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my first vs beasts; tips and tactics
Topic Started: 4th October 2004 - 08:00 AM (143 Views)
phordicus
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Battlemaster of Clan Skrikkik

never played beasts before, and this was a khorne army. he's a bud so he was nice enough to let me know he liked chariots and didn't like minotaurs, so i had a bit of an idea of what i'd be facing.

what i didn't know was their <begin rant> bullcaca rule about how their beasts line up in combat. here's their basic rules; ignore them at your peril.

beast units skirmish and have a minimum number of gors and ungors, otherwise i don't think there's an upper limit. gors usually have 2 hw and are WS4 and T4. ungors are generic (WS/T 3) but have spears. they can form up to 2 ranks despite being skirmishers.

here's the messed up stuff. as long as 25% of the unit is within charge range, they get to put the tougher gors AND characters on the front line regardless of whether they were originally in range or not. now you can imagine the abuses as skirmishers can easily string themselves out and still manage to get the required 25% in range. <end rant>

anyway, it was a good game besides that bit of lameness (i am very ready for 7th, can you tell?).

shaggoth. don't be afraid. a weeping blade + warpstone amulet combo character can wipe this hulk out. because he was khorne, he was already frenzied, but in other cases warp-lightning also makes them frenzy (and they're immune to it anyway), so you can lead them around with slaves or night runners.

chariots. jezzail meat or, if you're tactically strong, 2 rat ogres can maul them. don't waste swarms holding them up; if anything, use slaves to block or draw them somewhere useless.

bloodletters. again, don't be afraid. they're only T3 and M4. they won't break because they're demons so if you engage them, do it with monks preferably. they won't get their ward save vs our poisoned stuff so gutter runners can hurt em too.

spawn. tough but low wounds. again, jezzails or rat ogres to get rid of it quickly as it is also unbreakable. its move distance is random (2d6) but the player can choose the direction.

furies. ugh. flyers that are immune to psychology. they're not a combat threat to anything besides shooty skirmishers and weapon teams. my slave unit with shields wiped out 9 in one turn of combat.

khornegors. 4's across the board almost. if you can't combo-charge them, don't attack them with anything other than stormvermin+cheiftain because they hit on 3's and wound on 2's with a -3 AS (w/great weapons). frenzied so they can be led.

flesh hounds. basically M7 bloodletters that are fast cav but not S5. treat em as you would any other fast cav unit.

beasts proper. when facing a new army, i do what most people wouldn't, and that is playing to its strength. since in theory i would want to shoot and magic a khorne beast army down before engaging in combat, i really wouldn't learn much about them, so i went with a pretty scaled-back melee army which provided me with a lot more insight as to their capabilities than otherwise would have occured.

let's just say you'll have to use weapon teams to whittle beast units down (and pray they don't blow themselves up at the first opportunity as mine did, 3 doubles in a row). away from the general they'll be Ld7 at best, and they can't be marked so no worries there. because they have a 360 arc, the bait-and-flee tactic won't work. my opponent had the shaggoth as the general so i didn't get to see the ambush rule in action.

overall vs khorne beasts the major threats are the shaggoth (death by properly equipped character or jezzails, maybe a swarm+pwg combo) and the beast packs (shoot/magic it into worthlessness as it will be difficult to get a combo charge on them).
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Skaveni primi, skaveni infiniti.
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if you meet a master swordsman, show him your sword; but do not show your poem to one who is not a poet.

- japanese proverb
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Decker_cky
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Master of the Deamonic Leash of Numbers and the Armor of Updates
actually, as skaven, your biggest threat would probably be if they ambushed several units of hounds. They negate ranks so a well set up attack could punch a hole in your battle line. Shaggoths are super overpriced for what they do. Bestigors are tough, and will stand to most elites. Weapon teams can do wonders against many beast units. Their chariots actually hit harder than chaos ones, but they aren't as survivable. IMO, ambush is where the real threat to skaven comes.
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Sammy the Squid
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Back to retirement!

I fight beasts often and usually win. They dont seem to be to hard for skaven. Spears are useful because you strike first due to your higher Initiative and you can usually kill off the front rank, winning the combat. Their poor leadership means they usually flee. The things i find most difficult are the speial untis such as Dragon Ogres and Chariots (oh they REALLY hurt Skaven!) so watch out for them. Kill his Tuskgor chariots in shooting, as they can mince up naything in combat!!! Good luck with the battle!
"If the squidman can't do it, no one can!!"

Wins/Losses/Draws

Skaven Clan Rattenkrieg - 108/58/20
Dark Elves - 44/14/8
Hochland Empire - 33/14/4
Malkavian Vampires - 23/22/4
Beastmen - 50/25/2

Have not completed a Painting Vow since July 07!!
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