Hi all,
This army list relates directly to the post here about 2-point defence strategy. This time, with a Warhammer fantasy light-infantry army- the Beastmen.
Quick re-cap: Beastmen have the advantage of cheap T:4 infantry, lots of monsters and Ambush. They don't have high armour saves, fearless units or shooting. This makes them, at first glance, a poor candidate for the 2-Point strategy, so lets see what they can do?
First up- the Bunker formations. Reminder: these need to be durable and have a wide threat range. With no shooting, and little armour, what can the Beastmen provide? Well, lets do a run-down of potential candidates:
Shamans- the Beasts may not have bows or guns, but they do have magic in abundance! the bunkers could house some potent casting, and therefore become a threat in the magic phase. However, magic in Fantasy 8th Ed has a fierce reputation, so this may move the opponents target priorties from 5 group elements to just 2- the bunkers. It would definitely be a gamble.
Bestigor- T:4, Heavy armour and M:5. The threat from this unit comes in the fact that they can charge a good distance, and are s:6 with their Great Weapons in combat. Their mere presence will be a large enough threat for your opponent to be wary of them, and hopefully try to avoid them. this will mean that the bunkers are no longer static formations- instead, they will move up-field, and hopefully force the enemy to engage in combat when and where you want. However, this moves slowly away from 2-Point-Defence, and the whole purpose of the strategy is to keep things simple for you and difficult for your opponent- reversing those two criteria is probably not a good idea.
Ghorgon- big monster, W:6, T:6, Ld:10 Stubborn. These guys can hang around where-ever the hell they like, and your opponent will be "concerned". However, the same Pro's and Con's apply to this beast as apply to the Bestigor.
Chaos Spawn- Hmmm; cheap, T:5, W:3 and Unbreakable. In numbers, these guys are dangerous enough to threaten most units, and in small units they are mobile enough to support each other. Plus, with random movement, they can engage enemy units that other Beast units can't (since they aren't restricted to a 90 degree forward LoS.)
So- the Chaos Spawn look like favourites for the Bunkers. Their main problem is that they may not provide a particularly tempting target- so add in a couple of the Bray-Shamans.
4 Chaos Spawn
Bray-Shaman: Level 2
4 Chaos Spawn
Bray-Shaman: Level 2
Ok- 640 points spent. That leaves over 1800 points for the 3 battle groups- 600 points each. Let's see what can be done with that.
The Battle Groups need to be mobile and self-supporting, remaining deadly enough to overcome an enemy when they engage. It should be noted that there is only 205 points available from Rare, and the list still needs 625 points of Core. Potential Candidates:
Gor Herds- the mainstay of a Beast army, cheap and tough- unfortunately not that killy.
Chariots- it's always tempting with a Beast army to go Chariot heavy. However, that's a seperate list. Chariots tend to be 1-shot, and once they've done their job it's difficult to get them back into line. One or two to deal with skirmishers and launch attacks of opportunity, maybe?
Minotaurs- these fit pretty ideally into the role required- plus big units of Minotaurs always look terryfing as they Moo their way towards the enemy.
Bestigor- all the reasons these guys don't make good bunkers, are all the reasons that they make great offensive battle-group units. The problem is, they won't be big units, and Many Small Units isn't really ideal- although there is always the possibilty of Ambush.
Razorgor- fast, tough and hard-hitting. Unfortunately they compete with Minotaurs- the trade-off? Razorgor have +1M, +1T, +1A. Minotaurs have +1WS, +1I, +1Ld, Impact hits and the ability to carry gear.
That's it- nothing else really fits. Let's take a quick look at characters before making any decisions:
The list is already strong magically, and there are two fantastic utility characters in the Beasts book that will be a great help in putting the hurts on enemy units- Malagor the dark Omen and Slugtongue. Malagor just keeps getting better as you cast spells thanks to his cumulative +1 to cast, and he can take from Lore of the Wild, Beasts, death and Shadow- whichever you pick, that's a fair number of movement and disruption spells for your Beasts to take advantage of. Slugtongue just deploys on a flank, and any enemy in front of him start taking damage at the start of the game, making your life significantly easier.
Malagor
Slugtongue
Ok- onto the units. The rules require that there are 625 points of Gor units (we've already ruled out the Ungor) and Chariots. So:
3 Chariots
30 Gor- musician, standard, Additional Hand Weapon
30 Gor- musician, standard, Additional Hand Weapon
30 Gor- musician, standard, Additional Hand Weapon
Ok- in total so far: 2035 pts. There's 2 pretty tough bunkers, lots of magic offence and defence and 3 horde battle-groups with Chariot support. Taking a look at the list again, there's 3 options for the remaining 465 points, and luckily they are all Special- where no points have been spent so far! So what can we afford?
3 small units of 12 Bestigor
2 units of 4 Razorgor
2 units of 4 Minotaur with Great Weapon (will have to cut 39 pts)
Looking down that list, the Minotaurs are probably the best option to support the Gor's, In the battlegroup without the Minotaurs, Slugtongue can weaken any opposition at the start of the game.
4 Minotaurs- Great weapon
4 Minotaurs- Great Weapon
Total points: 2539. It's within 10 percent, but what can be cut? Well, reducing one of the bunker Shamans to Level 1 saves 25 points, and reducing 2 Gor units to 29 men saves another 16 (the extra man can be filled with a character!) The finished list:
Bunker 1-
4 Spawn
Bray-Shaman, Level 1
Bunker 2-
4 Spawn
Bray-Shaman, Level 2
Battlegroup 1
Slugtongue
29 Gor- Standard, Musician, Additional Hand Weapon
Chariot
Battlegroup 2
Malagor
29 Gor- Standard, Musician, Additional Hand Weapon
Chariot
4 Minotaur- Great Weapon
Battlegroup 3-
30 Gor- Standard, Musician, Additional Hand Weapon
Chariot
4 Minotaur- Great Weapon
Total- 2498 points.
So, how would this work? Well, there is one thing to bear in mind- large portions of this list can become frenzied over time. This means that you will have to be careful to not get pulled around the battlefield. Chariots help control the movement of Frenzied Gors (just stick them in the Gor's front arc, then they can't charge, and flee the Chariot from any enemy. ) The best way, however, is to be careful about where and when you charge. This list can seriously weaken an opponent in the magic phase, and after a few turns of being pelted with sorcerous blasts the last thing they will need is 30 Gors hitting them in the face with 3 attacks each in frenzy.
If you commit 1 of the groups , make sure the other two are covering the bunkers, and that at least one of them can go in to support them next turn. Never commit 2 groups! Ideally, commit all 3 in turn and turn the enemy force into meaty chunks in gravy for your Spawn to mop up.
Comments, as always, are welcome.
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