[WFB]Chaos Beastmen assembly question

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.miniatures.warhammer (More info?)

Well, I'm a 40k gamer, but I picked up a WFB Chaos Beastmen regiment box the
other day. I'm going to use them as Bloodletters for my 40k Word Bearers
army, since they look pretty similar to me and I got 20 of them for less
than 2/3rds of what I'd have paid for 10 "official" Bloodletters.

Now, since my Word Bearers are _very_ orthodox, I'll field them as 2 units
of 8. This means I'll have 4 minis left over, and I thought it might not be
a bad idea to build them as the command/musicians/whathaveyou I'd need if I
ever fielded them as a WFB force. However, I own exactly none of the WFB
books, so I have a fragmentary understanding of this concept at best. A
buddy of mine plays WFB so I can borrow his main rulebook, but I don't know
anyone with the Beasts of Chaos book, so I'm not sure what I'd need to
assemble. Am I correct in guessing I should build one carrying the banner
pole and one carrying the horn? Is there any other "specialty" setup I
should use on the two spare minis? If it helps, I'll be arming the 16
pseudo-Bloodletters with the axes and swords, which I figure look more
"bloodletter-y" than the spears and maces. However, I'm still undecided on
whether to give them shields or two weapons each. I figure this will make a
difference in WFB stats, although as far as I'm concerned it'll just be for
looks in 40k since the Bloodletters have a fixed profile. Similarly, should
I sprinkle a few spears in the mix, or will that matter?

Also, am I correct in thinking these guys fight in loose formation as
skirmishers rather than in the more usual WFB tight box formation? Will I
need to worry about getting these guys to be able to stand
shoulder-to-shoulder?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. It will probably be an awfully
long time before I ever used these guys in a WFB format, but I'd rather go
ahead and assemble and paint them all at the same time. Even if the advice
winds up being "this is too complex to answer quickly, go get a copy of the
Beasts of Chaos book" that'll at least point me in the right direction.

Thanks,

--
Ken Coble

....for Drake held it as a religious conviction that the State had no
business imposing on him with taxes and tariffs, and considered smuggling
not just a good idea but a sacred observance...

Neal Stephenson, _Quicksilver_

 

[Greg]

Archived from groups: rec.games.miniatures.warhammer (More info?)

On Wed, 26 Jan 2005 00:09:53 GMT, "Kenneth Coble"
<flintlocklaser@triad.rr.com> wrote:

>buddy of mine plays WFB so I can borrow his main rulebook, but I don't know
>anyone with the Beasts of Chaos book, so I'm not sure what I'd need to
>assemble. Am I correct in guessing I should build one carrying the banner
>pole and one carrying the horn?


The term "command group" refers to a champion, musician and standard
bearer. So, yes, if you want to make a command group just build one
with the pole and one with the horn. As for the champion, there
aren't really any specific "champion" bits, except for perhaps one
head that looks different from all the others.


Is there any other "specialty" setup I
>should use on the two spare minis? If it helps, I'll be arming the 16
>pseudo-Bloodletters with the axes and swords, which I figure look more
>"bloodletter-y" than the spears and maces. However, I'm still undecided on
>whether to give them shields or two weapons each. I figure this will make a
>difference in WFB stats, although as far as I'm concerned it'll just be for
>looks in 40k since the Bloodletters have a fixed profile. Similarly, should
>I sprinkle a few spears in the mix, or will that matter?

In WFB, the rules are that the smaller beastmen - the Ungors - MUST
have a spear and shield (you might notice the spear arms are smaller
than the rest). The largers ones, the Gors, have a choice of two hand
weapons or shield. Personally, I feel the two hand weapons are the
way to go, because having an extra attack is much better than having a
useless +1 to your almost-non-existant-anyway armour save. But that's
my opinion only.

> Also, am I correct in thinking these guys fight in loose formation as
>skirmishers rather than in the more usual WFB tight box formation? Will I
>need to worry about getting these guys to be able to stand
>shoulder-to-shoulder?

