Total War: Warhammer II — Beastmen rework and Herdstones guide

Total War: Warhammer II – The basics of the Beastmen rework

Let’s talk about some of the basic mechanics for the Beastmen faction and the new rework.

The leaders of the Beastmen hordes

The Beastmen are a horde faction, which means they technically don’t go around capturing lots of settlements (though there’s a slight caveat which we’ll get to in a while). A vast majority of their buildings are constructed on a “per army” basis. The structures built within the armies of legendary lords will persist throughout the campaign. Unfortunately, those that are constructed by generic lords would be destroyed if they’re killed.

Here are the legendary lords of the Beastmen:

Unit caps and Bestial Rage

Now, you might’ve noticed a few tidbits mentioning caps. Well, unlike most factions in Total War: Warhammer II, the Beastmen don’t actually have any use for gold whether it’s to recruit units or pay for their upkeep. Instead, units are completely free, but most have limited capacity or caps. You’ll have unlimited freebies such as Ungor Spearmen Herd, Ungor Raiders, and Chaos Warhounds, but they’re relatively weak. To increase the caps of better units, you’ll have to spend Dread (we’ll get to this concept later).

You can also take a look at the image below which shows you the campaign UI for the Beastmen. You’ll see the Bestial Rage meter at the lower-left corner of the HUD. The higher its value, the better the horde’s overall growth (it allows individual lords to construct buildings and horde improvements). Bestial Rage gradually decreases, especially if armies are idle or if you lose too many troops. But, you can keep increasing this by winning battles and switching to raiding stance.

Army stances and post-battle options

Speaking of stances, the Beastmen have four:

• Beastmen Ambush – All army commanders have this stance. It provides a chance to ambush an enemy army when you initiate a battle.
• Hidden Encampment – Allows you to recruit and replenish units when in other territories. Your army also remains hidden unless you’re discovered. Khazrak has an improved version of this that significantly lowers the Bestial Rage penalties and enemy detection.
• Use Beast-Paths – Similar to the teleportation options for Dwarfs, Skaven, and Greenskins, the Beastmen can also traverse the map with ease. Malagor has a better version of this that increases his army’s movement range.
• Raiding – This lets you earn income while you’re in territories that you don’t own. Morghur has an improved version that spreads Chaos corruption and attrition. Meanwhile, Taurox the Brass Bull has a ridiculous variant. It’s basically a forced march that still lets you initiate a battle.

As for post-battle options, you’ve got the following:

• Battles:
  • Sacrifice – Gain Favor but lose Bestial Rage.
  • Kill – Increase Bestial Rage.
  • Devour – Casualty replenishment.
• Settlement captures:
  • Raise Herdstone – A mini-settlement of sorts which we’ll talk about later.
  • Raze & Advance – Gain Favor, casualty replenishment, and restore a moderate amount of movement points.
  • Loot & Raze – Gain more Favor, extra Bestial Rage, and restore a small amount of movement points.

Dark Moon events

Finally, let’s talk about the Dark Moon events which can fire every eight turns or so. These lead to a dilemma with several choices (at least four will always be available each time). Once selected, you’ll gain faction-wide effects for a couple of turns:

• When One Falls – All damaged units will be fully replenished.
• No Matter How Far – +50% campaign movement range.
• Ruinous Incentive – +10 Bestial Rage.
• Beastly Inclination – +15 melee attack and +30% weapon strength for melee infantry.
• The Cost of Skill – -50% Dread costs to increase the unit caps of Giants, Chaos Spawn, Gor Herd, and Gor Herd (Shields).
• All Must Fight – +4 horde recruitment capacity.
• Endless Herd – +120% raiding income and +5 horde growth.

All right, let’s talk about the key mechanics such as Herdstones, Bloodgrounds, and Rituals of Ruin. Head over to the next part of our Beastmen rework guide for Total War: Warhammer II.