Beasts Of Chaos

Grand Alliance Chaos Beasts Of Chaos

Cry havoc, and let slip the beasts of war.

Lore Tactics General Tactics

AoS’ take on the classic Beastmen, the Beasts of Chaos are comprised of the Brayherds (Gors, Ungors, etc), Warherds (Minotaurs), Thunderscorn (Dragon Ogors), and other assorted chaos monsters all united under one faction.

The biggest difference between Warhammer Fantasy Beastmen and Age of Sigmar Beastmen is their opinion on the Chaos Gods. The Old World Beastmen are zealously devoted to the Chaos Gods, despite said gods being relatively indifferent to the Cloven Ones. The Mortal Realms Beastmen however are staunch followers of Chaos Undivided, the "worship Chaos as a force seperate from the gods" kind. To them the Ruinous Powers are merely powerful beings who have limited themselves by only embodying a single aspect of Chaos, and outright worshipping them goes against the whole purpose of being Chaotic in the first place. Though Beastmen marked by the gods still exist (mostly forming their own seperate greatfrays because the other Beastmen ostracise them), in general the Beastmen believe that Chaos is something one should embody through their acts, not a pantheon to be followed. The Chaos Gods despite this still see them as useful pawns because of how they spread war, plague, rape and mutation.

Ironically, despite being actively ostracised by their undivided kin, from the ones we've seen so far marked Beastmen are highly favored by human cultists, with Slaanesh worshippers revering and pampering Slaangor Fiendbloods and many Tzeentch worshippers (especially the Cult of the Transient Form) actively aspiring to be transformed into Tzaangors.

History

The history of the Beasts of Chaos is long and full of conjecture as they don't seem to concerned about archiving their history. Stories of the Beasts can be traced back to before the Age of Myth, this mostly appears as oral tradition or by ancient glyphs recorded on massive tusks. In the time before Sigmar awoke, the Beasts of Chaos were already an established threat to the mortal realms, during this time they thrived as all but the most organised and advanced tribes of early Human, Duardin and Aelf could hope to resist the Beasts onslaught.

The origins of the Beasts are left up to debate by the scholars of the Mortal Realms, however there are three prevailing theories.

• Legend of the Alpha Progenitor: The first theory is based on the tusk-glyphs that are seen in Ghur with the creators of the glyphs believing the Beasts of Chaos were all spawned from one initial beast which later formed the first Greatfrays. The fate of this beast is no longer recorded in the glyphs, but may been in the past as there are pieces of the tusks missing and broken. This theory has some weight as some of the Beasts of Chaos worship what they have named, the Gorfather or Sire of Ruin. The Allherd Greatfray in particular revere this figure of ruinous myth.

• Fable of the Warping Wilds: Another belief is that the Beasts were once natural creatures and were transformed by the corruptions of chaos as it began to leak into the mortal realms. The primitive tribes of the mortal realms who sought meaning and order looked for it some found the energies of chaos and were corrupted and cast out by their communities. These tribespeople are believed to be the origin as they mutated into bestial forms and their minds dimmed to animal instinct. The corruption of the denizens of the mortal realms is believed to continue to the present.

• Corporeus Chaotica Postulate: The Corporeus Chaotica Postulate is a theory from Hysh based on research by ancient scholars who saw the Beasts as a reversed order of the world. They believed them to be an anathema to the order of the mortal realms as "for Rhinoxen produce more Rhinoxen, so too do Humans beget Humans and Duardin sire Duardin"(and this is where it gets a bit completely wrong). Because the Beasts do not adhere to this they are thought to have instead of being created by chaos, created chaos themselves. This theory, despite being fairly common is mainly espoused by street preachers and doomsday 'prophets' as well as those who think segregation is a good idea and probably read the bell curve.

