# Beastman Tactics – Picking your Characters



## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

As with all armies Beastman tactics on the tabletop are not a replication of Beastman tactics in stories. However, the Army Book is written to give them a strong flavour of their place in the Warhammer world so their habits in fluff do help in remembering how the army fits together on the table.

So an army of animals a good start is picking the one with enough brain to keep them together, and with some of Beastman characters being in expensive you can even take more than one.

Beastman Tactics – Picking your Lord
Beastlord
At LD9 the Beastlord has the highest leadership available so is a superb option for both keeping your less than heroic troops in the battle and bolstering your chances of Primal Fury.

Although Beastman tactics resolve more around offence, the Beastlord already has good close combat stats so keeping that Leadership alive makes a more defensive build a better option; one good synergy is a shield and Armour of Destiny.

If you have points free for a magic weapon then take an item takes his attacks up a notch so you can go with the most primal of Beastman tactics; hack everything up then stamp on the pieces.

Great Bray Shaman
Beastman Wizards are good in close combat. So a great start is to remember the heart of Beastman tactics is close combat and equip him to get in close and personal. An obvious pick is Jagged Dagger to turn your kills into power dice, paired with a magic weapon to increase the chance of plenty of kills.

With the risk if miscasts and not being dedicated close combat monsters, Great Bray Shaman really benefit from the best save possible so the Talisman of Preservation is a great option. 

Doombull
With stats that power thorough whatever he reaches the Doombull has “I am all you need to know about Beastman tactics” written all the way through like a nightmare stick of rock so why wouldn’t you take him? The fact that he is the encapsulation of Beastman tactics means that, while he could fight almost everything on his own, the rest of the army can pick up that burden as well so he takes up space without giving Leadership or Magic. So unless you are going for a themed Minotaur army or expect to face lots of high toughness opponents he is looses out to the other options.

As with the other Lords, he has plenty of natural potential to kill with most of his attacks so items that give extra attacks are a great approach. Of course, like most Beastman tactics, he is worthless unless he gets there so the Armour of Destiny is perfect; if you are in the position of running him with a Beastlord then his higher toughness makes him more survivable so the Armour of Fortune will give you almost the same edge.

Beastman Tactics – Picking your Heroes
Wargor
Unfortunately - whilst Beastmen share the tactic of combat wizards with Warriors of Chaos - they do not share the almost Lord stats for Heroes. Although the stat line is good they are not good enough to push out other options as general so serve best as a BSB.

Bray Shaman
The weakest of the Beastman characters in close combat so they sit best in a support role if you can afford several wizards. So we fall on a third recognised Beastman tactic: dance around the Herdstone before battle. Your Great Bray Shaman is dealing with the high level spells so give a Shaman a Shard of the Herdstone and guarantee that in the first turn all your wizards have plenty of dice so you definitely have your units buffed and the enemy debuffed from the start.

Gorebull
The Gorebull is the same single Beastman tactic in one handy package as a Doombull although it is a slightly smaller package. The obvious reason to take one is as BSB in a Minotaur list. However – unlike the Wargor – Gorebulls do have the stats to find a more of a place as a pure fighter if you have spare points.

With the best items taken by your Beastlord or Doombull one of the best edges a Gorebull can have is to hit first, so the Gold Sigil Sword leaps out as a great starting point; if you do have plenty of points the Sword of Swift Slaying is even more of an edge but is not worth the loss of items somewhere else.

Beastman Tactics – Keeping Within the Character Allowance
Like all armies the best approach is to avoid putting everything in one expensive block so go for multiple characters with fewer items unless your points are really tight. If you cannot afford a Beastlord, a Great Bray Shaman, and a BSB then the BSB’s rerolls cover off some of the advantages of LD9 so – unless you know you are not facing any magic - dropping the Beastlord is better than the Great Bray Shaman.

If you do not have space for a Great Bray Shaman either then the game is hopefully too small to need a BSB.


----------

