Beastmen, part II: I really don't care...

Beastmen, part II  a.k.a: I don't care!

So I finally finished the Beastman book. They are cool and all, but for some damn reason I just don't care. The fact that I don't care is really taking the wind out of my idea of doing a real review. Instead of playing around with numbers and such, I've been working on my Skaven more. Like my 90 something plus Storm Vermin. More on that later.

Back to Beastmen. I just don't care! Maybe I feel like they are too similar to all the human (boring) armies out there. Maybe I was hoping for more of a Wood Elf feel: Skirmishers, dancing, quick. Maybe I wanted something else entirely. I really cannot put a finger on it, but I did not get excited about Beastmen like I was about Skaven; Or Warriors of Chaos; Or Daemons. Just seems boring to me. maybe it's the amount of work I need to do to re-base all my Ungors. Or maybe it's the lack of "Holy crap awesome model" syndrome...I am not sure what it is, but I am just not feeling it.

Two things that seem weak for me is the Ambush special rule and their magic lore. I'll talk a little about both, and why they don't excite me.

First, let's talk about why Ambush doesn't cut it for me. As it stands now, Ambush is less of an ambush, and more of a "random appearing of Beastmen" to me. The likelihood of the beast units actually showing up where a Beast Lord would want them too is a 1 in 6...just as likely as them showing up where your opponent wants as where your Beast Lord's "masterfully" laid plans would put his units. It's nice that they appear, even if your general is not around anymore. That is indeed great. However, if you're stupid enough to hold your ambushing units until your general is in danger, you need to rethink your strategy. Now, Beastmen just randomly appear. Works in fluff, doesn't work in a tactical strategy game. When it comes to Ambushing you cannot plan for success and any Ambushed unit needs to be written off as a loss. Joy!

Next, Beast magic...the Lore of the Wild. Looking at the list, the wild sucks! Most of the spells are a let down, due to the fact that they are on average way too high of a casting value. Every spell on the list requires two dice to make happen. Even the level one. Seems a little weak compared to other lists...even the pretenders in the college of magic. Most of the spells are not even worth it in the first place, considering how difficult they are to cast. Without the book in front of me, I cannot remember exactly the spells, but they have a movement spell, a 3d6 strength 1 spell, a bonus attack spell that could would the target, a "summon monster" spell, and a couple others. The "summon monster" spell sounds fantastic, but it's difficult to cast, you make your caster totally un-usable, and as the monster fights, your mage just might die with him. Not that great if you ask me, as most mages are more valuable to the game than monsters. Not sure if anyone would ever take the special lore over the book lore, which I also find boring.

Of course, I need to actually play them on the table before I really know how they play, but even the idea of re-basing of the Ungors alone is enough to lose my interest. Of course sooner or later I will get around to it, as I must collect all things Chaos in Fantasy. Hopefully 8th edition will change things and make Beasts more of a power house, but until then, they get the back burner to Skaven and Daemons.

So much for a detailed review of the army book. Lack of interest leads to poor writing and poor writing is not something you want to read. So I am skipping. Sorry.