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The Beasts of Chaos army is based around Chaos God worshipping mythical forest beasts such as centigors, minotaurs, trolls and ogres.
The army usually operates as a guerilla force using ambushing tactics although it can also be deployed as quite a strong close combat force due to the prevalence of high strength and toughness monsters such as minotaurs and dragon ogres.
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The below is an excellent Beasts of Chaos 6th ed. Army Summary
by Warbeast on http://www.minus1mod.com/smf/index.php
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Beasts of chaos strengths:
-Fast (movement 5 or higher)
-Lots of high-strength close combat units (Minotaurs and Dragon ogres with great weapons are deadly.)
-Lots of diversity (can build a list for any specific situation)
-Ambush (Although not completely reliable many ambushing units will mean that at least one unit is bound to be where you want it.)
-Access to marks of chaos. (Marks of chaos are an advantage for beasts as each mark, except tzeentch, offers some protection against psychology which is a big factor for beasts.)
Beasts of chaos weaknesses:
-Somewhat low leadership (most beasts of chaos units only have leadership 7 and this makes panic very bad for the army.)
-No shooting (Beasts of chaos, and in fact all of chaos has no shooting, except for throwing axes with centigors and the hellcannon.)
-Barely any static combat resolution.
Beasts of chaos rely on the movement phase to win the game, using the terrain on the board to full advantage to avoid shooting/magic. Beasts of chaos have access to one of their best core units, being beast herds, these herds are great in close combat and absorb shooting and can also screen your army from missiles. A single beast of chaos unit will never win combats on its own (except for the super herd, more on this later), Beasts of chaos rely on multiple charges to win combats, and they also need to choose which combats to engage themselves in. They rely mostly only on wounds to win combats therefore must be able to kill the enemy units front ranks to not receive any wounds themselves.
The marks of chaos:
Undivided:
Chaos undivided is a great mark for beginners as it gives you a form of immunity to psychology (by allowing a reroll for panic tests and other psychology tests) it also allows you to field units with any marks to see whichever you like best.
Khorne:
The mark of khorne, the blood god is a mark designed especially for close combat and anti-magic as it allows you to get an additional dispell dice and grants you frenzy. This mark requires lots of skill to win against other skilled opponents as they will be having you running around the board unless you can find a way to screen your units until you are ready to charge in and kill!
Slaanesh:
The mark of slaanesh, the seducer, is a great, cheap mark that also has one of the best lore of all chaos, it allows you to manipulate your opponents into doing what you want them to do, although many of its spells don't affect things immune to psychology. Slaanesh is basically a simplified version of khorne, dont get frenzy or the extra dispel dice, but you do get immune to psychology.
Nurgle:
The mark of nurgle, the lord of decay, has different affects on different marked units, mainly being: The unit causes fear, or the unit gets a 5+ scaly skin save. Many people opt to choose nurgle for doombull armies as it grants the minotaurs more armor, which they lack. The lore of nurgle isn't the best of the game, but it has many fairly decent spells in it.
Tzeentch:
The mark of tzeentch, the changer of ways, is one that relies heavily on magic. It has some of the best hand to hand combat wizards, for their shamans are not only great mystics, but also chosen for their martial prowess. Their mark sacrifices the benefit of a re-roll of psychology tests from undivided but gain the advantage of an extra power dice for as long as the units is not fleeing/dead. The lore of tzeentch is a good, but very random one. Different things are said about this lore, the only real way to see if you like it is to try it out for yourself.
Alternative strategies:
The super-herd:
The super herd is essentially a beast herd with 5-8 gors and 16-24 ungors with full command, backed up by some characters. The most common form of the super-herd is 8 gors and 24 ungors with 3 tzeentch wargors that cast spells out of it. A later addition to the super herd is a nurgle wargor to add the herd immunity to fear.
The smash-hammer of doom:
The smash-hammer of doom is essentially an all-chariot army. This army utilizes the beasts of chaos’s cheap core choice chariot and takes as many as possible along with powerful characters riding in them. The upsides to this type of army are a lot of attacks and S5 impact hits. The downsides to this army is that it is a one trick pony (If you wiff your impact hits, you are pretty much done for) it gets ruined by one strength 7 monster, a cannon, basically anything with higher than strength seven and it is very slow.
The Doombull army:
A doombull army is essentially the doombull lord and at least 3-4 minos units. The most common marks for a doombull army is either khorne, for extra hitty power, or nurgle for extra protection and a 5+ scaly skin save. Some doombull armies are backed up by chariots, deamons, herds and dragon ogres.
Unit by unit description
Characters
Beastlord/Wargor
Both the beastlord/wargor both fullfill the same role, obviously the beastlord is much better at it, for he is a lord. The main role for a beastlord/wargor is: A cheap fighty character that lends his leadership to units. You must know that a beastlord/wargor will rarely ever win a challenge, therefore you should always field them in a unit that has a champion to take up the challenge on his own.
Doombull
The doombull is a more expensive, way more fighty character than the beastlord, and is obviously more expensive, but for good reason: When he is your general, you can field minotaurs as core. The two main downsides to the doombull are:
-He can only chose a magic weapon from the chaos magic weapons list, no armour or talismans.
-He is very hard to hide in units.
Overrall, the doombull is the beasts of chaos main fighty character, I would feel confident in him winning challenges. But beware of shooting as he is unwieldy to hide.
Great Bray-Shaman/Bray-Shaman
Shamans are the magic users of the beasts of chaos army. They are expensive, but can still add a somewhat decent punch in hand to hand combat. When a shaman is your general, your army does not really benefit from his leadership as it is lower than most troops, but you do benefit from adding some magic to your army.
