Beastmen Book Review, Part Three

 

It's good to be back.  

Let me start by saying how sorry I am that there weren't updates the second half of last week.  That little cold I had turned out to be a full blown stuck in bed on my back disaster, and I'm finally recovering from it, although I'm still not fantastic.  At least I'm able to get back to work, and maybe get some games in.  Speaking of which, I'll get my first couple Beastmen games tonight, so lets talk some Beasts!

Lords and Heroes:  There are two interesting choices here for me, with the Great Bray-Shaman taking third place.  

Beastlord - The Beastlord provides one single attribute that the rest of the army sorely lacks:  leadership.  With Ld 9, this is the choice that will keep other units moving and stop them from running quite as much as they would otherwise.  He can be tricked out to be a pretty good fighter, as well.  He will have to be in a chariot, which to me always seems to make him an easy cannon target, or in a group of Gors, Ungors, or Bestigors.  I give him a B+.

Doombull - A true close combat monter, especially if he gets the charge.  I'm running him tonight, in a group of poison hounds.  If you want to smash things left and right, the Doombull is your guy.  As with all Minotaur characters, he'll provide the blessing and curse of frenzy to his unit.  He's a mean machine, but only Ld 8.  I'll give him a B, since he's got the lower leadership and frenzy to offset his obvious killing skills.

Great Bray-Shaman - At leadership 8, and with a weak lore, he's the weakest choice right now, and a C.  If magic changes with Eighth addition, perhaps his score will as well.

Core:  An pretty wide selection here, but much of it is pretty poor.  Gors and Ungors are separate now, and rank and file.

Ungors - Cheap and junky...kind of like a cross between man and goblin.  C-.

Gors - A little less junky but way too expensive.  With ambushing, I think you could spam these semi-effectively, but the price would rapidly get too high.  I can't see going beyond 10 under the current rules. At least it's an upgrade to ranked Ungors. C+.  

Ungor Raiders - Cheap as heck skirmishers with short bows that can ambush.  I love these suckers for march blocking and hunting war machines early on.  You can do it at a bargain price, and use the non-ambushing units to screen.  These guys get an easy A.

Warhounds - Cheap and easy screeners.   I'll also use them from time to time to give my Doombull some ablative wounds.  B+, but only because the Raiders take their spots somewhat.

Tuskgor Chariots - You'll have to spam these to be effective, but with a Beastlord this can be a very good option.  The loss of rerollable psychology and scythed wheels is a bit rough, but at least the price is right, as is the slot.  B+.