NOOB:want to start beastmen

[lithiumghost]

well i have the codex and wanted to see what people are using right now? i hear 40-50 ungor "tarpit" spear formation is good.

any other ideas? or lists that place in local tournies? just to give me an idea

[celestialatc]

I have only played against Beastmen once but the Minotaurs were devastating. And being able to gain the magical benefit from Lore of Beast on every unit is huge for Beastmen.

[Bibbums]

I believe the key is to strike hard and fast. Wars of attrition are not their forte. Minotaurs if used correctly can be a ttrong offensive battering ram.

[decker_cky]

A good place to get an idea is from this Bad Dice Podcast featuring Mark Wildman, who won a major UK tourney with beastmen. Even as an experienced beastman player, I got some great ideas from it.
http://baddice.co.uk/episode-56-beastmen-review/

I do think he underestimates the effectiveness of minotaurs (namely of the minobus build).

The other natural place to get this type of info is the Herdstone, which is a beastmen forum. Several different builds will be better explained there:
http://z2.invisionfree.com/herdstone/index.php?

Beastmen are a tough army to get a handle on, but once you have a feel for them, they're devastating.

[bobrunnicles]

(cross posted from the Fantasy Lists subforum)

Got a game of WFB coming up this weekend at the club, a bunch of us are putting together 1000pt army lists to help some newbies get into the game, and I'm hoping to be able to field a small Beastmen army I'm working on - still got a fair bit to paint (I won't play unpainted figures, a personal quirk of mine) but here's what I'm looking at:

Wargor w/Great Weapon 89pts
Bray-Shaman lvl 2 w/Dispel Scroll 135pts
Gor Herd, full command, hw&s 19 figures 177pts
Gor Herd, full command, ehw 20 figures 185pts
Ungor Herd, full command, spear & shield, 20 figures 135pts
Bestigor Herd, full command, 14 figures 198pts
Tuskgor Chariot 80pts

That comes out to 999pts; the plan is the Wargor goes with the Bestigors and the Bray Shaman with the Gors w/shields. Haven't decided on which lore to take yet (any suggestions? Likely foes include Warriors of Chaos, High Elves, Dwarfs, Tomb Kings & Dark Elves) and I'm dithering over the last entry on the list, the Chariot - I could dump that and take some Ungor Raiders, which gives me some much needed missile power as well as some points for magic items etc, but I also like the Chariot's hitting power.

So what do you think? Any other suggestions? At 1000pts I'd be pushing it imho to include Minotaurs or a Giant (although I have models for both); would it be worth dropping a rank from one of the Gors or the Ungors and taking some magic and/or chaos gifts (and if so, which ones)?

[Lord Castellan]

I gave a run down in bobrunnicles' thread in the army lists subforum, so check that out for a few opinions.

One thing I want to say to the OP is I kinda think the horde of Ungors isnt worth it. One thing thats important to get with Fantasy, is you arent trying to kill your enemy, you're trying to route them. Make your opponent flee, dont kill them all. Ive had two Elven Knights break and chase down 40 Ungors before.

Overall with Beastmen hit hard, and then hit harder. Lore of Beasts can really buff your units up, and the ability to have extra hand weapons everywhere with primal fury means tons of attacks. Plus with units like the Beastigors and Minotaurs, the more you win the harder you hit. So make sure you know your battle plan before the game begins and just hit as hard as you possibly can as fast as you can.

[TheCastigator]

I would definitely recommend a level 4 caster, at least 6 minotaurs, and at least one unit of 3 chariots (2 would be better), since the list generally lacks hitting power, the special chariots are good too. To fill out your core I would say a gor herd with extra hand weapons, since any armor you take is almost certainly going to be negated. Ungors are fine, you just need to take enough of them so that you can grind it out for a two turns. I would say either the cygor (because it's a free stone thrower) or the gorgon (for blood greed) are good. If you can fit 2 of whatever monster, go for it. I would also say to take a BSB with the Totem of Rust in your gor/ungore herd. You could also take the banner that gives you +1 strength in your gor horde, with extra hand weapons. Obviously take lore of beasts.

[Order_from_Chaos]

I played a beastmen army and I used a horde of Gor with ahw with beast banner and beastlord w/ crown of command then 40 bestigors with a GBS and 3 lvl 1 BS with lore of beasts and I was uber surprised at just how devastating a gor horde can be with just 1 wyssan's wildform off! S5 T5 with 2 attacks each. Also the synergy of the augments with other lore of beast spells from the GBS like savage beast of horrors and pann's impenetrable pelt those make your GBS, BSB, and Beastlord 1 near untouchable and also gives them enough hitting power to tear apart a dragon in CC. I think my beastlord had 9 strength 10 attacks in CC and shredded a poor elf noble in a duel.

just letting you know that beastmen can be very nasty and that you don't have to stick to the notion that they are "bottom tier" and auto lose!

cheers

[Stepfan]

I think a good start is a brick or two of 40 Gor in Horde formation. Through some augments on them or hexes on their target and the unit tends to go away fairly quick.

And the herdstone(link above) is always a fantastic place for information.

[Speed Freek]

I used two blocks of 30+ Bestigors and found them to be devastating. I run them in Horde Formation and they get so many attacks with rerolls to hit with primal fury and strength 6 they would pretty much chew through large units.

I found that Gors were not as good. They really needed to be buffed by magic to be able to stand up to other units.

Lore of beasts was the best choice, Good buff spells and easier to cast on beast units.

I enjoyed running chariots because I found that they had flexibility that my blocks did not.

Put the general in the Bestigor unit with the +1 leadership banner. Also ran a BSB with lot's of protection as I found I needed to keep him alive to reroll primal fury.

Found that crown of command was really important in case I got charged by something to devastating - the disadvantage of horde formation is that you give up steadfast so can lose a big unit due to a bad round of combat.

[nacnudllah]

My brother plays Beastmen and we have found a couple good strategies for magic.

Super Killing Shaman
Great Bray - lvl 4, Lore of Beasts, jagged dagger, talisman of 4+, potion of strength, and I think a Sword of Battle
The idea here is to get this guy into combat ripping people up and then to use the extra dice he's generating to keep up a bubble of Savage Beast of Horros. It can be pretty nasty when it gets going, but it's a little difficult to get the ball rolling so to speak.

Bray Shaman Coven
This one uses two Bray Shamans and a Herdstone. Each Bray is a level 1 Lore of Shadows and knows Melkioth's Mystifying Miasma. Because of the spell's 48" range and lack of requiring line of sight, the two brays can sit back and drop Miasmas on your enemy's units pretty effectively.

Outside of magic, We've found that having a good complement of Bestigors is key to a successful Beastmen army list.