The Beastmen are a scourge upon the peoples of the Old World – twisted parodies of man and beast alike, touched by Chaos, whose only aim is to tear down and despoil.

In this review we’ll be examining the new Arcane Journal Beastmen Brayherds! Following hot on the heels of the recent Arcane Journal Wood Elf Realms (check out our review here), Arcane Journal Beastmen Brayherds contains the usual mix of lore, background and of course gaming content to provide Beastmen players with new options and possibilities when building their armies.

Thank you to Games Workshop for providing Sprues and Brews with a review copy of the new Arcane Journal. If you want to support the site why not order your Arcane Journal Wood Beastmen Brayherd through our affiliate Element Games and save yourself some money too?

If you’re looking for information about any of the other Arcane Journals we have reviews of all of these on our site, most recently the Arcane Journal Wood Elf Realms!

Arcane Journal Beastmen Brayherds Review

The latest Arcane Journal is just shy of 50 pages in length and contains the now familiar mix of background, miniature galleries, artwork and of course new rules. Fans of Sprues and Brews will know that I am not the most ardent Chaos follower but I have to admit that I have really enjoyed reading through the lore in this new Arcane Journal. There is lots of information describing the Beastmen and their relationship with the Chaos god, their place amongst the various followers of the ruinous power and also a really good overview of their society and ‘unnatural’ order. Their deep hatred for humanity is also touched upon and there are several maps presented which give an overview of their various realms and holdings throughout the Old World. There is also a really cool section describing the language of the Beastmen and even a ‘dictionary’ which could be used as a source of inspiration when painting banners or markings on your models!

With regards gaming content we get a special narrative scenario, the “Clash at the Northern Crossroads”, which can be used to recreate a confrontation between Kralmaw, the Prophet of Ruin and an Empire force from Middenheim! In this scenario the Empire deploy in the centre of the battlefield, surrounded on three sides by the Beastmen forces and the victory conditions see each player seeking to ‘break’ the opposing force by destroying enemy units until the remaining force’s ‘unit strength’ falls below 25% of the starting total.

Of course we also get two new Armies of Infamy to play with as well, the Minotaur Blood Herd and the Wild Herd, which we’ll now take a closer look at.

Minotaur Blood Herd

Wow – this list looks really fun allowing you to build an army packed with hulking Minotaurs, Dragon Ogres and other monstrous creatures all lead by a Minotaur with the ability to cast spells! Let’s first look at the special rules associated with the Minotaur Blood Herd list. Bloodshed & Butchery applies to all Doombulls, Gorebulls, Minotaur Herds and Gor Herds granting them the Impetuous special rule meaning you’ll need to be a little bit careful with your positioning. Champions of Slaughter is a great force multiplier albeit at a cost – should your General become Frenzied as a result of the Blood Rage special rule then all friendly units within its Command range also become Frenzied. If you can position and time this right it provides a great advantage. Guardians of the Herdstones allows you to bestow Chaos Mutations and Gifts of Chaos to Doombulls and Gorebulls which gives you a bit more flexibility and finally we have Magics of the Dark Gods which is a fantastic rule allowing you to make your Doombull or Gorebull General a level 1-2 Wizard, picking spells from the Lore of Dark Magic or Battle Magic whilst still being able to wear armour with no penalty. Whilst a level 2 Wizard is probably not going to be able to compete against an opposing level 4 it does give you some additional dispelling potential and with careful positioning you may be able to fire off a few spells on a unsuspecting opponent.

With regards to list composition then, 50% of your points can be allocated to the Character slot and here you’ll find 0-1 Doombulls per 1000 points, 0-1 Bray Shamans per 1000 points and any number of Gorebulls, Wargors and Centigor Chieftains. Core slot wise you need to take at least 33% of your army’s points value and you’re able to include 1 unit of Minotaur Herds per 1000 points alongside Gor/Ungor Herds and Chaos Warhounds. You can also inclue a single Herdstone…interesting.

