Beastmen in the World of Legend

Post 2 - Army List Organisation and Characters

Characters: Up to 1 Beastlord, Great Bray-Shaman or Doombull per 1000 points, any number of Wargors, standard Bray-Shamans, Gorebulls or Centigor Chieftains. 

Core: At least 1 unit of Gors, up to 1 Bestigor unit if a Beastlord or Wargor is your General, up to 1 unit of Minotaurs if a Doombull or Gorebull is your General, any number of units of Ungors, Chaos Warhounds, Razorgors or Tuskgor Chariots

Special: Bestigors, Harpies, Minotaurs, Centigors, Dragon Ogres, Razorgor Chariots, Cockatrice, Chaos Ogres, up to one Jabberslythe or Cygor if a Great Bray-Shaman or Bray-Shaman is your General, up to one Ghorgon if a Doombull or Gorebull is your General

Rare: Dragon Ogre Shaggoth, Jabberslythe, Cygor, Ghorgon, Chaos Giant, Chaos Trolls and Chaos Spawn

Allies: Warriors of Chaos, Greenskins (Uneasy), Tomb Kings (Suspicious)


Only being able to have one Beastlord, Great Bray-Shaman or Doombull per 1000 points certainly hampers our previous 7th/8th strategy of having one of a Beastlord for Leadership or Doombull for combat power plus a Great Bray-Shaman for magical supremacy - though this is still possible to achieve in 2000 points + games, in smaller games we will have to choose which ones we'll benefit from the most against each of our opponents.

Having to take at least one unit of Gors stops us going full Chariot Cheese, though Tuskgor Chariots are still Core so it's still possible to fill out much of your army with them.

Razorgors as a new Core choice is a fun idea, it makes them all the more useful as expendable charge assistants, distraction Carnifexes or Skirmisher hunters.

Being able to take either a unit of Bestigors or Minotaurs as part of the Core loadout is the biggest takeaway of course, as it means we can go to town on Chariots, monsters or even more Bestigors or Minotaurs if we fancy it in our special slot. Indeed a Doombull-led army can really pack itself full of Minotaurs and Ghorgons, a full Minotaur army actually looks like it could be possible and work well now.

Not to mention the new Allies mechanic allows us to fulfill some weaknesses in our army if we need to - some elite Warriors of Chaos infantry would go down very well, as would some Orc Boar Boyz, Squigs or some Unbreakable scary Tomb King skeletons and statues, though I personally will still go full Beasts.


CHARACTERS

Beastlord: Our standard Beastlord has been made a little better methinks - Pretty much the same profile and his Primal Fury has been nerfed as everyone else's has, but with Blood Rage, Foe-Render and Gaze of the Gods all giving him boosts in the combat department to compensate, Mark of Chaos Undivided giving him near-as-damn-it immunity to Psychology and the Warband rule potentially meaning his Leadership could be boosted by the rank bonus of any unit he joins (which is just as well as he may well have had his base Leadership returned to the 6th Edition value of 8), all for a 30-point price drop, he's probably about as beast as he's ever been. He also now gets to take 50 points of Chaos Mutations alongside his 100 point Magic Item limit, giving you the chance to really kit him out in ways that weren't possible in the 7th/8th book where the one 100 point pool had to be used to take options from both. Better yet, the Brayhorn rule from 6th Edition is back, and has been rewired to work with TOW's modern Ambushers rule inherited from 8th - now, from Turn 2 onwards your units arrive on a flat 4+, and if your Beastlord passes a Leadership test, your units get to re-roll that roll, pretty much guaranteeing their arrival in either Turn 2 or 3 when they still have time to make their presence felt. Note that this rule is unique to Beastlords and Wargors - if you choose a Doombull general to take that ambushing Minobus in Core, you'll have to make do with the standard 4+ ambush roll.

Wargor: The Wargor still plays second-fiddle to the Beastlord with his weaker profile, but given you can have as many of these as you like and only one Beastlord per 1000 points of your army now, they still have a use as cheap combat-boosting characters, especially with a 10-point discount. Like his bigger brother the Wargor gets 50 points to spend on Chaos Mutations independent of his 50-point Magic Item limit, so a Wargor can be beefed up quite a lot more now than before, and as a BSB he can now take those alongside a Magic Banner, meaning our trusty Wargor BSB is not nearly as fragile as he once was.

