Warriors of Chaos - Army Concept

Alright kiddies I trust your all well? I'm not doing too bad myself. Today I'm going to have a little talk about Warriors of Chaos and an idea I have for a bit of a concept army. So if you've read any of my previous posts you'll probably know that I play a fair bit of Vampires. I love my Vamps very much but my play style of mass Zombie tar-pits makes for an extremely slow moving army. It works well and I win plenty of games but brother, I got the need for speed.

Now WoC don't usually spring to mind when you think of fast armies. Normally you see huge blocks of Chaos Warriors marching forward in an unstoppable (but slow) wall of death. But I was flicking through their rules the other day and noticed that both Marauder Horsemen and Chariots are core units. An image of a some what Dothraki host flashed into my head and I began to toy with the idea of an entire cavalry WoC list. Recently I watched through both seasons of Vikings. Honestly I thought it was a bit shit (the whole "oh look at this brutal viking guy with a heart of gold" thing really started to get to me) but I did find the costumes, sets and culture they produced fascinating. I really liked the idea of raiding other lands not because you are evil necessarily, but because that is your culture. It made me think it would be awesome to have a WoC army not of demons and vortexes and things but of big men from the north. Big men with horses and axes.

Frank Frazettas "The Death Dealer"

So these two ideas unified to create an army of Northern Raiders on horseback, riding south in search of riches and glory. Perhaps the Vanguard to a much bigger, much more traditional host of Chaos. They will be a force of Chaos and will worship it but in a much more generalized way. No specific gods as such, more of an idea that they are helping to spread the darkness they worship. I guess more of a Marauder way, tribes of evil men enabling and helping Chaos but with a much more primitive idea of what Chaos is. A sort of "Barbarians of the North" kind of vibe. Any way this is a rough idea of the list I would build.

To begin with I need a General. For me this is an easy choice. As I said I don't want this army to be too "crazy Chaos", with all the demons, magic, mutants etc. So a Demon Prince is out of the question. (Even though these guys are fucking brutal and I highly suggest anyone else should use them). A Sorcerer is cool but when I think of a horde of Northman Raiders their leader should be a big, strong warrior. So the classic Chaos Lord would be the General and probably on a Demonic Mount (because that model is bloody awesome). I'm imagining 1 or 2 Exalted Heroes for some more combat support and then a Sorcerer. To keep things thematic the Sorcerer won't use a Chaos lore, instead maybe Fire or Death. Something punchy. Then two units of five Chaos Knights. These will be the real hammer of the force. One unit will contain the Lord while the other will take an Exalted Hero who would be the Battle Standard Bearer. Two units of five Marauder Horsemen rocking javelins. These will screen the Knights, support charges and harass with a little bit of shooting. Another unit of ten Marauder Horsemen with flails and an Exalted Champion. These guys will act as another combat unit that should be able to cause some damage so long as they have some support. Two Chaos Chariots, to flesh out the cores and support in combats/protect the flanks. Then two units of ten Warhounds. The doggies aren't that great but their quick and could chew up some warmachine crew or any Wizards dumb enough to be out on their own. And finally a Shaggoth. I know he's not technically cavalry but he's quick, he packs a nice punch and I already have the model, so he's in. All of this (roughly) comes in at around 2,200 points. Me and my mates normally play 2,500 so there is some room for upgrades and perhaps another unit somewhere.

So the tactic is pretty simple. Screen my Knights till they can get into combat and then they can take care of themselves. Everything else works together to combi-charge. I want to gang up on the enemy. The trick will be movement, charging a unit of five Marauder Horsemen into something will do nothing but if I can also flank in the same turn with the dogs or a Chariot? Suddenly that combat is going to go a lot better. Flank with a Shaggoth and the enemy is in real trouble. I will definitely need to keep my General central as well as the BSB because the Marauders only have Leadership 7 and the stupid dogs only 5. All the Marauders and Warhounds can (and will) take Vanguard. That's most of the army moving twelve inches before the game even starts. That's some serious speed. Take that you slow ass Zombies!

Now I'm not sure if I'll win many games with this list but honestly I don't care. I think it will look awesome. I think it will be fun to play. And I think it's thematic side of things is just brutal. I love the idea of the thunderous sound made from a thousand hooves as a barbarian host cascades down from the North to mess up someones day. Anyway I'm pretty sure this is going to be my new army. Please let me know what you think. Are there any gaping holes I've missed? I'll keep you updated on their progress. I have a couple of games coming up too and I'll tell you all about them so stay tuned. Until then keep rolling Dem dice and keep your eyes to the North, can you hear the thunder?........

Jimzan. 

