.

Core Units

• Gors: The basic troops of any Beastmen army. Lucky you. Seriously though, these guys are fucking awful. Same cost as a Dark Elf Warrior with Spears and Shield, with 1 higher toughness and Primal Fury as opposed the usual Hatred. Oh and they have lower I and LD, and no armor. These guys are going to die by the truckload and cannot be relied upon to stick around against any stiff resistance without hero backup. But they're your basic infantry, so you're probably gonna need to take some. Weep with me.

• Ungors: Between these and Gors I can't decide who's worse. You can't even make a reliable horde because at LD6, if they lose combat they are outta there. If you have a general nearby, they MIGHT be able to hold out for a round or two, but don't count on it too heavily. Just an all around awful choice. But, as with Gors, they're what you've got. You're going to end up taking some, just to fill out ranks in your army. Feel better yet?
  • Ungrel Four-Horn:A 75 point upgrade that occasionally turns into a Wargor and allows you reroll Primal Fury tests against Empire, Brettonia 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.

• Ungor Raiders: Skirmishers got nerfed in 8th edition and these lads are no exception. Unable to negate ranks, piss poor at shooting and costing the same as the (comparatively) more reliable regular Ungors make any points sunk into these a waste.

• Warhounds: The only reason to ever take Core Units in a Beastmen army is to get up to minimum core requirements. As these guys don't count towards minimum core requirements and cause panic at the drop of a hat (and the LAST thing Beastmen need is an excuse to panic), these guys are rarely a good choice.

• Tuskgor Chariots: The Chaos Gods have seen fit to grant you a worthwhile core unit, and this is it. Seriously, you can never have enough of these filling out your core choices. You have a limit of 3 of any one unit in 8th edition and you should get as many of these as you can.

Special Units

• Minotaurs: These guys are the hard hitters of your army and one of the best units of your army. Why are you laughing? I know they're significantly worse than a Bull or an Irongut, being absurdly expensive, easy to drag out of position and strand, low LD and armor save. Now you know what you're up against playing Beastmen. Welcome to hell. In all seriousness, they're probably one the most important units in your army, outside your rare choices. They can hit reasonably hard and get harder to stop when they win combat. Just remember, with LD7 and essentially no way to get any level of combat res, they WILL break and flee if you fluff a single round of combat or encounter stiff resistance. Be careful with them and be sure to stack the odds in your favor.

• Bestigors: Never, ever, ever, ever, EVER take these. EVER. They are overpriced, are about as easy to shoot to pieces as the average Orc, have piss-poor LD and while their standard stealing is cute, they will not be winning combat against any large units. Never.

• Razorgors: A solid enough flanking unit, but beware that WS3 and LD6, it will cause problems. And really, for the same cost you could just get more Minotaurs which is probably a better choice. And the models is absolute balls.

• Razorgor Chariot: For 15 points more you could get 2 Ungor Chariots, which is the better choice. Overall though, not a bad choice, especially if you're out of Ungor Chariot options.

• Centigors: Garbage. Absolute garbage. They're overpriced (Cold One Cavalry costs 2 points more and is better in essentially every possible way), they'll crumble if they hit a unit that's not made of cardboard, 1 of their drunken results is meh, one is okay (would be better for a different unit) and the third actively makes things WORSE. Any points spent on these is wasted.
  • 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. As it is, he's not very good. But then you've already taken Centigors, so go ahead and take him, what do we care?

• 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 absolute ass in this book: 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. Don't bother.

Rare Units

Because of the sheer lack of power in the rest of your army, you'll be turning to your overpriced Rare Units simply to fill the gaping holes in your army.

• Giant: You know him, you love him and he's slightly over priced (225 vs the Ogre Kingdoms Giants' 200 points, because the Ogre Kingdom's Giant isn't immune to Panic. Oh and ALL of the Ogre Kingdom's Giant's Pick Up And... result in auto-death for the target. Depressing). In all seriousness, the Giant is the safe boring rare choice and combines with any of the other big choices for a perfect 500 points in Rare units. You want the Giant

• Chaos Spawn: Worthless in Chaos Marines, worthless in Warriors of Chaos, worthless here. Do you want a unit that can either hang around the back of your army failing to do anything, or lurch on ahead of your units to get run over by any competent combat unit (T5 and 3 wounds does NOT make him survivable). What's more, he's eating up precious Rare Points. Every time you take a Chaos Spawn, Tzeentch kills a kitten. Think of the kittens.

• Cygor: THIS is what you want. Not because he's worth the points (he's totally not) but because he's one of the few units in your army that can accomplish things. Be careful about where you put him in combat though, dedicated combat units with Great Weapons (White Lions for instance) will rip him to pieces. But you definitely want a Cygor.

