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Hi all!

I have recently discovered the wonderful world of Games Workshop. When I walked into the store I saw so many things, very overwhelming to be honest, but I did see a particular faction (army?) that I liked the looks of, Beastmen!

I have the intention of going to the Games Workshop store and battling, I don't particularly care if I win or lose; however, I don't want to get slaughtered every game... I am looking to have fun and meet new people and enjoy the game (building, painting and collecting).

I was hoping some of you guys could help me out with the basics?

1) Beastmen are decent, right? Like I said, I don't care about wins or losses, just so long as when I lose I am not getting crushed. If I am having decent games that are enjoyable I am happy.

2) How are Beastmen played? I assume they are a very close combat oriented army with very little ranged units. From what I saw maybe they don't have any? With the boxes it is kind of hard to tell. From video games I have played like Company of Heroes, Rise of Nations, Kings Age etc., I prefer a well-balanced army. That being said it is not a make or break for me if the Beastmen are based totally on attack, as I suspect they are.

3) As I am a new player I don't want to throw a whole whack of money at this - sorry veteran players, my wallet is so small :( - I was hoping to take it nice and slow and learn the mechanics with some units and then keep going from there. I am going to say my tentative price limit for Aos is $250 CDN (this needs to get me everything started, also so I can practice at home).

4) Not so much a question...but yeah, if there are any tips I am all ears!

Thank you in advance!
I will be sure to message back.

Cheers!

1: So far I haven't seen any true 'losers' in AoS, nothing comparable to CSM or Orks in 40k. However I haven't played, mostly watched so I may not be noticing some issues.

Beastmen are very much charge oriented, their shields only work in the combat phase, they also have bonuses to run and pile up, not to mention the brayhorns they get in units lets them run and charge, Great Bray-shamans even give a passive +3" movement to all units within 8".

They've got some decent formations as well.

1) Yes. Bestigore, Bullgores/minotaurs, and gorgons are great. Really depends on if you are playing matched play or other game types.

2) Beastmen ranged attacks are ungore raiders (the ungore box comes with bows), and the cygore whom throws their big rock as a ranged attack. You can also take a mage/beastmen wizard to use arcane bolt. In you are OK with mixing forces since they are the same grand alliance (Chaos), you can take skaven warp lightning cannons, skull cannons etc. Yes beastmen are mostly melee.

3) Get a doombull or beastlord as your general, then whatever you like the look of and want to paint and play with. $250 is enough to get a good force together. If you like hordes go with brayherd units, if you like fewer elite units, go with more warherd units.

4) Gorgons are wrecking machines. Your grand alliance is chaos, so you can take any chaos units in addition to beastmen if you like.

You might watch Table top Minions on You Tube... he is an advocate for Age of Sigmar and one of his armies is Beast men..
He is also big on teaching hobby tips..

Here is his channel..

https://www.youtube.com/user/tabletopminions/videos

Also you might ask around your FLGS for armies that other players are wanting to off load.
You can check the web pages here on Dakka swap shop, Bartertown or Ebay for cheap armies..

Also remember you can eat at your friends or parents house to save money on food... then put that money towards new models.

With Age of Sigmar, you can collect about anything, mix and match.. but I would suggest to stay with the beastmen stuff starting
because you get bonuses for a single type army..

I have always liked the look for a full chariot army for Beastmen, but alas still no way to truly run it that way.

Supported by Gorgons/Cygores it would be fun.

 Uriels_Flame wrote:
I have always liked the look for a full chariot army for Beastmen, but alas still no way to truly run it that way.

Supported by Gorgons/Cygores it would be fun.

The Wildstalker Brayherd allows you up to 6 units of Tuskgor Chariots, each at up to 4 in a unit. Yeah you still need to bring some gors and ungors + Beastlord and Shaman, but you could still totally field mostly Chariots and you need the Gors/Ungors for Battleline anyways.

#2 They have Ungor Raiders for ranged and they are okay, cheap and with Warscroll Battalions can be pretty effective. They have a few formations which allow them to ambush and come from the edges which, when combined with how many models you can field for cheap, helps cap objectives and put pressure on the backfield. They also have some beastly melee (bestigors and Bullgors), even their chaff can hit hard with the right synergies. Fast and hard-hitting, if a little squishy.

#3 I'd pick a Warscroll Battalion and build towards that(The Furious Brayherd is a good start...gets you battleline and two heros to play with.), with either a Beastlord or Shaman for Brayherds and if you want to go for Warherds then a Doombull.

Hey all!

Thank you for the replys and comments, some great information from all of you.

I was thinking later down the road I would add some Slaves of Darkness or Nurgle (I like the rot!), and possibly the skeletons, some great looking models there.

By any chance are any of you in Halifax, Nova Scotia?

