Warhammer Fantasy Battle Reporter Forum

Well, we all know that Beasts are probably left a bit wanting in power since all the new 7th ed. army books were released.

So the question is, why ? Which elements of the Beasts of Chaos Army book leave them most underpowered in comparison with other armies.

(Select 3 the weakest elements)

I have voted for special characters, core and rules

I really disagree on special character Steam, and to the others that have voted for special characters.

Kahzrak The One Eyed - WS 7, S5, T4, W3, I6, A4 and LD8. He always has to be the general, even though his leadership isn't as high as a Doombull, its still better than most troops. The special rules for Kahzrak is that any hounds have Leadership 6 instead of 5 - Much better for ambushing but still relatively low. However, the real help for this character is that he can be set in ambush, and all of your ambushing units can be set up, not just half. He can also sound the Bay-Horn even when he is hidden. Plus, any Ambushing unit coming up withing 12" of him can use his Leadership for Ambush tests. So bring up 2 or 3 big units of Beasts in one spot behind the enemy lines on Leadership 8 suddenly looks a lot more appealing from your point of view, and much more scary for your opponent. Kahzrak also has a 2+ Armour Save and Magic Resistance 1. Also, any spell successfully cast on Kahzrak and the unit he is with, whether it is dispelled or not, is absorbed into the Dark Mail armour giving Kahzrak +1 Strength, which can be accumulated up to S10. There is also the whip Scourge. This makes a seperate attack than the 4 on his profile and can be against a seperate target in combat. This makes only one attack, but if you successfully wound, you make another attack, and continue till you no longer wound. This can be used to take out large monsters or decimate squads of weaker toughness units. He is only 292 points. He also uses up a Lord and Heroe spot.


Nothing really special about Gorthor for 463 points. He gets an extra rare choice if hes used in your army, so 3 rare choices for 2000 points. Has leadership 9 and is always your army general, which isn't exactly a bad thing with leadership 9 in a Beasts of Chaos army. Can't be used with Kahzrak. Is fast paced moving in that hes mounted on a chariot. Lends more agression and power to a Chariot heavy army. He has a Ward Save equal to the strength of the attack. So S3 = WS 3+, S4 = WS 4+ etc. No matter what the S, he will always have a 6+ Ward Save. Another magic item also means that any attacks over S5 will be reduced to S5 and can only inflict one wound instead of D3 or D6. The only real good item or special rule for the 463 points is The Impaler, which means if you role any double, triple or quadrouple rolls to hit, they all automatically wound, so say you roll 1, 1, 4 and 6 and needs 3+ to hit, 4 and 6 would hit and have to roll to wound normally, while the 1 and 1 would automatically wound since they are doubles. Gorthor though really isn't worth the points, especailly as he takes a Lord and Hero spot.


Morghur, Master of Skulls is a brilliant special character. Truly one of the best I have ever seen. Statline of M2D6, WS6, S4, T4, W4, I5, A3, LD8. He is 378 points and takes a Lord and Hero choice. Small negative is that every unit in the army counts as being Unruly, Beastigors may use the Raiders special rule when Morghur is in the army. The Taint is a special rule which basically means Morghur taints all the forests and wooded areas on the map. Enemy units must take a fear test to enter a forest, and must take one every time they move in subsequent turns. If they fail a test while in the forest, they must take D6 S3 hits and can't move or shoot that turn. Insane Wander means that Morghur moves and attacks like a Spawn of Chaos. The Despiser of Civilisation special rule means Morghur is Unbreakable and Immune to Phycology, the exception being that he has Hatred against all enemies. The Beast-Roar is effectively a Bay Horn, however, when used during the turn, all Beastmen units fleeing automatically rally. Skull-Weave is a magic item that causes Terror and makes enemy units at -1 to hit. Bray Staff of Morghur and Stones of the Skull Cave means that any wizard, friend of foe, that rolls a double when rolling on the miscast table is automatically destroyed and replaced by a Spawn with the number of wounds the wizard had left. Follow the rules for Spirit-Essence of Chaos.