A Herdstone is type of special feature that can be set up anywhere on the battlefield after rolling for deployment but must be place outside of their opponent’s deployment zone and not within 6″ range of the centre of the battlefield. Either player can attempt to control the Herdstone however the majority of the bonuses relating to such control apply only to Beastmen units themselves. When controlled by a Beastmen unit the Herdstone bestows Magic Resistance (-1) on said unit. In addition many nearby Beastmen units will also benefit from several bonuses. Beastmen units with 12″ may re-roll To Wound rolls of 1 in combat and Beastmen Wizards within range benefit from +1 modifier when casting spells whilst enemy Wizards within range must suffer a -1 modifier themselves. Enemy units in general suffer a -1 penalty to their Leadership when taking Fear, Panic or Terror tests. Finally the player who controls the Herdstone at the end of the game secures 200 bonus Victory Points. This is a powerful piece of terrain and should have a big impact on both player’s battle plans. It’s worth noting the Herdstone can also be taken in a regular Beastmen Brayherd army in the Special slot.

Speaking of which, in this slot you can spend up to 50% of your army points on 0-1 Dragon Ogres per 1000 points, any number of Harpies, Minotaur Herds, Centigor Herds, Razorgor Herds and Ghorgons.

Finally in the Rare slot you have the option to take 0-1 Shaggoths per 1000 points and any number of Chaos Giants, Ogres and Trolls!

Wild Herd

The second army list is the Wild Herd, an army built around hordes of Gors and other small beasts ambushing onto the battlefield all lead by a handful of Shamans. To this end one of the special rules, Roaming Warbands allows you to give the Ambushers rule to any number of Gor Herds, Ungor Herds, Primal Warherds (more on these shortly) and Centigor Herds. In addition you can also give the various Cheiftain options the Ambushers rule as well. Ancient Sorcery grants your various spell casting characters access to the new Lore of Primal Magic which we’ll cover later. Dark Coven is a really fun rule which allows your spell casters to ‘sap’ power from nearby friendly wizards, benefiting from a +1 modifier to cast or dispell depending on the number of friendly wizards within Command range. However if they should roll a natural double when making such a casting or dispell attempt then all friendly wizards in Command range suffer the effects of a miscast! Finally, Gifts From The Dark Gods gives you a few more points to spend on magic items and Chaos Mutations.

So, what does the composition look like? Well in the Character slot you get a 50% allowance to spend on 0-1 Beastlords or Great Bray-Shamans per 1000 points alongside any number of Wargors, Bray-Shamans and Centigor Cheiftains. In the Core slot you must spend at least 33% on the following; 1+ Primal Warherds, 0-1 Tuskgor Chariots per 1000 points, 0-1 Centigor Herds for each Centigor Chieftain and then any number of Gor Herds, Ungor Herds, Chaos Warhounds, Razorgor Herds and Primal Warhounds. You’ll spot a couple of new ‘Primal’ units there so let’s take a closer look at them now. Primal Warherds are a mixed unit of at least 10 Gors and 10 Ungors with the Bestial Charge special rule which grants them +1 Strength on the charge. Primal Warhounds likewise are a mixed unit consisting of Chaos Warhounds and Ungors.

In the Special slot you can spend up to 50% of your points allowance on 0-1 Dragon Ogres, 0-1 Cockatrice or Preyton units per 1000 points and any number of Warped Gors, Bestigor Herds, Harpies, Centigor Herds, Tuskgor Chariots and Razorgor Chariots. Again there are a couple of new units here. Warped Gors are an interesting unit with a random attacks characteristic with a unique Blessings of Chaos table on their profile that you roll on in each Combat phase and apply the effect. This could Stinging Barbs which grant them the Poisoned Attacks special rule or Chitinous Hide which grants a +1 Toughness bonus. The Preyton is a cheap and fast flying Monster unit with a decent enough profile (although certainly no Dragon) and some interesting special rules. Crown of Antlers buffs its Impact Hits granting the Armour Bane (1) special rule alongside -1 Armour Piercing. Endless Malice is a cool ability which in effect inflicts Panic tests on nearby enemy units if this model wins a combat. The Preyton can also be given the Ambushers and Frenzy special rule should you wish and can also be included in a standard Beastmen Brayherds army in the Special slot should too.