Age of Myth

The Age of Myth for the Beasts of Chaos was a period of defeat. After Sigmar awoke, he instantly purged Azyr of the Thunderscorn, and when they attempted to settle in Ghur, an alliance between the Draconith and Drogrukh pushed out the Dragon Ogors as well. In this age as Sigmar began to unify the tribes and corral the gods into a pantheon of order, the Beasts would no longer be able to destroy as they wished. In Ghur the god of destruction Gorkamorka is tasked with wiping out the Greatfrays, and defeats a Beastlord named the First Son of the Gorfather and with his dying breath tells the god that he might be able to defeat the Gorfather. After this razing of the greatfrays, the Beasts of Chaos fled into the wild places and centered themselves around annals of chaotic power waiting for their opportunity to return.

Age of Chaos

The Age of Chaos saw the Beasts have a resurgence as the forces of Chaos swept the realms. They charged from the wild places they had bade their time and unleashed their fury on the denizens of the realms. During this time they clashed with other chaotic forces, but most of their fury was directed toward the civilisations that had arisen since their defeat in the Age of Myth. The Beastman slaughtered their way across the Mortal Realms with particular mention of the Violet Kingdom in Hysh, where the Corporeus Chaotica Postulate was first codified; the city was surrounded, its leaders killed by their own people, the survivors swiftly went mad with hunger, turned to cannibalism and due to the warping energies began to mutate into Beasts themselves. Another victim of the Beasts was the Chamon fleet of Karak Ohrgaf who tried to flee to the clouds and found a Greatfray which slaughtered them bar one which returned to Barak-Zon and told of the Beasts who live in the clouds and worship a pillar made of aether gold. The Wanderers in Ghyran were slaughtered by the Darkwalker Greatfray before splitting up to try and elude the Beasts. They were also involved with the War of Life in Ghyran, helping the forces of Nurgle and the Pestilens Clans from the Skaven ending with the desecration of a large portion of the realm. Though beyond this the Greatfrays mostly provided support for the more powerful and favoured chaos forces and focused much of their efforts on claiming the wilds as their own, as they felt it was their right since the Age of Myth. Occasionally even clashing with the Slaves to Darkness for ownership of these savage lands all throughtout the age.

Age of Sigmar

In the Age of Sigmar, the Stormcast Eternals begin to push back the forces of Chaos from the Realms. In this new enemy the Beasts find an anathema as the Stormcast embody their complete opposite, so they are seen as the ultimate prey. During the pushback the Beasts lose several battles; losing the Dirgehorn when the Stormcast and Sylvaneth attack, the loss of an entire Skullfray at the hands of the Azyrite church and the Tempest Lords (this was done with the unwitting help of Skarbrand though); and being pushed back out of Gravewild in Shyish, which also happened to be the first encounter with a famous Beastlord Ghosteater.

Soul Wars

After the Necroquake known to the Beasts as "the Howl of the Dead Beast". The Beasts began to flock towards Shyish at the behest of their seers and Bray-Shamans. The intention is so that they can use the Black Pyramid as a colossal herdstone and control the entire Realm of Death. Azyrite seers foresaw the potential of this as well and warned about the potential of Shyish to become another chaos infested wasteland.

Broken Realms

Basically nothing happened. They got stomped in the prologue of Kragnos’ book so that Alarielle could revive the Oak of Ages Past in Ghyran.

Era of the Beast

Kragnos’ awakening and the surging power of the Realm of Beasts has unwittingly sent the the Gor-kin into a frenzy. The Thunderscorn in particular loathe Kragnos as the last reminder of their golden age, before the Drogrukh and Draconith pushed them out of their mountain homes. The Beasts of Chaos use this new found vigor to launch more raids against the forces of Order, the Dawnbringer Crusades becoming a favored/loathed target. They see these great marches of civilization as the greatest of insults who dare to impose their civilization on lands they feel are theirs by conquest. Greatfrays will trail secretly behind the Crusades, using shamanistic magic and knowledge of the environment to influence where the colossal caravan goes, until they’re led straight into a slaughter. The Sylvaneth however are the enemies that the Beasts of Chaos despise above all others, as their drive to purify the lands are the complete opposite of their very being. With Allarielles Rite of Life reverberating across the realms the Sylvaneth are on the offensive like never before, clashing with the Beastman all over Ghyran and beyond to retake the wildnerness.