As well as being able to take Tuskgor or Razorgor Chariot mounts, one Beastlord or Wargor per 1000 points can choose to sit back in Ambush. Given that you want your Beastlord general to be on the battlefield with his Brayhorn by Turn 2, this means cheap Wargors are the better choice in being able to accompany Ambushing Gors onto the battlefield and give them a further boost in combat ability (which is particularly necessary if they're deepstriking into the enemy's deployment zone away from the bulk of your army).


Great Bray-Shaman: Our favourite Lord-level spellcaster has received a big 50-point price discount, and though his Primal Fury rule has been nerfed like everyone else's, and he doesn't have the Beastlord's Blood Rage or Foe-Render rules, he's been blessed by the return of the old Braystaff rules from 6th Edition - now if he finds himself locked in combat, he can choose between using his staff as a great weapon, giving him a mighty Strength 6, or using it defensively to effectively give him heavy armour. Combine that with a few Chaos Mutations from his 50-point allowance and he can become pretty tanky for a caster. Additionally like the Beastlord his Mutations allowance is separate from his Magic Item allowance, meaning making him tough no longer comes at the cost of his magical abilities. Magic-wise he can choose from the rulebook lores of Daemonology, Dark Magic or Elementalism, and if he chooses to ditch a spell he can replace it with either the signature spell of the lore in question, or one of the spells from the unique Lore of Beasts (which we've already worked out to be plain OK).

Bray-Shaman: Same as above, though of course he's a Level 1 that can be upgraded to a Level 2, and like the Wargor he's received a less substantial 10-point discount. He still gets 50 points of Magic Items and 50 points of Mutations to play with, and like the Great Shaman he benefits from the Braystaff rules (though don't expect him to achieve so much with just one attack at Strength 3, 5 with the Braystaff in great weapon mode). However unlike the Great Shaman he's cheap, can be taken in multiples and is thus a better choice to risk rolling on the Gaze of the Gods table for to give him a boost.

As with the Beastlord and Wargor, 1 Shaman per 1000 points may choose to take a ride on a Chariot or go into ambush - in the case of the latter, again ordinary Shamans are the better choice for this, as you'll want your Great Shaman on the field doing what he does best.


Doombull: The big stompy Minotaur Lord is just as big and even stompier than he was before, with a 25-point price discount to boot. Same profile, with a plethora of additional special rules that have given him a big power-up. He no longer starts the battle with Frenzy as he once did (just as well with no chance to test to restrain from it anymore), but he now gets Primal Fury as the smaller beasts do - not huge on its own now unfortunately, but he has Blood Rage to give him Frenzy in melee when he needs it most, and Slaughterer's Call has also survived the transition, meaning whenever he gets Frenzy, the rest of his unit do as well - perfect for starting the engines of your Minobus. Bloodgreed is there too, and now gives a standard +2 attacks when Frenzied instead of one, which means you no longer need to win a combat to get that bonus as you once did. Foe-Render gives him AP -2 whenever he passes his Primal Fury test (increased to -3 on every roll to Wound of 6 thanks to Armour Bane), and if you really need him to get past that Chaos Lord or Daemon Prince, you can try rolling for him on the Gaze of the Gods table to give him even more of a buff-up.

Gorebull: Like the Doombull above, the Gorebull gets a significant boost to his damage output, a 50-point separate Mutation allowance, and a 30-point discount. Sadly Gorebulls can no longer be BSBs (so it's a particularly good job Wargors can take Magic Items and Mutations along with their Magic Banner), but with their still very impressive statline, costing only 20 points more than a Beastlord and the Doombull clashing with the other main Lord choices for slots, the Gorebull is likely to still be seen quite a lot more often now in Beastman armies as the go-to offensive character, particularly as the leader of a Minobus.

Neither Doombulls or Gorebulls can ambush, which is probably just as well for balancing out the ability for a unit of Minotaurs to do so. Thus comes a choice of whether to keep a Minobus build in your main battleline, where they can benefit from any attached characters, or to send them round the back of enemy lines where they will be on their own.