• Ghorgon: This lad has all the problems of a Lord Minotaur and is eating up precious, precious Rare points. He has a lot of attacks and can probably cause a lot of carnage if aimed right, but his Frenzy makes it really hard to keep him from being led in the wrong direction. He's a frustrating unit and probably the worst of the 3 big scary monsters, but that doesn't mean he's bad. Just be careful with him, you'll feel mighty silly if your 275 point monster only kills a 5 man unit of flyers before getting run over by a unit of Knights.

• Jabberslythe: This thing is so hideous it drives your enemy insane (and it's model costs so much it drives YOU insane). Not as all around incredible as the Cygor, 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. Just keep him away from Vorpal Swords.

Building Your Army

Like any army, start with a hero and two core. Namely, a Wargor and a regiment each of Gors and Ungors. From there on out, grab a Bray Shaman, a bull of sorts, another Wargor, Bestigors and then the rest is really up to you.

Army Composition

You will field many Gors and Ungors. If you do not, your army will not survive an enemy shooting and/or magic phase very long. Fielding lots of Gors/Ungors also allows you to field ambushers, which will generally cause your opponent to panic when 12 Gors shows up within charge range right behind his cannon/bolt-thrower/wizard/etc. on fucking turn 1!

Magic Items

• Gifts of Chaos:

• • Crown of Horns: It's...okay, but it's over costed and with 8th Edition Rules you get Stubborn so long as you have more ranks than your opponent. If you have an extra Beastlord that you don't want to trick out for combat (at say, 3000 points or up) then this might be worth it.

• • Slug-Skin: Noooooope. 30 points for a S3 hit on the what, 3 models max that are in base contact with him? No thanks.

• • Many-Limbed Fiend: 1 extra attack at base strength? For 20 points. Nope.

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

• • Gnarled Hide: Again, this one is pretty good, especially when combined with existing armor.

• • Rune of True Beasts: Not...really worth it. It won't protect him enough from big scary monsters and it won't protect him at ALL from the Riders, which is where a lot of the threat comes from.

• • Uncanny Senses: Eh. If you have 10 points, there are worse uses of it. Just be sure to NOT combine it with a Great Weapon.

• • Shadow-Hide: Too limited in it's wording. And never mind that if he's on his own, in cover, people shooting at him will already be at -2 and will therefore probably be ignoring him. Skip it.

• Magic Weapons:

• • Primeval Club: The fuck is this? Who thought this was worth an S5 lord's ENTIRE points allowance. Beastmen lords don't need help wounding, they need help hitting. Never mind that point where you're fighting Zombies and are wounding on a 5+. Skip it.

• • 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 big on the pricy side.

• • Mangelder: Nah. Terror got neutered, as did Fear, so it's too expensive (plus it says Model, not Unit for the second ability).

• • 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: Easily one of the best magic items, JUST for the rerolls (to try to keep you from fluffing a round of combat). The extra Attack is just gravy.

• • 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 Brass Cleaver: Eh. It's 30 points for what, 3 extra attacks? Might be more worth it on a Doombull who's wandering on his own. But then he'll just get charged by a hero on dragon and you wasted your points. Still, not a bad item for a hero, since it's on the cheap side. Just keep him out of Challenges.

• • Everbleed: If this item works for you regularly then what are you doing playing Warhammer instead of shooting craps in Vegas? Seriously, the amount of luck required to make this work regularly is absurd, so the points are essentially wasted.

Armour: As above, nothing really good hear except there's even less to look at and it's not as impressive. The only thing that does stand out is Trollhide, which does well on a Gorebull! The other magic armour to recommend is the Ramhorn Helm, which bestows a 6+ save that can be combined with other armour AND grants an additional attack for every successful armour save made all for 15 pts.! Beastmen armour is rather unimpressive and your magic items points are better spent on Gifts, Enchanted items and Talismans.

Enchanted Items: One item here is a MUST for any Beastmen army and that is the Horn of the First Beast. It clocks in at a weight 50 pts. eating all the gear selections off your Wargor and half from your Beastlord, but it's so worth taking because of its ability allow re-rolls on failed primal fury tests within 36". Primal Fury is what transforms the Beastmen from a fast-moving meat wall into the renders of armies by granting hatred and potentially frenzy on top of that in the close combat phase on a successful Ld test. Let's be honest, Beastman Ld is fucking terrible, which makes the Horn of the First Beast all the more necessary.

The other good enchanted item is the Shard of the Herdstone, which lets the Beast player plonk down a piece of terrain representing a herdstone. Any friendly wizard within 6" of this terrain generates an additional power dice. If however you are strapped for points and are looking at an enchanted item, buy yourself a Stone of Spite for 25 pts., burn through your opponents dispell dice in a magic phase then blow up his wizards' arcane items within 18".

