The beast with two backs
Apr 6, 2014 10:53:01 GMT -5
Post by Dr Carnivean on Apr 6, 2014 10:53:01 GMT -5
Okay, first off, I apologize for the subject heading. It's beneath me (no it's not) and quite frankly it's the sort of lewd offensive humor I would expect from Roda (which is why he and I get along so well), but as I started working on this dueling lord character beastman list, that's the thing that kept popping into my head, so you're all stuck with it now
I've been meaning for awhile to get another one of my many fantasy armies (nine or ten I think) updated for the current edition so that I can start regularly attending the bi monthly WFB tournaments at the Coliseum of Comics up in Kissimmee. Right now there are only three that I have the current book for (Beastmen, Skaven, and Lizardmen) and I did a lot of losing with Skaven last year in the escalation league and painted enough rank and files to kind of get burnt out on them, and the Lizards from Lustria, while all assembled and primed, have no paint on them whatsoever (they're going to be my 'learning how to airbrush' army) and will probably be some months of working a little at a time before they're table ready, this leaves the beastmen.
Yes, I know, I was sad too.
It's only the current book for them that's a buzzkill - I actually have a fondness for the mangy goat-heads. I brought my beasts of chaos army with me the first time I attended an Ordo gaming night back at Wright Cards & Games, because I had just finished them all and was real proud of them, and I used them in my first WFB game with the club over at Bob's house a month or two later, beginning a proud tradition of getting stomped by Bob. Then the army got gutted, all of the cool chaos monsters got taken out, and they got a crappy codex with the most god awful looking models I've seen GW put out for an army release.
Since then, I put together a big beast herd for an Ordo unit-painting competition, and got my first win, and started a jabberslythe conversion that's still 90% finished three years later, but other than that, the current codex and model range had pretty much kept me from getting real excited about them.
I looked back at some ideas Bob had posted about the beastmen when I was bouncing list ideas around for updating my warhammer fantasy armies in a thread a couple years back, and incorporated two of them into this list, his doombull build, and the idea of a coven of beastman casters camped around a herdstone (which gives an extra casting die to each friendly caster within 6" of the herdstone at the start of the magic phase)
This is what I came up with so far
2500 Pts - Beastmen Roster
1 Doombull, 337 pts (Berserk Rage; General; Hand Weapon; Heavy Armour; Causes Fear; Frenzy; Stomp)
1 Gold Sigil Sword
1 Enchanted Shield
1 Talisman of Preservation
1 Gnarled Hide
1 Great Bray-Shaman, 250 pts (Primal Fury; Level 4 Upgrade; Hand Weapon)
1 Channeling Staff
1 The Lore of Shadow
1 Bray-Shaman, 100 pts (Primal Fury; Hand Weapon)
1 Dispel Scroll
1 The Lore of Death
1 Bray-Shaman, 160 pts (Primal Fury; Level 2 Upgrade; Hand Weapon)
1 Shard of the Herdstone
1 The Lore of Beasts
1 Gorebull (Battle Standard Bearer), 247 pts (Berserk Rage; Hand Weapon; Heavy Armour; Shield; Battle Standard Bearer; Causes Fear; Frenzy; Stomp)
1 Sword of Might
1 Talisman of Endurance
39 Gor Herd, 345 pts (Ambush; Primal Fury; Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Extra Hand Weapon)
1 Foe-Render (Hand Weapon; Extra Hand Weapon)
39 Gor Herd, 345 pts (Ambush; Primal Fury; Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Extra Hand Weapon)
1 Foe-Render (Hand Weapon; Extra Hand Weapon)
24 Gor Herd, 220 pts (Ambush; Primal Fury; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Extra Hand Weapon)
1 Foe-Render (Hand Weapon; Extra Hand Weapon)
4 Minotaurs, 220 pts (Hand Weapon; Light Armour; Causes Fear; Stomp)
1 Jabberslythe, 275 pts (Causes Terror; Flyer; Immune to Psychology; Large Target; Poisoned Attacks; Swiftstride; Swiftstride; Thunder Stomp)
Validation Report:
Edition: 8th Edition; Game Type: Normal Game; Special Rules: Forbid Chaos Dwarfs in WoC, Forbid Regiments of Renown; File Version: 2.72
Roster satisfies all enforced validation rules
Composition Report:
Points of Lords: 587 (0 - 625)
Points of Heroes: 507 (0 - 625)
Points of Core: 910 (625 - Unlimited)
Points of Special: 220 (0 - 1250)
Points of Rare: 275 (0 - 625)
Total Roster Cost: 2499
Created with Army Builder® - Try it for free at www.wolflair.com
The jabberslythe would probably get dropped out after the first time I used this army. I spent so long on the conversion, I have to use it the first time I field the army, but after that I think I would drop it in favor of some chaff units and let him look cool sitting on the display base and getting brought on the table occasionally as a spell effect (either as the top tier beastman spell that can summon an actual jabberslythe onto the table or from the top tier lore of beasts spell that turns the caster into a manticore, chimera, etc)
And chaff units is one thing this current list is definitely short on, with only five units plus characters for deployment. When dropping the slythe I would probably do a trio of single model razorgor herds (with my own conversions from centigors, not GW's butt-ugly Poomba-gors) and a few chaos hound units and still have some points left over to play with.