Additionally, rampant energies from Ghur has caused a staggering amount of feral mutations to spring up from civilized life. Livestock going savage, giving birth to hideous hybrids or even starting to whisper curses to their sleeping masters to slaughter one another are becoming increaseingly common (in addition to disturbing rumours of these curses causing isolated outposts to slaughter themselves in anarchic violence). And of course instances of humans morphing into bestial forms alike. Even more insidiously the Beastman have also released an ancient viral curse know as the Turnskin from Ghyran that was long ago sealed away until the Cygor destroyed the wards holding it at bay. When individuals are told stories of the Beastman (which interest many within the great cities have never seen or heard of a Beastman) they run the risk of potentially being infected by the curse. Over a period of days after hearing the stories they will begin to slowly turn into a Beastman. After which they are either killed by their fellow man or run off into the wilderness to join the Greatfrays.

The “true” Beastmen accept these new recruits, but regard them as little more than fodder, calling them “gaves” or “Turnskins”. Those however that can still pass for normal with heavy clothing are sent to infiltrate the Civilizations of their enemies to try to spread the stories and legends of the Beastman. All in the hopes that it might lead more to fall under the Turnskin curse and convert them into their own kind to use their knowledge against the civilised lands (showing that the Beastman can be surprisingly cunning when they aren't just butchering everything indiscriminately). And some particularly savage gaves have even risen to leadership positions within the Greatfrays.

One of the biggest plays the Beastman have made in the new era is trying to harness the power of the rising Kronspine Incarnates that have risen in the wake of Ghurs awakening. Not endless spells but literal embodiements of the realm of beasts harnessing one gives the wielder control of the vary essence of ghur. A shaman even went so far as allying with Bonesplitters to try and tame one before being twarted by Stormcast. Though this has not stopped them from attempting to ensnare others. They wish to corrupt these evigies to bring about their version of "The Era of the Beast" where the Beastman riegn supreme in Ghur and beyond.

Squatting

As of 4th Edition, it's become clear that the real Gods of Chaos (Games Workshop) have decided to do away with the Beasts of Chaos. This would be heartbreaking if it weren't for the fact that Beastmen still exist thanks to Warhammer: The Old World. Furthermore, the announcement had said nothing about the various god-aligned Gors that have taken root in those armies and they will be remaining in their respective factions. Even in the unaligned forces, there are the Ogroids and other beastlike chaos beings (like Centaurions and Fomoriods) whom essentially serve a similar niche. Meaning in hindsight the signs Beastman were riding off into Legends someday was heavily foreshadowed.

Their lore explanation from the free "battletome"[1] on the Warhammer Community website is much less satisfying. Rather than some climactic battle which saw the herds broken and scattered, it was only mentioned that their numbers were whittled down gradually. It started when Kragnos got trapped in an endless prison, which made the Beasts of Chaos lose their momentum, scatter, and tear each other apart in that order. The Ruinous Powers hunted them down and converted the survivors to worshipping one god (hence the Tzaangors and Slaangors still having support), but some Beasts grew rebellious. Those who saw themselves as pure creatures of Chaos were prime targets of the hunt. The forces of Order drove them back, but the Vermindoom was essentially the tipping point where enough of their great leaders had died that they could only retreat to Realm's Edge or deeper wilds.

The Shadowgave was essentially purged by a joint force of Lumineth and Sylvaneth, with the only remnants being a tiny mass hiding in the claws of one lucky beastman, Ghorraghan Khai.

