I’ll have to see how this plays out in my campaign but it seems like a neat way to encourage hyperspecialization in hero builds and could make for some extra replayability. The Beastmen hero skill and tech trees are interesting – many decisions there make you take a big debuff to, say, recruiting, along with any bonus. Unlike most artillery, however, it’s plenty capable of holding its own in a melee. The Cygor, one of the faction’s top-tier units, is a hulking, one-eyed giant with a goat’s head that pitches gigantic boulders like a hairy trebuchet.

Line troops don’t wear armor and will lose one-on-one against all but the weakest enemy units, so it’s important to have cavalry or skirmishing units ready to plow in from the sides (preferably out of the forest).

They prefer ambushes to pitched battles, and so far, I’ve found them very effective at rushing out-of-position enemy units and overwhelming with greater numbers. The Beastmen’s military units are focused on shock troops that can deploy in “vanguard mode,” which in Total War terms means you’re able to place them outside your usual deployment area and closer to the enemy. Like the Greenskins, though, Beastmen hordes build up a meter called “Bestial Rage” by raiding and fighting, and when this is high enough you’ll be given a “Bray Herd” AI army which will help you in battle. Like the Chaos Warriors, though, they also spread Chaos corruption wherever they go and quite enjoy burning cities to the ground. Encamped, the Beastmen are concealed from enemy players, and Beastmen hordes are immune to the “infighting” debuff that causes attrition when two Chaos hordes get too close to each other. They can’t occupy settlements, and instead carry their structures with them. Like the Chaos Warriors faction, the Beastmen operate as a nomadic horde, similar to the way the Huns could operate in Total War: Attila. The Beastmen will still show up as enemies in their campaigns, and everyone’s getting some new hero units and magic abilities added to the game.įor those who do take the plunge though, there’s a lot of meat on these bones. However, players annoyed by the high price tag aren’t getting completely left out in the cold. The DLC includes a whole new selection of units for the Beastmen, which you can play in the standard “Grand Campaign,” or in a custom story campaign called “An Eye for an Eye.”īut players are chafing a bit at the price: at $18.99 US, it’s not cheap.

The first major expansion to Total War: Warhammer is here, and it’s a whole new playable race: the savage Beastmen.

Total war beastmen units