Beastmen Army Lists

This page will contain lists that I take to tournaments. I will also discuss the strategy around that list, and how it did.

2,000 Points - 2011.11.13 - This 2,000 point list is a break from my usual list style. I've dropped the Shard of the Herdstone, dropped one of the level 1 LoBeasts shamans, and only took a unit of Bestigor and a unit of Harpies as special choices. I've added the Jabberslythe.

I don't expect too much from this list. I am seriously lacking in a way to deal with things like Hydras and A-bombs. My previous strategy for them being LoShadow spells.

It's probably obvious to any astute observer that I'm getting pretty bored with the usual build. Merry Mayhem is a fun tourney, at a lower points cost, so I want to mix it up. This will give me some experience with LoDeath, which I am taking on the level 4. It will also give me a chance to use the Jabber. I think he could be effective, I just have to figure out how best to use him. Hopefully I come up with something different for him, rather than my usual strategy of just running him right up the guts and trying to smash stuff.

Results: The tourney was a blast, and the list worked much better than I thought it would. The Lore of Death's Purple Sun was awesome, especially when combined with the Lore of Shadow's Miasma spell. It did a ton of killing! Crazy good combo, even against high Initiative opponents. The Jabber worked really well also. In the first two games I made it a point to play more reserved with it; to get around the opponent or tie up their chaff units. In the third game, I got a bit flustered, and just charged in the Jabber. That was a real mistake, and was the only game that I lost the big fella.

The rest of the list performed as it usually does: rather well. I ended up going 2 and 1. A really good showing since the opponents I beat were playing Dark Elves and Vampire Counts. The game I lost was game 3, against Bretonnians. I'm getting really good at flubbing the last game of tournaments, when I'm on all wins up until them. Meh.

2,200 Points - 2011.10.18 - This list is similar to the 2,200 point list from Oktoberfest, but tweaked based on my Oktoberfest experience. Because the 4 strong Minotaur unit seemed too small, I dropped it. That leaves a fair amount of points to play with.

I've decided to do something crazy and take Centigor. A unit of ten, with full command. That adds a sizable unit that can be a threat. 2 attacks each, 4+ armor save, strength 5 on the charge with Primal Fury. Sounds decent. At Oktoberfest I played against a Dark Elf guy that had a large block of Cold One Knights. In my mind, I was a bit thrown off. You never see that kind of thing any more, and I wasn't entirely sure how to handle it. I'm hoping the Centigor will have that same effect on my opponents. This unit also adds the long range threat that I lost by dropping one of the chariots. In all honesty, I'm excited to see how the Centigor will do.

Tourney done. I went 4-1. Took 5th overall. The list worked great, as usual. The Centigors performed great, and I am really glad I took them instead of the Minotaurs. On their chart, I rolled Stubborn three times, and the other two options once. They were able to quickly get behind the enemy when an opponent left a flank open. They also were able to keep several chariots in check, keeping them from getting too close. They did prove to be highly vulnerable to the Pit of Shades. That one really hurt!

Other than that, everything performed well. The Shard of the Herdstone ended up giving me the edge over a Beastman player, who had a very similar build. I took a 14-6 win over him. The Herdstone was a bit of a hindrance against Book of Hoeth toting High Elves though. The last thing you want in that situation is more casting dice, and thus more temptation to throw them! I was able to get a 13-7 win there. I played against Ogres, and was able to bottle them up. Thus they had to come at me one regiment at a time. I got a 20-0 out of that one. I played an Orc and Goblin army made up of little more than two huge blocks of Orcs; one Savage Orcs, and one Black Orcs. I beat him up 20-0. He had some rough luck, and my dice were really on. Lastly, I got beat really bad by a Chaos Warrior list. I got a 0-20 there. He lined up against the back edge, and magicked and shot me to death. When I finally got in there, there weren't nearly enough Beasts to do the job.

2,200 Points + 300 Points of Allies - 2011.10.15 - This list is pretty much my 2,400 point list, with a few things chopped off. The stuff I removed was the stuff that was usually ineffective (Minotaur and one of the Tuskgor Chariots).

