Beasts unit, tips and ideal composition

Hi guys, just invested in my first beasts unit (on the cheap!) got a box of hellions online, a box of chaos hounds and two razorwing flocks + clawed fiend too.
I ran them out in a fun game against my tau friend @ 2k (got the win!!) and they did ok, so i was just wondering if the more seasoned players on here had any tips or go-to builds for them?
i ran:
x3 beastmasters
-5 kymeara (ran out of glue half way through the box!)
-clawed fiend
-2 razorwing

they killed x2 12 man firewarrior squads + drones and gained me the relic, winning me the game, needless to say, i was impressed by the speed!
question though, if beasts are not slowed by terrain, why did GW give them move through cover? it seems a tad redundant or have i missed something?
cheers!

Move Through Cover also means you don't have to make Dangerous Terrain tests (or you automatically pass them anyway). Not being slowed by cover wouldn't normally cover things like Dangerous terrain, so having Move Through Cover covers that.


Personally, I like to field full Beast units when I can:
5x Beastmaster
1x Clawed Fiend
4x Razorwings
10x Khymerae

I find this is about the best configuration, giving me five big monsters to hack things up, and ten lovely Khymerae to act as the shield wall.

My default 'value' build is 3 Beastmasters, 5 Doggies, and 4 Birds which is super affordable and still a unit quite capable of dealing with most things in assault.

With new allocation rules I've started to half come around to the Clawed Fiend, running one of them can potentially be pretty good nowadays.

I would say my personal trick with running them is to always keep a couple of Beastmasters in the front to absorb incoming fire, and then to keep some birds and dogs equidistant near them, that way I can select who tries to 'look out sir' from the Beastmasters. If I whiff it, dead Beastmaster and no big loss, if I make it then I get to allocate smartly. The Clawed Fiend can work well in that combo as well, as to a certain extent he wants to absorb some hits, preferably a few big ones.

I used to always use the default value build that Thor mentioned in 5th and early 6th ed. However lately i'm noticing a significant increase in firepower coming my way especially of the strength 6+ variety (thanku very much mr tau and eldar) which IDs razorwings. I also need a bit more resilience to get where im going.

To this end ive started running more khymera and fewer flocks.
3 BMs 8-10 khymera and 2 razorwings has served me well in many a game.

Quick tip... gristly trophies on a nearby skimmer or 2 is a cheap investment that can prevent them from fleeing off the table if you don't go first and you enemy targets them heavily 1st turn. My opponents know how fast and deadly they are so they usually draw fire early.

Ive seen a few lists lately that run 15-20 kymera, no flocks led by a jetseer with shard and people swear by them.

Of course.....the Clawed Fiends wil be majority T3 but when it comes to making his saves hes T5 and won't ID against S6+

Maybe good for Overwatch absorption

I use Baron, 4 Beastmasters, 8 Khymerae and 4 Razorwing Flocks, joined by an allied Farseer on Jetbike with the Shard of Anaris and that unit has never let me down. It's big, can absorb ridiculous amounts of firepower (especially if the Farseer gets Fortune), lethal in close combat, has disposable Beastmasters to take care of any pesky challenges, can Hit & Run and is Fearless. It starts to get pretty expensive at that sort of size but it's worth every point in my humble opinion.

I go big and bold. 5 Beastmasters, 15 Khymerae, 4 Razorwing Flocks backed up by the Baron and an allied Farseer on bike with the Shard. Literally as what Count states above but takes more punishment and has more staying power; I have no issues with the footprint.

The footprint actually proved very useful to me in one game where I was castling to avoid a drop pod onslaught. I was able to spread the beast pack around to fill up gaps between vehicles and create a very large area in which it was impossible to land a drop pod.

I'd probably also go larger than my current pack if points allowed but I generally play 1500 so it's a bit tricky.

Baron
Farseer w/shard on jetbike
4 masters
20 Khymerae.

NO FLOCKS. With the surplus of str 6+ no cover save shots, dogs are better in every aspect.
This unit wins games hands down, and dont be afraid to charge ANYTHING as you are fearless and can hit and run at your leisure.

