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… And in an age of darkness, man became beast and beast became man.
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Beastmen
The Beastmen, also called "gor" (a term that we could translate as "bestial being") are hybrid creatures, born from the mutation of men caused by the influx of chaotic energies. All Beastmen have a physical component and some mental traits proper to man (including a discreet and often underestimated intelligence), in addition to those of some animals; most Old World Beastmen display goat, bull, or equine traits. Beastmen live in the forests in semi-nomadic packs, called Bray Packs, raiding and ambushing the villages and caravans of the most advanced races. All Beastmen harbor a deep, innate contempt for all forms of civilization, but they particularly hate man, who in ancient times defeated them in a struggle for territory and forced them to take refuge in the forests and in the most inaccessible regions of the Old World.
Beastmen are an army based on mobility, speed and shock strength, well stocked with units of all types but lacking in super-heavy shooters and choices.
Strategy in the campaign
Campaign Special Rules:
- All Beastmen armies are gods Order, like the Chaos Warriors, but unlike the Chaos Warriors they suffer no attrition losses due to the proximity of multiple distinct armies. Beastmen cannot therefore under any circumstances possess Settlements or tighten Trade agreements.
- Beastmen can't have no diplomatic relationship with the Human and Dwarven factions.
- Whenever Beastmen successfully squeeze any one treaty, all armies of the faction receive a malus alla Beastly fury for a variable number of shifts.
- Every 8 game turns, the faction is presented with the unique event Dark Moon. It allows you to choose one of 4 outcomes, and produces large bonuses and some limitations to the entire faction for a small number of turns.
Special Army Rules:
- Beastly Fury:
Beast Fury works just like Combativeness (see Orcs and Goblins), allowing you to generate additional AI-controlled armies called Barking Herds when it's high enough or causing attrition when it's too low.
Army Mode:
- Beastmen ambush:
This Mode replaces the normal “Neutral Mode” that armies of all other factions have at their disposal. Beastmen Ambush is identical to the normal “Neutral Mode”, but each time you attack another army there is a chance to turn the battle from pitched into ambush. - Trails of the beasts:
The Paths of the Beasts function exactly like the Underground Way (see Dwarves). - Looting:
Pillage works just like Assault, but it also increases the army's Beastly Fury. - Hidden camp:
Hidden Camp works exactly like Camp, but the army using it also becomes invisible to other factions, just as if it were in Ambush mode. If an enemy army enters range, however, an ambush is not unleashed, and if the army in the hidden encampment is identified, the Mode is immediately canceled (also blocking any reintegration / recruitment / construction).
Recruitment Mode:
- Local (when in Hidden Camp Mode)
Settlement conquest mode:
- Raze and profane:
The settlement is Razed, and the Corruption of Chaos in the Region is immediately increased by 100; the settlement will continue to spread Chaos Corruption in the Region to neighboring ones. The army that performs the action also receives a +8 population growth bonus for one turn. - Loot and raze to the ground:
The Settlement is Raided, and then instantly Flattened.
Start
The campaign begins in command of your hordes in the province of Estalia, on the southern border of the Bretonnian kingdoms. You immediately have two packs of Beastmen at your disposal, at war with the Estalians.
In the very first few turns you may find it beneficial to merge the two packs into one, so as to keep costs down by improving the buildings of the recruitment of a single horde. The economy plays a decisive role when it is played without settlements; running out of economic resources would have catastrophic results.
It is very important not to lose any battles in this first phase of the game, as taking losses would severely weaken you, making you run the risk of losing the campaign.
The correct approach is to attack one province at a time, without declaring war on the neighbors, starting by razing the smaller settlements first, in order to gain gold and horde growth, while weakening your opponent. Open conflict with more than one enemy army should not be sought - use your natural ambush predisposition to win day after day.
When you are able to recruit the Gors you can afford to undermine provincial capitals. But be aware that the low resistance to missile weapons and light armor of the low tier units of the hoofs will not help you much in sieges, and trying to starve the enemy exposes you to the risk of being engaged from the outside. Playing cat and mouse with your enemies while still razing settlements to the ground as they are rebuilt, as well as biting your beasts, guarantees horde growth and spread of corruption, benefiting you turn after turn.
It is important not to be in a hurry to seek out epochal battles, it is much better to defeat a few groups at a time and then disappear until an easy prey reappears.
-It is not recommended to seek conflict with the factions of the Wood Elves, as their masterful shooting ability, combined with the low resistance of the Gor troops, greatly compromises the outcome of a possible war, and their destruction is not within the conditions of victory-
Storm of Chaos
The arrival of the Chaos Warriors is a very positive event for Beastmen. The Norsemen, in fact, will begin to lash the territories to the north and raze settlements to the ground just as you are doing further south. With the Archaon faction you have some diplomatic functions at your disposal, although treaties with these "cousins" of yours also cause penalties in beastly fury. Making alliances with them is not necessary, unless you find yourself fighting side by side in the same battles, as they will spontaneously have behavior akin to your destructive disposition.
