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I have some pals that play Fantasy, Ogres, High Elves, Dwarves, and Empire. I want to challenge myself in a way and just play the army that I enjoy visually. My number one in the running is Beastmen. From what it seems to me they are good at attacking and powerful in that regard, but they lack armor saves.

Everybody online says that they are bad, but they seem much harder to use than the runners up, Warriors of Chaos or Lizardmen. These armies have fairly powerful magic and are powerful in combat. I'd like an army that I need to think with in order to win and I have freedom in making my own models.

Are they really bad enough where they are unplayable? I figure I'll lose a lot initially but when I get to the point where I can win with them I'll humiliate my opponents pretty well. What does Dakka think?

My boyfriend recently started playing Beastmen and he is doing pretty well with them. I don't think they are that bad really, just seem a bit harder to use than other armies.

You can always try them out against your friends by just proxy-ing everything and see what happens.

I don't think they are quite as bad as people say. But they have a bunch of units that are pretty suck.

But:
-Gors are basically Orc Boyz in the new book, but have better WS, I, no armor, no animosity, primal, ambush and 1 point more expensive.

-Minotaurs depend on Bloodgreed. If that doesn't go off, they are kind of overpriced IMHO. At least with the new Ogre book out.

-Likewise the hero minotaur. But some, all of these units, can get buffed by their special rules. If those fire off, you can gain a lot of momentum. If you don't, you don't...

The magic of the Beastmen isn't so hot. I think you should just use Beasts list. The monsters aren't so hot, either. I think GW finally realized that Toughness and Wounds only won't save a 200-300pt monster, so most have some kind of extra armor/regen/ward. Beastmen monsters don't.

So, you know, basically they don't seem to have a ton of options. At least not like other armies. They can get some viable ones, just not the breadth of other races.

I love the fluff for Beastmen. I don't agree with the lack of other Chaos type monsters not being available in the army list, though. I am also still pretty bitter that Marks of Chaos were removed, as the old book had some of the koolest marks, imo. And most of the models, too, even if some are over-priced. I find the prospect for conversions to be very appealing, too. Mixing Beastmen kits with WoC kits creates a great looking force that can double as wither force, which is a huge time/money saver.

It's a great army for massive hoardes or for heavy hitters. The monsters are kinda shady and don't have models (also shady).

They aren't unplayable but they are not too high up on the competitive scale. I like them as a friendly force for pickup games and the like.

I recently picked them up. I find they are fun but are not as forgiving as other armies. Our big thing is primal fury, being able to gain hatred every round of combat not just the first. With a BSB and Beastlord in a Bestigor unit with Standard of Disc. at Ld10 I think there is only something like less then 5% chance it does not happen at least that's what I read don't really have time to do the math. We shine through large blocks of Gor and Bestigor supported by chaff units like harpies, razorgor and ungor raiders. Our monsters are generally lackluster and Minotaur and Centigor are good but don't have a place in every list. Herdstone is awesome with 3 level 1s-2s floating around means you dominate your magic phase with dice, average roll of 7, +3 from herdstone, then you have 2-3 shamans and 1 greater bray shaman channeling and you may be at 11-12, more if you take the jagged dagger on the GBS which lets you convert models he's killed to power dice he can use to cast. So what you have is above average infantry with WS4 T4, more then likely rerolling misses looking at S3-7 depending on gor or bestigor, beast banner and buffs, on top of shamans dishing out buffs like Wyssan's and debuffs like Miasma, insuring you are hitting more, hitting first and hitting harder.

The Beastmen get a bad rap because they got a new book at the tail end of 7th that really and truly sucked in the 7th ed rules. Now in 8th ed, however, they actually do quite well, but their rep is such that no one has even really taken a good, long look at what they can do, and those who have are pleasantly surprised. If i didn't already have Dwarves, WE, DE, and Vamps, I'd run Beastmen. As it is, I do have a few naked slave girl models and an itch to add them to a Doombull base...

Yep they are. Despite what a lot of people say they can a very tough army to crack. Certain units really aren't great but they have a strong selection and do well in melee and with magic.
Plus, conversion opportunities

Just so long as you get the basics then you're good to go unfortunately, as said, there are a fair few units that are kinda sub-par... but as a recently started Beastman player I can say they are certainly good fun, and I win more often than not ^^ they do lack the big gribbly monsters, but unlike someone said earlier, I think Beastmen magic is awesome Gors, Bestigors, Minotaurs, Bray-Shamans, Razorgors, Harpies... all of these are seen as good units in a Beastmen army, really. Centigors are okay, I guess, and the rares are admittedly pretty bad... but if thats your thing, I say go for it the challenge is always fun, at least.

As said, though, they're definitely not as forgiving as some other armies out there... mistakes hurt, a lot Wyssan's Wildform on Gors (or Bestigors just to make sure ) can be an amazing sight to see, though, and watching them crush anything they happen to hit... well that makes it all worthwhile ^^