Hoof and Horn - A Beastmen Rundown

Howdy Howdy Howdy everyone. So today I'm going to chat a little bit about Beastmen. They're one of the armies I'm seriously considering playing next and I'd like to share some thoughts on these furry little guys. And maybe get some feedback and your thoughts on them too. First off, let me indulge you with a little of their fluff. So basically Beastmen came into existence after the great catastrophe. Those silly Old Ones' super power gates (or whatever) collapsed and Chaos spills into the world. Huge chunks of physical Chaos comes crashing down to the ground and those unfortunate to be near them get caught up in a lot of bad joo-joo. There's lots of death and all that, but more importantly there are lots of mutations. People and animals are spliced into hideous forms filled with vile intent. Limbs bend backwards like that of goats. Minds are filled with hatred and suffering. Fangs sprout, muscles split, and the world is for ever tainted as the true children of Chaos are born. I like to picture it as, at one moment the world is like Farmville, then the next it is a vision from Hell. This is the beginning of the Beastmen.

Okay, so for a long time these terrible creatures multiply and rule the forests of the old world. They live violent uncivilized lives and feed on the puny prey known as man. As far as the Beastmen are concerned their pretty much living in Heaven. Which to us would be Hell. Anyway one day some uppety young man with a big golden warhammer (I wonder who that could be?) shows up and unites the tribes of men. Suddenly man is no longer prey and in fact re-takes much of the old world. They start building walls and cities and prosper like never before. The great golden age of man begins and everyone is pretty happy about it. Except of course the Beastmen. They despise man more then ever now. They see his walls and buildings as an insult to anarchy. They see man as a creature who has cheated his way into the world. The Beastmen want nothing more then to restore the "true" order of the universe, and thus prepare their armies and champions of anarchy for war...

Cool. So as you can tell these guys are pretty bad ass. Their fluff is a major draw for me. I love the idea of "the thing in the woods" and I feel like their latest edition (which is still super old) has turned "the thing in the woods" from being a scary monster to an entire civilization of monsters, waiting to come get us. I like the flavor of such hatred for man and lust for violence. The sheer menace of them seems so obvious and terrifying. So I think their concept is pretty darn cool but what about in game? Let's have a look at what these guys bring to the table.

So I know the Beasts don't get a lot of love out there on the net. And I will admit I definitely think there are some problems with them. But I'll get to that later because I think they have some awesome rules and abilities and could make a very decent list. First off is their speed. Your entire army has at least movement 5. This is good because you want to get these guys into combat as fast as you can. Combat is the key with the Beastmen. They have next to nothing in terms of shooting and I'd use lore of Beasts or Shadows for magic to get them into/buff their combats. They are quick. Their base troops, Gors, are moving at 5", the Minotaurs are at 6" and the Tusker Chariots and Chaos Warhounds are 7". The Gors, Tusker Chariots and Warhounds all count as core so there are going to be a fair few of them on the table and moving fast. So that's good.

Pretty much all Beastmen (though not Minotauurs unfortunately) have a bloody awesome rule called Primal Fury. What it allows you to do is each round of combat your in, your unit takes a Leadership test and if it's passed you gain hatred to whatever your fighting until the end of the combat round. You can re-roll missed hits even if it's not the first round of combat too. And if you roll snake eyes the unit gains hatred AND frenzy. For me, this is what makes Beastmen very viable. Now I know Beastmen have terrible Leadership and that's one of their biggest problems. But, if your General is around and a Battle Standard Bearer then you have a damn good chance of making these rolls. You won't get it every time but you will get it most of the time. And every now and then you'll roll a double 1 too and that will be a very pleasant surprise. To you anyway...

So the other major army special rule is Beastmen Ambush. Honestly I don't know how I feel about this.I remember how brutal it used to be. Huge units of Gors popping up behind me. It used to be intense, but now it's not so much. The way it works now is if you have a unit of Gors, Ungors or Raiders deployed on the table you can then put a smaller unit of the same type in ambush. Then each turn (including Turn 1 which is pretty cool) you roll a dice for each unit to see what happens.

1. The enemy chooses which side of the board they come out on.
2,3. Nothing happens, roll again next turn.
4. They enter play from the Beastmen players left
5. They enter from the right.
6. Beastmen player chooses where they enter (including behind the enemy!).

So it's kind of quite random where they come out. My problem with it is that they may well be out of range from your General or BSB especially if the enemy chooses where they come out and then if they need to make a panic check and fail they're straight off the table again. So I might have to tinker with it a little bit to see how well it works or not.

Gor Herd. (Gamesworkshops)

Alright lets have a look at some troops and characters. So there a 3 types of lords you can take. Beastlord, Doombull or Great Bray Shamans. The Beastlords are pretty good. Nice and hitty with pretty descent stats and a lovely Leadership of 9 (remember Primal Fury). Once their tooled up with 100pts of items and Chaos Gifts (oh yeah Beastmen get gifts!) they become pretty damn good. Not all that survivable but they can certainly dish it out. A fine choice for the General. Next up is the Doombull. A Minotaur lord! This guy is tough. He weighs in a little expensive for points but that's okay. His stat line is lovely. He has Blood Greed (so everytime he wins combat he gains another attack for the rest of the game "WOO WOO"). Plus he gets D3 impact hits and a stomp attack. However there are some issues with these big boys. Their Leadership is only 8, they can only over run D6" and they don't get Primal Fury. Still if you want a hard hitting, flesh eating, enemy shitting their pants lord, the Doombull could be a good choice. Finally there are the Bray Shamans. These are your casters and their not too bad either. Look the Lore of the Wild is honestly pretty rubbish but they can use Death, Shadow or Beasts and any of these seem to work well with Beastmen. Again these guys are only Leadership 8 but for a caster they have a surprising amount of punch. So they could do well in a unit. There are Hero versions of all 3 lords with exactly the same special rules just with slightly crappier stats.

