[Quixos1103]

Hey all, I have been looking into wound play with beast packs. And I have found an interesting combo that actually worked really well. Mind you this is not something to rely heavily on but it works just well enough to keep your unit intact until the turn two assault. So with out further ado here it is...

First off I ran my beast pack with four Beastmasters, five Kymerae, four Razorwing flocks, and a single Clawed Fiend. Then I did the old 5th ed. strategy of attaching the Baron to them. When I deployed them I put the Baron and the four Beastmasters up front. I then moved up the full 12" on my turn one into the central terrain piece. When the Necrons shot back at me with their Annihilation Barges and warrior blob I used Look out, Sir! to disperse the wounds throughout the unit putting the high strength shots on the Clawed Fiend and Kymerae. then dispersed the low strength ones to the Beastmasters and Razorwings. That way I was able to keep the whole unit alive (minus a poor beastmaster) for my charge into the warrior blob on turn two. And to top it all off the clawed fiend had 8 attacks on the charge! this tactic proved to be very very effective. Oh and before you say "The Baron would slow down the unit on the charge" I would like to point out that even if the beast pack moves 12" the Baron can opt to not use his Jump move in the movement phase and can then use it in the assault phase to ignore the penalty of charging through terrain. Oh and because the beasts have move through cover the Baron ignores dangerous terrain.

All in all I think this is a win win scenario. It will kinda work without the Baron but the look out sir roll is much better with him. Plus with the Baron's PGL you don't have to worry about terrain. So what do you guys think?

Quixos

 

[fombat]

that's a really good idea. clawed fiends god pretty good for all things considered. baron just loves his beasts more so now. rep for you sir!

 

[El_Jairo]

Joink! I'm gonna steal that idead.

Kudos.

 

[Quixos1103]

Just got another game in with this combo and found that unit positioning in combat is just as important. I charged a small palidian squad, and because I put my Kymerae up front along with a single bestmaster I took very little damage. Also he used hammerhand instead of activating his force weapons (different story if he had done otherwise). But I was able to save all but three wounds and two of those went to the fiend.

He also challenged me but I refused and left the Baron out of it. That didn't matter because my Razorwing flocks wrecked house! All in all I think beasts have become an auto include in my lists.

Happy hunting everyone!

Quixos

 

[KwiKwag]

Awesome tactic thread Quixos! I love hearing about stuff like this as I think it invaluable - keep up the reports!

I am curious about the Baron declining the challenge - who challenged him? Did the opponent then pick a beastmaster to take his place? (I think that he can do that or am I wrong?).

 

[Quixos1103]

Hey guys, I am glad everyone likes this tactic, to be honest I came across it by accident. I had forgotten about removing models from the front.

[MENTION=10479]KwiKwag[/MENTION]- The challenge was pretty straight forward. I decided not to issue a challenge because, well let's be honest we don't take the Baron or beastmasters to take on characters. But anyway, after I didn't challenge his paladin with a demon hammer threw down his gloves and gave my unit the evil monkey (music and all). And because I refused my opponent had to decide which of my characters would run and hide. And due to the Baron being strength 6 on the charge he was chosen to not be involved in the combat. Luckily we was holding up the back of the unit. After the turn was over two paladins were left standing with two wounds between the two of them and I had all but one beastmaster and a kymerae. During his turn they were annihilated and we moved on with full bellies and sadistic smiles. Oh and Mr. Demon hammer never got to swing. GO INITIATIVE!

As for issuing challenges, only one per combat my be issued.

I plan on vetting another game in here today. If my beastly shenanigans works out a third time I will post the results here.

Quixos

 

[Quixos1103]

Hey guys, sorry about the delay. I have been quite busy. I have been able to play the beasts a couple more times now and have found that they are a very survivable unit. Even with the nerf on cover saves, beasts with the Baron are probably one of the most survivable units we have. I have pushed the beasts to (what I thought) their limit and yet they still survived and were able to munch on some tasty snacks.

I have deployed them centraly in both the games I played and it may have taken them two turns to make it across the field (damn hammer and anvil deployment) but they took absolutly no casualties, some wounds, but no casualties. Using the beast masters and the Baron to shuffle wounds around the rest of the unit is what really makes the unit as survivable as it is.

The best tactic I have used the beasts for is to use them to clear off an objective then send a five man warrior squad in a venom to basically puppy guard the objective till turn four then they dissembark and hold the objective till the end of the game. This tactic of beatsticks and guard dogs is our most effective combat tactic at the moment and I use it to great effect. Mind you I am not propagating the use of venom spam, but I found that a few venoms mixed with a few raiders is more than effective.

Hope this helps you all.
Quixos

 

[KwiKwag]

Trouble is - I already want 2 reaver squads and a scourge squad in my list to fill out all the slots and now these beasts are looking terribly competitive.

If the Baron could get a token to add to the group then at least the "look out sir" while using the beastmasters would help a bit.

Remember they have "hit & run" too.