The Beastmen Army for Warmaster

Background: If you do a search around the web, you will find an excellent set of Trail Rules for new armies for fantasy Warmaster. These armies reflect the many armies available in the Old World of Warhammer. Within that document, you will find a list for the Beastmen. A couple of years ago, GW updated their Warhammer Beastmen Army with new models and a revamp of their rules. Needless to say, I was hooked! I'm not much into 28mm (love the Beastmen and War of the Ring though!) as I like BIG battles with lots of units and not skirmishes. 28mm, I find, tends to lend itself to more of a skirmish setting than true battles, and costs a bundle. 10mm on the other hand, now that's real armies!

So given the revamp for the Beastmen, I set about coming up with a set of house rules for my Warmaster Beastmen Army that was on the painting table (and that you will see in the Whatever Happened to the Red Duke dustup). The goal was that I wanted to create a Chaos Army that was definitely different from the other Chaos army selectors. In particular with all the new monsters available to the Beastmen revamp, I wanted an army that had lots of choice for weird and wonderful critters. One that could make good use of forested terrain on the battlefield and that could keep your opponent guessing where their foe could appear next on the table edge.

Given that this was a total re-write of the Trail Rules, and that the Red Duke Battle-report has the Beastmen being trailed with these house-rules, I thought I should post my house rules here. So, without further delay,  I give you the Beastmen....
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Army Rules

Children of the Forest. The Beastmen's natural habitat is the thick forests of the Old World. As such, all Beastmen units are able to travel through woods and forests. They are also adept at communication through the forests with their bray shouts, hoots and calls being very audible through the thickets. As such, Beastmen do not suffer any command penalties when attempting to order units that are within a wood or forests terrain.

Beastmen Ambush. Endowed with the cunning of the hunting pack, Beastmen are adept at encircling the enemy army and attacking from an unexpected direction. Certain Beastmen units may ambush. This means that half of a total number of Ungor, Ungor Raider and Gor units (rounded down) may count as ambushers rather than be deployed on the table at the start of the game. Ambushers may be divided into Brigades or kept as individual units. Each brigade or individual unit of ambushers is known as an Ambushing Party.

Beginning in the Beastmen players’ 2nd turn, at the start of the players’ Command phase before Initiative, they may test to see if any unit or brigade of ambushers enters the table. The player can choose to delay the arrival of any ambushes to subsequent turns if they wish. They are not required to test for ambusher arrival in turn 2. The player also is not required to test for ambusher arrival each of their turns after the turn 2. The decision to test for ambusher arrival is solely up to the Beastman player. The only stipulation is that they cannot test for ambusher arrival in turn 1.

The Beastmen player tests for each ambushing party (unit or brigade) separately to see if they enter the table. The player does not need to test for all their ambushes, only those ambushing parties they wish to bring on to the table during that turn. The player can chose to leave some ambushing units or brigades for a later turn. Ambushes entre the table in to following manner:

 

To see where the ambushers enter the battlefield, use the following procedure. Before Initiative in the Command Phase, roll a single dice for each ambushing party the Beastman player wishes to bring on to the game table and consult the chart below. Any ambushing unit or brigade that enters the table must be place along the table edge identified in the chart. Ambushers may be place anywhere along the identified table edge, but not in impassable terrain. Ambushers may be placed within Initiative range of enemy units, but they must first be placed along the identified table edge.

When ambushers enter play, place them along the table edge designated above in any formation desired by the Beastmen player. The ambushers may then move by Initiative or be given orders later in the Command Phase.

 

At the end of the game, any ambushers that remain in ambush and have not yet been deployed on the game table are considered to have become lost and are regarded as having been destroyed for the sake of determining victory points for the Beastmen player’s opponent.

Primal Fury. Beastmen are rightly feared for their primal and violent nature and in battle this nature is never more evident. Beastmen are known to throw themselves into violent, frenzied attacks against their foes, becoming consumed by a savage fury tearing apart their hated foes with little regard for their own self-preservation.