Centigor Chieftain: Probably in part a way for players to use their old Ghorros models, but also a necessary addition to the army as a generic character and to give Centigors more representation, the Centigor Chieftain adds another option as a leader and particularly as an accompaniment to a unit of his smaller brethren. This chap is only 10 points more than a Wargor, and has the faster Movement of a Centigor (albeit bound to be affected by the Drunken rule) and a significantly better statline of WS 5, BS 3, S 5, T 4, W 3 and A 4, plus a Stomp attack. Only Leadership 7 mind, so not the best as a General, but like the other characters he has the Warband rule so can potentially increase that Leadership value through the rank bonus of his unit. He can take light armour or heavy armour plus a shield like the other fighty characters, plus 50 points of Mutations and 50 points of Magic Items, and can take either a Cavalry Spear to give him Strength 6 on the charge, or a Great Weapon to take him up to Strength 7 (though striking at Initiative 1, not the best idea with only a Toughness of 4). He can also take throwing axes or javelins as a shooting option, and with a plethora of special rules that benefit his mobility including Fast Cavalry, Move Through Cover and Swiftstride he can get around pretty quickly to bring that shooting to bear alongside that of his unit. Doesn't benefit from Blood Rage or Foe-Render though, so his attacks aren't going to be as effective in the rolling to hit department as those of other character builds. Also it's a pity that a Centigor Chieftain General can't make a unit of Centigors Core. Still, his cheapness makes him a useful addition to a unit of Centigors and a worthwhile character to roll on Gaze of the Gods for, and one per 1000 points can also ambush, meaning he and a unit of his Centigor buddies can provide a fast-moving reserve unit that can race up to a war machine and neutralise it pretty quickly.

Thanks for this information, really looking forward to trying this edition out, though I'm not rebasing, hehe. I'm probably gonna paint up my pestigors and use them on a 30mm conversion tray. Thanks for the work here mate, great work. Need to get the books...

You're most welcome, glad you're enjoying it all! Beastmen certainly look particularly fun and unique to play now and significantly more competent than they once were. Definitely don't rebase, especially if you still want to play older editions as well. Conversion trays and/or base adapters are definitely the way forward. 

Any ideas on what your army build is going to look like yet? Are you going to focus on skirmishing (and all the trolling fun that brings) or keep to forming Open Order units ready for the big crunch of melee?

Good stuff LoSP.

Couple of points on Beast chariots though (heavy chariots in general really) which seem to make them less nippy and flexible and dangerous - on paper at least. This also applies to my (many) chaos warrior chariots (though those are even more unwieldy with their bigger bases - the beast ones have dodged that at least).

They do not have swiftstride - so max charge of only 13 inches. They are seriously out charge ranged by e.g. Bret knights.

A canny enemy can take your impact hits out of the equation by moving up within 3 inches (e.g. fast cav could do this with impunity, against tuskgors at least). This will also be annoying if the result of you chaffing/baiting an enemy hammer is it’s pursuit/overrun ends within 3 of your waiting chariot.

No free pivots during the move, a single 90 degree one at the end. In eighth I was fond of using them as flank guards. Say pivoting 90, moving a full move off in whatever direction then pivoting 180 to threaten the area I’d come from - can’t do that any more.

One good thing is I think they can march now.

Ah yes I notice our chariots now lack Swiftstride, but being able to march gives them more mobility in getting into position - denying marching to Chariots was always a particularly dumb rule in previous Editions - so it's a trade-off we'll just have to adapt our playstyles to.

Hey dude, thanks for the glow up on the Beastmen.
I'm toying with playing them in TOW and this was an amazing guide to what I'd be in for.

Post 6 - Race-Specific Magic Items and Chaos Mutations

CHAOS MUTATIONS

Slug-skin: Something from the 7th Edition book given a major glow-up, Slug-skin now inflicts a -1 penalty to Hit rolls on all enemy close combat attacks against both the character clad in it and his unit. An awesome Mutation to take on a melee character in a melee-focussed unit, particularly one lacking in armour (Gors and Minotaurs take note), but even useful for protecting a Shaman who can't take armour. It does eat up all your points allowance for Mutations, though, so you'd better stack up on Magic Items for your character too.