This list worked alright. It was difficult to play through a mightly hang-over headache, so I'm the likely culprit for my mediocre performance. I went 1-1-1. A draw against Khorne Knight-heavy Chaos Warriors, a loss against a Tomb King list, and a win against a double Hydra Dark Elf list.

All-in-all, I wouldn't take this list to a tourney again. The Minotaur unit was too small. If one died from shooting, they became pretty worthless. The loss of the one of the Tuskgor chariots really removed my long-range threat, and gave me less chaff to throw away... err valiantly sacrifice I mean. At this point, I'm looking to make some chnages. Stay tuned...

2,400 Points - 2011.08.31 - This is the same list that I took to BitS. It worked pretty well, and I've been way too busy to paint up anything new. I've actually been enjoying my hobby time, working on several fun and interesting projects. At this point, I don't want to get overwhelmed with a timeline project.

I did add a short story to the Fluff page, so go along with the army for this event.

This list worked great, once again. I went 4 and 1. The one loss I had was due to the absolute worst dice rolling I've ever experienced. Highlights of the event included the performance of the Minotaur. I think I've finally figured out how to use them best. The key is to send them after opponents that they can beat up on with a certainty. Things like warmachines, skinks, small units of dwarf warriors or miners, pegasus knights, and so on. They performed better than they ever have. Another thing to remember with them is to not let them get into a combat that they can't handle. Don't be afraid to flee a charge, if they're going to get smoked and break anyways. I even used them as a bait unit at one point, luring out a large block of temple guard, and fleeing their charge. Thus leaving the temple guard flank exposed to the bestigor unit.

Other than that, everything else worked as usual. Bestigor and gor kicked serious behind in combat, the Shard of the Herdstone made the magic phase effective 90% of the time, and the harpies got in the way of opponents whenever they could.

I am rather sick of playing this build for the time being, lets hope I can get motivated to work on something new!

2,400 Points - 2011.06.10 - This was the Blood in the Sun list. The strategy was similar to that of the Adepticon list above. In fact the first paragraph above sums it up very well.

Once again the 3 wizards with the Shard of the Herdstone were great. I always had at least 7 or 8 casting dice, and more often than not I had 12. The Gor also performed amazingly well again. I still think they are the best unit in the game.

The Harpies did their job well. It was great having a highly mobile throw-away unit. Many times it worked great to drop them in front of a smallish enemy unit and cast Mind Razor on them. With their high Initiative value, people had to think twice before just charging in.

The Minotaur were highly disappointing, as usual. They seem so great on paper, but are rather miserable in the game. That has proven true many times over. Poor Leadership, and no survivability means they're easily overwhelmed. One you lose a model or two, their potential effectiveness is in the toilet.

I went 4-0-1 with this list. Took Best General, and was only one point out of first place. I was super happy with those results. Next I will be building a second Bestigor block, 24 strong. They, along with a unit of 9 skirmishing Ungors, will replace the Minotaur.

3,000 Points - 2011.03.30 - I took this list to the Adepticon 3,000 tourney. The tactic was basically to have good magic phases, augment my troops, and smash all opponents! The Beastlord was meant to go to with the Bestigor, making them Stubborn and his Inspiring Presence Leadership 10. The 3 wizards generally went with the Ungor, hanging out in the backfield by the Shard of the Herdstone.

It's definitely not full of optimal choices, but was pretty fun to play. The 3 wizards with the Shard of the Herdstone made the magic phase pretty solid throughout. The Gor were always impressive with what they could take on. They were definitely the best unit of the event.

The Jabber is really fun to play with. I had to use him since I put so much effort into building and painting him. His Aura of Madness did a surprising amount of damage to a High Elf force.

I went 1 - 2 with the list. Not a great showing, but a good time none-the-less. One thing this list is sorely lacking is a way to deal with large monsters. I was whipped on pretty bad by a double A-bomb Skaven list. I think I could have fared better had I had a few more practice games.