Dear Johnny

[Johnny-Crass]

Ok well first off Beastmen are no longer a monoskirmisher army they used to be in 6th ed.
We now have largeish blocks of ranked combat troops that while they lack a save make up for it with raw combat talent.

As far as true dud units go our book has very few. Most of our units can see play or even competitive play. We have a special character that allows you to take centigor as core and a book that lets you take chariots as core.

If you want to go the Herdstone route we do have one of the strongest magic phases in the game even though we have the weakest armybook lore.

And if you are looking for theme we are a chaos book which means we ooze theme out of our many ears.

 

[bigbadbat]

Oooh Oooh, I was thinking about chariots!
I shall give this book a thorough perusing.
Thanks Johnny!

 

[Johnny-Crass]

I have played almost 300 games with the book so any questions just ask Johnny

 

[Yorga]

I have played almost 300 games with the book so any questions just ask Johnny

And the Jabberslythe model was really cool. I grabbed the book off the shelf to take a peek and it kind of acts like a Terrorgheist is some ways.

Johnny...you think Lore of Beast is one of the weakest?

 

[Johnny-Crass]

Lore of the Wild (the beastmen lore) is the single worst lore in the game bar none. As for Lore of Beasts I really do think it is a terrible lore for any army besides Brets and Beastmen and even then Beastmen have shadow so why would you ever take lore of beasts o.o .

As for the Jabber it would be fantastic IF it affected ITP units

 

[Yorga]

I had a lot on synergy with Lore of Beast with my demon army. I was split between lore of light and lore of beast. Thought the +1 str and +1 T and the low cost of the spells would work well with a level 2 caster. Transformation is not a very useful spell though.

 

[Malikos]

I had a lot of success with my beasts when the new book came out. Shadow was the key to success, but I always ran a lvl 2 Beast lore just for the base spell. I also didn't mind using Transformation because I used my really cool Jabber conversion as my transformation monster =).

 

[Chaos_Born]

I always thought that lore of beasts would work very well with O&G and skaven, because of the cheapness and spamability of the characters, but alas, they cannot take BRB lores.

You can always take wizarding hat and hope for the best

 

[eggsPR]

Here's an army snipit of how Lore of Beasts work well with High Elves... all this with 19 silverhelms... basically getting off Savage Beast of Horrors (which is VERY likely with the Book of Hoath) would destroy anything in the Warhammer World. Scary stuff.

Prince, General
+ Lance, Shield, Dragon Armour
+ Barded Elven Steed
+ Vambraces of Defence

Archmage, Level 4 Upgrade
+ Elven Steed
+ Book of Hoeth
+ Lore of the Beasts

Noble
+ Great Weapon, Dragon Armour
+ Barded Elven Steed
+ Helm of Fortune

Noble
+ Great Weapon, Heavy Armour
+ Barded Elven Steed
+ Loremaster's Cloak, Dragonhelm

Noble
+ Dragon Armour
+ Barded Elven Steed
+ Sword of Might, Dawnstone, Enchanted Shield
+ Battlestandard Bearer

Noble
+ Lance, Shield, Dragon Armour
+ Barded Elven Steed
+ Guardian Phoenix

 

[Johnny-Crass]

I have no idea how that list wins its games against anyone who can use chaff correctly and has access to the super spells. I still attest that besides a few magic items HE are one of the worst books out there.


Now something on a more personal note. Who ever writes the ETC comp pack needs their head examined, not only that but they need to be taught how to play Warhammer 8th Edition and have all their 7th edition books burned. Because that is all the ETC is, it is a clever ploy to make people play 7.5 edition of warhammer. Because every single time I see a ETC list or comp pack my rage builds a little more, and if you say the ETC comp pack is balanced I ask you to read the Ogre pack.

 

[Yorga]

Now something on a more personal note. Who ever writes the ETC comp pack needs their head examined, not only that but they need to be taught how to play Warhammer 8th Edition and have all their 7th edition books burned. Because that is all the ETC is, it is a clever ploy to make people play 7.5 edition of warhammer. Because every single time I see a ETC list or comp pack my rage builds a little more, and if you say the ETC comp pack is balanced I ask you to read the Ogre pack.

Hey...whatta you expect from Europeans? :slapface:

 

[Chaos_Born]

On behalf of my continent, hey!

 

[rothgar13]

Sad but true. ETC makes me want to barf. I've been saying it's 7th ed. in disguise for a while now, ever since Shimmergloom alerted me to it.

So Johnny, I have converted to the worship of Lore of Death on my Beastmen L4 (gives you a fighting chance in bad matchups like DE and Daemons, which Shadows can't do for me, and it really makes fighting Ogres and O&G smoother). On a scale of 1-10, how surprised are you?

 

[Johnny-Crass]

I am surprised it took you this long. I ran a Lvl4 shadow because I was being nice to people. If I really hated the other players guts or just wanted to teach them a lesson I would run 3-4 Lvl1 shadow and a Lvl4 Death and just lower their I to 1 and then boosted P-Sun and GG. Our magic phase is the reason I stopped playing beastmen. Besides uber slann or DE "Chuck it or @#$# It" we have the strongest phase out there when using frontline death-caster

 

[Lepaca]

Some tips on how to use Lore of Death?
I always fail when using it.
Especially from a Master Necro's and Dark Elves' point of view.