But basically the list is: caster trio camps out next to herdstone with 25 man unit of gors that they can enter or exit at will as need be, hopefully casting all sorts of nonsense with their extra three power dice per phase.
The mino unit will want to get into combat as quickly as possible, both to make up their huge point cost and also to minimize shooting and casting against them, since they'll be the choice target. Giving the doombull the sword with the Initiative 10 means I can just rush them right out there easier, since unless it's multiple ranks of cavalry with lances or stuff with impact hits, they should whether a charge fairly well with the doombull getting his six strength 6 attacks at the top of the phase to put against the biggest threat. I'll probably also keep the gor units on either side to screen fr them and be available for counter charges.
The BSB gorebull was a recent addition. I wanted a bsb somewhere to allow the gors to reroll their primal fury tests, and I do have a painted minotaur standard bearer already and I figured I could either spend an extra 103 points to upgrade one of the gors to a bsb or an extra 125 pts to upgrade one of the minos in the doombull's unit. With the gors fighting in 10 wide horde formation most likely, I decided having the BSB in the mino unit would be the best bet of getting maximum unit coverage.
Certainly not the best beastman build but not the worst, and would probably fare much better than my Ghosts N Goblins and Skaven lists did at the CoC. In it's current form, I'm thinking the list is going to either do really well or really suck, and it's going to be decided pretty early in the game which one it's going to be. If they can do some early damage with magic and hold back the opposing magic and whether the shooting long enough to get the minotaurs into the thick of things, I think they'll romp through the other army. If the minos go down or get severely weakened early or if there are a lot of enemy fliers that can get back to the caster unit and shut them down early, they're going to lose bad.
Hobby-wise, I'm touch up painting a bunch of my older plastic gors and ungors to turn them into a 40 man horde with the same kind of evil forest theme basing that my painting competition unit has, touching up the paint on the non-character minos, and converting and painting the great shaman, as well as doing some touch-up sculpting on the jabberslythe and finishing his paint job, and then making a simple display base with removable herdstone terrain piece.
I was originally going to try and have them ready for the WFB tourney on the 12th at the CoC but fortunately good sense prevailed, and I'm instead going to try and get the great shaman conversion and maybe the gor herd done this week and finish the rest over the next month or so to use for the June tournament.
I've been meaning for awhile to get another one of my many fantasy armies (nine or ten I think) updated for the current edition so that I can start regularly attending the bi monthly WFB tournaments at the Coliseum of Comics up in Kissimmee. Right now there are only three that I have the current book for (Beastmen, Skaven, and Lizardmen) and I did a lot of losing with Skaven last year in the escalation league and painted enough rank and files to kind of get burnt out on them, and the Lizards from Lustria, while all assembled and primed, have no paint on them whatsoever (they're going to be my 'learning how to airbrush' army) and will probably be some months of working a little at a time before they're table ready, this leaves the beastmen.
Yes, I know, I was sad too.
It's only the current book for them that's a buzzkill - I actually have a fondness for the mangy goat-heads. I brought my beasts of chaos army with me the first time I attended an Ordo gaming night back at Wright Cards & Games, because I had just finished them all and was real proud of them, and I used them in my first WFB game with the club over at Bob's house a month or two later, beginning a proud tradition of getting stomped by Bob. Then the army got gutted, all of the cool chaos monsters got taken out, and they got a crappy codex with the most god awful looking models I've seen GW put out for an army release.
Since then, I put together a big beast herd for an Ordo unit-painting competition, and got my first win, and started a jabberslythe conversion that's still 90% finished three years later, but other than that, the current codex and model range had pretty much kept me from getting real excited about them.
