close combat - serviceable w/ high potential. Average stats for most units, but Primal Fury rule allows Hatred potentially every round. Minotaurs are scary and instead of Hatred can get Frenzy
magic - good. Can generate Power Dice and re-roll Wounds in Magic Phase. Access to strong offensive Lores, however their unique Lore (of the Wild) lacks proper configuration w/ the current BRB rules, and is therefore considered weak.
shooting - ehh, virtually non-existent. some Scouts have bows
monsters - well, they are beastmen! Minotaurs, again, are scary. Also have nice big warthog-like beasts. Their big monsters are their Rares, however they are widely considered overcosted and rarely taken. YMMV.
cavalry - mediocre and overcosted for what they do. There is also a chariot, which is better
speed - good. Has above average Movement. Beastmen Ambush, a couple different Scout units, chariot, etc allow for good flanking, misdirecting, WM-hunting, etc. Ini is middle of the road.
misc - low Ld in most units. Characters can have Gifts of Chaos which cover a variety of areas. Minotaurs must be played a certain way for high chance of success.

Fluff - Part man, part beast. Instinctive worshipers of Chaos. Uncivilized, dirty, savage beasts w/ few who are cunning/intelligent.

Beastmen are one of those armies that you either love or hate. They do for the time suffer from a sligthy outdated codex. But they still preform well if fielded by a skilled player. They are also a queit costly army, since one needs ALOT of core units in rather large units to make it efficent, therfor I have found that 2500+ games works very well for them. But that beeing said they work well in smaler games also, you also have the option of countless customizations with your rank & file troops. If you choose to alige them with a special God.

The Beastmen are the true children of Chaos, they are the ones that will rise up and cast down the hated mankind, and erase their cities. They care not fopr any sort of creation. Only violence and war, to face a beastherd is to face the stuff nigthmares and mad dreams drenched in blood.

A beastmen army can either go monster heavy( lots of Minotaurs) or you can have a tide of Gors and Bestigors lead by a migthy lord. They excell at close combat so no gun line love here. They also relye heavely on their speciial rules such as Ambush and Primival ury witch can turn the tide of war against their foes.


They have a few special rules that are very handy when dealing with armies such as HE, De and Dwarfes. these I will list in the text below.

SPECIAL RULES!

1. Primal fury : This rule are what makes the Beastmen so potential deadly in combat, it requiers a leadership test at the start of each turn of combat. If the test is passed they become the subject to hatered, and gets to reroll all missed attack even if its not the first round of combat. In addition to this, units who passes said test on a rol of dobble 1s are also subjected to frenzied

2. Beastman Ambush : This rule alows you to keep a unit of your choosing in resverve. The only requierment iss that you have a simmilar sized unit on the field of battle. If you intend to ambush witha unit of 50 Gors you need a unit of 50 Gors already deployed on the field of battle. But make sure to tell your opponet about this thou. special characthers can NOT join ambush unuits with the exception of Ungrol Fourhorn. See rulebook for more detail info on this

LORDS:

Khazrak The One Eyed
This is one of the Bestmens best Lords. he has a good statline. And very useful special rules and equipment. He gives the edge you often need against gunnlines
Special rules :
Bestilal Cunning : All units using the Ambush special rules can reroll their deployment roll
Magic Items : The Scourge. Very good against horde formations. Gives him the same amount of attacks equal to that of the troops in the first rank facing him.
The Dark Mail : A handy armour save, negates effects of magical or runic weapons.
Tip : Gor heavy army with large blocks around 80 with extra handweapon, and Bestigor bunker for Khazarak

Gorthor The Beastlord
A very effective Lord if used rigth, it also depends on what foe your figthing as he works best against O&G skaven and Empire.
Magic : Scion of the dark gods : Generates a random spell from the lord of death, it gives him half the amount of requierd power to cast said spell. He may not exchange this spell as a Normal wizzard may
Special rules : Primal fury, Chariot, Manbane
Special equipment :
The impaler : Gives killing blow
Skull Of Mugrar : When you gonna trow for impact hits this allowes for an extra dice to be trow and the higest result choosen.
Cloak of The Beastlord : Allowes any unit within 18 inches of him to use his leadership charactheristic
Tip : Chariots and more chariots pluss Minotaurs. And dont forget Gors

Malagor the Dark Omen
He is a lvl 4 wizzard, and thus making him your ideal choice for a caster in the Beastmen army. He may choose from the following lores : Lore of the wild. Lore of death, lore of lore of shadows and lore of beasts. He can also fly witch is nice to have for a spellcaster and not having to pay for it
Magic : Lvl 4 wizzard
Special equipment : Something wicked this way comes : Any enemy unit with in 6 of him may not use their Generals leadership if he is not in their unit
Unholy powers : For every spell he casts he gets a cumulative +1 on subsequent casting attempts for the rest of the magic phase.
Magic items : Icons of Vilification : All friensdly units within 6 making their primal fury test, will be frenzied on a roll of double 1s

Ghorros Warhoof
This is one of those Lords you either love or hate. Personaly I find him okay but I wont run him in any games I am needing to win. He dose however have some qualities that makes him usefull thou.
Special rules :
The Sons of Ghorros : Gives a +1 WS and the look out sir rule
Father Of Beasts : All units in your army gets a +1 to their leadershiptest if he is killed, this applies when taking primal fury test.
Magic items : Mansmahser : Each unsaved wound caused by this weapon is multiplied into D3 wounds.
Skull og the Unicorn lord : Gives a 2 magical resistance, and all wood elfs gets hatred when figthing him.

Morghur
A hero I have never personaly tried, would love to hear from people who have.
Special rules :
Aura of Tramsformation : he cannot be harmed by missile or magic attacks unless the source of the attacks in less the 12 from him. And in the beginning of each combat phase all units in base contact with him takes a S3 hit with no armour save allowed.
Spirirt - essence of Chaos : See codex P 57

Taurox The Brass Bull
Now this is a real monster on the tabel, he has the potential to devesate a enemy formation when put in a Minotaur herd. He is subject to frenzie but that is worth the price you pay for him.
Special rules :
Bloodgreed, fear. frenzie, Slaugthers call
Brass body : He has a 1+ save, however if an attacker rolles a six on to hit and a six on to wund he will fall if he fails armour saves.
Impact hits : Causes D3 +1 on the turn he charges
Magic items : Rune tortured axes : Ignores armour and stopps regen aka flaming

Moonclaw, Son of Morrslieb
I have never fileded this one either. And he seems to be somewhat hit or miss in the effecivness scale
Magic : Lvl 1 wizzard with Lore of the Wild and Lore of the Shadows
Special rules : Primal Fury
Waves of insanity : see page 59 in codex
Unholy Zeniht : same as above
Ward Of Morrslieb : same as above

Ungrol Four horn
This is the opnly Ungor hero you will find in the whole beastmen Codex, he suffers from a low statline but will work well with a Ungor themed army or smal games
Special rules :
Primal fury,
bruised and bitter : alowes for reroll of Primal fury when figthing Bretonnia, Empire and Beastmen. but the unit he is in may not use his leadership, and no other hero/lord can join either.
Magic items : The stolen crwons : Allowes for a better wepaon skill of 2 and +1 strengt in the current turn.

Slugtonuge
This a Lord that dont seem to get used that much around in my gaming circel, a real shame because he is very effective if used in cohersion with Malagor The Dark Omen, or Khazarak The One Eyed.
Magic : Lvl 2 wizzard, he can generate spells from the Lore Of the wild and The Lore of death
Special Rules : Primal fury, poisend attack and regenration
Curse of the Famine fiend : This one of the special rules that have the potetiale to ruin your opponest plan of battle.

Beastlords : This is your most addeptebal Lord, he has a good stat line. And can be given some rather intresting magical weapons/ gear but works well without too many upgrades also. They are great for holding the line, I make sure to have at least one in my army at all times. If the points are not avalebal I take at least a Wargor witch is baislicly a scaled down version of the Beastlord.
Special rules : Man Bane. When figthing units from either Bretonnia or The Empire this alowes you to reroll any failed primal fury tests( this applies to any unit in the same combat as the Beastlord.
Tactic : Bestigors are your Beastlords best friend. Give them the manbane standard and give your Lord a gifft of chaos & weapon of your own choosing.

Doombull / Gorebull
This is the Lord/ Hero I normaly use, they combine good stats with lots of wounds. And are generaly vERY durebal in battle, they work best with Minotaurs,. If you got the points to spare I recomend a large unit of Minotaurs with either GW or additonal hand weapon if you want the attacks, or higher strengt attacks.
Special rules
Bloodgreed, Frenzy, Fear.
Tactic : Minotaurs with this beast along for the ride will reliabel kill their own point value each game if you use them correctly. Give the Minotaurs the weapon loadout that suits your gaming style. But do make sure to load the Bull with the rigth wepons & armour.

Core

Gors : Your best choice for rank and file troops. they provide a reliabel force and can ambush, combined with the rigth playstyle they can and WILL take appart an army bit by bit.
Special Rules : Ambush, Primal fury
Recomended unit size : 40+

Ungors : Cheap and prefor thereafer, they do provide a cheap harrash screen or fodder for the rest of your army.
Special rules : Primla Fury, Ambush
Recomended unit size : no more than 40

Ungor raiders : your only ranged troops, they are generaly not worth taking. but they do offer a okay warmachine hunter unit.
Special rules : Ambush, Primival fury
Recomend size : 10 max ( you cant take more than that :

Tuskgor chariot : Not any good in this current codex. Avoid at all cost unless you are running Gorthhor the Beastlord and want a army themed after him.

Warhounds :works well as a scrren for your amy
recomed unit size : 5 +

Special :
Minotaurs : Ah now this a wonderful unit. Sadly its also the one that one is almost forced to take as a Beastmen player due to the current codex.
Special rules : Bloodgreed, Frenzy, Impact hits
Recomended unit size : 5 or more, full command is a must.

Centigors : the only thin besides chariots that resembels cavalry in the army book. They are worth taking if you include Ghorhoss Warhoff
Special rules : Primal fury, Drunken!
Recomned size : 10 with Ghorhoff

Bestigors : Your most cost efficent troops, they are an absolute must if your facing Ogers, Trolls or such nasties. I never leave home without them
Special rules : Primal fury, Despoilers
Recomended unit size : 20+. I found that 49 works well in large games, althou that rack up alot of points

Razorgor chariot : The superd cousin of the tuskgor chariot, its a hard hitting unit that can work well if not shoot to pices first.
Special rules : Primivial fury, Chariot, Fear, Thunderos charge.
Recomneded unit size : 1

Razorgor herd : Now this is something Istrongly recommned all Beastmen players to try, they work very well aganist weaker core troops but can struggel against units that have high toughness and wounds.
Special rules : Fear, Thonderous charge
Recomned unit size : 1+ but dont take more than 4

Rare :

Cygor : Eats wizzards, horribly bad at trowing stones and generaly a pain in the rear of the one fielding him. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

Ghorgon : This one of those monsters who are either a complet win, or can be a point drain if it goes bad. Its main strengt is its sheer brutal nummber of special rules and attacks, And you get to make your own since there is no offical moddel out yet.
Special rules : Bloodgreed, Frenzy, Immune to psycology, Large Target, Strengt from flesh, stubborn, swllow whole, Terror.
Recomended use . CHARGE and watch the fun begin as your opponet gets distracted by this Minotaur on steriods

Chaos Spawn : Not worth taking, preforms very poorly. take more bestigors instead

Giant : They are the monster that is most commonly used by me, I find them very effective against just about anything short of Phoenix guard or a Dragon.
Specail rules . Fall over, Giant special attacks, Immune to psycology, Longshanks, terror, stubborn.
Recomed nummber : i normaly use two and have found this to work quiet well. But then again they seem to die each game..... maybe I am doing something wrong? Anyways best used against monsters suchh as trolls and other things hat takes alot of strengt to kill.