Talismans: Of the two talismans available to the beasts, only one is any good and that distinction belongs to the Chalice of Dark Rain. And oh what a good item it is! Let's put it this way, the Beastmen are very vulnerable to missile fire as they wear little to no armour and have almost nothing to contribute with in the shooting phase in return. The Chalice of Dark Rain will fuck up one turn of enemy shooting, causing war machines to not work on a failed 4+ and slapping a -1 to-hit modifier on all other shooting attacks using ballistic skill, all for 40 pts. This is how you cover your ass when you finally get within charge range of your enemy.

Arcane Items: Bray Shaman get some weird gear in the Beastmen book, like the expensive Skull of Rarkos (60 pts., gives +1 on casting rolls to friendly wizards within 6") and the usual bound-spell casters, but the inexpensive Jagged Dagger is possibly the best one. 10 pts. buys you bonus power dice for every wound caused by owning shaman, which can be saved and used whenever he wants. What's not to like?

Magic Banners: The Beast Banner is a nice and inexpensive banner compared to those foisted by other armies. Even though it is the most expensive at 75 pts., this grants the bearer and unit +1S, which is great for making Gor and Ungor herds surprisingly dangerous, and can turn Bestigor herds into heavy cavalry shredders! Some might argue that there isn't much difference between S6 and S7 for armour modifiers, but when facing knights that have a 1+ save, that extra strength is invaluable. Otherwise, DO NOT buy a rust totem - ever! You NEED what little armour your Beastmen wear (if any) to defend them from arrows and the odd musket ball. You do not need an additional deduction to your armour even if it will reduce your enemies. Either pony up for a beast banner or buy great weapons for your dudes, but don't use this banner! The last note for this section is the Manbane Standard and what a bargain it is! 35 pts. for a -1Ld on enemy units within 6" is very useful for breaking squads, especially for Bestigors.

Gifts: Like other Chaos armies, Beastmen get access to the gifts of the dark gods that they don't particularly distinguish. Gouge Tusks (attacks inflict an additional -1 armour save), Gnarled Hide (5+ scaly skin) and Uncanny Senses (+1 initiative) are easily worth their cost, although it's not recommended pairing Uncanny Senses with a great weapon. Crown of Horns would be worth it on a Beastlord, but not much else; Shadowhide works well almost exclusively with Bray Shaman; Rune of the True Beast is excellent if you're fighting Bretonnians; Slug-skin mulches tarpits and Many-Limbed Fiend has debatable use.

Magic

Not particularly a strong suit of the Beasts, but they do have access to their own lore, the Lore of the Wild. The signature spell, Bestial Surge, is cast on a 7+ and adds D6" to a friendly units' moves within range. Viletide is an effective anti-tarpit spell, but devolve is the best way to remove crappy infantry that might be in your way, as is Brayscream. Traitor kin is hilarious against cav/beast-heavy armies, causing them to attack handlers and riders. Mantle of Ghorok is another fun spell granting massive buffs to strength and attacks. Last but not least, Savage Dominion is awesome because who doesn't like summoning a free Ghorgon or Jabberslythe?

If you're gonna go the magic route with the beasts, you would do well to take multiple shaman because Beastmen shaman aren't the best at the craft and they are cheap, not to mention being pretty decent fighters themselves.

Tactics

This is My Clone

Essentially just spamming the Beasman Ambush with a shit-ton of Gors, Ungors and Ungor Raiders. Take in small units (12 Gors, 15 Ungors) except for Ungor Raiders, which should only be taken in full-strength units. Then just roll the dice and place them where you will.

Unbreakable Breakers

Two units of Spawn flanking just in front of a Bestigor Horde. If your opponent ignores the Spawn and goes for the horde, he'll get fucked up by a lot of S6 great weapon attacks and then he'll be flanked on both sides by unbreakable fear-causing monstrous infantry. If he goes for one of the spawn, he gets flanked by a Bestigor heard. If he shoots your spawn to death, your Bestigors will freely march 10" a turn. Be sure to take a Wargors and magic banner(s) in the Bestigor unit to ensure that you don't lose in combat.

Strategic Use of Ungors

Labrea Tarpit

50+ Ungors formed in a horde (10 wide, 5 deep, duh) with shields and spears marched straight out in the center supported with Warhounds and/or Centigors and/or Harpies (if you're feeling silly) on the flanks. Wait for your opponent to plunge into the soft, moist folds of the Ungors, get stuck in and then hit him on the sides.

Bull-buffer

Take a small unit of basic ungors place them in front of a unit of minotaurs with a gorebull (or two) and/or a doombull, all armed with great weapons. When your opponent tries to charge the ungors, elect for them to flee and run through the frenzied bulls, which will not break. Then charge the suckers with the bulls and tear the motherfuckers apart, giving them bonus attacks for next round. Rally the faggy ungors and repeat. Even if your opponent whittles your 'taur unit down, the remaining bulls will have way too many high-strength attacks.