Have you been looking at starting, or expanding, a Beastclaw Raiders army? Our guest writer today covers your first 1,000 points for this amazing AoS army.
Winter is coming, and not just for Game of Thrones Fans (or us here in the mitten state), rather it is coming in the form of the Beastclaw Raiders start collecting box ($70 on eBay). This is a great value for your money box as it covers a ton of points and it gives you both battlelines! It is also a small model count army, which if you’re not a fan of painting makes it all that easier to get your entire army painted.
Starting with the start collecting box set you are going to build the following:
- 1 Huskard on Stonehorn: (380 points) Leader 1 of 4, Behemoth 1 of 2
- 1 unit of 2 Mournfang Pack: (160 points) Battleline 1 of 2 Required
- 1 unit of 2 Mournfang Pack: (160 points) Battleline 2 of 2 Required
Huskard on Stonehorn: Move is damage table (12 down to 4), Save 4+, Bravery 8, Wounds 12. He has either a Chaintrap; 12-inch range, 1 attack, hitting on a 4+, wounding on a 3+, for 3 points of damage. Or a Harpoon Launcher with 20-inch range, 1 attack, hitting on a 4+, wounding on a 3+, for D3 damage. For melee, he punches; with a 1-inch range, 3 attacks, 3+ to hit, 4+ to wound, for 1 damage. Then his mount has two melee attacks the first being its horns; 2-inch range, damage table attacks (6 down to 2), hitting on a 4+, wounding on a 3+, with -2 rend for 3 points of damage. Finally, it has its hooves; with 1-inch range, D6 attacks, hitting on a 3+, wounding damage table (2+ up to 4+), with -1 rend for D3 damage. This model must charge if within 12 inches of an enemy even if it ran, it is successful, the unit it charged suffers D6 mortal wounds. He also has a stone skeleton which halves any WOUNDS and MORTAL WOUNDS he takes rounding up. Then he has a line breakers ability which after he attacks lets you pick a Mournfang Pack within 10 inches of him that hasn’t attacked yet. That unit then piles in and makes its attacks for the combat phase as if it were there turn. Finally, this guy can swap out his missile weapon for a bird that has range 30 and you and your opponent each pick a unit. Roll a D6, on a 1-3 the unit your opponent picked suffers a mortal wound, on a 4-6 the one you picked does.
Mournfang Pack: Move 9, Save 4+, Bravery 6, Wounds 6. The leader has a pistol with range 12, 1 attack, hitting on a 4+, wounding on a 3+, with rend -1 for D3 damage. The weapon choices are either a club at 3 attacks, hitting on a 4+, wounding on a 3+, for 2 points of damage or a Gargant Hacker with 2-inch range, 2 attacks, hitting on a 4+, wounding on a 3+, with -1 rend for 3 points of damage. Then you have the mount attack with 4 attacks, hitting on a 4+, wounding on a 3+, with -1 rend for 1 damage. They all have iron fists which whenever you make a save roll of 6 they deal 1 mortal wound to the attacking unit. Also, when they charge you roll a dice for each model in the Mournfang Pack within 1 inch of an enemy unit, on a 4+ they that unit takes a mortal wound. Finally, the horn blowers let you roll 3 dice on a charge and pick the highest two, and the banner lets you reroll battle shock test rolls of 6 and has a chance to cause additional models to flee within 6 inches of it.
Adding to your list you will want to get 1 more Mournfang pack ($20 on eBay) and add it to one of your battlelines. Then with the remaining 140 points get a Butcher ($25 on eBay).
- Add a Mournfang Pack to battleline 1 (320 points total)
- Butcher: (140 points) Leader 2 of 140 Allies points
Butcher: Move 6, 5+ Save, 8 Bravery, 7 Wounds. Armed either with a cleaver for 2 attacks, hitting on a 4+, wounding on a 3+, with -1 rend for D3 damage. Or stump blades with 2D6 attacks, hitting on a 4+, wounding on a 3+, for 1 damage. After a successful casting or unbinding attempt roll a D6, on a 2+ he heals a wound. If you have the model carrying the great cauldron you can roll a D6 in your hero phase for a random effect. Finally, his unique spell is Voracious Maw with casting value 7, it has a range 18 and does D3 mortal wounds. After that roll, a D6 on a 4+ is does another D3 and continues until the model is slain or you roll a 1-3.
Load Out: With the Mournfang Packs I would go the great weapons as they can dish out the same damage but with added rend and longer reach. On your Huskard I would go Chaintrap as this guy is going to be running and charging as much as possible and with his fast movement he is going to always be close to enemies. Using the destruction alliance abilities (so you don’t have to buy Beastclaw raiders book). You are going to choose Ravager as your command trait to help get those sweet rampaging destroyer rolls. Then for an artifact on the Huskard I like the battle brew as it can add 1 to hit and wound rolls or 2 if you are willing to take a D6 mortal wounds (though rounded down with stone skeleton so might be worth it!) once per battle.
Tactics: Get into combat ASAP and then when you attack with your Huskard and use his command ability to attack with the Mournfang Pack immediately after. Use the butcher to cast mystic shield on a unit and give some dispel ability to the army. Model count is where this army can get locked up on though in that if you need more models to control objective your better off just trying to table them.
There you go 1000 points for a Beastclaw Raiders army and it is easy to add onto! You already have 3 units of Mournfang Packs so that is your 3 battleline units for a 2000-point force, so what you get next is up to you. And it is relatively cheap at about $115.
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About the Author: Travis Perkins