Interesting idea with the chariots, the model is nice looking. From what I have read centaurs are useless? The chariot seems to be a solid choice though, I will definitely add some to my army.

I like a combination of Brayherds and Warherds. By far my favorite model is the Doombull. My plan is to go to GW tomorrow and pickup up a couple boxes of Gors just to get started. I will also pick up my Chaos rules book, there is no AoS rule book is there, just the online PDF?

What are the benefits of running a single faction army? I do like the look of Nurgle, Slaves to Darkness (previously chaos warriors?), and skeleons, but is it worth adding another army, maybe to supplement what the Beastmen don't have....

Has anyone tried combining Chaos and the Order Grand Alliance? I like the look of the Slyvaneth, Seraphon, and Stromcast Eternals.


@ Mj445Do

Do warscroll battalions provide any benefit to your army? Is there a reason to get one? If so what are the different battalions, is there a list of them somewhere? It sounds like something I must build towards.

I checked out the youtube channel, interesting channel, and what a calm, cool, relaxing guy!



Thanks for the input, talk again soon!

sscory wrote:
Hey all!

Thank you for the replys and comments, some great information from all of you.

I was thinking later down the road I would add some Slaves of Darkness or Nurgle (I like the rot!), and possibly the skeletons, some great looking models there.

By any chance are any of you in Halifax, Nova Scotia?

Interesting idea with the chariots, the model is nice looking. From what I have read centaurs are useless? The chariot seems to be a solid choice though, I will definitely add some to my army.

I like a combination of Brayherds and Warherds. By far my favorite model is the Doombull. My plan is to go to GW tomorrow and pickup up a couple boxes of Gors just to get started. I will also pick up my Chaos rules book, there is no AoS rule book is there, just the online PDF?

What are the benefits of running a single faction army? I do like the look of Nurgle, Slaves to Darkness (previously chaos warriors?), and skeleons, but is it worth adding another army, maybe to supplement what the Beastmen don't have....

Has anyone tried combining Chaos and the Order Grand Alliance? I like the look of the Slyvaneth, Seraphon, and Stromcast Eternals.


@ Mj445Do

Do warscroll battalions provide any benefit to your army? Is there a reason to get one? If so what are the different battalions, is there a list of them somewhere? It sounds like something I must build towards.

I checked out the youtube channel, interesting channel, and what a calm, cool, relaxing guy!



Thanks for the input, talk again soon!

There are 2 ways (technically 3) to play AoS currently and all of that can be found in the Generals Handbook, I'd recommend getting it!
In the first way to play you can throw whatever you want on the table (the "other" way to play is the same just with a story or campaign attached) and the second way to play is with the points system in that handbook, which has restrictions on how to field your army (ie no skeles, which are Death, can be with Chaos and you need a certain amount of Battleline units in order to field a "legal" army...note that if you don't use the points you can play however you want. Skeles and Goatmen!? Sure why not!)

As for Warscroll Battalions...they are formations that add special rules to your units if you use them. For instance the Ungor Raiders Ambush Warscroll Battalion requires you to field 3 units of Ungor Raiders and one unit of either Ungors, Chaos Warhounds, or Harpies. This formation grants all those units the ability to instead of being set up normally, they can "ambush" and enter play from any table edge instead...plus it gives them +1 to hit if they attack a unit thats lost half its starting models.
The Warscroll Battalions add special rules like that and are generally a combination of what you need to field to have a "legal" army using the points system. The Furious Brayherd one I mentioned earlier needs a Beastlord and Great Bray-Shaman (which covers your Leaders reqs) and, aside from a few other units, also needs some Gors and Ungors, which takes care of your Battleline.

Get the AoS app too, very helpful for looking up Warscroll Battalions and Warscrolls.

@Mj445


Great, thank you for telling me this! I will be sure to pick up one of those General Handbooks the next time I am at GW. The sales person I spoke with had recommended it as well.

I have a tentative learning session with the manager of the store in a couple weeks. Pretty excited!

I was able to pick up 2 boxes of Gors, unfortunately they did not have anything else in stock, and the online store does not have any other units available other than Gors and Bullgors - I am in Canada.

I was thinking a box of Bullgors would be a good second purchase.

I think I am going to build my Gors with a split between dual-wielding weapons, some with one weapon and shield, and include a standard bearer and warhorn.

Talking with the manager of the store he said not to worry, the Beastmen are not going anywhere. He was speculating at the possibility of doing a "re-release/repacking" of the Beastmen. He said that GW may introduce the round model bases, provide a Start Collecting Force, and possibly introduce a new model - I am not sure how credible his last point was...but he did seem to be confident in the idea that the Beastmen would be getting a repack/starter box.

