Battletome: Beasts of Chaos is bristling with new tools to make armies even more monstrous – we’ve already seen how beastmen armies use their intimate knowledge of the wildlands to set perfect ambushes, but springing out from nowhere in a flash of fur and fangs isn’t the only way to do battle.
While the Allherd and Darkwalkers may love to overwhelm foes with masses of Ungors, Gors, and Bestigors – be it in a raging stampede or shadowy trap – others greatfrays are even less conventional…
First formed, legend tells, on the Coast of Tusks – centuries before Sigmar’s crusaders founded the city of Excelsis – the Quakefray is a stampede of towering gor-kin who follow zealous Cygor prophets on a quest to flatten every last monument of civilisation. Not only can this subfaction take Ghorgons and Cygors as Battleline units, each of your Cygors also becomes a PRIEST.
On top of Bless and Smite, these colossal seers can call on the Earthshatter prayer – select an objective within range and watch as the ground around it is torn asunder, dealing D3 mortal wounds to nearby enemies and making it harder for them to contest the objective.
Even stranger still are the Gavespawn. These depraved beastmen worship Chaos in its purest form, the raw roiling ylem from which all existence was once formed, and seek to return the Mortal Realms to a truly protean state.
To the deranged worshippers of the Great Devolver, the lurching Chaos Spawn are paragons of shapeless splendour – they can field Chaos Spawn as Battleline units, and even head to battle accompanied by a Gibbering Congregation.
This unique formation unlocks a sacred trio of Morghurite Chaos Spawn – though they still count as separate units for army construction purposes. These formless fiends sport more reliable Move and Attacks characteristics than normal Chaos Spawn – befitting a Battleline unit – and have strange new abilities of their own, such as flesh-melting Spews of Corruption.
Such is the warherds’ supreme mastery of the land that even the mutant monsters of the Gavespawn and Quakefray can be set up in ambush – so you can build the hirsute herd of your darkest, most primal dreams and still sneak them right up in your opponent’s grill.
Battletome: Beasts of Chaos will be available to pre-order this Saturday. Who needs order or laws or cities anyway? Give yourself over to your basest desires and embrace the beast within!