They do MOVE in a loose formation, but they do have to rank up in
order to FIGHT. So yes, they will eventually need to be ranked up.
They do have special rules though, so picking up the book is necessary
to get all the details of how they move/fight. Btw, the easiest way
to ensure they rank up is simply to pose them with their weapons held
up, above their heads, rather than by their sides...

-Greg, who has already assembled 80 plastic beastmen and will be doing
60 more very soon....

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.miniatures.warhammer (More info?)

Greg wrote:
> On Wed, 26 Jan 2005 00:09:53 GMT, "Kenneth Coble"
> <flintlocklaser@triad.rr.com> wrote:
>
>> buddy of mine plays WFB so I can borrow his main rulebook, but I
>> don't know anyone with the Beasts of Chaos book, so I'm not sure
>> what I'd need to assemble. Am I correct in guessing I should build
>> one carrying the banner pole and one carrying the horn?
>
>
> The term "command group" refers to a champion, musician and standard
> bearer. So, yes, if you want to make a command group just build one
> with the pole and one with the horn. As for the champion, there
> aren't really any specific "champion" bits, except for perhaps one
> head that looks different from all the others.

Ok, thanks. This is what I was wanting to know. I'll build one musician,
one std. bearer, and try to figure out something suitably impressive for a
champion. If nothing else, I might paint his horns gold or something.


> Is there any other "specialty" setup I
>> should use on the two spare minis? If it helps, I'll be arming the
>> 16 pseudo-Bloodletters with the axes and swords, which I figure look
>> more "bloodletter-y" than the spears and maces. However, I'm still
>> undecided on whether to give them shields or two weapons each. I
>> figure this will make a difference in WFB stats, although as far as
>> I'm concerned it'll just be for looks in 40k since the Bloodletters
>> have a fixed profile. Similarly, should I sprinkle a few spears in
>> the mix, or will that matter?
>
> In WFB, the rules are that the smaller beastmen - the Ungors - MUST
> have a spear and shield (you might notice the spear arms are smaller
> than the rest). The largers ones, the Gors, have a choice of two hand
> weapons or shield. Personally, I feel the two hand weapons are the
> way to go, because having an extra attack is much better than having a
> useless +1 to your almost-non-existant-anyway armour save. But that's
> my opinion only.

I'll probably build them with 2 weapons then, as that seems Khornier than a
wussy shield. Plus, they're daemons of pure bloodlust, so anything as
purely defensive as a shield doesn't seem thematic. Glad to know this will
work in WFB as well. As for the Ungor/Spearmen, what I'll probably do is
just not assemble them yet; then if I ever do field any of these as a WFB
army I'll buy another Beastman box and make enough Ungors out of that box to
cover both units.


>> Also, am I correct in thinking these guys fight in loose formation as
>> skirmishers rather than in the more usual WFB tight box formation?
>> Will I need to worry about getting these guys to be able to stand
>> shoulder-to-shoulder?
>
> They do MOVE in a loose formation, but they do have to rank up in
> order to FIGHT. So yes, they will eventually need to be ranked up.
> They do have special rules though, so picking up the book is necessary
> to get all the details of how they move/fight. Btw, the easiest way
> to ensure they rank up is simply to pose them with their weapons held
> up, above their heads, rather than by their sides...

Well, that's the most important thing. Plus weapons raised menacingly
overhead looks good and Bloodletter-y, so no problem there. Thanks for all
the handy advice, I'll have to get to building these things now!

> -Greg, who has already assembled 80 plastic beastmen and will be doing
> 60 more very soon....

Ugh. I won't complain about having to put together 16 of them then...

--
Ken Coble

....for Drake held it as a religious conviction that the State had no
business imposing on him with taxes and tariffs, and considered
smuggling not just a good idea but a sacred observance...

Neal Stephenson, _Quicksilver_