Again, NO BIRDS. But, that is just my humble opinion.

Count Adhemar wrote:

The footprint actually proved very useful to me in one game where I was castling to avoid a drop pod onslaught.

Agreed. Do it all the time, and nothing is better than circling a rhino filled with death guard, and they all die because they cant be placed. I cant tell you how many people get the "emergency disembark" wrong... they are still thinking of last edition.

Any suggestions for an optimum smaller beasts unit (I play 1500pts) to take on MEQ? I'm going to guess 3 Masters, 5 Kymera and 3 Razorwings...

Just wrote up a bat rep HERE @ 1250 with 4 beastmasters, 10 khymerae and 4 flocks. Wiped out their primary target and worth every penny.

Dangerous beans, in my recent experience I'd maybe consider swapping that 3rd razor wing for an extra couple khymerae if you're able. The invulns are useful as once the dogs are gone the flocks are in trouble from shooting attacks. I wouldn't go all dogs as skulnbonz does but more dogs than flocks is definitely the way to be.

Laughingcarp wrote:

The invulns are useful as once the dogs are gone the flocks are in trouble from shooting attacks.

You can say this. But at the same time you can also say 'once the flocks are gone the dogs are in trouble from shooting attacks' and have it be equally true.

It all depends on what is doing the shooting.

Yeah I always wondered how best to do that what with the nearest model being shot being the one that dies (I'm still learning 6th ed so forgive me if I'm out on that statement!), I suppose its just about trying to plan ahead and predict what units your opponent will use to target them.

Can't wait to give them a shot however, always stayed away from trying the unit due to model costs. Think I'll give with alternate plastics to count as them; chaos hounds with mods, screamers for razorwings and something big for a clawed fiend.

I usually run Beastmasters in front with flocks and dogs equidistant from them, so that I can dictate the flow of the wounds.

Truth, Thor. I was as unspecific and undefiled as possible in that post. If you have the time, I'd appreciate you taking a look at my bat rep and putting in your thoughts on how I played the beasts?

As for the shooting, if you know you aren't in danger from S6+ weapons then maybe cycling the flocks out front to spread the wounds around is the best way to run it. It's just difficult, at my level of experience, to dictate enough of the flow of the game and LoS to enable you to safely say they wont be taking S6 to the face.

I run 5 Masters, Clawed Fiend, x5 Khymera, x6 Flock. I use 4 Masters to absorb the first shots and LOS to the Fiend when possible. I feel 5 Khymera are enough to absorb str. 6+ and with so many Flocks, the squad does a lot of damage. The Fiend is a life saver and absorbs Riptides very well since the large blast isn't Barrage. He protects the squad well and allows me to reliably pop mech in CC if need be because he Str. 5.

With the rest of my army, people really have to decide if they want to shoot their big guns at the Beasts (which should be hard because I am usually in CC) or shoot things like a Wraithknight, Serpents, or the mech on the field.

Laughingcarp wrote:

If you have the time, I'd appreciate you taking a look at my bat rep and putting in your thoughts on how I played the beasts?

Sure, I'll do that sometime tomorrow.

I'm starting to beleive there is no right composition to the beasts. It depends so much what you want it to do. Resecently I've used 9 khyms and 2 birds with baron and two jetseers. It works quite well keeping those seers alive until lategame but doesn't do enough. Next revision is to add 2 more flocks to frigthen MC:s and 2+ guys. When spending this many points to beast star Shard becomes a must (or another fearless source).

I can see the benefits of a single clawedfiend to catch those S6+ shots but wouldn't 3 khymeras do the trick as you don't ever get the benefit of T5 majority and FNP for them is not easy to get.

Character or IC in front and khymera and Razorwing flock equal distant from it is a valid tactic.

BTW yeasterday my opponent failed his LOS! with baron and his rerollable 2++. Still lost the game to Terrify that got through my fortuned seers and a enemy WK stomping one flock to get combat resolution.