Attacking from the north, they are more likely to face the Empire, the destruction of which falls within your victory conditions. You might then choose to move slowly south, first facing the southern realms, then penetrating the Dwarf region, and attacking them from their southern border. In this way, you will be able to squeeze great wealth from the plundering of their prosperous cities, and at the same time they will see themselves threatened along two very distant fronts, and will not be able to simultaneously concentrate their armies against you and against Archaon.
-It is highly recommended, if you can, to send some of your resources in support of the Chaos warriors to prevent their defeat, so as not to be left alone to face all the factions that will be able to withstand the Chaos storm-
Age of Peace
If Archaon is defeated by the police before you manage to finish the campaign, you could arrive at this stage of the game at a severe numerical disadvantage. Without some chaotic army to engage the dwarves from the north, they would pour all their armies towards you, making it difficult for you to continue the war. Seek a winning strategy by engaging the dwarf armies away from their most massive cities, in order to then attack them by surprise and raze them to the ground. Consider that the dwarves, in addition to having troops much better prepared than yours to support a long war, also enjoy an economy that allows them to keep many more armies than yours. Playing in defense of their own provinces they also have a very fast replenishment and can hide behind solid walls equipped with artillery.
In general, you will have to pay the utmost attention not to be surrounded, since if your hordes were destroyed in this phase of the game you would have a hard time putting them back together from scratch. Try, when you can, to engage one enemy army at a time with more than one of your own, and in the long run you may have the upper hand.
Battle Tactics
Strengths:
- Quite fast units, suitable for ambushes
- Great monstrous options, with several features
- Heroes who offer decent support
- Good knowledge of magic
- They rely heavily on numerical superiority
Weaknesses:
- Troops very weak against all fire and very little resistant in general
- Discipline is often a problem
- Few firing units
- Very ineffective defense
Use Beastmen
The initial arrangement of the Beastmen in each battle requires a careful study of the territory in which the combat will take place and of the troops available to the enemy. In a pitched battle it is unthinkable to have your line of infantry proceed straight into the enemy, as you would suffer too many casualties. You have to divide your forces into multiple hidden attack groups, in order to engage the opponent in an unpredictable way and immediately enter the melee phase, undermining the enemy's discipline before he does the same with you.
The monstrous options of this faction lend themselves well to quick engagements against the enemy's thick armored ranks, but they must be carefully supported or they will soon suffer heavy casualties risking their way.
A winning strategy could be to induce the enemy to charge by showing only some heavy units while the others are camouflaged, so that it advances by moving into a position that allows us to charge it on several sides or from behind.
Confronting the Beastmen
Waging a war against Beastmen is very complex. Pursuing them to destroy their hordes is not easy, since they can camp without being seen even within your provinces, and the most effective method becomes their complete elimination on the battlefield, trying not to let even the battalions in rout escape.
At the time of battle, you need to keep your units far away from the forests, possibly in an elevated area, so that you can take casualties with ranged fire and dampen the charge of the beasts before they rain down on you.
If you have artillery, it is good to target it at large monstrous units before they can engage our units.
If a full charge is not taken from behind or from the flanks, it should not be unlikely that our armored troops will withstand the charge of the beasts and, once arrested, going into the counterattack presents no particular strategic difficulties.
Best Units
- Pack of Bestigor
Bestigors are the most armored and evil goat Beastmen. Despite having good speed, they sin a lot in melee defense, which makes the backbone of the infantry line of the gor very little resistant, especially if engaged in consecutive battles. They compensate in part with massive weapon strength and penetrating damage.
- Spinogor chariot
Gor-driven war chariot driven by terrifying Spinogors, wild boar-like creatures mutated by chaos and tamed by Beastmen. Equipped with good parameters, if used properly it can wipe out the most compact enemy regiments in order to create the advantage that the beasts generally need to prevail against the enemy line.
- Minotaurs
One of the best monstrous units in the game, also available with shields or large weapons. Very massive and fast, they can easily charge the enemy infantry in close combat, disrupting it and inflicting serious damage, although alone they cannot bring down the discipline of the most experienced troops. The variant with shields allows you to resist enemy fire, a great obstacle to monsters in general, and to increase the armor. The variant with large weapons instead sacrifices a portion of defense on the altar of damage against large units.
- Cigor
In addition to having a giant similar to that of the other factions, the Beastmen can count on this particular type of artillery. Unlike cannons or catapults, when engaged or running out of ammunition, a Cigor remains a gigantic Cyclopean minotaur described as "insane and extremely dangerous". Very effective before the melee engagement of the infantry lines to inflict huge damage where there is greater density of armored enemies, especially by virtue of the area and penetrating damage caused by the boulders it throws.
- Blood Bull
The bloodthirsty bull is the melee hero of the Beastmen. Very big even for a Minotaur, it is able to give a hard time to many of the units that could find themselves blocking its way. He is also equipped with some skills capable of significantly enhancing the attack or defense parameters of the units in his vicinity, offering at least partial balancing to the possible lack of armor of the troops.