I looked back at some ideas Bob had posted about the beastmen when I was bouncing list ideas around for updating my warhammer fantasy armies in a thread a couple years back, and incorporated two of them into this list, his doombull build, and the idea of a coven of beastman casters camped around a herdstone (which gives an extra casting die to each friendly caster within 6" of the herdstone at the start of the magic phase)
This is what I came up with so far
2500 Pts - Beastmen Roster
1 Doombull, 337 pts (Berserk Rage; General; Hand Weapon; Heavy Armour; Causes Fear; Frenzy; Stomp)
1 Gold Sigil Sword
1 Enchanted Shield
1 Talisman of Preservation
1 Gnarled Hide
1 Great Bray-Shaman, 250 pts (Primal Fury; Level 4 Upgrade; Hand Weapon)
1 Channeling Staff
1 The Lore of Shadow
1 Bray-Shaman, 100 pts (Primal Fury; Hand Weapon)
1 Dispel Scroll
1 The Lore of Death
1 Bray-Shaman, 160 pts (Primal Fury; Level 2 Upgrade; Hand Weapon)
1 Shard of the Herdstone
1 The Lore of Beasts
1 Gorebull (Battle Standard Bearer), 247 pts (Berserk Rage; Hand Weapon; Heavy Armour; Shield; Battle Standard Bearer; Causes Fear; Frenzy; Stomp)
1 Sword of Might
1 Talisman of Endurance
39 Gor Herd, 345 pts (Ambush; Primal Fury; Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Extra Hand Weapon)
1 Foe-Render (Hand Weapon; Extra Hand Weapon)
39 Gor Herd, 345 pts (Ambush; Primal Fury; Musician Mus; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Extra Hand Weapon)
1 Foe-Render (Hand Weapon; Extra Hand Weapon)
24 Gor Herd, 220 pts (Ambush; Primal Fury; Standard Bearer Std; Hand Weapon; Extra Hand Weapon)
1 Foe-Render (Hand Weapon; Extra Hand Weapon)
4 Minotaurs, 220 pts (Hand Weapon; Light Armour; Causes Fear; Stomp)
1 Jabberslythe, 275 pts (Causes Terror; Flyer; Immune to Psychology; Large Target; Poisoned Attacks; Swiftstride; Swiftstride; Thunder Stomp)
Validation Report:
Edition: 8th Edition; Game Type: Normal Game; Special Rules: Forbid Chaos Dwarfs in WoC, Forbid Regiments of Renown; File Version: 2.72
Roster satisfies all enforced validation rules
Composition Report:
Points of Lords: 587 (0 - 625)
Points of Heroes: 507 (0 - 625)
Points of Core: 910 (625 - Unlimited)
Points of Special: 220 (0 - 1250)
Points of Rare: 275 (0 - 625)
Total Roster Cost: 2499
Created with Army Builder® - Try it for free at www.wolflair.com
The jabberslythe would probably get dropped out after the first time I used this army. I spent so long on the conversion, I have to use it the first time I field the army, but after that I think I would drop it in favor of some chaff units and let him look cool sitting on the display base and getting brought on the table occasionally as a spell effect (either as the top tier beastman spell that can summon an actual jabberslythe onto the table or from the top tier lore of beasts spell that turns the caster into a manticore, chimera, etc)
And chaff units is one thing this current list is definitely short on, with only five units plus characters for deployment. When dropping the slythe I would probably do a trio of single model razorgor herds (with my own conversions from centigors, not GW's butt-ugly Poomba-gors) and a few chaos hound units and still have some points left over to play with.
But basically the list is: caster trio camps out next to herdstone with 25 man unit of gors that they can enter or exit at will as need be, hopefully casting all sorts of nonsense with their extra three power dice per phase.
The mino unit will want to get into combat as quickly as possible, both to make up their huge point cost and also to minimize shooting and casting against them, since they'll be the choice target. Giving the doombull the sword with the Initiative 10 means I can just rush them right out there easier, since unless it's multiple ranks of cavalry with lances or stuff with impact hits, they should whether a charge fairly well with the doombull getting his six strength 6 attacks at the top of the phase to put against the biggest threat. I'll probably also keep the gor units on either side to screen fr them and be available for counter charges.
The BSB gorebull was a recent addition. I wanted a bsb somewhere to allow the gors to reroll their primal fury tests, and I do have a painted minotaur standard bearer already and I figured I could either spend an extra 103 points to upgrade one of the gors to a bsb or an extra 125 pts to upgrade one of the minos in the doombull's unit. With the gors fighting in 10 wide horde formation most likely, I decided having the BSB in the mino unit would be the best bet of getting maximum unit coverage.
Certainly not the best beastman build but not the worst, and would probably fare much better than my Ghosts N Goblins and Skaven lists did at the CoC. In it's current form, I'm thinking the list is going to either do really well or really suck, and it's going to be decided pretty early in the game which one it's going to be. If they can do some early damage with magic and hold back the opposing magic and whether the shooting long enough to get the minotaurs into the thick of things, I think they'll romp through the other army. If the minos go down or get severely weakened early or if there are a lot of enemy fliers that can get back to the caster unit and shut them down early, they're going to lose bad.
Hobby-wise, I'm touch up painting a bunch of my older plastic gors and ungors to turn them into a 40 man horde with the same kind of evil forest theme basing that my painting competition unit has, touching up the paint on the non-character minos, and converting and painting the great shaman, as well as doing some touch-up sculpting on the jabberslythe and finishing his paint job, and then making a simple display base with removable herdstone terrain piece.
I was originally going to try and have them ready for the WFB tourney on the 12th at the CoC but fortunately good sense prevailed, and I'm instead going to try and get the great shaman conversion and maybe the gor herd done this week and finish the rest over the next month or so to use for the June tournament.