Jabberslyte : No moddel so create your own, it seems to be quite ffective. But I have nevr used it.

I will try to get some tactics and a look at the magic items done as soon as possibel. And sign me up for Beastmen, let me know if its not good enough


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Beastmen And Their Magical equipment.

Magic Weapons
Primeval Club : Whne one is rolling to wound with this weapon, the wielders strengt is treated as the leadership of whatever you are attacking. This weapon has a rather hefty price, and I would not use it, it has some uses but for the most ti will not prefer well enough to make it worth the bucketload of points it costs.
Axe Of men : Gives killing blow, and makes your unit & their respective leader very hard to get rid of should he managed to kill a enemy characther/lord with it. I use this weapon if I am facing armies such as Dark Elfs, Skaven and Ogers to a certain degree. but the call is yours.
Stonechruser mace : If you are facing Tomb Kings or other armies with large constructs that needs killing then look no further, this weapons gives a substansial increase in strength and thus making it quite handy.
Works well against the following : Warmachines, Warsphinxes, Warshriens and so on
Mangelder : Reduced the leadership of the target for each wounds it causes, it also causes terror.
Use it against Generals and other pesky leaders.
Hunting spear : just a mobile bolttrower that can be used after moving but not after marches, has a good range but notting more than that.
Axe of Khorgor: requiers two ahnds, and grants an additional attack and may reroll any missed attacks. One of the best choices in the book, also quite cheap in addition. A great wepon to give a Wargor for instance.
The steel claws : another two hand weapon, roll a d3 to see how many more attacks you get. if you get a 6 tehn all your attacks will ignore armour saves! A very handy weapon with a almost silly low price. Worth every point.
Brass Cleaver : Gives the wielder additinale attacks against each moddel in base contact with it, in challenges this confers to a singel bonus attack. This weapon is something a poin waste, dont take it unless you feel lukcy or in a experamenting mood.
Everbleed : roll a d6 each time an enemy moddel suffers a unsaved wound from the weapon. if the result is a 6 the moddel looses an additinoal wound. keep rolling as lon as the result is a 6.

Magic Items :
Blade Blunter armor : after each round of combat, roll a d6 for each magic weapon hit, on a result of 2 the weapon stopps beeing magical! Counts as a normal weapon for the rest of the battle.
Trollhide : gives you regen, a nice ting to have
Pelt of the Shadowgave : all shooting attacks suffers a -1 to hit, all spells suffer a -2 to casting.
Balcked Plate : gives a 2+ save against flaming attacks, the unit gets a 4+ save
Ramhorn helm : a 6+ armour save and also grants a bonus attack for every saved armour save

Enchanted Items
Shard of the herdstone : Gives a additional power dice to any wizzard near the caster. And at the start of each frindly magic phase it also generates an additional dice. This item is a great thing to give a Greather Bray Shaman that is in a list with malagor! Prepare for fun when casting.
Horn of the great hunt : Bound spell item, affects friendly units
Horn of the first beast : All beastmen gets to reroll their Primal furt tests, so baisicly its nice to have by then againts its not a necesary item.
Stone of spite : destroyes every magical item within 18, applyes to friends & foes alike. they suffer a D6 strengt 3 hits per item, so use with care!
Skin of Man : Gives your Lord/Shaman the scout ability.
cacophonous Dirge : enemy musicans in same combat ceases to have an effect.

Talismans :
Chalice of Dark Rain : This item can be helpful against regiemnts of ranged troops, it baisicly disrupts their shooting for the current turn. This is a once use item only
Eye of the Nigth : Grats magical restiance 2, in addition any hostile wizzard within 24 attemting to cast a spell from lore of ligth, lore of life and lore of the heavens and gets a miscast must reroll.

Tactic One - The Glorious Charge

In 7th edition, the Bretonnian charge was able to break all but the most steadfast of enemy units on the charge. Few units could take the charge without at least a small amount of worry (even Dwarves), but under the 8th edition rules, many now dismiss the impact that cavalry can have on the game. Whilst it is true that cavalry have a harder time of if now, its worth bearing in mind that the cavalry themselves have not gotten worse, but rather thier targets (the large infantry blocks) have gotten better.
Breaking these units may no longer be the assumed forgone conclusion it once was, but with a little preparation and co-ordination, Bretonnians still have the best chance of doing this than any other cavalry based force.
Things in thier favour include :-
The Lance formation - Its perhaps worth stating, but steadfast only applies if you have more ranks than your opponent. In most cases, this would be 5 models, but with the Lance Formation, Bretonnian knights can claim a full rank for only 3 models. Now with the maximum size of your core knightly units being fifteen models, this gives the knights 4 ranks beyond the front and a huge 13 attacks from this unit (including the unit champion). As most enemy units will be starting with 4 or 5 ranks, you will in be equalling them in a lot of cases, or have you trying to cause enough casualties to bring them into line. Even a modest unit of 9 knights, with 8 attacks on the charge will be starting with +2 ranks, which is 2 more ranks than any other armies knightly unit will be starting with in those numbers.
The Blessing - With the abundance of steadfast units and the necessity of having full ranks, surviving to reach combat is extremely important. Few opponents underestimate The Blessing - at least not twice, and with the changes to magic resistance, it has now become more important than ever (thanks to 8th editions magic phase boosts). With a damsel in a unit of knights, your ward save will increase by +1 versus magical ranged attacks (and +2 with a Prophetess), making sure that more knights will make it into combat than you would have managed in 7th edition.

Tactic Two - The Commoner Rally

I dont think it has escaped anyones attention, but infantry in the 8th edition are awesome, and cheap infantry is even better. Coming in at 5 points a model, fully equipped, the Bretonnian Men-at-Arms are among the cheapest block infantry in the game (beaten by skaven slaves and goblins).
Like thier armoured protectors, the Bretonnian commoner does have some advantages only available to them, the most crucial of which is the Peasants Duty special rule. For those who don't know, this allows any Bretonnian commoners (an old army book term for the peasants) to use the leadership of any Bretonnian knight within 6 inches (12 inches if its a hero with the Virtue of Empathy, which I'll come back to later). The 8th edition rules for stubborn (and steadfast) allow for units to use any leadership bonuses they have (general within 12 inches, hero leading them etc), which gives them an average leadership of 8 (for Knights of the Realm within 6 inches) and an optimum of 9 (Questing, Grail and Lord). Pulling this together into a battle plan is simplicity itself.
First off, the Commoner Rally needs muiltiple blocks of infantry - I would recommend 3. For 20 Men-at-Arms, it only costs 100 points (27 points for thier command section...and crucially, the musician). Obviously, the horde is what we are going for here, so 40 men, with spears, shields and light armour come in at around 200 points - easy money in any size of battle. At this point its worth remembering that you can still add a cheap mage to your horde unit of 40 to give them the Blessing via the Prayer Icon of Quenelles (gives any unit the Blessing) for a 40 strong unit of infantry who can have a 6+/5+ ward save.
A point of contention within the new rules is, is it worth making room for the Grail Reliquae? Personally, I love the models and would field them for this alone, but they have benefits beyond the cheap core infantry. Primarily, they have they start the game with the Blessing (you did pray, right?), making them more survivable than the Men-at-Arms. The same advice applies to them as with the knights regarding magic and mages (and thier magic resistance). However, thier main advantage comes from being stubborn and ANY unit size, regardless of ranks. This allows them to hold up enemy hordes many times thier number longer than a unit of Men-at-Arms could, even holding up hordes and steadfast units. This, in itself is the critical element for any of the infantry units in the Commoner Rally. The point here is not to win the combats themsleves, but rather to hold the enemy in place for your knights to smash them in the flank (even in a commoner army, knights are needed for the punch and you must include at least one unit of Knights of the Realm anyway).
As well as cheap combat infantry, Bretonnia also has access to some very cheap (and greatly improved thanks to 8th edition) ranged support. For 1 point more than the Men-at-Arms, you get longbow armed peasants with built in defences (wooden stakes that give -1 to enemy shooting and damage charging cavalry), access to flaming arrows (which are no longer only useful against flamable enemies) and of course, the volley fire rule (which reminds me of the old Arrowhead formation the Bretonnian archers used to get). At this low points cost, you could actually field them as less survivible infantry blocks who can shoot at the enemy as they march (and charge) across the battlefield. I prefer leaving the Men-at-Arms to this task, but the volley fire rule does give peasant bowmen a similar versatility to the High Elves Lothern Sea Guard.
Of course, the ranged support wouldn't be complete without a mention of the Trebuchet. Where other stone throwers lost strength and armour negating properties, the Trebuchet can still clip enemy units with a strength of 5 (and -2 to armour saves) and pound harder enemies with the strength 10 center of the template (and an extra D6 wounds in the bargain). The new targetting methods for stone throwers hase made the Trebuchet more accurate than ever, and canny use can remove mages, generals and dragons before they reach your lines.
Of course, there is no peasant hero choice to lead this army, but thankfully, the Virtue of Empathy has this covered. In an usualy method, a Bretonnian hero can pay extra points to NOT ride on a horse, rather, fighting on foot with his common man, leading from the front and inspiring the troops. In game terms, this allows any unit with the Peasants Duty special rule to use his leadership within a 12 inch bubble rather than the usual 6 inches. This still leaves the hero plenty of points to spend on upgrades. Id spend those points on any weapons that grant extra attacks, all the more for removing enemy numbers and reducing thier ranks and possible steadfast. Also, as this army needs to damage the enemy at range (to help reduce ranks before combat), a mage would be recommended too, most likely with the Lore of Life for replenishing lost troops with Regrowth.

With that breakdown, its on to the rather simple plan. Using your suggested 3 units of infantry, you march them forward down the center of the battlefield, keeping more mobile units (knights, pegasus, mounted yeomen) on the flanks. With your ranged troops pouring on the pressure and your mages either boosting your own troops or blasting thiers, the enemy will try and get into combat sooner, rather than later (as you cant shoot them in combat, and lets face it, most enemy troops will be superior to your own). With your smaller unit of the Grail Reliquae in the center and slightly ahead of your other blocks, you opponent can either charge them or charge the units on either sides of it. In essence, its almost like treating the Men-at-Arms units as Empire detachments for the Reliquae.
Once the enemy is locked in combat with one of your units, you then flank charge them with the knights (who should be fairly untouched thanks to the imposing appearance of your horde units). What is important for this plan to work is your own steadfast bonus or stubborn unit. The best way to maintain this is to move your unit forward with a frontage of 5 models (and not 10), so as to maintain your steadfast as long as possible. Keeping your (mandatory) Battle Standard Bearer nearby is crucial in case you fail your stubborn break tests. Now, the tricky part - based on when you expect to get your flank charge, you will want to perform a combat reform. For those who glossed over the 8th Edition rules, this allows a unit to reform following a combat, which in this case, would be done to move your unit to a 10 wide formation, gaining the horde rule. Having done thier job to hold the enemy, they can now spread out to aid the charging knights in killing the enemy units. As you should hopefully now be winning the combat (and hopefully outnumbering the enemy ranks, removing the opponents steadfast rules, should they have had it), you can leave your knights to chase down the fleeing enemy (or have them run into your carefully manuvoured unit of Mounted Yeomen) as your peasant units reform to face the next enemy (locked in combat with your other infantry).
This plan can be somewhat of a slow burner, as you seemingly achieve nothing but a draw from turn to turn. However, all you need to do is win one combat, and the rest of the fights will get easier and easier as you contribute more and more units to each fight.

