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So I'm normally a skaven player, but recently made a few Beastman purchases as I'd been looking into another, more CC oriented army. None of the forces of Order really appealed to me, and Beastmen were one of the armies not in use by my gaming group. I know they're generally considered underpowered, but meh.

Anyway, given the models I currently posses, the following list would require few further purchases on my part and I'm curious how it would work out:

Lords
Beastlord (General) - Armor of Destiny, Hunting Spear, Shield (248)

Great Bray-Shaman (Level 4; Lore of the Wild) - Hagtree Fetish, Talisman of Protection, Ironcurse Icon (305)

Heroes
Bray-Shaman (Level 2; Lore of Beasts) - Dispel Scroll (135)

Bray-Shaman (Level 2; Lore of Shadow) (110)

Wargor (BSB) - The Beast Banner, Heavy Armor, Shield, Gnarled Hide (206)

Core
Gor Herd (x34) - Full Command, AHW (297)

Gor Herd (x34) - Full Command, AHW (297)

Ungor Raiders (x10) - (60)

Ungor Raiders (x10) - (60)

Special
Bestigor Herd (x27) - Full Command, Banner of Eternal Flame (364)

Harpies (x10) - Scout (140)

Minotaurs (x4) - Shields, Bloodkine, Blackened Plate (236)


So: Beastlord goes with the Bestigors for some nice Flaming Bolt Thrower shots from the Spear. He's also higher Init than them (even without the GWs) so he'll eliminate Regen for them. Gores are 34 units, but each will get a Bray Shaman and either the BSB or the Great Bray Shaman for 36 total models. They'll be 6x6 to generate decent attacks, while still having enough ranks to compete for steadfast with smaller hordish units like Clan Rats, Skeletons or whatnot. The Harpies go War Machine hunting or harry other skirmish units, especially ranged ones like Skinks or Gutter Runners. Minotaurs are a support hammer, or hunt down enemy units with the Banner of Eternal Flame. Raiders are for taking pot shots, and I'll probably have one unit Ambush for the heck of it.

Lore of the Wild: I know it's generally considered underwhelming, but I'd like to give it a shot in my first couple fights. I feel like it's a bit underestimated, especially when combined with the Hagtree Fetish. 5d6 S1 hits from Viletide may not sound great, but against war machines that generally don't have a save... I should be able to wipe one out per turn even before the Harpies are in range. I know Lore of Shadow is generally considered the best option (which is part of why the second L2 Bray Shaman is shadow instead of also being Beasts...).

Anyway... thoughts? With what I've got so far, I'd really only have to purchase the Harpies, one more Shaman and the Braylord. I was planning on getting the Mordheim beastman models as I think the Mordheim Shaman is leagues above the existing "two" models (which are nearly identical); I also really like the leader dude from that same set.


Edit: My copy of BattleScribe had Ungor Raiders for the wrong cost, so I adjusted down the bestigor unit and gave the Great Bray Shaman an Ironcurse Icon with the leftover 7 points.

With gor hordes I usually see two level one or two shamans to spam wildform. I'd reccommend you try that, switch the lv4 to shadow and run the lv2s with beasts. I'd also pick up the chalice for anti shooting protection.

Personally I never see minotaurs work well in small units so I would either make them larger or, more complimentary to your army, add a few razorgor in place of them plus some warhounds.

id also drop the minos they just get taken down way too easy and if your bsb is with them even more so, they are a waste of points when you can get 8 gors for the cost

Get rid of the Minos they will die the second they are shot at (or rout) its nothing more than a point sink (in which you could spend those points on more gores or ungors)if your putting your general with the bestigor herd then get rid of the champion its a waste. and 27 bestigor is probably a bit much Id say either 19 or 24 would be good (if you put one hero in there then it turns to 20 or 25) try lowering the amount of "bling" on your BSB 206pts is a lot and get rid of one bray shaman 3 different lores will screw you on power dice. The gors do not need champions its somewhat a waste of points. as for the spear banner tactic, sounds fun give it a go.

Just a couple thoughts:

1) The hunting spear will not benefit from flaming attacks because it is a magic weapon as no magic weapons combine with flaming attacks (unless the item specifically says so). I think it says this under the "flaming" special rule in the rulebook.

2) You don't need to "clear the regeneration" with two different initiative values in the same unit. The bestigors with the flaming banner alone will negate any regeneration saves for units they are fighting.

3) Your BSB is pretty standard for 206 points and I think it is accepted as pretty good in all circles. It protects him as well as possible when using the all important Beast Banner

4) I agree with the others about the minotaurs. At 2500pts, there are a lot of things that can kill them outright fairly quickly. That would be a good unit at 1000pts, but you would need more at 2500pts to be effective; I do like the blackened plate on the champion though, pretty sneaky Maybe 8-12 minos with the blackened plate would be more useful.

5) Use the Lore of the Wild if you want. Yeah shadow might be better, but try out the Lore of the Wild and see if you like it. All in good fun!

6) You might have too many points in characters and not enough warm bodies. Maybe lose a shaman and try to fit in another gor unit? You would then have a gor unit for ambushing.

Just some thoughts, hope this helps!

make your wargor your bsb i know he has two wounds less but will last longer than a gorebull bsb unless you run a mino bus

SD, are you sure we're not twins? I play skaven, you play skaven, I started Beastmen, you start Beastmen, I bought the Mordheim set for the shaman and beastlord...well, anyways...

Mordheim set: the beastlord is pretty awesome (he's dragging a girl by her hair), and the shaman is a way better pose, but it appears that the molds are getting pretty old...so I can't recommend either for or against.

Your list: The Hunting spear is pretty meh, as far as I'm concerned. I've been running my Beastlord with Blackened plate (I know you're using it elsewhere, but it really makes demon players mad when they can't do anything against your 30 or so Bestigors), the +3 attack sword from the BRB, and the talisman of protection. If I'm reading the rules for frenzy right, taking the Berserker sword would also be worthwhile (and cheaper), because your whole unit will always have frenzy. Bestigors with Frenzy? Deadly.

I support your decision to try lore of the Wild. There are a couple of really good spells in there, but you will never get four spells that are worth it, because there aren't four that are worthwhile in the entire lore, IMO. I think that the signature spell can help the first turn (useless otherwise), Viletide is great when combined with the fetish, and the summon monsters one is good...but the shaman is almost useless while it's going on. I would probably only take it with a GBS, as the higher toughness is helpful when rolling the toughness test to see if your monster dies, but probably also only in SoM.

Standard BSB setup. I prefer the Standard of discipline, though. LD 10 rerollable is pretty awesome. Keep in mind, I also run my bsb and general in my bestigors most of the time, and they don't need the extra str.

Big blocks of gors and some Raiders? pretty much how I like it. Whenever I plan on running at least 6 wide I take the AHW. When I plan on running them minimum width, I usually take shields, because it ups their survivability (marginally, mostly against shooting), whereas I usually have a character and FC with them, so the AHW only gives about 1 extra attack (depending on how many attacks the character gets) when you are five wide.

Lots of Bestigors with Flaming banner? Ditto.

I would break up the Harpies into two units of five in order to increase the number of WMs and/or wizards etc they can go after. I might also break up the Ungor Raiders for the same reason. They are fragile and will die anyways, you just need enough of them to survive long enough to take out the mortars/WLCs.

And the Minotaurs...I love them so, but they are the ultimate glass cannon in this glass cannon of an army. I think they will probably function mostly as a distraction, which is not a bad thing, because if they focus on your Minos, everything else gets close enough to charge unmolested.

And that's my two cents. Also, if you're about 6' tall and ridiculously good looking, we need to talk, because I think we're related.