Warhammer: Tiermenschen (8. Edition Armeebuch)

Zitat

"As is traditional with the release of a new Armies book, Gav Thorpe explains some of the thinking behind the latest addition to the Warhammer world - the new Beasts of Chaos book.

Only the newest members of our gaming community (or perhaps a blind, deaf troll hiding under a bridge) would be unaware of the growing threat of Chaos in the Warhammer world. As declared in the Hordes of Chaos book, we continue the documentation of these dread legions in Beasts of Chaos. This volume works as a stand-alone Armies book just like any other, but can also be used with Hordes of Chaos. I'll explain more about this later.

LEGACY OF THE BEASTS
The first things I looked at when it came to writing the proposals and briefs for Beasts of Chaos were our previous renditions. As with Hordes of Chaos, my aim was very much to capture the chaotic essence of the original Realm of Chaos books from 3rd edition Warhammer. In truth, the Beastmen have evolved less in the last fifteen years than their warrior and daemon counterparts, and much of that original material still holds as true today as it did then.

This made the job a whole lot easier, as you can imagine. Rather than spending time representing background, or trying to "massage" the history into something that was more fitting to the present day depiction of the Warhammer world, I could focus my efforts working on the army itself.

ROMANS AND GERMANS
It has been my goal, since taking on the mantle of Loremaster, to make sure that each Warhammer army not only looks different, but plays differently as well. I think players should choose their armies based not only on their aesthetic values, but also their playing style. I fondly imagine that we're doing a pretty good job of that at the moment, and I was sure that I wasn't going to buck the trend with the Beastmen. So, what would make for a really characterful army?

Well, like many things Warhammer-orientated, my inspiration came from history - and the original Beastmen background. In essence, the Beastmen are akin to the Germanic tribes that fought against the Roman legions two thousand years ago; tribes such as the Goths, Saxons, Visigoths, Angles, Ostrogoths, Alamanni and Jutes. I found particular interest in the defeat of the Romans by Arminius in 9AD. Accounts of this tell us that the Germans painted their bodies, made a great clamouring with their weapons and shields, and generally "psyched themselves" up for the battle before descending on the Romans. This is pretty much the archetypical barbarian image we have today. However, the important point is that it fooled the Romans into thinking that the forests were swarming with Germans, unnerving them even further. So, when Arminius attacked, his foes were already on the back foot and scared.

Which is all very interesting as a history lesson, but what's that got to do with Beastmen? Well, let me explain. The Beastmen are the German tribes of the Warhammer world. They lurk in the deep forests, raiding settlements, attacking supply caravans and ambushing armies whilst they're on the march (incidentally, Orcs are Warhammer Scots, raiding out from their highland homes, but that's not important right now). I wanted the Beastmen to fight on the tabletop the same way. I wanted someone who was facing a Beasts of Chaos army to be unsettled, unsure of what they're facing, unable to predict the direction of attack.

To this end, I invented the Ambush rule, which many of you will have seen in the preview in White Dwarf 275. This enables certain Beastmen units to be set up in ambush. These units are not deployed as normal, but instead can be brought on in a later Movement phase when the General gives the signal. Although Beastmen are quite adept at this type of warfare, I didn't want them becoming too efficient – it didn't suit their Chaotic character. Basically, each ambushing unit has to take Leadership test - if it fails the unit appears, not where you want them, but at a random point on the table edge!

BEASTS IN THE FOLD
Another thing that nagged me about earlier attempts at a Beastmen army was its lack of, well, 'Chaos-ness'. Beastmen moved around in orderly units, with the little ones over there, the medium ones over there, and the big ones all together in another orderly unit. This wasn't really doing the Beasts justice, as they certainly don't make such distinctions themselves, and it also meant that they fought a bit like a brown Orcs & Goblins army (like 'Beastie Boyz', I guess).

So, combined with the Ambush rule are the Raiders rule and mixed Beastherd. The Raiders rule means that units that have this rule operate using a cross between the normal rules and the skirmishers rules. They have a great deal of flexibility of movement, but lack some of the sturdiness of a fully ranked unit. To further push the wild nature of the Beastmen, I introduced the 'unruly' factor into the Raiders rules, which means that every turn these units have a 1 in 6 chance of haring off after the enemy rather than doing what they are told! This seemed to fit well with the headstrong nature of the Beasts, and because it emphasises movement rather than staying stationary, isn't too similar to the Greenskins' Animosity.

To get across the eclectic nature of the Beastmen, I also created the Beastherd, which means that players field Beastmen Gors and the smaller Ungors in mixed units. Though the rules for dealing with all of these seem quite long on paper, the army's actually quite straightforward to use.