Tactic Three - The Ranged Siege

Other armies may have the gunline, but whilst Bretonnia doesn't have the as wide a choice of ranged troops as other armies, it is by no means a "point and click" combat army. With some of the cheapest archers in Warhammer, and the addition of the Volley Fire rule, Bretonnian bowmen armies can put Wood Elves to shame just through sheer volume of fire. Archers, Trebuchet, Mounted Yoemen, skirmishing archers, Prophetess with the Lore of Heavens and even a Knightly Hero with the Wyrm Lance of Artois (once per game, strength 3 breath attack), all can be used to obliterate the opponent at range. Perhaps the simplest tactic available to the Bretonnians, this unambitious plan simply requires you to sit back and shoot your opponent as they advance. Be that as it may, there are some steps you can take to make the most of it.
First off, two Trebuchet. As the strongest warmachine in the game, one of these would be a priority for any enemy, so having two of them would help ensure at least one would get to make an impact. As mentioned earlier, they can be used for character sniping, placing the template over enemy characters in the hopes of smearing them across the floor (remember, they have to roll a 1 for thier "Look Out Sir" sometime).
The main thrust of your army would ,of course, be the bowmen. Able to rank up whilst using Volley Fire, a block of 20 of these could get 16 shots a turn while maintaining a +3 rank bonus. The bowmen stakes (which now count as Obstacle-Fences) mean that at range, enemy archers would be at -2 to hit these units and enemy cavalry risk death simply for charging them as not only do they have to take dangerous terrain tests for charging a unit behind an obstacle, but they would be taking a stand and shoot reaction from a unit that they could quite possibly (with flaming arrows) fear.
Using your other units as march blockers (not as effective in 8th, but still an irritance), you should try and buy time for your ranges troops to do as much damage as possible. Mounted Yeomen and skirmishing archers can both march and shoot, staying out of enemy charge arcs as they try and help whittle away the ranks, whilst most likely being too small a unit for the enemy to turn around to bother with. Pegasus Knights can be used for march blocking too (and at a push, a mage on a magic carpet ), butcan also provide an impotant element of a mobile leadership bubble, flying to wherever the peasants are most in need, to bolster thier pitiful leadership of 5 to a more respectable 8. A hero on a pegasus can also be used in this capacity, but with the wyrmlance (and no partial hits with templates any more), he can also takeout a respectable amount of enemy troops before charging in to slow them down. You may also want to keep a hero on foot nearby your main concentration of troops to keep them inline and free up the flyers.
The final element is of course, magic. Now whilst Lore of Life is useful for keeping your units topped up and buffed (toughness 5 archers would be hard to shift), my recommendation for The Ranged Siege would have to be the Lore of Heavens on a Prophetess. The basic spell of the list Iceshard Blizzard is a hex that can be used to help strengthen your ranged superiority by reducing the enemies own shooting skill as well as making it easier to panic the enemy come your shooting phase (-1 to all to hit rolls and leadership, which combined with long range and that fact your archers are behind fences gives a a total of -3 to thier shooting). Harmonic Convergance has the opposite effect, being an augment for your own units that allows you to re-roll your to hit rolls of a 1. My other reason for choosing this lore though is the awesome Wind Blast, a spell than can be used to push the enemy backwards (away form the mage, who is presumably sitting with your archers), thus buying you more time to shoot at the enemy. The rest of the Heavens spells all do ranged damage, which only serves to help your plan of shooting till theres nothing left.
This army list is possibly the most fragile, as it will have few knights and little in the way of leadership buffs, but hopefully, by keeping the enemy at arms length, this wont be factor.

Anyway, thats the end of my personal summary of Bretonnian playstyles. If you have any more to add, or feel I've left something out, please post away. If I can, I'll try and add appropriate advice to the posts I've made (with crdeit given to to the poster) so that the thread is easier to follow.

Bloodletters and Daemonettes benefit from the fighting in ranks, but they'll have to watch out against large units. There, the ranks + casualties removed from the back will allow the enemy far more return attacks than they used to receive. Since the daemons are only t3 with a 5+ save, lots of attacks can hurt you.
VERDICT: Use them, but don't put them up against hordes.

Plaguebearers take a big hit in this edition. They've lost their one attractive feature: the double save. Now there's very little reason I see to take them, short of a mono-Nurgle themed list.
VERDICT: These guys need to hit the showers. They'll be sitting this edition out.

Horrors no longer generate stupid power dice for you, but they're still useful. Large units will be decent wizards that don't worry much about miscasts, and now will be effective tarpits with the new Steadfast rule. Keep them 5-wide and they should last a while.
VERDICT: Still one of the most effective core choices in the game.

Furies have Ld2. That means that you'll have to keep them near your general if you ever want them to flying march. That's a pretty big drawback for a unit that's intended to hunt skirmishers and warmachines.
VERDICT: Don't use these guys... not that you did anyway.

Flesh Hounds still do a lot of damage, but you'll have to be more careful with them now. They make good warmachine hunters, and they'll be useful as wound-causing flankers, possibly even in ranks. Because they'll get to fight in 2 ranks, that becomes a more attractive proposition than before.
VERDICT: Still useful, but not as abusive as they were in 7th.

Screamers don't change much. They'll have to pass Ld tests now to fly-march, but their leadership score isn't too bad. Slashing attacks are nice, though as always a prepared opponent won't leave their characters out in the open. They're pretty handy for monster hunting. They're very fragile against low-strength shooting, though, and that got a boost in 8th.
VERDICT: It's hard to recommend these expensive guys when they'll get shot down by simple arrows so easily. The slashing attacks are super good when they work, though.

Nurglings stuffer from the same problems other skirmishers face. The loss of 360° line of sight hurts them. They make decent harassers and marchblockers, but with marchblocking nerfed I think their role is largely passé.
VERDICT: Not particularly effective. I'd spend the points elsewhere.

Seekers of Slaanesh are still really fast, and now get a 12" pre-game move. That might be enough to make them useful as hunters of warmachines and soft targets. Their inability to flee isn't as important now, since redirection is devalued in 8th edition.
VERDICT: Could be useful; consider taking a unit.

Bloodcrushers don't gain much from 8th. They're too expensive to take more than a few, and their offensive output isn't enough to get through steadfast units. They're definitely cool, at least, and getting new plastics soon.
VERDICT: If you like them, take a small unit joined by a Herald and use them to hit flanks.

Flamers lose their 360° line of sight, but more than make up for it by gaining the ability to march and shoot. They still pump out an ungodly number of good-strength shots at a high ballistic skill.
VERDICT: Still an absurdly powerful unit.

Beasts of Nurgle suffer from the same problem as Plaguebearers, losing a good part of their previously impressive survivability. They'll still be a pretty good tarpit, just not as good as before.
VERDICT: Still useful, despite being nerfed.

Fiends of Slaanesh seem to suffer at first glance, since they don't have much in the way of survivability. What I don't know is how they're classified in the new book. If they count as monstrous infantry, then they're actually not bad. Still, the second rank would only get 3/4 of their attacks, which seems like a waste. Still, stomp attacks may close that gap.
VERDICT: These guys seem pretty decent, and much more survivable hunter-killers than Seekers, and stronger attacks too.

Heralds are still strong, with Tzeentch Heralds probably the best. Their access to Master of Sorcery at a bargain-basement price is incredible, considering the power of the new BRB lores. Being able to take multiple Spell Breakers is another huge advantage for the servants of change, and for Daemons in general.
VERDICT: Khorne and Slaanesh heralds are still good leading units of their kin. Nurgle heralds are pretty bad now. Tzeentch heralds are super good; expect to see a lot of them.

The Bloodthirster is unique among the greater daemons in that you can still afford him fully tooled up at 2250+. Thunderstomp increases his killing power, though he can't just break ranked units by himself any more.
VERDICT: Still an unparalleled killer, but you'll need to support him now.

The Lord of Change is an extremely powerful wizard, especially with Master of Sorcery. The only problem is that his cost makes him impossible to tool up in smaller games. You really need to play 2750+ to make full use of him, while Kairos exactly fills the lord cap at 2500.
VERDICT: Fantastic in big games, though people will always be tempted to use Kairos instead. The Lord of Change is tougher and capable in melee though, so don't rule him out.

The Great Unclean One doesn't come standard with regeneration, so he doesn't suffer as much as his underlings do. Still, in 7th he was the least popular greater daemon because of his slow speed. Trappings of Nurgle isn't very exciting any more, but he still has good toughness and a crazy number of wounds. You won't be able to make a L4 caster out of him except in very big games.
VERDICT: Mostly for Nurgle theme lists. In terms of pure power, the other 3 greater daemons are better.

The Keeper of Secrets gets a fair bit deadlier with virtual perma-hatred (yay for I10) and S6 thunderstomps. It's harder to leadership-bomb now without the terror bubble, and the BSB allowing re-rolls of everything does hurt, but Siren Song + Great Icon of Despair is still a very mean combo. Again, you can't kit him out for big magic in outside of big games.
VERDICT: Super killy and access to some nasty gifts means this guy will still be worth taking. Expect to see him combined with Heralds of Tzeentch to make up for his reduced casting power in 8th.

Daemon Princes still suck. That's the verdict on them.

Unit Analysis
Lords & Heroes
Named Characters

Malekith, the Witch King: It's good to be the King. Malekith cots 600 points vanilla (keeping him out of games under 2500) but you get your moneys worth for it. He's a Highborn with higher WS, S and T. He's also a level 4 Wizard (who has to use Dark Elves' special lore), magic armor that gives a 2+ ward against mundane attacks and makes him immune to multiple wounds and being killed outright, a magic weapon that lets him break enemy magic items (allowing him to get rid of those pesky magic weapons that can harm him), a shield that gives him Magic Resistance (2) and causes magic spells aimed at him that are dispelled to rebound for an S6 hit on the wizard per dice, a crown that gives him an extra power and dispel dice per phase and he makes all Dark Elves within 12 immune to Panic. And he still has hatred and comes with Immune to Psychology. Exhale. He costs a bucketload but can easily turn entire games around. His mount options include Cold One (mediocre), a Cold One Chariot with a 2+ save (quite good for smaller points games) and a Black Dragon (requires a game of 4000 points or more and you don't get ANY other Lords, but can wreck entire units on it's own). Malekith is an expensive powerhouse. The combination of killer stats, great special rules and magic items and being a powerful caster in his own right make him more than worth his rather expensive entry cost.

Morathi, the Hag Sorceress: Morathi is a little schitzo about her role. Her abilities and stat increases seem to indicate that she's intended for combat, which is the exact opposite place from where you want her. She's also more expensive than a regular level 4 Sorceress and she doesn't get enough for it. If you're in a big points game and you want to have more than one Level 4 with the Dark Elf lore, then her ability to take all the spells in Dark Magic might be worth it, but you should really be taking Fire or Death in larger points games. Just take a regular Level 4 Supreme Sorceress. She also has the honor of being the only model who actually shows her tits. Actual, unobscured (aside from the boob-holders that look like they're straight from a Korean MMO) honest-to-god breasts, with nipple and all. If someone actually uses Morathi, there is a rought 95% chance they use her for this very reason.