Now in terms of troops you have a bunch of fast, lightly armored combat goats. Gors are pretty descent. Weapon Skill 4 and Toughness 4 is pretty good for core troops. You can give them an extra hand weapon too giving them 2 attacks re-rolling (if you Primal Fury). Coming in at 8 pts a piece with the extra attack their pretty solid. I'd suggest big blocks of them as they have NO armor. Ungors are crap versions of Gors and at a starting price of 5 points each I'd give them a pass. Although Ungor Raiders are half descent. They are skirmished Ungors with short bows. These guys could make a real nuisance of themselves as they can Ambush. Although watch out cause there only Leadership 6. Tusker Chariots are good. Their fast, hitty and core. Could be used well in supporting combats with ambushing Gors. Chaos Warhounds certainly aren't the best unit in Warhammer but they are bloody quick and as I said earlier speed is you ally. I'm sure I could find a use for them. Then things start to get bigger. I quite like Bestigors. Heavy armor and Great Weapons so their punching at Strength 6. And their Despoilers rule means when they capture enemy standards they can use them for combat resolution. Units of Minotaurs seem scary, they get the impact hit, Blood Greed and stomps. They're Strength 5 with 3 Attacks. Nice and brutal. Razorgors seem nice too (although they have the worst models of all time). Again fast, tough and hitty. Plus they can pull chariots. Stick a Hero in that chariot and he'll make a dent alright. Centigors, for me they're too expensive and their models are way too shit. Sorry but pass. Harpies are cheap and fast = good and good. Also they have 2 attacks which is handy for a flying unit. Try to get them up against war machine crew or archers on the flanks to allow your ambushers a clear passage.
Then things get bigger again...

The Cygor has an awesome model but unless your going up against an extremely magic army (like Grey Knights or something) I think they're a bit crap. True you get essentially a Stone Thrower with them and they have some strange abilities but if you want a big scary brute go with either a Giant or a Ghorgon. The Giants are fun to play with their random attack styles and the Ghorgon? Let's just say it puts the Beast in Beastmen. The Chaos Spawn is too expensive for something so random. Which is a shame cause they're unbreakable and (I think) really cool. Then there's the good old Jabberslythe. This thing is tough, it flies, it has a shooting attack, it's poisonous , causes Terror and it makes peeps turn insane. Awesome.

So I won't go through the named characters cause I never use them and I won't go through the items cause I can't be fucked (sorry). But I will say this. There are 2 items I can see real potential with. First is the Beast Banner. It cost 75 points so it needs to go with a BSB but you want one of those any way for your Primal Fury. Basically it gives the unit it's in +1 Strength. This is great. Get it on a big block of Gors who are now Weapon Skill 4, Strength 4, Toughness 4, 2 Attacks and re-rolling missed hits (with your Primal Fury). That's going to hurt somebody. Then we have the Shard of the Herdstone. It's sick. At the start of the Magic Phase all friendly wizards within 6" of it generate a Power Dice? Yes fucking Please. If you ever play as Beastmen please promise me you'll use this. It's only 50 points so a Hero Bray Shaman can take it. Having 1 or 2 little wizards hanging around the shard, casting normally AND creating 1 or 2 more Power Dice is brilliant. Do it, Do it, DO IT.......

And to finish up I guess the only real tactic with these guys is to hit hard and hit fast. They have minimal armor and all their strength is in combat. So you need to make sure when you hit them, they can't hit back hard. Try to out number, try to out maneuver and surround, and try to do it fast. This is where your Beastmen Ambush could be really effective but be careful! You want to out number, you don't want a unit of Gors just popping up all by itself in front of like ten thousand orcs or something. Their Leadership isn't great so you really don't want to get locked into a combat you could lose. Shooting will be a real issue against the Beasts so use your speed. Learn to keep your units out of each others way whilst close enough for them to double charge. Charge, win combat, run down, repeat. Keep your troops within range to use the Generals Leadership and BSB to get your Primal Fury happening. Tear down their walls, destroy their icons, break their spirits and kill, kill, KILL. Return man to his true position in the world........

Well that's it from me. As I said I'm considering collecting Beasts so let me know what you think of the article and point out what I've missed/completely got wrong. I'm tossing up between Beasts, Dark Elves and Warriors of Chaos, so expect a run down for each. Until then good luck on the battlefield and beware the thing in the woods...

Jimzan.