Crown of Horns: A character (not a Champion) that takes this receives the Stubborn special rule, as does any unit they join. Would have been a great thing to have in 8th Edition, but in TOW Stubborn is not what it was. True, it can certainly be worth taking on a Doombull or Gorebull in a Minobus to help the unit resist an early charge, but 45 points to take a rule that only works once per battle is not a wise investment, particularly as Bestigors can take it for significantly less than that anyway. Certainly not something high on the priority list.

Muscular Monstrosity: For 35 points, a nice round +1 Strength. Works nicely with Armoured Hide to give an all-round boost to attack and defence, and without a doubt one worth having. Even a Shaman could have it to give him a decent Strength even with his Braystaff in defensive mode. Thumbs up for this one.

Pelt of Midnight: Any enemy unit that targets the character (not a champ) with this mutation, or any unit he has joined, with a shooting attack suffers a -1 penalty to their to Hit rolls. Another lovely one that can be given to a variety of characters and a variety of units. Great for making that Minobus or Bestigor unit all the more difficult to kill alongside Slug-skin taken by another character, or giving a unit of Gors all the more missile protection. 

Gouge-Tusks: Improves the AP value of the character's weapons (though not those of its mount) by 1, pretty much the same as in 7th and 8th Edition. Can't be taken with Muscular Monstrosity, sadly, but can be taken with Many-Limbed Fiend to improve the AP value of a Beastlord maximising on Attacks count, or Gnarled Hide as another simultaneous buff to both offensive and defensive capabilities. Another solid choice.

Rune of the Beast Ascendant: An unusual one. It can only be taken by a Beastlord or Wargor, and it gives all friendly units of Bestigors, Gors and Ungors a +1 bonus to their Leadership whilst in the character's command range. All well and good, and particularly another one that would have been a real hit in 7th and 8th, but in TOW where these units can already add their Rank Bonus to their Leadership and can re-roll failed Psychology tests, we're no longer in absolutely huge need of morale buffs. Still, it could be used on your General to effectively give all units in his command range Leadership 9 before rank bonus buffs and return to those heady days of previous Editions, or could be given to your Wargor BSB or another character who is supporting your forces on the other side of the board to give them the same boost your General is providing to the units immediately around him. Certainly a good, affordable thing to take at 25 points, except that it only works on Gors of all stripes, Minotaurs cannot benefit from it so it so it's useless to a Minobus-oriented force.

Many-Limbed Fiend: A classic back from the 7th book, it gives your character an extra attack (though only one that can be made with a standard hand weapon). At 20 points it's a nice cheap thing to give to a True-horn Gor champion or a Minotaur Bloodkine to give them an additional attack to play with, or to the AHW Beastlord build to maximise the number of attacks he can put out. Not so useful on characters that are using Great Weapons, though.

Gnarled Hide: Another 7th Edition one returned in pretty much the same form, this one gives Armoured Hide (1) to an infantry character (I presume this includes Monstrous Infantry Minotaurs). A staple requirement if you want to get your character down to a 2+ armour save, and at 15 points it leaves a good bit of room for a second Mutation to complement it, though a Shaggoth cannot take it.

Uncanny Senses: To round things off on the Mutation front, a nice, simple +1 to Initiative. A decent thing to take given that though our characters are not lumbering oiks they are also not Quick Draw McGraws, and in this age of chargers getting an Initiative bonus but not always going first, giving this to a fighty character could spell the difference between him being able to knock a charging enemy for six before they can even fight, and weathering that same charging unit's painful round of lance attacks.


MAGIC WEAPONS

Primeval Club: Not a bad item to take at all now, for 5 points cheaper than an Ogre Blade you get a superior Strength bonus (+3 for a Leadership 9 Shaggoth, Leadership 8 Beastlord or a Leadership 7 Wargor) and a superior AP bonus, plus Poisoned Attacks in return for losing Multiple Wounds (which of course is luck-dependent) and Armour Bane(1) (not hugely much use when you've already got AP -3 which will be enough to ignore the armour of most foes anyway). However this weapon is best given to one of the Chieftain characters mentioned above, as Minotaur characters will only get a +2 Strength bonus for a Leadership 8 Doombull or Leadership 7 Gorebull. Also you get Hatred (Empire), for what that's worth.

