Warhammer/Tactics/8th Edition/Beastmen
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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
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 Archaeon of beastmen, comes riding a tuskgor chariot upgradable to a razorgor chariot. Wields a killing blow spear, randomly casts spells in the magic phase and fucks shit up in close combat!
Khazrak, the One Eye As his name implies, he has one eye, but that doesn't seem to hinder him much. He lost his eye during a bout with Boris Todbringer, but Old One-Eye took that panzy faggot's eye for the insult. In game, he's a deadlier beastlord, armed with a nasty whip (sacrifice all attacks to hit everyone in the front rank) and some pretty hard armour (2+, negates magic/runic weapons) with +1WS. However, the best thing about Khaz is his Bestial Cunning rule, which allows you to reroll either the turn or side for where your beastmen ambush strike!
Malagor, the Dark Omen His name sounds metal as fuck, and he's the Beastman wizard du'jours. He stores unused enemy dispell dice as power dice for the next turn, frenzies your own troops on a PF test that rolls a double and blocks inspiring presence. Did we mention that he can fly, too?
Taurox, the Brass Bull THIS RAPE TRAIN HAS NO BREAKS! Holy fuck, seriously, Taurox is outrageously deadly even when compared to minotaurs which are already outrageously deadly. He sports a stat-line that's almost entirely 6's, deals D3+1 impact hits, has a 1+ armour save, two hand weapons that grant flaming attacks and no armour saves, is frenzied, has slaughterer's call and bloodgreed. He really is that deadly - this wikifag saw Taurox eat a Dwarf Slayer Lord, the slayer unit attached to him and two war machines after losing the regiment of minotaurs that were supporting him.
Morghur The Shadowgave is quite possibly one of the most OP hero-level characters in Fantasy. He's unbreakable, turns things into Chaos_Spawn and cannot be hurt by shooting or magic unless it was loosed within 12" of him - also known as prime spawning range.
Slugtonuge One of two bray shaman special characters in the book, being the weaker of the two. Stock level 2 wizard with the ability to randomly inflict wounds on enemy units without armour saves. Also has poisoned attacks.
Moonclaw, Son of Morsleib The other bray shaman special character, and yes, he is apparently the son of the chaos moon. Level 1 wizard, may ride an M7, T5 beast of sorts and has a better strength (of 4) compared to other bray shaman. His wave of insanity is nifty for disrupting enemy formations (or your own) and the fact that he can summon a fucking comet is always good times.
Generic Characters
Note: While named characters are judged against their generic counterparts, generic characters are examined based on their role in your army.
Beastlord A decent Lord choice, though overshadowed by other choices. Best to kit out with magic items for army-wide benefits (like the Horn of the First Beast) plus a few gifts/magic items. Great if you are in a pinch for points or if you go against Bretonnians/Empire a lot because of the manbane rule (re-roll failed primal fury tests).
Great Bray Shaman The wizard lord of the Beastmen. Can cast either from the Beastmen's own Lore of the Wild as well as the Lores of Beasts (shock!), Death and Shadows. A fun thing to do with this guy is tool him up with a Razorgor Chariot, Skin of Man (magic item, allows the shaman to scout) and the hunting spear.
Doombull Pure fucking awesome! Like minotaurs, they don't get primal fury but instead cause fear and get access to bloodgreed (successful rounds in combat cause frenzy unless frenzied, then just grant bonus attacks; can only pursue D6"). On top of that, they come frenzied and frenzy any unit they join. An absolute no-brainer to stick in a squad of minotaurs, buff this guy with armour/ward saves and give him the Stonecrusher mace for initiative order S9 attacks!
Wargor These basic heroes are a must! Cheap, tough, fast, manbane, primal fury and can pack lots of goodies for small point games. Take two with great weapons and stuff them into a regiment of bestigors, one with a battle standard and the other with the horn of the first beast and watch the fun ensue.
Bray Shaman Pretty good as far as wizards go, but could be better. T4, M5 are nice things to have in a wizard and they are a swell addition to a unit of Gors. Great for taking a heardstone shard for magic or the steel talons for close combat.
Gorebull Has all the same rules like the doombull above, but hero-level stats and price. EXCELLENT taken by themselves or supported by minotaurs. In the former, take two with great weapons and one with the dark chalice. Otherwise, stick one in a minotaur regiment with a great weapon and trollhide.