Crone Hellebron: Hellebron is a fundamentally ideal combat lord. Okay, she costs 100 points more than fully kitted out Highborn and comes with no protection. But she has I9, comes with 6+D3 S10 poisoned attacks (essentially guaranteed to wipe out an entire rank), forces the enemy to take an LD test or lose 1 WS, comes with Witchbrew (perfect for a unit of Witch Elves) and makes Witch Elves Core. Oh and she and any unit she's with auto-dispel the first spell cast at them EVERY phase on a 4+. Yeah. She can also take a Manticore or come with a Cauldron of Blood, but neither of those are something you want her to do. Put her in a unit of Witch Elves and send them charging into the enemy.

Malus Darkblade: You've read his books, now put him on the tabletop. He costs nearly 300 points and has a couple nifty abilities, but overall he's too expensive for his stuff. Using Tz'arkan makes him more powerful, but gives him a 50% chance of hacking his unit apart. Not worth it.

Shadowblade: Ehh. Almost double what a properly kitted out Assassin would cost. His hiding in the enemy unit is fun for trolling, but situational and dangerous for him. Even if you get him to reveal himself when he needs to, where he needs to, if he gets killed he could just as easily damage your own unit, which keeps him from being set up like a regular Assassin. Take a regular Assassin, more bang for your buck.

Lokhir Fellheart: An effective enough combat hero, if a bit on the pricy side. One of his abilities is something anyone can do now and he can get an absurd number of attacks, but the extra hundred points for no stat upgrades means he's kinda limited. A master is probably better.

Generic Characters

Note: While named characters are judged against their generic counterparts, generic characters are examined based on their role in your army.

NOTE: No Master or Highborn's Armor Save should EVER be below 4+. It costs less than 10 points to give them Heavy Armor and Sea Dragon Cloak which instantly gives them a leg up on 99 percent of most enemy heroes and lords.

Dreadlord: Your workaday combat lord. He's cheap and effective and can be highly nasty when given the right equipment. A fun combination is Cold One, Armor of Living Death, Shield, Sea Dragon Cloak and Pendent of Khaeleth, which makes him nigh-unkillable (low S attacks will get repelled on the 1+ armor save, high strength will get knocked out by the silly-ward). There are many equipment options that will be covered in the equipment section. Overall, he's cheap with some good stats (WS7 and I8 is nothing to sneer at) and he can be quite effective in the right circumstances. Just don't put him in fights he can't win.
Supreme Sorceress: Supreme Sorceresses (and Sorceresses for that matter) excel at one thing: Blasting the almighty **** out of everything. You can fling absurd amounts of dice around if you're unafraid of miscasts and have access to some impressively destructive Lores. The Dark Elves signature Lore consists of almost nothing but ways to blast the **** out of people. Aside from that, Fire can be fun and Death is good for some targeted hero killing. Bringing a Level 4 Supreme Sorceress will almost always pay off.
Sorceress: Sorceresses are cheap and effective. Level 1s can bring a small effective spell to the table (Notable Dark Magic's signature spell is one that shooting heavy armies HATE!) and bringing a level 2 could provide valuable support when things go tits up for your Supreme Sorceress. Not as powerful as a Supreme but well worth taking.
Master: Masters are among the best cost for ability heroes in the game. He has no special abilities beyond Hatred, but his WS and I make him powerful for a hero and did we mention he's only 80 points and can ride a ****ing MANTICORE? Yeah, this guy can hit 'em where it hurts for cheap. Also the better option for a BSB.
Death Hag: Death Hags cost 10 points more than a master for 2 hand weapons, Frenzy, Poisoned Attacks aaaand...the loss of any kind of saves beyond a 5++ for 30 points. Not batting 1000 here. And the gifts of Khaine do not compare well to the Magic Items.
Cauldron of Blood: If you're taking a Death Hag for any other reason than to take this ****, than you're an idiot. 110 points for a model that can wreck anyone's day within 24 inches and makes all Khaite models stubborn within 12. Perfect for a defensive army.
Assassin: Assassin's are not heroes but there's no better place to put them, so deal with it. Assassin's when kitted out right, can end the life of any Hero and most Lords. It's frankly ABSURD WS and I mean that it can put the whammy on anyone dumb enough to get into close combat with it. And here's the kicker, because of the Hidden rule, people don't know if they're getting into combat with it. Very good in either your rank units (to help them hold up when a powerful unit tries to use them) or in your flank units (to up your kill count when you charge). We'll talk about setups later during the magic item discussion, just remember that Assassins often end up on suicide detail after a round of combat or two. Oh and don't forget to write down what unit it's in, or people will accuse you of cheating.

Mount Options:
Dark Steed: The cheapest option, but not really worth it. M9 will put him out away from the rest of the army, except for Dark Riders, but why would you want a character to join them?
Cold One: The traditional mount of a Highborn/Master and with good reason. M7 is quite reasonable, stupidity is unlikely to cause problems at LD9 and S4 and +2 to armor saves are always nice. If you want a mounted hero without shelling out for a big expensive mount, this is where to go.
Dark Pegasus: Pegasi are in an awkward position in this book. If you want a flying mount, there are better places to go that don't get killed whenever a unit of Longbow armed humans or up gets it in their head that that Dark Elf bearing down on them doesn't mean them any good. But with T4 and only 3 wounds, pretty much any concentrated shooting can take them out and they don't really have the power to make up for that.
Manticore: Don't have the points for a Black Dragon, but want something big and scary? Then come on down to Beastmaster's Manticore Emporium. The inbetween option and a damned good one at that. If you want people to cry cheese, try mounting your Master on one of these.
Black Dragon: A middle tier Dragon (better than Sun Dragons and Manticores but not as good as Star Dragons and Greater Daemons) who's effectiveness is often linked to how good the rider is. A powerful mount, perhaps a tiny bit overpriced, but worthwhile. We will cover what items to take and not take later, but a remember that your Dragon is huge and scary, so it will be getting shot at by everyone who doesn't want to see it crashing into their lines. Keep it out of sight of cannons.

Core Units

Dark Elf Warriors: The mainstay core unit of any Dark Elf army. Lucky for you, they kick ass. A solid statline (high M, WS, BS, I and LD, average everything else) for 7 points (it's always 7 points, you ALWAYS give them shields, doubles their chances of surviving an S3 hit). Cheap command, access to a cheap magic banner. Take them in large units, these are the units you use for receiving charges, they'll need the extra ranks to absorb the hits.

Dark Elf Repeater Crossbowmen: The other mainstay core unit, and again they kick ass. Between good range, armor piercing and multiple shots, these guys shred light to medium armored units like they're not even there. Have them concentrate fire with Bolt Throwers and Shades (if you have them) to damage your enemies important units. Again, you always give them shields, as they will be absorbing a lot of S3 and S4 return fire.

Black Arc Corsairs: The updated army book kinda left Corsairs without a home. They cost 3 points more than a Warrior with Shield for no stat upgrades. Sea Dragon Cloaks and 2 hand weapons make a little more resistant to shooting and a little better on the charge, but rank-and-flank tactics means that your core units are going to be absorbing charges rather than charging. This also applies for the otherwise nifty Slaver special rule. Small units might work okay as flanking units, but Witch Elves do the same job better for the same points. They're not bad, by any means, but there are better options available to you.

Dark Riders: Fast Cavalry got heavily nerfed under 8th Edition and therefore the otherwise useful Dark Riders don't work as well as they might. They're still good war machine hunters and great for filling out your Core Points (which the otherwise more useful Harpies don't do), but as with Corsairs, there are better choices.

Harpies: Harpies are ideal War Machine/Lone Wizard hunters. Cheap? Check. High number of Attacks? Check. High Initiative? Check. Flying? Check. Don't cause Panic in other units? Big check. If there's even the slightest chance of you facing an army with some war machines, take these guys. And even if you're not, they're great at drawing units out of position (Frenzied units HATE these guys), disrupting enemy lines and even do an okay job at flanking and assisting in a big melee in a pinch (don't rely on them for this, there's a chance they could take their wounds in combat back). A very good choice under any circumstances.

Special Units

Witch Elves: Witch Elves are the first in the series of nasty flanking units. They have an absurdly high volume of attacks (20 poisoned attacks for 2 ranks), high Initiative and cheap. Banner of Murder is tailor made for these guys and you can't go wrong with Witchbrew. Be careful with them though, they're about as hard to shoot to death as Goblins (more resistant to Panic though, thanks to Frenzy) and are easily led out of position. Use them by all means, but be careful.

Shades: Shades are left out in the cold by the new rulebook. They're very expensive (most expensive infantry in the book) and don't function as well as they did last edition. A unit of 5 can still be worthwhile for drawing units out of position and hunting war machines, but they're not anyone's first choice for a special choice.

Executioners: Chaos Warriors getting you down? Brettonians resisting all your attempts to move them? Need someone with high Strength to knock out a monster? Then take Executioners. High Strength and Killing Blow make these guys a powerful flanking unit, just don't try to use them as a rank unit and if you want to take BSB (for Banner of Har Garneth for example?), remember it has to be a Death Hag.
Tullaris of Har Ganeth: One unit of Executioners can take him as a Champion. He costs 15 points more than a Master and has weaker stats. His weapon is nifty, if a little redundant and his abilities are okay, but the problem is his main ability only works when he kills someone in a challenge and with only 1 wound, a 5+ armor save and ASL, most heroes (and a solid percentage of unit champions) will probably be able to knock him out before he strikes. Skip him.

Cold One Knights: A good enough flanking unit when the chips are down and can even charge smaller units head on in a pinch. Cheap Heavy Cavalry is always welcome, even if Heavy Cavalry took the hard end of the nerfstick in 8th edition. It helps that their models are GORGEOUS (they ride****ing DINOSAURS) and they have an exceptionally brutal statline, with LD9 more than making up for Stupidity. Worthwhile.

Cold One Chariots: Quite good as far as Chariots go. It's highly resistant to damage and while, once in a while Stupidity will prevent you from making that charge you need to, it's low cost and high LD keep that from happening too often. Keep it someplace it can't be charged and use it to flank in a tight moment. Not precisely the Black Coach as far as Chariots go, but can be extremely useful.

Black Guard: The only Rank choice that isn't a core choice. They're easy to damage unfortunately and their unit sizes are limited, but they hit hard (15 always rerollable S4 attacks for 2 ranks) and they. Do. Not. Break. For a 15 point magic banner from the main rulebook they can be LD10 Stubborn and there's nothing funnier than giving a Tower Master the Ruby Ring of Ruin. Highly recommended.
Kouran of the Black Guard: Like Tularis, one unit can take him as a Champion. Unlike Tularis, he's actually worth it. 5 points cheaper than a Master with all the Black Guard trimmings, 3 S6 attacks and he's harder to hit than Tularis. Oh and did we mention that he makes his unit of Black Guard ****ing UNBREAKABLE? Definitely something you're going to want to help your Black Guard hold out.