Axe of Men: This one's a reasonable trade for the Headsman's Axe which costs roughly the same, trading the Strength bonus for the ability to take a Shield, so it has a use in defensive builds. Killing Blow makes you a significant threat to infantry and cavalry models all round, and killing any enemy character in a challenge gives you Terror, which is significantly better now. Certainly useful if you're up against armies with lots of expendable foot characters (Night Goblin armies beware!), and Killing Blow will give you a chance even of getting past a Chaos Lord build if your opponent is unlucky with his Ward Saves. Certainly one worth considering with the right build and strategy.

Mangelder: 10 points cheaper than the Axe of Men, gives you back the Strength bonus from the Headsman's Axe and automatically makes you cause Terror (with the added bonus of taking away a point of Leadership from anything that suffers at least one wound from your character's attacks), at the cost of losing Killing Blow. A great item to bring against armies with poor overall morale (alongside the Manbane Standard on the character's unit for a -2 total Leadership penalty), so human armies and Greenskins are particularly fair game, while Dwarfs, Elves and Undead are less so.

Hunter's Spear: Turns your character into a half-range Bolt Thrower that can move and shoot. Certainly worth it on a Beastlord or Doombull for 35 points as a way of softening up massive blocks of infantry or lances of Bretonnian Knights, and particularly if you have a couple of Cygors in your Rare allowance to prove to your opponents that Beastmen can play the artillery game as well as anyone else can.


MAGIC ARMOUR

Pelt of the Dark Young: With the sad disappearance of the Ramhorn Helm (though it may return in our Arcane Journal, fingers crossed), this item from the 6th Edition book is now part of our ticket to maximising the armour save of one lucky character. Adds a +1 bonus to the wearer's armour save that can work alongside other armour, and as an added bonus gives the wearer and their unit Magic Resistance +2. Noice.

The Blackened Plate: A set of full-plate armour? Yes please! This will form the basis of many super Beastlord and Doombull builds - combining this with the Pelt of the Dark Young and Gnarled Hide above gives our character a lovely-jubbly 2+ armour save, the maximum in this game where everyone generally has less armour-piercing capability. He also gets a 3+ Ward against Flaming Attacks, so can laugh at any character stupid enough to bring them.


TALISMANS

Rune of the True Beast: Worsens the Weapon Skill of Monsters within 6" of the bearer by 1. Not bad for 30 points and something worth taking if you know your opponent loves their monsters, though you'd better hope your opponent doesn't turn up playing Dwarfs.

Dark Heart: Probably one of the best items a Beastman general can get anywhere, every character should have one if you can afford it. A one-use only item that your character can consume in the Strategy Phase to regain a lost Wound, and an Extremely Common item to boot. True, the Healing Potion heals up to D3 Wounds instead for only 10 points more, but a result of 2 or 3 will very often be wasted on a character with only 2 or 3 Wounds to start with. Save the Healing Potions for your chunkier Minotaur characters, while your Beastlords, Wargors and Shamans take a cheaper Dark Heart (or two).


MAGIC STANDARDS

Totem of Rust: Pretty much the same as it was before, the Totem reduces the armour save of all models (friend or foe) within 6" by 1. An annoying remnant of the self-sabotaging items and mechanics from the 7th Edition book, especially for a full 50 points cost, but one unit can make particular use of it - it is a great boon for some units of Gors to be able to take Magic Standards now, as, with their extreme lack of armour, they don't have an armour save to lose, and thus get the full benefit of the Totem without its main drawback. They are also in particular need of its benefit, as they don't have access to any AP value otherwise. Just make sure to keep the unit that carries it more than 6" away from any of your other units, and it'll be fine.

Manbane Standard: All enemy units within 6" of the banner suffer a -1 penalty to their Leadership. Nice and simple and pretty solid. A good one to give to your Wargor BSB, as there are others out there that are better to give to specific units.