I think I am going to build my Gors with a split between dual-wielding weapons, some with one weapon and shield, and include a standard bearer and warhorn.

You might want to be careful on that, as some scrolls do not allow one to use both weapon types in the same warscoll, and I believe gors are either a full unit of Dual GorBlades, or Gor Blade and shield only.

From what I've seen, its the majority of Warscrolls which do not allow a mix of weapon options in the unit. Those that do, like Orruk Ardboyz are definitely in the minority.

@ZebioLizard2 & @Ghaz

Thanks, I actually did not consider that. Now that you mention it I am pretty sure you are right.

What do you think would be a better choice though? It is a weighted question because I do not know who I will be playing and what their army comp. will be like...

From a very very very (x infinity) inexperienced player's point of view I can see both being viable options, perhaps the answer is one of each unit? Plus...this will not be my only units of Gors, I will be getting at least 2 more in the near future.

Imho spears are best...Ungors aren't great, and spears let them still attack while behind a unit of Gors.

You probably want Shield + Sword rather then Dual Swords. Getting a 4+ in combat will let you get more hits off, and you'll have better units to deal damage with.

So looking at the warscrolls for the Gors the guide says "A unit of Gors has 10 or more models. Some units wield two Gor Blades, while other fight with a Gor Blade and Beastshield."

According to this Beastmen Gors are like the Goblins/Orks and are able to have combined arms in a unit - as Ghaz said earlier.


What is Rend? I see that some units have ' - ' and other units will have ' -1 ' or ' -2 '. Can someone please explain what these stats do for the unit?


On another note, my two units of Gors are coming together. I am ready to purchase my next unit(s), what do you guys recommend? I have 175 to spend.

Rend is reduction of armor saves.

If they have a save of 3+ and you have a rend of -2, that save against those weapons is now a 5+ instead of a 3+

Also uncertain about that wording for that, so I wouldn't be sure. I looked it over earlier but it's hard to tell

Oh wow! Rends seem to be very usefeul then. I will be sure to get some models that have these types of weapons.

Says units, so I would say they all have to have either/or except whatever the unit champion would have for an option.

sscory wrote:
Oh wow! Rends seem to be very usefeul then. I will be sure to get some models that have these types of weapons.

Also speaking of stuff, what exactly do you have so far for an army? Pointwise and modelwise to get an idea on what you may want/need

Rend is where it's at. Given the option, I have been going with it. Typically you are 4+ / 3+ / -1 rend. Units that can get or have -2 or -3 rend get expensive really quickly.

Some armies have the ability to ignore -1 rend effects though.

Gotta pay attention!

It says some units wield two Gor Blades, while others (as in other units) wield a Gor Blade and a beastshield.

@Uriels_Flame,

I think you are right, the declaration of the 'Unit' seems to allude to the fact that it must be the entire unit taking the same weapon combination, except for the standard bearer, warhorn bearer and leader (Foe-Render) of the unit.

@Mj445,

You are supporting this as well are you not? Or do you interpret it differently?


The guy at GW that I bought my Beastmen models from also plays beastmen, so perhaps I can go ask him tonight.


@ZebioLizard2,

At the moment I have 2 boxes of Gors (20 models). I have not built them, but I was going to likely build both units with a Gor Blade & Beastshield and add a Standard Bearer and Brayhorn (warhorn) Bearer. I have not decided on whether or not all 20 models will be combined into one unit, or keep two units of 10 models. Guess it depends on game type?

If I were to combine the units I suppose I can only take one leader in the unit (a Foe-Render).

Anyways! Yeah, 20 Gors is all I have at the moment. What were you thinking @ZeiboLizard2?

Ahhh then you'll want a hero! Beastmen have plenty of decent leader type heroes

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-beastlord-en.pdf


The Beast-Lord, a very fighty sort of commander who wants to be stuck in and start ripping apart men, with a decent statline and saves, all of his attacks having rend of some sort and the ability to reroll wounds when fighting other heroes he can do very well, his command ability isn't the greatest with requiring a death beforehand but it works quite well once it does.

His only problems is that he doesn't do very much damage, he wants to get in and blend units rather then heroes as his only option for higher damage nearly halves his attacks.

And then we have The Great Bray Shaman

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-great-bray-shaman-en.pdf

Adding some magic to your army never goes too wrong with the basic Arcane Bolt for D3 Mortal Wounds and the Mystical Save buffing up your gor herds up to 4+ Saves (3+ in combat with shields) along with his potent aura ability that grants all Brayherd units within 8" of him +3" to movement that'll allow for them to get stuck in and dictate combat better to your liking.

Savage Dominion is a very poor spell however in certain game modes, but the rest of his kit is very useful.