Rare Units

Reaper Bolt Thrower: Often gets ignored in favor of the more flashy and powerful other rare choice, but a solid choice in it's own right. As will all Bolt Throwers it's good at taking out Heavy Cavalry and low wound monsters. Unlike all other Bolt Throwers (except for High Elves, who have the same exact unit) it can also be pretty good at taking out infantry. Stick it next to your Repeater Crossbowmen and help them shred units one at a time.
War Hydra: Any ****-fest about Dark Elves will bring up these guys, usually 2 or 3 times. It's easily the best unit in the army and high in the running for the best cost-for-ability units in the goddamn GAME. 175 points. 7 attacks. 5 wounds. S and T 5. 7 attacks. Hatred. Thunderstomp. A breath weapon with S equal to it's remaining wounds. Did we mention 7 attacks? Also 2 S3 armor piercing guys with 3 attacks each, who literally CANNOT die until the Hydra's bought it. Oh and just so you're absolutely sure: The Hydra ITSELF has Hatred, so it too gets the Rerolls. This thing EATS. UNITS. Your ultimate flanking unit and you can take 2 in a 2000 point game if you want to drink your opponents tears. Any unit charged by this should roll for anal circumference.

Building Your Army
Buying Your Army
Army Composition

Dark Elf Warriors and Crossbowmen are the mainstay of your army. Treat them like it.

Black Guard and Warriors make great supporting Ranked units. Witch Elves and Executioners are great flanking infantry. Cold One Chariots and Cavalry are good too and are generally cheaper, but they don't generate as much static CR.

War Hydras are brutal, under any circumstances but are best charging on the flanks. Harpies make great a disruption and drawing unit, as well as good war machine hunters. Crossbowmen and Bolt Throwers are great for softening up important enemy units.

Shades, Corsairs and Dark Riders are limited in usefulness and there are generally units that do the jobs they do better, but are still viable choices, especially in casual (just don't bring them to a tournament).

Build accordingly.

Magic Items

Gifts of Khaine:

Rending Stars: You can't reveal an Assassin in response to a charge which means you can't stand and shoot with them when the unit they're hiding in is charged and are thus, not useful.

Dance of Doom: 5+ ward for 30 points? Yes please. Good for both Assassins and Death Hags.

Touch of Death: Very good for a defensive Assassin or an anti-hero suicide Assassin. Overall a good choice.

Rune of Khaine: Useful under any circumstances. One of the best choices.

Witchbrew: Again, one of the best choices. You should always give this a Hag in a Witch Elf unit of any size.

Hand of Khaine: Eh. Neither Death Hags not Assassins should ever be taking defensive abilities. Skip it.

Cry of War: Eh. With Assassin, -1 WS won't matter, and it's hardly more worth it for a Death Hag. If you've got 10 points and absolutely NUTHIN else to spend it on, go for it. Otherwise, skip it.

Manbane: Fun for a suicide Assassin who has to take out a high Toughness and high armor save opponent, but not the best 25 point option.

Black Lotus: Meh. Only rolls of 1? Skip it.

Dark Venom: Could be good but it's really not worth cutting into your allowance. Skip it.

Venom Sword: U Mad Bro? Anyone with a big scary monster or a tough hero is gonna HATE this. You need to dedicate an Assassin to it, but if you're fighting against Ogres or designing him to go after Lords, this is definitely a funny choice.

Cloak of Twilight: Very good for a Suicide Assassin. If you really wanna troll, use it to fling a nearby in-trouble wizard out of trouble.


Magic Weapons:

Executioner's Axe: Big and expensive, but can be worth it against monster/monstrous infantry/monstrous cavalry heavy armies. For trolling options, put the bearer in a unit with Banner of Har Garneth.

Sword of Ruin: Generic 50 point armor save ignoring sword, generically mediocre, better options available.

Web of Shadows: Unhelpful. If it hit a unit, then we could work with it, but then it'd just be a breath weapon. Skip it.

Chillblade: Another trolling option. High Armor, low Toughness models (Bretonnia) will HATE this. Can be a generally useful item, especially since it ignores armor saves and multi-wound models can't strike. Not great, but worthwhile.

Heartseeker: A good choice if ever there was one. Cheap and effective, which is a good term for Dark Elves overall.

Hydra Blade: Not great in all situations, but good under a lot of circumstances, especially if you can combine with something else to give the bearer strength upgrades.

Caledor's Bane: For Dragon hunters. If you're making a tailor list for anti-Lizardmen, this is your best friend. Still okay if you're not facing either of the above.

Dagger of Hotek: Except against their High Elven cousins, DE don't usually need ASF under the current rules set. Skip it.

Lifetaker: Good for a shooting based hero. Can also be funny on a back-of-the-army Sorceress. An overall good choice

Crimson Death: Note that you can use this while mounted, making it good for, you guessed it, trolling. In all honesty, Whip of Agony is probably better, unless you already have access to a 2+ save and don't need the shield.

Deathpiercer: Need a cheap weapon for a mounted hero, and someone's already got Caledor's Bane? Take this. It's okay.

Whip of Agony: A personal favorite. Good for filling out the last 25 points of a kitted out Lord, or just giving a hero a better weapon. An excellent choice.

Soulrender: Why is a Great Weapon paying 10 points for AP? Skip it.


Magic Armor:

Armor of Living Death: You know that Elven weakness of T3? Well **** that, this armor gives you +1 T and +1 W. Oh and there's a 1 in 6 chance you might have stupidity. But on a lord with LD10, who gives a ?

Armor of Eternal Servitude: Regen and Heavy Armor for 15 points less than most armies pay for Regen alone. Well worth it.

Cloak of Hag Graef: Might have been worth it for a lone hero, but your heroes shouldn't be running touchdowns alone. Also doesn't work on your mount. Skip it.

Armor of Darkness: 1+ armor for 25 points. gak yes. Perfect for heroes.

Shield of Ghrond: Good for a character hunter or if your character already has a 1+ save from other stuff.

Blood Armor: There are too many cheap ways to get low armor saves in the current army books. Skip it.


Talismans:

Black Amulet: A really funny item under a lot of circumstances. Maybe a tiny bit on the expensive side, but great for a Lord you expect to be on the receiving end of a lot of attacks (Dragon Mounted for example).

Ring of Darkness: Again, would be a lot better if essentially all Dark Elf characters are designed to be hiding inside units. Not really worth it.

Pendant of Khaelith: Often nicknamed the Talisman of Cheating. You want to watch a Bloodthirster or Vampire sit there unable to wound you once in close combat? This is the item for you. Gives you essentially a 2+ ward save against
anything S5 or above. And it's cheap. An excellent item.

Seal of Ghrond: The day I'm unwilling to pay 30 points for an extra dispel dice...is the day I'm playing Dwarves. Still a great item though.

Pearl of Infinite Blackness: Would be better for an army with lower LD. Combined with the damage done to Fear and Terror in 8th, it's probably not worth it.

Ring of Hotek: Could be funny if you could give it to an Assassin, but you can't. Skip it.

Null Talisman: If you have the points to spare, this might be a good choice for Black Guard or Cold One Knight champion.


Enchanted Items:

Deathmask: 50 points to cause Terror. No.

Hydra's Teeth: People look at these and get idea of sniping characters in of units with them. Which they could probably do, IF THEY DIDN'T HAVE RANGE 12! Skip it.

Crystal of Midnight: Extra lulzy, especially since under the current rules, each army can only have each spell once (with some exceptions). Not amazing, but good and fun for trolling magic heavy armies (Vampires HATE this one).

Black Dragon Egg: This one was last edition, but with the addition of the close combat rules for Breath Weapons, it could be worth a lark (remember, Breath Weapons can turn ENTIRE combats around).

Potion of Strength: Eh. Maybe last edition, when chariots could be taken out by an S7 shot, but now it's just worthless.

Gem of Nightmares: 25 points to cause Fear...oh I'm sorry, to cause Fear for ONE turn. No.

The Guiding Eye: If you have a shooting Noble with Lifetaker set up with your Repeater Crossbowmen, this one could be worth a lark.


Arcane Items:

Black Staff: Could be useful if you have a Supreme Sorceress using something other than Lore of Dark Magic and you want her to know Power of Darkness. Other than that, skip it.

Focus Familiar: Another good trolling item. Drop your Sorceress behind a piece of scenery where no one can see her, have her Focus Familiar pop out and blast people and question your opponent if they are, in fact, mad. Not good for an in-unit Sorceress though.

Darkstar Cloak: Good for a high level Sorceress who's going to be casting high value spells. Even if it's on a Level 2 or 3, it could still be worth it just to keep from sucking up power dice.

Sacrificial Dagger: Might be worth it if they're in a huge unit of Warriors, but probably not. There are better items available.

Tome of Furion: Wanna make sure you get that spell you need in Lore of Death? This is the way to do it.


Magic Standards:

Banner of Nagarythe: 125 points for Unbreakable and all friendly units within 12 get +1 CR. If you want to drop points on a magic banner for your BSB, this is the one to do it. Put him in a horde of Warriors and get ready to be the center of attention.

Hydra Banner: This one is okay, especially on a unit of Cold One Knights, but it's let down by the fact that it's competing with the Banner of Nagarythe, which is infinitely better for 50 points. If you're short on points, this could be okay, but Banner of Nagarythe is better.

Dread Banner: No thank you. Too expensive and Fear sucks.

Standard of Slaughter: Great for a unit of Cold One Knights who absolutely HAVE to break that enemy on their charge. Only other unit that can take it is Black Guard and they won't be charging NEARLY as much.

Standard of Hag Graef: Not a bad banner by any means, but let down by the army's already high Initiative and the limited number of units who can take it (either Black Guard, Cold One Knights or a BSB). Could be worthwhile on a unit of Black Guard if you're worried about High Initiative enemies, but at I6, you don't usually have to worry about that. Not great.

Sea Serpent Standard: If you're already taking Corsairs, there's no reasoning with you, but this could be good for a small unit of them being used as Flankers. DON'T use it on a ranked unit, no better way to get them out of their position and **** up your lines.

Banner of Murder: Tailor made for Witch Elves. Even if you put on Warriors or Corsairs or Black Guard, it's an excellent choice. Probably the best overall points-for-ability banner in the army.

Banner of Cold Blood: Could be worth it if you have a unit of Warriors that absolutely HAS to hold out this turn. Not a first choice, but not a bad one.

Magic

Dark Elf Sorceress have access to 5 Lores: Shadow, Fire, Metal, Death and their specific Lore, Dark Magic. Of those, Dark Magic and Fire are your best overall, as they allow for some brutal blasting magic. A good pair of wizards with Dark Magic and Fire can obliterate small units all on their own. Death has a few nice spells for sniping characters in units. Metal is good for taking out heavily armored targets, but since you have to choose pre-game, it's generally not the best choice (you end up against a lightly armored opponent, you'll probably be annoyed). Shadow has it's uses, but it doesn't fit as well with Dark Elf tactics as Dark Magic, Fire and Death. Dark Elf magic is most frequently geared toward blasting the bleep out of the enemy, something Shadow doesn't do as well. Those three are the ones you'll want to concentrate on first before trying the other lores, but if you MUST have a 4th Lore, Shadow is the way to go.

Tactics

Say it with me: Rank. And. Flank. Draw your enemies onto your big ranked units (usually Warriors and Black Guard, though Corsairs and Executioners can work in a pinch), hold out for a turn and then charge them on the flanks with the big scary units. Dark Elves do this better than any other army in the game. Their Ranked units have high enough WS, I and LD to hold out for a little while and their flanking units hit brutally hard. They also have units that are exceptionally good at drawing enemy units out of position and just generally causing problems. (Harpies do this job exceptionally well, but Shades and Dark Riders do okay).

Your shooting units, combined with your magic users can often cause significant damage to enemy units, but it's best to have them concentrate fire on a single unit to try and devastate it, instead of trying to spread it around.

Also, and this is important, never, ever, EVER forget Hatred. NEVER. Hatred is your biggest lifesaver.