 

[Dogmar]

Dear Johnny,

on top of what Lepaca said I'd like to have your view on what a VC magic phase in 8th should look like. In friendly games I used a hybrid lord below 2k (lvl 3, protective items, but in the frontline so he can still whack stuff) and a kitted out combat lord in 2k and above (with lvl 3-4 in if points allow). For support I'm fielding 1-2 lvl1 necros and/or a Wight King. They all used lore of vampires for maximum combat support of my units and a nice coverage of invocation if needed and I did really well with it - in friendly games that is.

I'm not much of a tournament player but if I really wanted to kick people's faces, what magic build would you recommend and what do you think about our VC lore in competetive matches?

Lastly I'm sure this has been covered already but I can't find it atm.

Cheers,

Dogmar

 

[Johnny-Crass]

Ok so for the Lore of Death usage I find this is the best.
1st turn: Boosted Spirit Leech and Soulblight are really the only spells that have range. Unless you are a fast mover than there is also Doom. Use your support caster this magic phase and maybe save two dice for a spirit leech at the end to remove something pesky and fast.

2nd-3rd Turns: This is combat is imminent phase so Soulblights to deter charges and snipe spells to force charges are a must. Two uses for the snipe spells are to kill BSBs and bring lord level casters down to a wound or so.

4th-5th Turns: This is the grind of combat phase. Three spells matter here. Most important one is Soulblight which in its boosted version can win you games. Second against most armies is Doom as it removes the threat of steadfast. And finally the spell everyone is afraid of and will save dice for, Purple Sun, which if you cast it into close combat can break the back of even the hardiest combat unit and restart your magic phase.




As for your lore of Vampires conundrum here is what I would do personally. I have found that while ION is a nice spell it is really not that important and most people will let it through. The scary spells are Vanhels which is just fantastic and Curse of Years which should only be cast when they have little to no hope of dispelling it unless they use their scroll. Curse of Years's high casting cost makes it a nightmare for them to remove during their magic phase, which means it will cost them 3 power dice.

In my mind the rest of the spells are just filler that can be used from time to time. Also in your list I would give one of the baby necros death and put him either with the general or the wight king. Why you ask? Because for highest unmodified leadership you use the highest leadership in the unit which would be 9-10 which is fantastic for a spirit leech.

 

[Adam_Barrow]

Dear Johnny,

I'd wager you've seen my take on Hexwraith in various threads since you spend a lot of time in this corner of the forum. My question is, do I have the cut of this unit right? Am I using them to the best of their ability? And what are your thoughts on the unit in general? I seem to recall you considering them in a list recently.

As an aside, i'm not too worried about their glass status. They're no more vulnerable to spells than any other unit, and as i'm sure you believe (being somebody who runs two Terrorgheists), the fact that an opponent is willing to throw too much effort at killing them because they're scary is a plus for Hexwraiths, part of what makes them work.

 

[Johnny-Crass]

I have been using them for two different roles.
1. Anti Demigryph/Necroknights/Mournfang. Charge hexwraiths in and it may take a few turns but we will win.
2. Fire magnet. People waste so many power dice trying to get rid of them that they ignore dealing damage to the rest of my list which does not heal very well.

 

[Yorga]

I have been using them for two different roles.
1. Anti Demigryph/Necroknights/Mournfang. Charge hexwraiths in and it may take a few turns but we will win.
2. Fire magnet. People waste so many power dice trying to get rid of them that they ignore dealing damage to the rest of my list which does not heal very well.

I'm going to use 3 units of 5 this Saturday against my friend's mounted Empire Army. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[bigbadbat]

Dear Johnny,
After much pondering and consideration...
I will be expecting my first shipment of beastmen models soon. 50+ Gors with AHW, 30 Bestigors.
I already sniped a few TK chariots from the used shelf at my LGC for $2 a piece and have converted them using dryad and treekin bits to make them all woodsy and chaotic and have them pulled by VC DW(of which I have way too many)
Doombull looks awesome, but fielding minotaurs seems stupid.
Whaddya think?

 

[Johnny-Crass]

I honestly love the Doombull and his little soloing units trick he can do, but as you said minotaurs are more of a delivery system than anything. Also my main problem with the Bull is that he does not let you take a level 4 and a beastlord which in my mind we need. The entire beastmen army plays off of our leadership and the gap between 9 and 10 is huge in this case.

Though there are people like Once Bitten who swear by their Bull I found that the more I took him the more I left him at home (I used to own 30 minotaurs and a Bull at one point )

 

[bigbadbat]

If i was looking for MI army tactics, I would rock Crypt Horrors, as they are SUCH great value for the points.
Im thinking lots of Gors, big unit of Pestigors, chariots (both kinds) and razorgors, with strong character support.
The rares and minotaurs seem meh, so I was licking my chops when I looked through the book and saw the damage potential from the core section. Quite a change from VC!

 

[Johnny-Crass]

Yupp my favorite build is the Herdstone and the 206 with a big gor horde and a huge block of Best-Friends then the rest filled with chariots, harpies and pigs. The Ghorgon is ok and by far the best rare, just he is very soft to cannon and poison.

 

[bigbadbat]

What's the 206?