NUMBERS OF THE BEAST
In addition to revitalising the existing Beastmen units, it was time a few old favourites were brought back into the army list. The two most prominent of these are the Centigors and the Dragon Ogre Shaggoths.

Back in the Realm of Chaos days (when everything was made of wood), Centaurs were an integral part of any Chaos army. However, over the years, they fell out of the army list. To make something distinct for this list (after all, some people think that perhaps Centaurs should be in the Wood Elf list!), and to continue making Warhammer as unique as we can, I opted for Beast-centaurs.

Traditionally, Centaurs have been imagined as half-man, half-horse. I thought that Beast-centaurs should be half-Beastman, half-quadruped creature. Thus, the Centigors were created, another variation on the Beastmen theme like Bestigors and Minotaurs. I think their speed is an important factor for any Beastmen General, and I suspect that most Beasts of Chaos armies will include at least one unit.

However, just like the Centaurs of Greek legend who indulged in bacchanalian rites, Centigors are quite frequently drunk to the point of nearly falling over. In game terms, this has the effect of them being prone to bouts of stupidity or drunken rages (becoming subject to frenzy).

Shaggoths were another axe I had the opportunity to grind. The Dragon Ogres as portrayed in Realm of Chaos were behemoths – literally half-Dragons who could break entire armies. Over the years, they became a unit type, and over subsequent editions of the Chaos army, have been lessened in power. Now, I didn't want to do away with Dragon Ogres altogether (I might get lynched by existing players), but I did want to go back to that original image. I wanted to do a proper Dragon Ogre, like they used to be.

Enter the Shaggoth! This monstrous beast is the granddaddy of all Chaos creatures. Almost as big and tough as a Dragon, able to smash a swathe through entire regiments, the Shaggoth is what an ancient Dragon Ogre becomes. There are two ways of using a Shaggoth in your army. The first is as a monster just like a Giant or War Hydra. So powerful are these creatures that they take up a Rare and a Special. They also refuse to fight for a Daemonic General, stopping the practice of fielding a Greater Daemon and Shaggoth in a 2,000 points army! Alternatively, you can field a Shaggoth Champion, which gives the Shaggoth a Mark of Chaos like Beastlords or Doombulls. The Shaggoth Champion uses up a Lord and a Rare choice, and is treated just like any other character - in fact, it can even be your army General!

WALKING WITH BEASTS
Of course, Beasts of Chaos isn't just about the Beastmen themselves. There's all kinds of other creatures in there, including Minotaurs, Chaos Giants, Chaos Trolls and Chaos Spawn. Not only that but, as mentioned earlier, all of these units can be fielded to a greater or lesser degree in any Chaos army, and units from Hordes of Chaos can be taken in a Beasts army.

This works exactly the same way as outlined in Hordes of Chaos. If you have a Beasts General, then any Mortal or Daemonic units count as Special, while Beasts units count as Special in an army led by a Mortal or Daemonic General. In addition, Beasts characters can't join Mortal units, and vice versa, as they don't get on too well with each other (trust the followers of Chaos to be able to fall out over anything!).

All of which made it a lot trickier to balance the army, obviously, as the possible combinations of magic items and troop types grew vast. However, I believe that on the whole, a Chaos army has its benefits and its downsides. One of the benefits is the vast array of different units and monsters you can field, the downside is that there never seems to be quite enough points to get everything you want.

BRINGING THE BEASTS TO LIFE
Finally, a mention has to go to the superb design work that was put into the project. The quality of the miniatures, the artwork and graphics of the book, are the best in any Army book to date, and since we’re following on the heels of Hordes of Chaos, Tomb Kings and Lizardmen, that's quite an achievement! Alex Hedström has excelled himself with the plastic regiment, the fearsome Centigors and Beast characters, and I expect his Shaggoth will cause even more drooling that the Archaon miniature! Credit also goes to Aly Morrison for the Khorngor, Pestigor and Chaos Ogres, and Trish Morrison for the noisome Chaos Trolls.

The book itself is lavishly designed, with some entertainingly disturbing graphics by Nuala Kennedy and Alex Boyd, and some fantastic artwork by all of the illustrators. I know this is starting to sound like an awards acceptance speech, but when you see Karl Kopinski's depiction of the creation of the Chaos Wastes, Paul Dainton's Shaggoth or Adrian Smith's "The Challenge" you'll know why they deserve the praise.

Well, so long and thanks for all the fishmen!

Erm, I mean Happy Gaming!"

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