Close Combat: Somewhat Above Average. Dwarves Generally have good Weapon Skill, saves and toughness, however, their basic infantry suffers from a low-ish strength, while their Elite infantry has few attacks when compared to other armies. All dwarves also have low initiative, and point costs that are just high enough to prevent them from putting huge numbers on the board. They are an old book, and it shows.
Magic: Dwarves cannot cast magic. They are, however, very good at countering it. A Dwarf Army can get up to a +5 dispel, and can easily swing the pool of dice by a half-dozen for a fairly moderate investment, as well as, most importantly, spam dispel scrolls.
Shooting: It can be embarrassing to play a dwarf gunline. They are that good. Cannons that don't blow up, super accurate stonethrowers, auto-hitting Organ guns. Ranks of Riffles and Crossbows which can actually fight hand-to-hand makes dwarves scary good at shooting.
Monsters: None
Cavalry: None
Speed: Slow. Lowest movement in the game, with a penalty to fleeing and pursuing. Throw in the lack of the traditional fast units (monsters and cavalry), and you've got an army that move like molasses. However, they have a couple items which allow them to control their enemies movement to an extent, or speed up their own.

Fluff: Dwarves hold grudges to the point of suicide. They also have beards, drink beers, and are short.

Introduction:
-High Elves are possible one of the cheapest and easiest armies to collect in WHFB the High point cost of even core rank and file means that they are comparitely low model count compared to most armies in WHFB also the IoB features HEs another factor that keeps cost down.

Flavor:
-High Elves are girly little dress wearing pansys that live on an island
-High Elves wear loose fitting robes that they claim are very comfortable and not a dress at all, the also magically clean there hair and never have dirt under there nails.

Tactical Opportunities
-High Elves are a melee combat army with a strong magical presence. The HE elite foot infantry are some of the most deadly infantry in the game and HE magic is versitle and deadly with full access to all the standard lores as well as the less popular High magic lore. The army book also contains many magic items that can boost your magic phase through the generation of spell dice etc. They are also blessed with what I consider to be one the best bargains in WHFB the Great eagle providing the army with a cheap source of warmachine hunters and redirectoers.
-High elves are fairly limited in the builds they can use. Most competitive list feature mniuam amount of points spent of core while the special allowance is genrally maxed out with units of elite infantry and supoorted by Great eagles and a Archmage. Altho the HEs do possess some long range capabilty they are not capable of winning a "shooting" war as the lack blackpowder weapons or missile troops with multiple shots. This tends to make the HEs ranged options all but useless as they lack firepower or the ability to absord damage.


Lords and Heroes
-Prince, Over priced option not worth fielding in anything other then a large games. DO NOT put a prince on a dragon you are asking to have 500-600 points removed first turn by magic and warmachines.
-Archmage, A great choice for a leader for your army altho weak and vunrable in combat like most magic users its a simple fact that magic in 8th is devastating and a level 4 provides you with protection from magic and the ability to auto delete units and buff your own.
-Noble, Fairly useless unless carrying a BSB keep him cheap and cheerful and remember most HE elites can carry magic banners (and unit of core) meaning that giving a BSB a magic banner is usually a poor idea as he can be picked out and killed but a normal standard bearer can not.
-Mage, Great back up caster/dispell scroll caddys. However make sure to pick a lore with a good signature spell as the 1 or 2 rolls you are going to make to choose spells will proberly not give you what you want a great example of a perfect low level lore is fire.
-Dragon mage, Horrible choice the last thing you want is a big expensive close combat unit like a dragon carrying a unit that needs to stay at range and out of combat to survie/cast.

It hear I would like to remind players that most magical swords etc are a waste on HE lords and princess a great weapon will give you +2 strength for 8 points...that is significantly cheaper and more usefull then most magical weapons.

Core
-Spearmen, Our cheapest core is still pricey at 9 points a model but in massed units (I run between 40-60) Is more then capable of fighting most enemy units try to avoid letting all those attacks go to waste on high toughness or high armor units.

-Archers, Horribly over priced unit extremely ineffective only real use is for a bunkers for casters.

-Lothern Sea Guard, Stupidly over priced unit 13 points is simply to much to spend on rank and file remember a HE elite is only 2 points more. However if you are dead set on trying to get some bowfire in your army these guys are my prefered way to do so.

Special
-Swordmasters, These guys in decent numbers can go toe to toe with almost anything in the game and come out on top however they only have T3 and +5 save so your oppoenent WILL try to his best to remove them as soon as possible.
-White Lions, My personal favourite of the HEs elites the extra armour save they get against shooting attacks combined with stubborn and Strengh 4 and great weapons means you have reliable hard hitting unit that you can use to reliably counter almost any other unit in the game.
Phoniex Guard, Provides some much needed durablity to the HEs they make great bunkers for archmages in smaller units or in larger units gives you another hard hitting block of troops. With no real weakness other then magic.
-Reavers, Not worth taking great eagles do everything they do but better.
-Silver Helms, THE worst unit in the the army book hands down over priced under achievers. All heavy cavalry is useless in 8th and these guys set the bar for useless.
-Dragon Princes, Far better value then silver helms however this is still 8th edition and heavy cavalry is simply useless.
-Chariots, Both flavours of chariots are not great choices with even the pricey lion chariot not capable of putting out enough damage to compensate for its fragility.
-Shadow warrior, Skirmishes are a great unit to have as long as they have poison shots or multiple shots. Shadow warriors do not have any of these things and thus do not make the cut.

Rare
-Great Eagles, High elves only source of cheap redirectors or warmachine hunters and the good thing is you can field 4 of them at games below 3000pts. One of the star of the army book.
-Repeater Bolt Throwers, Extremely over priced warmachine for what it brings to the game. A level 1 fire mage is a far better source of ranged firepower and allows you to keep your eagle count high.

Unique Characters
-Teclis, Simply the most broken special character in the game no exceptions when backed by a banner of sorcery he is capable of destroying enitre armies solo and the rest of your army will have nothing else to do but cheer him on.
-Korhil, Not a bad choice for some extra punch in a unit of core troops also brings the benefits of stubborn and killing blow much better value then a combat lord or prince.
-No experience with the other named characters as they all look too overpriced to be worth fielding.

Conclusion
-High Elves are a combat army not a shooting army.
-Cheap to collect
-Great Magic
-Teclis is a god

Lizardmen

Close Combat: Pretty good. Your basic Saurus Warrior Has good Strength, Toughness, and Saves, and lots of attack, which are countered by the lowest Initiative in the game, and merely average Weapons Skill. Skinks are weaker, with lower Strength and horrible Toughness, but they cost half as much and have better initiative. Ranked skinks can take Kroxigor, which are fairly standard Monstrous Infantry armed with great weapons.
Magic: good, if a bit limited in terms of options. Hero-level mages can only take one lore, but at the lord level we get the Slann Mage-priest, who is simply the most powerful non-character wizard in the game.
Shooting: Good, but not game-winning. Short-ranged, with lots of poison, and some highly mobile templates.
Monsters: Kinda Average. Suffer from being a 7th ed book, meaning an entire stegadon crew can be wiped out by one cannonball. Stegadons are meaty and cause impact hits, Carnosaurs eat other monsters. Kroxiger are fairly average, kinda expensive monstrous infantry.
Cavalry: Kind of overpriced for what they do, like a lot of cavalry. Cold one cav also suffers from stupidity, making it a little unreliable as a flanker.
Speed: Saurus are average, Skinks are fast. Lots of Skirmishers and aquatic units.
Misc: Best Leadership in the game. Saurus Have Above-Average Ld, Skinks have below average. All Ld tests are taken in the same manner of Farseer Runes of Witnessing (Roll 3 dice, take lowest 2).

Fluff: The most loyal servants of the creators of the Warhammer World, when the Old Ones vanished, The Lizardmen were left to carry out their plans as best they could. Lacking the wisdom of their masters, the lizardmen struggle to carry out the plan. Are Lawful Neutral, as they are the staunchest opponents of the evil factions, but are willing to screw over the other good factions if they feel the plan demands it.
Playstyle: due to the sharp differences in the abilities of Lizardmen units, Lizardmen prefer a combined arms approach to a battle. Skirmishers, using their higher speed values, advance ahead of the enemy, and weaken and disrupt their forces before they reach the rest of the army. Saurus, advancing behind, form a durable Phalanx and wear their enemy down via a war of Attrition. Mages, whether simple skink shamans or mighty Slann, buff the Saurus blocks, turning them from medium-elite to near unstoppable juggernauts. Finally, a brutal Hammer in the form of monsters and cavalry smashes the now severally weakened enemy.

Lizardmen

Introduction:
The lizardmen army has many advantages, tough basic troops with fast support units and hard hitting monsters.
This is an army for those who like reliability and enjoy the coldblooded destruction of their foes.

Flavor:
The lizardmen race actually consist of several races who where all created by the enigmatic old ones, they where the first to be created and each had it's own purpose. Slaan where created first and acted as direct liasons for the old one's earthly affairs, the saurus where created purely for war with the goal of cleansing the world of unwanted races, skinks where made to be artisans who would run the newly established empire while the kroxigor where destined to be the builders upon who's backs the great cities would rise.

The lizardmen are capable to function in all three phases of the game, with the devastating magic of the Slaan, posionous volleys of the skinks, and ferocity of the saurus, the force can also be augmented by the addition of fierce jungle beasts.
Their models will appeal to any lizard lover with abundance of scales horns and teeth, as well as ferocious looking weapons and ornate armor based on mesoamerican gliphs.

Tactical Opportunities
The lizardmen are as said above good at most things, with an obvious lack of long range shooting.
The army is one of the most versatile and can be based on speed, streinght, magic or a ballanced approach.

Lords and Heroes
It's unknown what GW where thinking when writing the book but most named characters are overpriced by about 50-200 points, using them in any but the most themed list is ill advised.

Slaan Mage-priest: Considered by many the premiere leader for the army the slaan wields devastating magic and has access to the best magic deffence in the game.
There is a sentimet among players (mostly of other races) that overupgrading a slaan is cheesy. Notable is his unique ability (for an unnamed character) to be both the BSB and general.

Saurus Oldblood: The baddest saurus available this guy is a consumate fighter able to stand toe to toe with the nastiest of enemy characters and still stand a chance (altho slight in some cases). This is also where we get our first monster option with the bloodthirsty carnosaur, a beast that is scary to any monster foolish enough to face it.

Saurus Scar-Veteran: Less expirienced than the oldblood, this hero is a great warrior and has great potential for unit bolstering. He's also a BSB option.

Skink Priest: Limited in their lore choice these are seen as unworthy by many, but a skink priest can be usefull for carriyng additional arcane items and the lore of heavens is quitte good when you get used to it, also spamming the signature spell is quite possibly the nastiest debuff i have used. Here too we can have a monster and it comes with one of the oddest pieces of equipment in the game, the engine of the gods is great for its undispellable protective and offencive capabilities, altho considered by many to not be worth the points.

Skink Chief: This elite skink is quite cheap and can prove usefull as the leader of a small harrasment unit or be used to bolster a bigger more static unit. He could also ride either kind of stegadon, for even more monster fun, of note however is his ability to ride a terradon and the ability to actually join and lead a unit of them. Also a BSB option.

Core
Saurus warriors: The basic heavy infantry of the army, they are hard hitting and durable with a great statline for their cost.
There is a long running debate weither using spears with them is worth it or not.