Core units
Beast-herd
The beast herd is a very interesting unit, now I say this because it has two different creatures in one unit, the gors and the ungors. The beast herd can fullfill many roles, mainly screening, march blocking and character hiding. The beast herd also is the essential part of the super-herd, as mentioned above. The gors in the beast herd are stronger and better in hth compared to the smaller ungors, although the ungors are also very beneficial as they have spears and also take arrow shots before the gors, leaving them free of harm. The beast erd is best used cheap, but effective, most people tend to field them with 2 hand weapons, and no shields on the ungors. To sum up, the beast herd is an essential part to any beasts of chaos army, wether it is for support, hiding characters or screening your more important units, the beast herd is perfect.
Bestigor herd
The bestigor herd is the only rank and file unit that beasts of chaos have. The bestigor herd has access to great weapons which makes a great heavy support option for beasts. The best mark for bestigors is khorne, as there relatively useless single attack is doubled with frenzy. Many people have mixed comments regarding this unit, depending on what you like and what kind of list you are planning to make, you may end up liking bestigors, go ahead and try them for yourself.
Tuskgor Chariot
The tuskgor chariot is probably one of the warhammer worlds best chariots for its point cost. It is a cheap, fairly strong hitting unit, they work best in pairs as one chariot will more often than not fail at breaking a (even) small unit. More often than not a beastmen player may opt to put a character in a chariot, I would advise against as chariots will usually get hit by cannon balls and be destroyed.
Warhounds of Chaos
Warhounds of Chaos are one of the beasts of chaos' best units. "WHAT?!?!?!" you say, I say they are one of the best units we have because: They are cheap, fast, US2, can ambush, can redirect charges, can flank, can capture table quarters. And the best part about: You don't care if they die, that is how cheap they are. Although the models are a little decieving, they are still very nice models, one of the nicest the Beasts of Chaos have access to.
Special choices
Chaos trolls
Chaos trolls are a very fun unit, yet not entirely reliable due to them being stupid. Trolls are usually taken in a doombull army because the doombull alows them to make their stupidity tests on a higher leadership. Stupidity aside, trolls are a very good tarpit unit, able to dish out many attacks, or vomit on the enemy. Trolls are usually fielded in units of 3 or 4 due to their high points cost.
Chaos ogres
Chaos ogres are an armour-fied version of minotaurs, fullfiling the same roll (support unit). Chaos ogres have a small advantage because of their access to armour, although they sacrifice extra hitting power of the minos.
Minotaurs
Minotaurs are basiccally the same as chaos ogres, except they are less armoured and more killing biased. Minotaurs are great at running down anything that comes in their way. The best part about minotaurs is their access to marks of the dark gods, which furthers their abilities to maim and kill. To sum it all up, minotaurs rely on killing to win combats and are reat flanking units.
Centigors
Centigors are the flanking unit of the beasts of chaos. With their 7" movement and ability to move through woods, they are the unit of choice to threaten enemy flanks. Most players tend to use them in a line about 5-7 wide, hidden in a forest with one model that can see out, so incase it needs to charge out, it has line of sight. The standard equipment given to centigors is generally spears and shields. The throwing axes are debatable, some players wished they had equipped them to their centigors as an opportunity arrised in game.
Rare Choices
Dragon Ogres
Dragon ogres are bigger, badder versions of minotaurs. They are the knight killers of the beasts. Most players use them in units of three with light armour and great weapons for a fast, maneuverable high strength unit that the enemy will be scarred of. Dragon ogres are also immune to lightning based spells and effects which just make them all that better versus armies like the skaven and some spells from the lore of light. The dowside to this is they do cost alot of points, but are definetaly points well spent when you have them mopping up some chosen knights.
Dragon Ogre Shaggoth
The dragon ogre shaggoth is a big and nasty monster from the beasts of chaos army. Many players do not use this option as it is very expensive, has very little armour and usually gets shot to pieces. When it does survive the shooting it will rarely ever keep it's ground against infantry units on it's own. The shaggoth is a fun choice to use, but many players prefer to spend point's elsewhere. The shaggoth serves the same purpose as draon ogres: Killing knights with high strength attacks and it serves the purpose pretty well, but is less effective than 3 dragon ogres.
Chaos Giant
The chaos giant is another big and nasty monster from the beasts of chaos army. It has many uses, the main ones being: Getting shot to pieces (preventing the rest of your army getting shot), causing terror checks on your enemy, holding up enemy regiments and taking on other large monsters. Some players consider the chaos giant not an optimum choice for the beasts of chaos army, but when it comes into contact with the enemy, it will likely make it's points back, the chaos giant is rarely ever a waste of points, I personally never leave hoe without mine.
Spawn of Chaos
The spawns of chaos are a great tarpit unit, but suffer from a lack of movement, the average being 7" per turn, but even with their slower speed, they can protect your army's rear from flyers, and spawn with the mark of slaanesh can just shoot up to your enemy and prevent them from getting to you. Spawn are a great unit, worth their points almost all the time and definetely are anoying for your enemy.
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As at 29-Oct-2009: A word of warning...
Beasts of Chaos is one of the last Army books which has not been updated to coincide with the Warhammer 7th Edition Rulebook. As a result Beasts of Chaos is probably somewhat under-powered in comparison with most of the other army books.
The good news....
The Beasts of Chaos Army Book is being updated in the Spring of 2010 (rumoured to be around March)
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