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New to fantasy and looking to start a Beastmen army. I know they are not the top tier armies in 8th ed, but I would like to get some suggestions on a competitive starter list (1250pts) to build off from. I would like to incorporate Bray Shamans and Minotaurs (if possible for competitive level). However, I would love input on other types of lords/heroes and special/rare options. Read a lot on Gor hordes, so I assume I'm going to have to get a lot of those guys as the backbone of my army. Are Ungors viable in a competitive list? Also, are battalions the best way to go?

The Beastmen battalion is barely worth the money IMO

It's probably one of the sets that gives off the bare minimum when it comes to deals. Free box or more is what all batallions and battleforces offer. Beastmen's is not too appealing in my opinion as well but would be helpful in building the Gor horde. Can't go wrong with Bestigors either? Well.. I wouldn't know. That's what I need you guys!

I've build much of my army up around several battalion boxes. I'm not sure if it's the best box, prize wise, but at least you get units that you will use.

Ungors can be a very good alternativ in smaller games, they dont kill as much as Gors but they rank up nicely. I know that some prefer Ungors to Gors but as far as I'm conserned it's really up to your own preference.

Minotaurs can become damn near unstoppable, "become" being the keyword here. they are T 4 and only comes with light armour, they can get shields but most people goes for AHW. This means that they are fairly easy to kill, and with their reputation they will be subject to magic/warmachinefire to your frustration. People tend not to use them in competitive enviorments since they become frenzied and therefore difficult to control. If you choose to field them, remember to have either a Chariot or Razorgor for running down those units you break.

The following are the triks beastmenplayers use to win.

The General: a Beastlord kitted out to survive, and with the Crown of Command. He's often seen in a unit of Bestigors with the +1 Ld banner, or in a horde of Gors.

Magic: A Great Bray Shaman lvl 4 with lore of Shadow, and up to 3 lvl 1 shamans with the lore of beast (signature spell all of them) standing around the Shard of the Herdstone. A cheaper, if more risky, way to get a good magic phase is to make a Great bray shaman with; Jagged Dagger, Talis. of Pres., Brass Cleaver or at least AHW.

BSB: Wargor with Gnarled hide, HA, Shield, and the beastbanner. He's always in a horde of Gors with AHW; and now you have your Deathstar, getting at least one Wyssans Wildform off on them and you have 40 attacks, ws 4, reroll to hit, St 5, T 5 monsters.

If you really want to win don't bother with any rare units or Lore of the Wild.

If you want a challenge try Centigors, they can become core and therefore make a interesting list.

But to really win you want Harpies, Bestigors, Gors, Chariots, Character Ld, and as offensive magic as you can squeeze out of the army.

Hope it's of use to you.

Thank you very much this. This is very useful!

You're welcome.
Beastmen can indeed win, although at times it can be a struggle. Watch out for cavalry and warmachines they can really mess with your plan.
This is also why you should get some harpies as soon as you can, I've seen some converted from ungor models.
Good luck with it all and show 'em never to underestimate the herd.

Anymore tips out there?

The Bad Dice podcast had a really great interview with a guy who wins tourneys with his Beastmen rolling a big unit of Gors, a beastlord and a mess of level 2 shamans in an ungor bunker. Really neat list and a good discussion of the book cover to cover; I definitely would recommend googling it up.

I swear by bestigors with the banner of eternal flame in a block of at least 20. This can be an amazing big monster killer. Harpies with the scout upgrade are brilliant war machine hunters. Gors are the workhorse of your army. 2 decent sized units of them with possibly ungors if they take your fancy in another large unit and you have a strong force. Top that with lore of beast shamans for augment spells and you have a winning combination. Also minotaurs with armor and shield can do remarkably well.

Also a fun minotaur hero I've tried is one with slug skin, ramhorn helm, gouge tusks, Heavy armor , handweapon, shield and the dawnstone. This guy gets extra attacks on anything at base contact, His normal attacks, plus extra attacks every time he makes an armor save. ( which he gets 2 tries at ). All with armor piercing. Stick him with a unit of handweapon and shield minotaurs and they can grind their way through many threats. If your able to take that setup on a doombull!

i use a slightly different competitive list. (i dont know if 50% lords and heroes count)

I use 2 hordes for my beastmen, gors with AHW and bestigors, minimum of 35 models each. The bestigors usually bring razor standard or banner of swiftness.

about 5 ungor skirmishers, 2 to 3 chariots at the flank.

but i guess the list shines when you look at the characters:

beastlord, Armor of destiny, chalice of dark rain, can carry shield or great weapon - just for support, he just needs to live and dish-out a bit of damage, chalice is there for your guys to live just in time to charge into the opponent. he is not the duelling kind of lord because our stats and special rules cant possibly put him at par with nurgle DP's, red fury vamp lords, etc.

great bray shaman - lvl 4, lore of wild, fencers blade, talisman +4, hagtree fetish

great bray shaman - lvl 4, lore of beast, talisman 5+, staff of darkoth, AHW

wargor -bsb, HA, shield, horn of great hunt


the reason i use lore of wild because of the problems with monsters, war machines (which can be dealt with viletide). Mantle of Ghorok gives your bray-shaman very killy potential. Bray-scream does wonders with cavalry/nurgle dp's, high armor in general. Traitor-kin lets you deal with pesky monstrous and super heavy cav and monster riders.

The tricky and challenging part of the build/army is to keep your army tight and near together for the bray shamans to support each other's horde. (wild+bsb = bestigors, beasts+beastlord = gors). The army is meant to pick apart the opposing army one by one, while the chariots and ungors try to make a mess of things and stalling other units' advance for your hordes to establish a good position whether to receive or make the charge.

marks of chaos really help out the lords because when you kit them all out with Mark of Tzeentch, they would get to a minimum of 4+ ward saves with 2 guys having 3+ ward saves.