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So I've been looking at other large models to use as a base for some rat ogres. I'm not a big fan of the existing non-IoB models as the poses and shapes tend to be a bit limited; I don't really like the look of the "cut off hands replaced with blades / completely inoperable gun" arms. I looked first at Kroxigor figuring they were about the right size, but they are metal models and I'd prefer to work with plastic. That turned me towards Minotaurs, whose models are simply amazing. I started looking through Army Builder, glancing at the Army Book at my local game store, and I'm considering starting a small 1,000 - 1,500 point force for fun. This raised a few questions though:

1. How would you compare their playing styles? I'm used to my core (slaves and clan rats pretty much) being mostly bunkers, used to hold enemies in place while the rest of the army actually does all the work. Similar for Beastmen, or can Gors actually hold their own better than rats?

2. Cost. I was figuring Army Book + 2 Battalions. That's already ~$200 bucks, and by my estimation weighs in about 750 - 800 points or so. Is it more worth it to just buy the units separately? Was figuring on a block of 40 Gors with AHW, 2x 10 Ungor Raiders and a block of 20 Bestigors (probably with a Razor Standard or somesuch).

3. Playability. I know some armies are trickier to work with at smaller points, am I just going to be wasting my time until 2,000+ points?



That's it I guess. Mostly I just want to make sure I'm not going to be painting a bunch more fur, just to end up playing an army too similar to my skaven (sans dirty sneaky skaven tricks...)

At least someone agrees with me on the Minotaurs. I love them.

In my 2500 army, I used around $450 dollars, and that was with a ghorgon, jabberslythe, 70 gors, 20 ungors, 30 bestigors a few harpies, and some really beefed up characters. I used two battalions in that setup right there.

To be honest, Beastmen are similar to Skaven. They have almost the same hordability as Skaven (Stormvermin are Gor's, Clanrats are Ungors, no slaves for beastmen), all the big monsters, and the unique support units.

You like winning with Skaven? Have fun losing with Beastmen most of the time.

Yes, I'm bitter with the Beastmen Army book and its overcosted units.

Hey maybe we'll be lucky and all the new books that come out will have similar costs, otherwise yeah gors can kill stuff now and again but they do thend to die quite a bit as well.

And i also agree that minotaurs look kool, great big all muscle, much better then those old out of shape looking ones from before.

Gors can hold their own. Especially with a combat beastlord in a big block of them and a bray shaman augmenting with lore of beasts. Couple this up with primal fury and you have a great hitting unit. Their main downfall is getting shot up before they hit the enemy. If you can get the unit more or less intact to the enemy you can give them a lot of pain. I like the minotaur models. And as a unit on the tabletop they can do amazingly well. I'm always tempted to give the a shield and light armour to give them some survivability. Then at higher points games maybe put a combat hero one in to help rack up even more damage. As with greatweapons/additional handweapons they can be very easy to kill even if your opponent is rolling averagely. Plus their base attacks plus impact hits should be enough anyway.

As for playstyles. Skaven as you know are sneaky backstabbers with crazy special weaponry. Beastmen are a tide of mutated flesh wielding crude weapons and the odd big monster supporting them. Beastmen NEED a BSB to keep them on the table and maximize their primal fury rolls. A really fun army to play if you like the models and theme. In my experience with them they can either crushingly wipe the enemy off the field or wind up being slaughtered. One of the two extremes usually. As some armies as it stands have a clear advantage over them. ( Anytihng that has a lot of artillery/ways to wound your troops before you get close to them ).

Gors can hold their own. Especially with a combat beastlord in a big block of them and a bray shaman augmenting with lore of beasts. Couple this up with primal fury and you have a great hitting unit.

This is a redundant statement. Any infantry block with a lord level character in them, and some augmenting magic will be good. Doesn't make Gors good for their cost. They're not worth 8 points.