 

Each unit capable of Primal Fury that charged into combat during the Command Phase of the current turn, roll a single die. On a roll of 5 or 6, that unit becomes enraged by Primal Fury. During the Combat Phase, all units enraged by Primal Fury may reroll one failed attack dice per stand during the first round of combat. Primal Fury does not apply to combat that has carried over from the previous turn, only combat that was initiated by a charge in the current turn. Primal Fury only lasts for the first round of combat.

SPECIAL Rules (see the army selector below)

1. Beastman Ambush: These units can ambush. See the Beastmen Ambush rules above.

2. Minotaurs. Minotaurs are subject for Bloodlust – they always use initiative to charge if possible and cannot be given orders instead. Minotaurs never use initiative to evade and must pursue or advance where possible. Also they are immune to terror.

3. Centigors. Centigors are cavalry, and are both able fighters and skirmishes (throwing spears and other barbs). They can shoot in any direction (360 degree arc of sight) in range up to 15cm. When they charge into combat, they gain the Shock  troop type ability (refer to p. 127 of the Warmaster Ancients Rulebook)

4. Chaos Spawn. Spawn cannot be given orders in the Command phase unless they are part of a brigade that includes at least one unit other than Spawn. Spawn can act on their initiative as normal.

Spawn can be included as a bonus to the size of the brigade up to a maximum of one Spawn per non-Spawn unit. For example, 4 Bestigor units plus 4 Spawns counts as a brigade of 4 units - the 4 Spawns do not count towards the size of the brigade. Where several Spawns are brigaded with fewer non-Spawn units, then only the additional Spawn count towards the size of the brigade. For example, 2 Bestigor units and 4 Spawns count as 4 units - 2 Spawns are included for ‘free’.

Spawn cause terror in its enemies.

Spawn have a shooting range of 15cm and can shoot to the side or behind as well as to the front. Just measure the range form any stand edge, front, side or rear. They can therefore shoot at any enemy charging them from any direction.

5. Shaggoth. Shaggoth must always be given a separate order. It cannot be brigaded with other troops even with other Shaggoths. It has a great many hits, 8 in fact, which are almost impossible to inflict during even a fairly lengthy combat engagement. Because Shaggoths have so many hits we must consider the possibility of hurting the Dragon Ogre Shaggoth and reducing its effectiveness in subsequent turns. Therefore, if a Shaggoth has accumulated 4-7 hits by the end of the Shooting and Combat phase it is deemed to have been badly hurt. Once a Shaggoth is badly hurt then all accumulated hits are discounted and its maximum Hits value and Attacks are halved for the rest of the battle (to 4 Hits and 4 Attacks). Shaggoth causes terror in its enemies.

6. Doombull. Ungors, Gors and Bestigors joined by a Doombull will become subject to Bloodlust in the same way as Minotaurs and can only receive orders from the Doombull as long as it is part of the unit.

7. Tuskgor Chariot. Beastlord or Wargors (Gor Heros) can ride a Tuskgor Chariot. A character riding a chariot adds +1 to his Attacks.

8. Giant. Giants are maddeningly dim-witted creatures with a fondness for strong beer and the raw flesh of men, Elves and even Dwarves. Because of their turgid mental processes and weakness for drink they must always be given a separate order. They cannot be brigaded with other troops, although several Giants can be brigaded together if you wish. If you attempt to give an order to a Giant and fail, then you must make a test to see what he does. Ignore potential blunders; these are taken into account by the following rules. Roll a dice and consult the Giant Goes Wild chart.

Where Giants are brigaded together roll for each separately. A Giant causes terror in its enemies.

Giants have a great many hits, eight in fact, which are almost impossible to inflict during even a fairly lengthy combat engagement. Because Giants have so many hits we must consider the possibility of hurting the Giant and reducing his effectiveness in subsequent turns. Therefore, if a Giant has accumulated 4-7 hits by the end of the Shooting phase or Combat phase it is deemed to have been badly hurt. Once a Giant is badly hurt all accumulated hits are discounted and its maximum Hits and Attacks are halved for the rest of the battle (to 4 Hits and 4 Attacks).

-see Warmaster Rulebook for the Giant Goes Wild Table -

NB: Still playing with the rules for the Cygor, Ghorgon and Jabberslythe so will update this post in the future with these additions.