Skinks: Also known as ranked or cohort skinks, this unit makes up what it lacks in durability with numbers and what it lacks in hitting power with kroxigor.
Some use small units of these for screening instead of skirmishers.

Skink skirmishers: Mobile harasment unit that is quite cheap, usually used for screening and flanking their speed will quickly let them get to using their rather short range.

Jungle swarm: This unit altho characterfull suffers from the horrid swarm rules as seen in the BRB.

Special
Chameleon Skinks: These guys are godsend (old one send?), they sneak up and take out any high T low armour targets the enemy is foolish enough not to guard. And if he guards them he's diverting forces from the main battle, either way a win, win.

Terradon Riders: The faster less shooty cousins of the chameleon skink, these guys are great for tying up enemy war machines or small missile units, or scaring the bleep out of lone wizards.

Temple Guard: The dediacted entorauge for a slaan, this unit is considered too expencive to use without one, as they gain stubborn if he's present. A heavier, more damaging version of the saurus warrior they too are durable but a bit more hard-hitting.

Cold One Cavalry: Lizards riding lizards, what's not to like. Quite expencive they seem like your typical heavy cavalry, best used to flank the enemy in support of your more numerous units.

Kroxigor: For those who preffer raw damage without the skink meatshield the big bad lizards are available on their own. They have the same function as the cavalry but sacrifice some speed for more damage potential and weaker armour.

Stegadon: Big bad and full of wrath. This living battering ram is simmilar to a chariot except he hits harder and costs more points. Devastating on the charge a stegadon can keep on the damage simply by being a monster. The big bow is a bit of a letdown unless you get lucky at which point it's hillarious (well not for the enemy).

Rare
Ancient Stegadon: Older harder hitting, this version of the big beast also comes with a ranged weapon that makes you feel dirty the first time you use it on an unsuspecting enemy.

Sallamander: Also known as a walking mass frier, this thing is the latest word in crowd control. The ability to march 12" and the spew out a long range flame template is just down dirty. Use in packs for added effect.

Razordon: These are often overlooked for being less effective than a sallamander (can't march and shoot). But i know some people would be afraid to charge their more important units into one. Also the high S shooting is nice either way.

Items
Blade of Realities: Possibly devastating but the new BSB rules make it harder to succseed with.
Blade of Revered Tzunki: A stronger version of the obsidian blade, quite nice if you can spare the points.
Scimitar of the Sun Resplendent: A more expencive version of a BRB item, pass.
Stegadon War Spear: A bit expencive but the potential, rarely used tho as skink chiefs are rare themselves.
Staff of the Lost Sun: Now that's fun to mount on a terradon.
Pirhana Blade: This is fun to use on anything with multiple wounds.
Dagger of Sotek: not sure how many skinks will actually see combat for long enough to really use this.
Sword of the Hornet: A clone of a BRB item, most lizardmen characters lack the initiative to make full use of ASF.
Burning Blade of Chotec: A personal favorite. Really messes up any regenerator.

Hide of the Cold Ones: Pretty nice but with most our characters having good armour to begin with, ward granting options seem more usefull.
Sacred Stegadon Helm: In comparison to newer helms and LD boosters this seems very overpriced.
Shield of the Mirrored Pool: Magic missiles are the best way to clear up your skirmishing units – just sayin.
Maiming Shield: Extra attacks are nice, certainly get it if you have the point's.

The Horn of Krygor: Excuse me how many points!? No hanks.
Horned One: With the FAQ fix this has been the focal point of a few argument's, also not really worth it over a regular cold one as such a character would be with a unit and subject to stupidity anyway.
Divine Plaque of Protection: A big FU to all who wanna shoot you'r solo slaan.
War Drum of Xahutec: This is an odd one for it seems great for supporting your flanking units, but when you think about it it has to be with the fleeing flankers but not joined to them.
Blood Statuette of Spite: Human and elven characters really hate this one, can work well with toughness debuffs.
Charm of the Jaguar Warrior: A flying item, nice to have but uses power dice.
Cloak of Feathers: Cheap boost of speed that dosen't use PD. Yes please. Great for hopping priests around to annoy the enemy.
Carnosaur Pendant: This isn't rage, its' RAAAAGE. Great if you're trying to mass up attacks.
Curse Charm of Tepok: Nice and sneaky, a bit expencive for one use though.
Bane Head: Come at me bro, i dare ya. Works extra mean with the pirhana blade.
Dragonfly of Quicksilver: Neat to have if you need to fill up points.
Venom of the Firefly Frog: It's a steal, and it can give magical attacks that aren't attached to a weapon (it matters sometimes trust me).

Cupped Hands of The Old Ones: Reeeal expencive for one use, but miscasts are mean, and tossing your's on the enemy is even meaner.
Cube of Darkness: it should be called cube of my enemy rolled 10+ PD. Seriously awesome.
Rod of the Storm: One use thunderbolt for 25 pts. Lame.
Diadem of Power: Dice battery, it's ok if you have any PD left. Best used in slaan free lists.
Itxi Grubs: A nice backup if you fear failing to cast a spell. Bit expencive for one use though.
Plaque of Tepok: It's neat and can make for a nice upgrade, good price too.

Aura of Quetzl: Neat, but the BRB gives the same attached to an armour, for cheaper.
Glyph Necklase: Another BRB item clone, a good one to pair up on too.
Amulet of Itzl: Twice the points but three times the effectivnes of a BRB item. It's ok if you plan to run around solo.

Totem of Prophercy: The BRB gives terror for the same price, and i say pass on both.
Plaque of Dominion: Stupidity is no issue with a BSB nearby, also short range. Pass.
Huanchis's Blessed Totem: A great way to ensure your Deathstar hits home.
Jaguar Standart: Use this one on something scary, it will guarantee that finishing blow.
Skavenpelt Banner: Excuse me so i'm supposed to have a skink BSB and not give him magic armor? No thanks.

Tactics
Making full use of what you'r army has to offer, is easy with the lizardmen as the unit's use is so obvious at first glance.
The tactics available are varied and numerous, but will allways revolve on having a main battle line supported by flankers/magic.

Conclusion
So yea reliable troops, good models and an overall competitive army list make for a good enjoyable expirience.

Unit Analysis

Lords & Heroes
Named Characters

Note: Under the current edition, named characters tend to be overpriced; you can pretty easily emulate most named characters from scratch and save yourself some points. That said, a few named characters do have abilities and wargear or wargear combos unique to them, so if you absolutely need to have them, go ahead. Just make sure you're really getting your points worth.

Gresus Goldtooth: Ehhhh, 545 points (over twice of a vanilla Tyrant, or well over 200 points more than a fully kitted out Tyrant) for same stats with 1 extra toughness and wound. He has a couple nifty ability, but they're both situational (up against Vampire Counts? Guess Everybody Has Their Price ain't so worth it after all.) The real kicker is that he's M4 (meaning he slows down whatever unit he joins) and his Initiative 1 means that he's likely to get kicked in the groin before he strikes, S10 or no S10. Bring a Tyrant instead.
Skrag the Slaughterer: Not...terrible, but specific and limited. He costs 140 points more than a level 4 Slaughtermaster, has an extra hand weapon, frenzy and killing blow for those points, in addition to extra WS, S, and T. In order to really get mileage out of his abilities however, you need to take Gorgers, and why would you want to do that? Can be fun if you're taking a bunch of Gorgers (for some reason) but not really worth the points.
Golgfag Maneater: Again, a tiny bit too expensive, but can be fun. Has slightly better stats than a Bruiser (BS, I and A) for quite a bit more. Easy Come, Easy Go can grab you some nice items but can also go really wrong. His 6+ armor without magic armor is, frankly, pathetic and Stubborn and Vanguard aren't the best choices for Maneaters if you want to grab some. Take him for fun, but leave him out of competitive lists.
Bragg the Gutsman: No. Just no. Twice as much as a vanilla Bruiser for ONE higher Strength. Light Armor, T5 and I3 means he's pretty easy to kill before he gets to strike. Oh by the way, that Heroic Killing Blow ONLY works in a challenge, so forget using him to hunt monsters. Bring a bruiser, you'll get more mileage.

Generic Characters

Note: While named characters are judged against their generic counterparts, generic characters are examined based on their role in your army.

Tyrant: A little overpriced, but can be good if kitted out right. He can be a hard to crack combat lord when given the right equipment, and his 5 S5 attacks can be just the boost you need to win combat. Unfortunately he's competing for Lord Points with Slaughtermaster, which has MUCH more bang for your buck, especially since you no longer need to take a Tyrant to take Slaughtermaster. Can be useful in larger points games, but a fully kitted out lord costs over 300 points, so be careful not to waste him by throwing him into fights he can't win (no matter what the fluff tells you, a Tyrant cannot deal with a Bloodthirster alone).
Slaughtermaster: Oh big daddy YES. The Lore of the Great Maw is a fantastic lore, especially for a tightly packed line and the Lore Attribute means that these guys can sit there and heal themselves over and over, and keep casting higher and higher. A single one of these can be all you need to turn the game, especially in a 2K game. Also, always take the Hellheart, unless you KNOW you're facing Dwarves. Always.
NOTE: As of right now, it's not listed in the book, but Slaughtermasters can take a Great Weapon for 10 points. In addition, it is technically allowed for you to take Magic Armor, due to the fact that they can take Ironfists. This is confirmed in the FAQ, but discouraged.
Bruiser: The workaday combat hero of the Ogre Kingdoms army. Has a statline more in line with most Lord Choices and only costs 105 points Vanilla. Useful as a beatstick in big units, and a BSB certainly helps in a pinch. Cheap and effective, what more can you ask for?
Hunter: 20 points more than a Bruiser, for 1 higher BS and some nifty choices, but can never join non-Sabertusk units. Can also take a Stonehorn as a mount, which, along with a Harpoon Launcher, is probably the best choice for him as it lets you deal with enemies on the move. Not the greatest choice, but can be fun and useful under the right circumstances.
Butcher: Not quite as useful as a Slaughtermaster, but costs less than half the points, so there you are. Usually useful to make sure you get all the Spells in the Lore of the Great Maw, or alternatively can be used as a pretty brutal damage based caster with Lore of Death, or a specialty augmenter with Lore of Beasts. He can also take Lore of Heavens, but why would you want to do that? Can take the Hellheart if you want to save your Slaughtermaster's Arcane Item for something else.
Firebelly: Useful under a variety of circumstances. The ubiquity of Regeneration means that a lad with Flaming Attacks is always welcome, and the Lore of Fire is pretty brutal under any circumstances. The fact that he has an S4 Breath Weapon (Breath Weapons, for context, can turn an entire combat on their own) means that he makes a good mainline unit supporter. Definitely worth a look.