Vitriolic Totem: The triumphant return of this glorious banner from the 6th Edition book allows one of your units to have Poisoned Attacks. Would be a good one to give to any unit, but again a unit of Gors with additional hand weapons will make best use of it.

Banner of Outrage: Probably one of the biggest jokes from the 7th Edition book has been drastically reworked, now simply allowing you to re-roll Primal Fury tests, for a cheap 25 points. Note that it allows you even to re-roll successful ones, so can be useful for trying to get those all-important doubles to try and get Frenzy, but this standard is particularly crying out to be given to a unit of Minotaurs, who are particularly reliant upon making their Primal Fury tests to be able to get AP -2 as well as re-rolls of 1 to hit and potentially their boosted Frenzy.


ENCHANTED ITEMS

Stone of Spite: Probably the worst item in our selection this time, though not entirely without use. A one-use-only item that reduces the casting rolls of all Wizards, both friendly and enemy, by 2 - great if you're for whatever reason going without magic and are confident you're going up against a magic-heavy opponent (particularly if you're gunning for a Minotaur army), otherwise a hard pass.

Horn of the First Beast: All friendly units within 15" of the model carrying the Horn of the First Beast may use its Leadership when testing for Primal Fury. Would have been a great item to have in 7th and 8th Edition when our characters had higher Leadership and Primal Fury was what we relied upon to deal our damage, but since units that use Primal Fury can now add their rank bonus to their Leadership through the Warband rule, Primal Fury on its own is poor and our characters have had their overall Leadership reduced, this item is pretty low down on our priority list.

Skin of Man: That silly and fun yet grimdark item from the 7th Edition book is back, and gives a character the pick of Scouts and Vanguard. As before, it can only apply to a character on foot so can't be used to get a Chariot closer to the enemy, and there's generally little reason as to why you would want a non-Minotaur character running around on their own where the enemy can shoot them without issue. However if you combine it with the Flying Carpet from the rulebook it can lead to some fun nuisance shenanigans, particularly if a Bray-Shaman with some offensive magic spells is involved.


ARCANE ITEMS

The Plague Chalice: Potentially a strong item to use, the Plague Chalice allows any roll of a double when casting to produce a perfect invocation, at the cost of a Strength 4 hit with no armour saves allowed on the recipient Shaman each time this happens. Perfect Invocations themselves don't cause a miscast anymore (correctly) so that's the only downside, and a T5 Great Bray-Shaman with an adequate Ward Save should be able to shrug most of these hits off, though it'd be worth taking a Dark Heart or two to heal back any wounds you do suffer from this item. However standard Bray-Shamans, which can be wounded more easily by these hits and will be much less likely to afford a Ward Save alongside this item, should avoid it.

Hagtree Fetish: One of the better items from the 7th book to survive the transition to TOW, and very similar to what it was before - Whenever the Shaman successfully casts a Magic Missile, he may re-roll all failed To Wound rolls for it. Excellent for making Viletide something to be genuinely worried about, but otherwise it won't see that much use given that we only have two other Magic Missile accessible to us, Wind Blast from probably the Lore that is least useful to us, and The Summoning, which is from an all-round better lore and has an already solid Strength that is made even more formidable with this item, but can be resisted by armoured units. Take it if you plan to play with any mixture of The Summoning, Wind Blast or Viletide, otherwise don't.

Jagged Dagger: Very much as it was in 7th/8th again, you get to sacrifice unwilling Beastmen to improve your casting results (though this time it adds the Wounds characteristic of the deceased model to the casting roll instead of a Power Dice). Obviously a reason as to why you'd want some Ungors in your force, though of course your Bray-Shaman would have to join them to be able to do this (not a good idea if there are enemies close by waiting to charge you). On the other hand you can choose to sacrifice more valuable models - even Minotaurs to give a mighty +3 bonus - but obviously losing these models would be a lot more painful for your army as a whole. Even sacrificing a standard Gor could influence the loss of a combat later in the game, so this is very much a gambler's item. But the upside is that is only 15 points to spend, so if you're a punk that's feeling lucky you can have a go with it and see where it takes you.


Pretty much a solid Magic Item list all round except for the Enchanted Items. Everything else has its uses, and we have both much less overpricing of items and many more actually good items than we used to.