Greatfrays

Calling the Greatfrays the equivalent to Stormhosts or Warclans is a bit of a misunderstanding. A Greatfray is less of a unified subfaction and more like a particular culture that Beastmen originate from. Scholars of the Mortal Realms will notice patterns in their iconography, warfare, and herd composition and create these theories regarding how the beasts of these Greatfrays function.

• Allherd: The posterboys. Arrogant and aggressive, the beasts of the Allherd believe themselves to be the true offspring of the Alpha Progenitor, the original Beastman of the Mortal Realms, ergo meaning they claim to be the only true children of Chaos. Their herds are mostly found in Ghur, which when combined with the countless herdstones and glyphs bearing the Allherd’s symbols that dot every continent in the Realm of Beasts, leads many to believe that they originated from Ghur as well.
• Darkwalkers: Much like their ancestors in the World-That-Was, the Darkwalkers rely heavily on ambush tactics and knowing the lay of the land. They seem to have an innate knowledge of the environment around them and are easily able to traverse the most treacherous of terrain and/or lure enemies into lethal surprise attacks. It’s not uncommon for herds of Darkwalkers to be “hired” by Chaos Lords from the Slaves to Darkness for their experience in navigating the Realms. Of course, the idea of even interacting with the followers of the Chaos Gods doesn't sit well with some other Greatfrays, but the Darkwalkers don't mind, since it's only natural to use any and all means when walking the path of anarchy.
• Gavespawn: A somewhat heretical Greatfray who revere/worship Morghur from the original Beastman roster, who has become a symbol of rampant mutation and the warping powers of Chaos. They seek to elevate their patron to the ranks of a proper Chaos God and fight against the four brothers, which is why they are often at odds with the other Beasts of Chaos and the Slaves to Darkness. Of course with all this mutation present, Chaos SpaWAITOHGODNOFDNHKGESZYXJDS...are not only a common presence in the army, but are treated as sacred beings embodying Morghur’s power. Unique to the Gavespawn herds are the Gibbering Congregations, a trio of the most ‘blessed’ Chaos Spawn that spew corruptive bile at their enemies.
• Quakefray: A relatively new Greatfray that is also quite unique in that they are primarily led by unusually intelligent Cygor Priests and contain a very high number of large Beastkin. They have an obsession with seeing all civilizations of the realms crushed flat and charge out in great herds all across the realms. The Cygors of this Greatfray even using their strange powers to cause the very land to rebel and shake and crumble to rubble.
• Slatehorns: A Greatfray that roamed around Shyish they managed to slaughter the dragons that lived in the Betrayers Barrier in the Charnel Court before the Morgaunt Flesh Eater Court found them and wiped them out.
• Scorchpelt: A small Greatfray which have a particular hate-boner for the people of Tempest's Eye. They have charred fur (which might indicate a prepensity for fire which is fitting as they live in Aqshy).

The next few Greatfrays refer to Beastmen who have chosen to follow a specific Ruinous Power and are appropriately shunned by most other Beasts of Chaos. Important note here, these names aren’t really the names of the Greatfray itself, but more like a broad classification (I.e. the Eight Horns Greatfray is a Skullfray devoted to Khorne and so on).

