# Ungor Spear block: still viable in 8th? (or a cockamamy scheme to begin with)



## blackspine (Jun 9, 2010)

Hey all.
I'm a recent addition to the Beastmen forces and hope to grow 2 variations of rampaging armies. 
1. a foot slogging Core and Hard hitter army. Hounds & skirmishers to bait and take fire. Ungors & Gors as far as the eye can see w/ a few minos and ranks of bestigors hacking away at the exposed flanks.

2. A hard hitting Fast army. Centigor core (Ghorros' ability) with some Gors in the rear ( to provide some ambushers too), Several chariots and Minotaurs stampeding down the field. 

The following is for Army 1.


A block/ formation of 30+ Ungors, (at least 3 deep) with Spears and shields who would be lead by a Gorebull. They would have rank fighting, taking advantage of the Gorebull's "slaughter's call" for FRENZY.

The concept is that a potentially cheap unit enabled to pack a whollop and is a great meat shield for the Gorebull, who can wreak his own havoc. Added bonus, this many ungors on the field enables me to have just as many behind the lines in ambush. So if I have 30 (or more ) ungors on the field, I can have a potentially lethal block pop up on the flanks and rear of the enemy. Doing what beastman do best. Not only that but have roaming blocks of 10-15 man Gors assaulting flanks

My questions and concerns are numerous.

Is this still viable?
Is there a way of boosting the Ungor's strength ( banners etc) to make them truly formidable?
with the upcoming 'horde' rules, should I beef out the unit to 60 ungors? Will the ranks of spears attacks be increased even more?

Will fleeing Chaos Hounds panic this group?

I have to admit, I am getting sick of painting ungors. :angry:
(but I can't get enough of Bestigors)

Thanks for any advice & cheers.


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

The unit of 30 Ungors that're Frenzied is viable, purely because one of the great things about Fantasy is that pretty much any unit CAN be dangerous. However, it'd be far more effective if you did it with Gors. Keep in mind that Ungors are just M5 Goblins for all intents and purposes-- they leave a lot to be desired. 

There's not a way to boost their strength that I'm aware of-- since they can't have halberds or great weapons, and there's no banner that flat increases strength in either the Beastman book or the Common Magic Items list. 

60 Ungors is probably a bad idea. That unit has a VERY large footprint on the table, and while they're going to be stubborn against basically everything and fight with a ton of attacks, they also will find themselves fighting against multiple units of vastly superior foes. You'll also run into the problem of units fleeing through it, which will panic the lot of 'em. I suppose that answers the bit about warhounds, too-- even a single Warhound fleeing through that unit of 60 causes panic now-- since there's no Unit Strength mentioned ANYWHERE in the 8th edition rulebook, even a single model fleeing through a friendly unit incites panic. 

I think what you'll want to do is bring a couple units of 40 Ungors that're 10 wide, rather than 60. It gives them a slightly smaller flank, and it leaves the unit a little less expensive so you can put more points into more effective things like Gors. Bestigors are also quite viable due to the Step Up rules-- striking last is only an issue if the unit basically gets decimated in a round of combat. I'd look into units of at least 20 Gors and Bestigors, if not units of 25.


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## Drax (Sep 19, 2007)

blackspine said:


> Will fleeing Chaos Hounds panic this group?


i've not seen the new rules regarding panic or frenzy, but if nothing much has changed, then the Ungors won't panic whilst the Gorebull still has Frenzy


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## neilbatte (Jan 2, 2008)

If your overworried about panic then a BSB within 12" should at least give you a reroll, 40 should give you stubborn and you can always use the generals LD.
I'd be more concerned about failing the test for frenzy and being pulled out of the ld bubble of the general and bsb than fleeing.
The biggest threat to this unit will be template heavy armies as templates are more dangerous and more accurate now.


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## blackspine (Jun 9, 2010)

*good pickin's*

I imagine that the horde rules and larger units will provide nothing but amazing targets for beefed up warmachines/ templates.

I agree that gors would be a lot better, but how many attacks would this many ranks of spears get? If frenzied, that's 2 attacks per at least the first two ranks, and maybe even the third w/ the new rules?

Slaughterer's call, from the Gorebull, makes them auto frenzy I believe. Gors would have better attacks, even more so Bestigors...but that unit would just be targeted by every ranged attack in existence. I would definetly see this unit very close to the BSB.
Good points about the large footprint. 40 is about as big as it should ever get.

shame about the warhounds. makes me rethink screening units. 

I was hoping that the ungor block; frenzied and w/ a gorebull would make people focus a bit more on a cheap unit. Additionally, one that could hit fairly well ( not Bestigor lvl) and bog down people for a while as the gor blocks and bestigors do their thing. Namely providing the REAL punch.


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## blackspine (Jun 9, 2010)

The Son of Horus said:


> I think what you'll want to do is bring a couple units of 40 Ungors that're 10 wide, rather than 60. It gives them a slightly smaller flank, and it leaves the unit a little less expensive so you can put more points into more effective things like Gors. Bestigors are also quite viable due to the Step Up rules-- striking last is only an issue if the unit basically gets decimated in a round of combat. I'd look into units of at least 20 Gors and Bestigors, if not units of 25.


Very good points. Thanks a ton. 
The smaller flank would be nice, and making the enemy chase/ try to flank a unit that is a SMALL cost of points for me (6/per i believe for spear& shield) is nice since my more potent and almost as cheap units can have some freedom roaming around and attempting counter-flanking maneuvers.

8th ed (well, the upcoming) is really making me enjoy Beastmen much more than I already did (if possible). As you pointed out, Bestigors are viable and for a decent cost, they provide a good reliable whollop.

As much as I love minotaurs, Bestigors almost top them in smaller battles. Sure they don't have the impact, but they cost less and can fight in ranks and I believe psychologically, provide less of a juicy target than Minotaurs.


Too bad that I've bought quite a few boxes of minotaurs. Damn gorgeous models.


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