# WHFB Noob: Beastmen questions



## Insanity (Oct 25, 2011)

Alright, so I've been wanting to get into WHFB for awhile now (I collect 40K, but want to expand) and the army I want to collect is Beastmen, but I have a few questions.

1.) I've heard they are under powered? is this true? (not that I care too much)

2.) Are they very versatile? can I go from having huge herds of gors to small army of Beastigors and Minotaur?

3.) What can you tell me about their play style?

I'm sure I'll think of some more questions, but I'll leave it at that for now.

Thanks to any answers  :grin:


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## Magpie_Oz (Jan 16, 2012)

Mate of mine used to play beastmen but he said they were boring so he's switched to Dark Elves.

That is the sum total of my knowledge.


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## Azezel (May 23, 2010)

Insanity72 said:


> Alright, so I've been wanting to get into WHFB for awhile now (I collect 40K, but want to expand) and the army I want to collect is Beastmen, but I have a few questions.
> 
> 1.) I've heard they are under powered? is this true? (not that I care too much)
> 
> ...


Beastmen have a great aesthetic if you're into gnarly, beastly chaos, blood and destruction. very metal. The playstyle is also pretty cool if you like that sort of thing. Rape, kill and burn (Beastmen don't always do it in that order, they aren't picky) and have a grand old time doing it.

Don't let fears over power bother you, play what you like the look and feel of.

Also, drop by the Herdstone for detailed knowledge.

http://z8.invisionfree.com/herdstone/index.php?act=idx


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## OMNOMNOMIVORE (May 31, 2012)

I've got a friend who loves beastmen, here's a few things I've learned from him:

1. beatsmen have almost no shooting units. I think that there are only 3 units in the army book that can shoot, and one of them is blind. 

2. beastmen don't get very good armour on many units, so they like being in combat ASAP to avoid shooting from the enemy.

3. your wizards can actually do something in close combat in addition to getting the shadow and beast magic lores.

4. he likes deathstars, so he'll plonk down 60 gors with a beastlord and lore of beasts wizard, and they roflstomp pretty much everything they touch. problem is that when he does this, it's his only unit on the board worth more than 150 points if it's a smallish game.

5. beastmen don't have much versatility, mostly due to the lack of shooting. pretty every beastmen army you see will be focussed on combat beatsticks and have magic that reinforces it. they do, however, have a variety of units that can accomplish this.


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## Insanity (Oct 25, 2011)

Azezel said:


> Beastmen have a great aesthetic if you're into gnarly, beastly chaos, blood and destruction. very metal. The playstyle is also pretty cool if you like that sort of thing. Rape, kill and burn (Beastmen don't always do it in that order, they aren't picky) and have a grand old time doing


I'll probably go with Beastmen, just for this reason, maybe because it's the complete opposite of my Tau, but also I just like the idea of having hordes (or should I say herds?) of Beastmen rushing across the field.

Some more questions 

1.) I thought there only possible range units were magic users and the cygor? what else do they have?

2.) How does the force organisation chart (or equivalent) work for WHFB? I'm assuming I have a limit on how many special units I can have.

3.) I'm assuming lores are the selection of spells your magic users can use? (I know nearly nothing about WHFB), what makes lore of shadow so great?


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## Sir Whittaker (Jun 25, 2009)

Insanity72 said:


> I'll probably go with Beastmen, just for this reason, maybe because it's the complete opposite of my Tau, but also I just like the idea of having hordes (or should I say herds?) of Beastmen rushing across the field.
> 
> Some more questions
> 
> ...


1) Jabberslythes have a ranged attack, but the model isn't great & the points for one can be better spent elsewhere. Get more gors or bestigors instead. Ungor skirmishers have short bows that can be used to harass other skirmishers or shoot up a unit from behind via ambush.

2) It's limited by size of the game, you have minimum Core (Troops) choices & maximum for Lords & Heroes (HQ), Special & Rare (usually Fast Attack & Heavy Support respectively). 

3) Lore of Shadow has lots of tricksy spells that let you control the battlefield; moving units & the like. IMHO The Lore of Beasts is THE Lore for Beastmen. It's easier to cast on all your units, & gives you massive buffs that turn a humble unit of gor into a near unstopabble killing machine that will curbstomp anything stupid enough to get in the way. I usually have two Beasts wizards to one Shadow wizard.

The key to Beastmen is getting to combat quickly & not getting shot up on the way. Buffing your units with the Lore of Beasts will keep them alive & super killy. Use ambush to frustrate opponents, but do not rely on this to win games for you. Revel in the chaos that Beastmen bring to the battlefield whilst your opponent tries to stem the flow & can't decide where to focus his attack. Win or lose, make a horrible mess with your Beasts.


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## Azezel (May 23, 2010)

Insanity72 said:


> I'll probably go with Beastmen, just for this reason, maybe because it's the complete opposite of my Tau, but also I just like the idea of having hordes (or should I say herds?) of Beastmen rushing across the field.
> 
> Some more questions
> 
> ...


There are eight Lores in the core book. Each army has access to 0-8 of them. Some armies also have access to their own unique lore(s)

Beastmen get the Lores of Beasts, Shadow and Death from the core and their own Lore of the Wild (which is pretty crappy).

Each Lore has six spells plus one Signature spell. You get 1-4 spells rolled randomly and can swap any one for the sig spell.

Shadow has the flat-out best debuffs in the game, and the perhaps second best nuke in the game. Most of which are long ranged. Lore of Shadow turns elite supersoldiers into mewling kittens, and it does it well.

It also has a brilliant sig spell, Mystifying Miasma that reduces an enemy unit's WS, BS, Init, or Movement by d3 (or if you cast with extra power, all four at once!) There's never a situation where that spell isn't awesome.

Other Shadow spells reduce Toughness or Strength, and one lets you use your Leadership in place of Strength to wound and pierce armour (not so hot for Beastmen, admittedly, but still nice).

Lore of Beasts is a buff-centric Lore which honestly, does nothing that Shadow doesn't do better, but is slightly easier to cast. One of the spells lets your wizard turn into a dragon (or other monster of your choice).

Lore of Death is mostly about sniping characters and single models.


Most Beastmen magic-heavy builds take several cheap wizards who spam whatever Shadow debuffs they get, powerd by the magic-dice-generating Shard of the Herdstone item.


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