This is the best rule I have ever seen in all honesty. The Spirit-Essence of Chaos is used in the shooting phase. Any enemy or friendly unit within 8 inches of Morghur or take a Leadership test. If they fail, they take D6 S4 his with no AS allowed. If one or more wounds are inflicted, then a Spawn of Chaos is formed with as many wounds as wounds caused. This newly created creature does not grant victory points to your opponent. If it is an enemy unit, the spawn is placed in base to base contact with them. If an allied unit, the spawn is placed 1" away and as close to Morghur as possible. Due to this, Morghur may never join a unit. Any model in base contact with Morghur, friend or foe, suffers a S4 hit with no AS, incurred before any other hits involved, including Chariot impact charges. These wounds sadly enough do not create Spawns. Also, any missile attack or spell against Morghur will automatically fail unless the shooting unit or wizard is within 12" of Morghur. In the case of templates, if the Template touches Morghur then the whole shot/spell is ignored, though it may still misfire if it is from a war marchine.


I honestly think that Morghur is one of the best characters around. If you can afford to buy 10-15 Spawn models and a lot of Beast Herds, set Morghur as close as possible with Beast Herds, and keep minotaurs, Centigors etc on the opposite side, and just move forward with Beast Herds and Morghur. With no Foe-Render, leadership tests should fail, and if you make 3 big squads with at least 18 models in the unit, you will get at least 4 turns of raising Spawns of Chaos leading to 12 Spawns of Chaos from those 3 squads of Beast Herds alone. Plus whatever enemy unit you get into contact to. Thats a lot of LD 10, S4 & T5, owever many wounds you gained and D6+1 attacks as well as unbreakable and fear causing. These Spawns don't even grant victory points to your opponent.

This is quite a compelling argument for Khazrak...

"So bring up 2 or 3 big units of Beasts in one spot behind the enemy lines on Leadership 8 suddenly looks a lot more appealing from your point of view, and much more scary for your opponent. Kahzrak also has a 2+ Armour Save and Magic Resistance 1. Also, any spell successfully cast on Kahzrak and the unit he is with, whether it is dispelled or not, is absorbed into the Dark Mail armour giving Kahzrak +1 Strength, which can be accumulated up to S10."

I particularly like the strength bonus although I suspect the enemy will learn after the 1st time they try not to cast at him again unless they are desperate to. In fact do you even need to reveal to the enemy that it's Khazrak in the unit and his strength has just increased ?

I think that Morghur being unbreakable and forced to operate alone (ish) does that mean that he could be vulnerable to flying monster attacks from, say, a character on a Dragon. I do like his protection against missile fire, there's nothing worse than losing a key character to a couple of slavos form a bunch of Wood Elf - tree huggers

Great post smack (+1 rep for you - when we get the rep facility back)

I think you have to notify them about having special character. And even if you don't, you'd still have to notify the opponent on the first time you absorb the spell whatever it is. Still, tis an extra strength from there whether your opponent casts again or not. And if you stick Khazrak in a beastie unit of Khorne Beastigors with the Battle Standard that gives +1 Attack meaning 3 Attacks on the charge, 4 for the champion plus Khazrak, then you have a real hard offensive unit that they'll have to try to take out with magic/shooting.

Warhounds to be used to stop them charging out. 2 squads of 10 is only 120 points.




I thought of that, and that is why you'd take big squads of Beast Herds and literally surround him. 3 Squads of Beast Herds with 5 Gors and 15 Ungors for instances means a mere 180 points, and thats at least 4 rounds of making Beasts of Chaos, 3 if they are heavy shooting, and still offering tons of cover for Morghur. Hell, throw a 4th unit of Beastmen to make it an even thicker meat shield and a potential 4 Spawns with 6 wounds each a turn.

I think the main problems for the Beasts list is the special rules, while very characterful, really hamstring the army against the current power lists. Low to average leadership combined with other factors can hurt the relaibility of the army.

Another problem is the lack of any effective counter to the current trends of Steam Tanks, Hydras, Star Dragons et al. The prevailance of high toughness, terrror causers can be dificult fo the Beast Army to overcome.

The one advantage for the List, the chariots, can be severely hampered by a Dwarf or Empire cannon battery.

I can't wait to see what GW do with this army as they are a great thematic list and if I wasn't so hard at work with the DoW then I'd give them a shot.

totally agree with l,d & p. These newer armies have all been given indestructibles to the beasts.

Excellent points about toughness LD&P (it sounds like a worthy new topic to me !)