Finally in the Rare slot you can spend up to 33% of your points allowance on Shaggoths, Jabberslythes, Cygors, Chaos Giants and Chaos Spawn.

Kralmaw, The Prophet of Ruin

Kralmaw is the first of two new special characters that are presented in this Arcane Journal and they are a Level 4 Great Bray-Shaman with access to Dark and Primal Magic lores. He is surprisingly tough for a Wizard, sporting Toughess 5, 4 wounds and 4 + Ward save. His Leering Spirit special rule is really fun allowing to deploy a marker anywhere on the battlefield which then proceeds to cast the Devolve spell from the Lore of Beasts in each Shooting phase. He bears a special Braystaff into battle which causes Kralmaw to inflict a -1 modifier to nearby enemy unit’s Leadership.

Ghorros Warhoof, Sire of a Thousand Young

Ghorros is a more combat focused special character built upon a Centigor Chieftain who, amongst other things, provides some nice buffs to other Centigor units in your army. His Father of the Beasts rule allows nearby Centigor Herd units to re-roll their rolls on the Drunken table and The Sons of Ghorros rule allows you to significantly upgrade a unit of Centigor Herd with additional Weapon Skill and Leadership as well as bestowing the Armour Bane (1) special rule. Ghorros has a 6+ Ward save against ‘normal’ attacks and a 5+ Ward save against magical enemy attacks. He is armed with Mansmasher, a nice melee weapon with decent Strength, Armour Piercing and the Multiple Wounds (D3) special rules.

Lore of Primal Magic

The Lore of Primal Magic is a new spell lore available to Wizards in a Wild Herd army. There are some particularly nice debuffing spells here, such as the Signature Spell Primordial Gloom, a Magical Vortex type spell that allows you to place a small ‘Remains in Play’ template that inflicts a -1 modifier to enemy unit’s Leadership which synergises very well with the new Herdstone special rules, Kralmaw’s special Braystaff and also the In the Gloaming Wildwood spell which causes all friendly units to cause Fear against a target unit (improving to Terror if the unit already has Fear). There is also a nice Enchantment here too, Fury of the Beast grants a friendly unit the Fight in Extra Rank special rule.

Beastmen Brayherds Magic Items

There is also a nice selection of Magic Items and I’ll pick out a couple of my favourites here. The Black Maul is a bonkers weapon with superb Strength and AP also granting the bearer the Extra Attacks (+D6) special rule – however if you roll a 6 you’ll have to reduce your Weapon Skill by 1 for the rest of the game! The Fur of Sharggu offers some nice protection for your characters against shooting attacks, providing an additional +2 armour value on top of any other armour the character may be wearing. The Cornucopia Of Corpulence is a very nice Talisman that works great when facing low toughness opponents such as Elves or Goblins. If the bearer finds themselves in combat then each enemy model in base to base contact must take a Toughness test or lose a single wound! Finally Goretooth is a useful Arcane Item which unlocks the new Lore of Primal Magic for the character allowing you to utilise this new Lore outside of Wild Herd armies.

Summary

I really feel Games Workshop are knocking it out of the park with their Old World Arcane Journals. Each one we’ve covered so far does a great job of opening up a particular faction to alternate playstyles and Arcane Journal Beastmen Brayherds is no exception. The Minotaur Blood Herd in particular seems like great fun allowing you to put a very unique style army reminiscent in some ways to an Ogre Kingdoms style force.

I also really like the new additions in this book. The Herdstone looks like a really effective and impactful piece with some great rules which I imagine will force you opponent into having to adjust their battle plans to mitigate its impact. The Lore of Primal Magic looks like a solid spell list and I’m happy that you’re able to utilise it in any Beastmen Brayherds army thanks to the new Goretooth Arcane Item.

Overall then it’s another hit for me and I look forward to Games Workshop releasing more Arcane Journals and other content for the Old World!

The Arcane Journal Beastmen Brayherds is available to pre-order today, Saturday 31sth of May.

Games Workshop provided Sprues & Brews with a free copy for review purposes