If you are looking to add some Warherd units to your army in the future (And they are very nice) a Doom Bull may be to your liking.

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-doombull-en.pdf

A combat monster with the ability to make Warherd units even more painful to fight in combat, you can't exactly go too wrong with the doombull charging in and dealing lots of damage, getting extra attacks and striking things down.

@ZebioLizard2

It seems that the Shaman may be my best option at the moment? It can support my Gors and provide some decent attacks on an opponents model, and it provides a spell to increase save rolls.

I like the Beastlord and Doombull, perhaps the Beastlord my be good to have just running around with a Unit of Gors as a independent character. Though the Doombull can likely do the same thing, but better.

I was thinking if I were to get the Doombull I would also get a box of Bullgors. The models work in unison and it would be a mighty force coming at my opponent - perhaps it would draw too much attention and get crushed though?

Other than a hero what else should I get? I will have another $100-125 to spend...

Well since your thinking of potentially picking up the doombull/bullgors, you may want to work yourself up to the formation for it within here

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Compendiums/warhammer-aos-beastmen-en.pdf

3 units of Bullgors (minotaurs)
1 Doom Bull
1 Ghorghan (kit can make either Cygor or Ghorghan, both are useful).

Either way, some bullgors, doom bull, and the Monster would make for a decent force alongside some cheaper gors.

@ZebioLizard2



https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-CA/Shartor-the-Executioner-FW

This model looks sweet! No rules for him though...how would I go about using a model from Forge World?


Good looking formation! If I took Gors with this...would it disrupt the formation though?

His rules are under Downloads, where Video is.

https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/resources/PDF/fw_warscrolls//AoS%20Bull%20Centaur%20Shartor%20the%20Executioner.pdf

Though he's more based around being with his Be'hal kin (also Forgeworld can be get pricey when it comes to Aos armies), that and should there be Bray-herd or warherd books later down the line, he would not grant you Allegiance as he is neither, but he is still Chaos so he would fit the overall allegiance.

No Gors would not disrupt it, the formation is self contained and you can take multiple (points withstanding)

1 Wound 5+ Save models will die in droves, and then you get to watch more run away during 5 Bravery battleshock...

Brayhorn is essential to get them across the field and the banner gives you another 1" to the run and pile in.

The beatshield is only good in Combat, so my opinion would be to give them two weapons and run, run, run -charge!

I would run them all as 1 unit and support them with magic or another 20 man unit so your foe has to think about all those attacks coming across.

Now once they get into combat, then ANARCHY away!

What other units do you have/thinking about?

And don't forget, you can't "join" heros to squads - they can be snipped easily. Beastlord is a beat stick But still only a 5 wound 4+ save model.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

sscory wrote:
@ZebioLizard2



https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-CA/Shartor-the-Executioner-FW

This model looks sweet! No rules for him though...how would I go about using a model from Forge World?


Good looking formation! If I took Gors with this...would it disrupt the formation though?

Points for him are available on the digital version of the GH, but I don't have it in front of me at the moment.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here are a few point costs from FW and SilverTower I know of:

bile trolls 200 for 3, Kazyk 140, ogres 160 for 3, Tamurkhan 500, Ogroid 160, Gaunt summoner 120, Sons of Maggot Battalion 120, Leaping Pox Battalion 80, War mammoth 320, plague toads 120 for 3, pox riders 200 for 3, Gigi Chaos Spawn 180, Nightmaw 80 and can only be taken with Sayl

Bestigors are your infantry shock troop, but I would also agree with running the Doombull and his formation with Gors as flanking support.

Check this thread too! http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/700381.page

Seems Beastmen are getting a lot of questions lately!

@Uriels_Flame

I see your point about charging, as long as I can get them across the open space they could do some damage. And like you said another unit would be a good idea as it would force the opponent to consider what he wants to save/attack. A good distraction regardless.

I do not have any other models at the moment, just 20 Gors. Which I am still unsure how to build -deciding on the two Gor Blades or Gor Blade with Beastshield. (leaning toward two Gor Blades atm).

I have 100-125 to spend on additional models, but then I am cut off for the foreseeable future, so they must count/have an impact.

ZebioLizard2 has suggested a hero unit, which is a definite, just a matter of choice. I think the Shaman would be best, especially if I decide to go with two Gor Blades on the Gors.

The warscrolls detachment he recommended is also a good idea, I just don't have the money for that and it wouldn't work if I only had some of the models, so I don't see the point.


@Uriels_Flame, what are you thinking for units?

I was thinking Shaman, Ungor Raiders with bow x 2, bestigors x 1 and minotaurs x 1, alternatively: Shaman, Ungor raiders with bows x 2, Gors x 2 and minotaurs x 1 (All counts are in boxes! )

That second one sounds a bit better, more solid force.