• Skullfrays: Beastmen devoted to Khorne. They are gifted a portion of the Blood God’s wrath, turning them all into unstoppable berserkers who rip and tear a gory trail through the Mortal Realms. Their herdstones are fittingly decorated with piles of skulls and no Bray Shamans are found in the Skullfrays, cause magic makes Khorne mad. The most prevalent skullfray is the Eighthorns who devour their enemies to become stronger, except the brain because it doesn't contain enough muscle.
• Twistfrays: Beastmen devoted to Tzeentch. Sometimes known as Weird Horns or Warphooves, these guys were the only god-specific Beastmen with official models still in production until the recent Slaanesh Mortals update. They are the most willing to cooperate with outside factions, usually to plot and scheme the downfall of a Free City. Their herdstones are almost living twisted creatures in their own way, changing and growing the stronger their Twistfray becomes. The most infamous Twistfray is the Ulk'gnar which were nearly destroyed until Tzeentch got involved.
• Rotfrays: Beastmen devoted to Nurgle. Their devotion to the Plague Father has turned these Beastmen into a pestilent horde of flagellants who willingly cut and infect each other with disease and wade into battle as martyrs to spread their poxes upon their foes. Appropriately, the Rotfray herdstones serve as nodes for Nurgle’s corruptive influence, morphing the earth around it into a vile marsh of decay and filth. The most prevalent rotfray is the Manglegut Rotfray.
• Slakefrays: Beastmen devoted to Slaanesh. To these beasts, Slaanesh is the apex predator, feaster, and breeder; all things that the Beastmen seek to emulate in the most obscene degree. These guys are LOUD, wearing garish armor and clothes and blowing colossal war horns to signal their attacks. They hoard anything gaudy or shiny they find in their raids, however this makes them prone to bouts of self-loathing, realizing how they value these products of civilization. This is why they seek to drown out such thoughts in more excessive pillaging and raping, creating a vicious, almost tragic, cycle.The Gravenkin are the best-known Slakefray, Daemonettes tend to follow them as they think the Gravenkin will lead them to Slaanesh.

“Organisation” Within the Greatfrays

A Greatfray may be one big group of beasts but that doesn't mean they are all in one place. They split down to smaller 'herds' to make as much mischief as possible (also because the different species can barely tolerate each other at the best of times). The subtypes can be specialised to make them more focused on one type of tactic and method of slaughtering the inhabitants of the mortal realms. Each one of these is known as a beastherd and there are three types seen, each led by an Alphabeast. Despite how much they work together to make horrendous tragedies happen, they are still a might-makes-right society and weaker beastherds will be targeted by the strong and either subsumed into the stronger herd or killed outright.

• Brayherd: Ambush focused herd with a emphasis on the usage of Gors and Bestigors. This makes them the most traditional as they use the larger numbers of ungors to do the scouting and hunting as well as being used as expendible units in battle. The Gors will do most of the fighting as they are primarily the ground troops of the herds with bestigors, centigors, tuskgors and tzaangors making up the niche elite units. of course they still have their beastlords, bray shamans and great bray shamans to act as leadership.

• Warherd: Warherds are the nomadic warlike beastherds that have a massive emphasis on the use of Bullgors and the variants that come as a package deal. These are the herds that will make most use of units like the Ghorgon and the Cygor. The leadership of the Warherds are the responsibility of the Doombulls which are Bullgors, But bigger. An infamous warherd is the Vilehorns under the Allherd Greatfray under the command of the Doombull Krovar.

• Thunderscorn: Thunderscorns is the name of a group of Dragon Ogres Dragon Ogors. They mainly tend to sit in the mountains and raze settlements who have the gall to exist nearby. The smaller Dragon ogors are led by a Dragon Ogor Shaggoth which are revered by other Beastmen and Dragon Ogors as demigods. They tend to focus themselves around mountain ranges or wastelands which they basically rule with and iron…fist? Claw? Likely both. Anyway they do this when they can be arsed to get out of bed.

The Beastfrays’ Menagerie

Beasts of Chaos units are very melee focused with a healthy dose of monsters as is to be expected. The only explicitly ranged units they have are Cygors, Ungor Raiders and Tzaangor skyfires. They're also super squishy in tabletop. BoC units are as follows:

HQ

• Beastlord: The leader of the Brayherd/Beastherd burning your small village down, His whole job is to lead his warband to something and say "make it disappear". the other facet is to flex hard enough so the other gors don't get funny ideas. They will challenge anyway as is the standard for the gor-kin.

• Doombull: The Doombull leads the Warherds you find in a greatfray with the same rapacious hunger and wish to despoil as his underlings. He still risks getting eaten by a Ghorgon though. Basically a minotaur lord.