Core Units

Ogres: The core of any Ogre Kingdoms army, and well worth the points spent on them. In smaller points games, take a unit of 5 and stick a hero/lord (usually a Butcher/Slaughtermaster) in them to make the most out of them, and to make sure you get extra ranks. In a bigger game, take a unit of 17 and throw a BSB/Slaughtermaster in there to take them in Horde Formation. A unit of 17 with Full Command and Ironfists costs 574 points and can run roughshod over the enemy's line all on it's own. Watch your opponent quiver when you tell him that your horde gets a total of 52 attacks, not including Stomp, Impact hits, and whatever your hero has. A great choice no matter what.
Ironguts: 13 points more than an Ogre for 1 higher LD, 1 higher Armor (which the Ogres can achieve with Ironfists, and get a parry save in the deal too) and Great Weapons. Unfortunately since Heavy Cavalry fell out of favor in 8th Edition, they're primary job as Heavy Cavalry hunters is somewhat neutered. Still, units of 6 are great at charging small to midsized infantry units (especially if they're heavily armored) and make most large monsters piss themselves. Not as good as Ogres, but still a good choice.
Gnoblars: The odd man out in an Ogre Kingdoms army, as you can take a full 10 man unit for less than the cost of a single Ogre. As it stands, they're a good enough mob/counter charge unit and if you can hit the enemy on the flank with them, they do a good job of disrupting. Also, for 25 points more (the cost of 10 Gnoblars) you can take Gnoblar Trappers as an Upgrade. This pretty much prevents ANY enemy unit from wanting to charge them, as it makes the enemy take a dangerous terrain test for each model in the unit. Definitely worthwhile and it makes them a nasty form of chump bait. Note that it only works on attacks from the front. A good way of filling some small gaps in your army, but not a fantastic or reliable choice.

Special Units

Leadbelchers: Same stats as an Ogre, same cost as an Irongut for a range 24, D6 shots per model, S4, armor piercing ranged weapon, with no penalties for Moving and Shooting or Multiple Shots. Ho. Ly. gak. These guys are several different forms of brutal and a unit of 6 can easily hold down a flank all on it's own. Alternatively, throw them into the center of the lines and have them soften up a unit and/or monster you need dead. No Ogre Kingdoms army is complete without a unit of these lads.
Maneaters: There are several different makeups for this unit, but on a whole they're a rock solid and fairly inexpensive (down to 50 points from 80 last edition without a single drop in stats. Several common ideas for special rules are presented below, but most combos can work on one level or another. Just don't forget to give them heavy armor and remember if you're stuck, Stubborn is always a good choice.
Classic: Immune to Psychology and Stubborn. Stubborn is always a good choice, but the weakness of Terror and Fear under the current edition makes ItP pretty much worthless.
Runners: Swiftstride and Strider. Can be fun, especially with great weapons, allowing them to intercept a unit you need dead. Drop them on the flank and have them go diving through terrain to hit the enemy where it hurts.
Snipers: Sniper and Poisoned Attacks, with Brace of Handguns. This one is especially nasty against VC/TK where killing their general can really hurt. Don't spend too much on this unit though, as they're only really useful at killing heroes.
Trolling: Scouts and either Strider, Swiftstride or Stubborn. Not a great choice, but really lulzy (SCOUTING OGRES), especially against Dwarves and armies that thrive on units with lots of ranged weapons and war machines.
Bland: Stubborn and either Strider or Swiftstide. The best overall and therefore blandest choice.
Sabertusk Pack: A mixed bag, leaning good. They have 2 wounds, 3 attacks and M8 at 21 points a pop, making these guys among the nastiest war machine hunters in the game. On the other hand, their pathetic LD4 means that if they even have to take the tiniest LD test, they're running for the hills, and the only way to boost it is to send a Hunter with them. On the other hand they can be taken in units of 1, which is really funny when you see the lone Sabertusk ducking between 2 units and eating war machine crews. Use them, but carefully.
Yhetees: What a disappointment. They cost 1 point more than an Irongut or Leadbelcher and make up for it by being much worse. No impact hits, no save, T4 and flammable means that these guys go down faster than almost any other unit in the OK army. They have slightly higher Initiative than most units, but it doesn't mean a lot. They used to have enemy units be -1 to hit them, but now they're -1 WS, which on a WS3 unit is not the same thing at all. They're only really useful against VC, when you know you're going to be facing a lot of Spirit Enemies, but other than that they're not particularly useful (and even a Firebelly could probably do that just as well and do other things too).
Mournfang Cavalry: These are what Chaos Knights have nightmares about. With 3 S4 and 4 S5 attacks each, plus d3 S5 impact hits and an S5 stomp, PER MODEL, these guys can devastate entire units on their own. Give them Heavy Armor and Ironfists and watch everything your opponent has and more just bounce off them. Give them great weapons and see them DESTROY pretty much everything. Definitely worth an investment, just keep them away from Cannons.
Gorgers: Not even remotely worth it. 90 points for a single model that doesn't even show up until turn 2 (at the earliest) and can't charge until everyone's had a turn to react to it being there. If it came with the rest of the army then maybe it could hold up a unit for a couple turns (unbreakable is nice) but as is? No, anything else would be a better points investment.

Rare Units

Scraplauncher: A solid choice, cheaper than any other rare choice in the OK book. Not QUITE as good as it was last edition, but cheaper. And there will always be room in the Ogre Kingdoms army for a mobile S3 stone thrower with killing blow.
Ironblaster: It's a MOVING CANNON. But nothing. Moving. Cannon. It's not even that expensive for the book, and it usually gets a fairly large bounce (due to rolling 2 artillery die for the bounce and choosing the largest) sure some of the misfires hurt, but not as much as say, the Hellcannon and it does absurd damage whatever it looks at. It can even get into combat if pressed. Also? Moving cannon. Highly recommended.
Giant: It's a Giant. What can we say? LD10 Stubborn monsters are always nice. It's also worth pointing out that ALL of it's 'Pick Up And...' results end in death for the picked up model. Just remember to put into combat with infantry as it doesn't do as well against monsters and such.
Stonehorn: The first of the 2 big scary ****ers. This one hurts a lot on the charge, it's I2 and only one rider kinda hurts it after that. It's still a big scary ****er and send it into the right spot and it could definitely wreck someone's day. Very good as a mount for a Hunter.
Thundertusk: This one doesn't get impact hits and only has 4 attacks, but it does get a second rider (for an extra 3 S4 attacks with Killing Blow with Chain Trap ), and has a S3(6) stone thrower attached. Oh and all enemies within 6 inches have Always Strikes Last. Hold back for the first round or so to soften up a unit you want dead and then send it in with the rest of your army and watch as it and everything around smash through the entire enemy line because they get to stomp their skulls in before they're even allowed to attack. One of the best units in the current list.

Forge World Models

Rhinox Riders: You're already dead if these things charge you. Upgraded Mournfangs where the Ogres now ride ****ing rhions, with an increased cost and a buff to all their stats. with an extra point to their WS, an extra attack from the Ogre, the riders are S5, impact hits are now D3+1, they get an armor save with a +3 bonus to their armor save an are now Ld8. Up to you whether or not you find these things be valuable killing machines or just excessively powerful overpriced models (ignoring that being from Forge World automatically makes them overpriced in real money), but still, anything these things charge, short of something with Incorporeal, is going to die.

Building Your Army
Buying Your Army
Army Composition

Ogres, Butchers/Slaughtermasters, Leadbelchers and Ironblasters are the must haves, build your army around them. Scraplauncher, Thundertusks, Stonehorns, Giants, Bruisers, Firebellies, Mournfang Cavalry and Ironguts aren't quite as all-around good, but all of them are really good choices. Gnoblars, Hunters, Sabertusks and Tyrants are if you have the points and are feeling saucy. Yhetees and Gorgers are if you don't mind spending lots of points on things that won't matter much (unless you're playing VC and they take those Ethereal Cavalry).
[edit] Magic Items

Ogres have 2 forms of magic items, the actual magic items themselves and big names.

Big Names:

Mawseeker: Useful under specific circumstances, but kind of limited. Armor of Silvered Steel protects him better at 5 points more. But can be worthwhile if you want a heavily protected Tyrant.
Wallcrusher: Too limited to be really useful. If it was 10 points cheaper, maybe. As is, skip it.
Kineater: Range is too limited to be of more than superficial usefulness. If it had bigger range it could be useful against a gunline. As it is, it means the Tyrant's unit and maybe one other if you're lucky. Not worth the points.
Mountaineater: The list of things that can wound a Tyrant on a 2+ are very limited and if you think he's going to find himself facing one of those alone, you're better off finding him a ward save.
Giantbreaker: The Sword of Might does the exact same thing for 5 points less and no downside, but if you want to go with +1 Strength and a magic weapon, this is the way to go. For lulz, combine it with the sword of might for an
expensive Great Weapon that doesn't strike last.
Deathcheater: Would be more useful if you could force him to reroll after he'd already rolled to wound. As with Mountaineater, you'd be better off finding a ward save.
Longstrider: Good for a Hunter who wants to run with his Sabertusks, otherwise not really worth it.
Beastkiller: Not really worth your time, as not every army has a large target that they run regularly. Maybe if your opponent keeps running a Star Dragon and he's pissing you off, but then you should just dump the Hunter for another
Ironblaster.
Bralwerguts: 15 points to get to reroll the hero's impact hits to wound. Not his mounts, or else this might be funny on a Hunter on Stonehorn. No thanks.

Magic Items:

Thundermace: Way too expensive and limited to be anything resembling worthwhile. Same item had better bleep for 30 points less in last edition. This one? feth it.
Siegebreaker: 85 points for a great weapon that strikes against Initiative. Funny against Dwarves and Lizardmen, useless against Skaven and Elves, neutral elsewhere. Not worth it.
Gnoblar TrollThiefstone: Really, really, really funny under the right circumstances. There theoretically better items, but this one is good enough for it's points and can be really worth it for that time the enemy loses his Ruby Ring of Ruin.
Greedy Fist: It's ward save ability will activate so infrequently that it's nearly pointless. And while the secondary ability is fun, 90 percent of Wizards who are getting punched by an Ogre hero/lord are going to die so quickly that it doesn't
matter that they're losing Wizard levels.
Gut Maw: If it was 10-15 points cheaper or worked outside a challenge, it'd be worth it. As is, pass.
Grut's Sickle: Wound your unit permanently and irreversibly for +2 to your casting. Oh and there's a chance it'll cost you your Butcher. For 50 points. ..
Hellheart: feth. YES. Do not leave home without it. This is the best goddamn item in the entire Ogre Kingdoms list and one of the best ways to defend against enemy wizards. Sure you could occasionally roll that 1, but the rest of the
time...holy .
Rock Eye: Kind of limited in usefulness, especially in casual play where everyone discloses their magic items. But it is 5 points, and finding out an Assassin is in that unit you're about to go crush is worth it. Not bad.
Rune Maw: Just shy of being worth it. Maybe if you could auto-force it onto Gnoblars or something, or if it worked against regular shooting. Pass.
Dragonhide Banner: This one can be really fun. A breath weapon attack can turn combat all on it's own, and the forced ASL and rerolling 1's is just the icing on the cake. Should be taken on a High Initiative (for the army) guy to maximize it's effectiveness, such as a Bruiser.

Magic

Ogre magic consists primarily of Butchers and Slaughtermasters. They have access to the Lore of the Great Maw, Death, Beasts and Heavens, but one of them must take Great Maw. I've found it's best to take a Slaughtermaster with Great Maw, as he can make the most of it. As with all 8th edition lores, do not forget your lore attribute, as a few casts of low level spells can really help you get the bigger one off later in the phase. Also remember the lore attribute for Great Maw is not optional, even if you have no dice left and full wounds, you still need to roll to see if you take the hit. Other than Great Maw, Beasts is occasionally worthwhile for some more varied augmentation spells and Death can provide some solid magic missiles and hero/lord killing spells. Heavens is, unfortunately too prone to dud spells to take it if you have other options. Sorry Skinks. Another option is the Firebelly, who has access to Lore of Fire (duh). Lore of Fire is a powerful offensive spell and the Firebelly himself is a useful hero, with some solid combat abilities. If you already have a Slaughtermaster and just want a straight blast-em caster, Firebelly is the way to go, especially if you have some pesky Ethereal models to deal with.