• Dragon Ogor Shaggoth: BIG. LIZARD. ASS.*BLAM* They are the leaders of the thunderscorn which means they basically level villages by accident and hate Sigmar for evicting them from Azyr.

• Tzaangor Shaman: A spellcaster lord pledged to the big blue boy. They cast spells that buff their bros and cast spells that kill yours.

• Great Bray Shaman: See above, but they're brown. They have it easier than other gor-kin because they are considered important and like spiritual leaders.

Infantry

• Ungors: The unwashed (literally) masses. They are the most common Beastmen soldier and are completely expendable making them suited to being thrown at the enemy. They also are the only ones that have the wherewithal to use bows and arrows.

• Gors: The 'meat and potatoes' of any furry army with big horns and bigger arms. They are the main units and therefore do all the heavy lifting

• Bestigors: The biggest, strongest and most violent of the gor-kin. They actually wear armour and carry bigger weapons like greataxes. Variations based on each chaos gods usually crystalize here

• Tzaangors: Tzeentch aligned gors who have some arcane augmentation, they have bird heads instead of the goat or bull heads of their peers. They can also be on discs to make them move faster as well as use spells/ bows.

• Slaangors: (Offically called Slaangor Fiendbloods) Slaanesh aligned gors with crab claws and a gangly appearance that almost makes them as tall as the Bullgors. Often covered in the opulent loot of their raids.

• Bullgors: Bullgors are large beasts with the heads of cows with a rapacious bloodgreed. They make up much of the units in a warherd See also: Minotaur.

Cavalry/Chariots

• Centigors: Centigors are essentially centaurs but they are violent and drunk all the time so they rely on other beastmen to loot booze for them in exchange for weapons or something else of value.

• Tuskgor Chariot: A chariot with a gor driving and a bestigor on it that are built by ungors that have a prophetic vision of slaughter after watching some of their enemies use them to great effect. They charge into battle pulled by two tuskgors and are built to be shock units that fuck up formations.

Monsters

• Dragon Ogors: Dragon Ogors are the top half of a ogor on the bottom half of a dragon they are a force of nature they would be more of one, if they could be arsed.

• Ghorgon: The Ghorgon is a huge pile of pure murderfuck that follows warherds and brayherds around at the behest of a bray-shaman. They are really good at tearing shit up and are known for having a really extreme case of bloodgreed.

• Cygor: A Cygor is a massive bullgor that instead of growing large off of eating his fellow gor, he munches on magic which makes them a casters worst nightmare as the Cygors one eye is particularly attuned to magic on top of nomming souls.

• Chaos Warhounds: Chaos warhounds fulfil the typical dog role that you see in most armies tying up skirmishers to be dealt with accordingly(See: Hit with an axe).

• Chaos Spawn: Chaos Spawn ..damnit-EUUUUGHDSKISMNDISJNVJUNSMKRM. Are the mutated creatures that are particularly treasured by the gavespawn who believe them to be blessed by Chaos and by extension Morghur itself.

• Cockatrice: Flying unit that petrifies those that meet its gaze and rips apart those that don't. Pretty scary in both crunch and fluff.

• Chimera: Chimeras are three headed monsters that have a lot of abilities; Fire Breath, Poison Claws and each head has its own personality (its also not listed on any army specific webstore, thanks GW).

• Jabberslythe: Jabberslythes are huge Monsters that rip their way through armies they also have acidic blood making hitting them a bad idea. The jabberslythe is also so ugly that looking at it makes you go mad.

• Razorgor: A big mutated tuskgor that looks like a massive boar they use horns and their bulging musculature to kill their enemies. Also they cant be controlled so must be lured in to battles with weaker creatures like ungors or captive humans.

• Chaos Gargant: A Chaos Gargant is a Gargant that has been corrupted by chaos. Pretty self explanatory, they tend to be more animalistic than their destruction aligned counterparts.

Gallery

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See Also

• Beastmen, their fantasy counterparts.