I will be facing the new beastmen this weekend in a 2000pt battle. What are some tactics that I need to consider? I was thinking of taking two (seperate) salamanders (with extra handlers) to protect the flanks and throw an extra 10 skink skirmishers on the rear to protect against an ambush from the rear. Lore of beasts (the beast cowers) should help keep the ghorgon in check (if not dispelled). Khazrak the one eye has some evil armor that negates magic weapons in base contact. I had thought that it could be worth it to chose lore of metal just to take him out. What I have planned to take (armywise) is: Slann mage with cupped hands and blood statuette focus of mystery and higher state of consciousness Temple guard x 10 musician, standard bearer skink priest on EOTG dispell scroll and plaque of tepok dragonfly of the quick silver chameleon skinks x 10 (subject to change-I will take at least 6 of these-I like the shooty poison) Salamander x 1 with extra handler salamander x 1 with extra handler Cold one cavalry x7 with musician, standard bearer using Huanchi's blessed totem Skink chief with shield, blow pipe, and terradon (using venom of the firefly to re-roll misses) terradon x 3 3 units of 10 skinks (two for the front screen and one for the rear) Any CC is greatly appreciated.
Really, the only things in a Beastmen list that you should target with any sort of high priority is anything that looks like a minotaur. Minotaurs, Gorgons, Cygors and razorgors (not a mino... but whatever) are the big things in a Beastmen list. Jabberslythes are annoying, but they don't really do all that much at the end of the day. I would say that you should put your skinks near the front and ignore any ambushing units. If something comes from behind you, I guess you could redirect something to deal with it but really each unit only has a 1/6 chance of coming in from the back... if the opponent chooses to put something there. Since we don't really have any warmachines, your opponent is much more likely to either get a side or be able to pick and choose which side it comes in on. So the threats will be coming on from the sides (which could still be behind your units, but off to the flank). Salamanders are great because I've played a few games as a Beastlord and LD7 is not fun... not fun at all. They have no immunity to psychology other than Frenzy so if he starts lining up gor blocks, have at it. However, they don't have a lot of armor so the -3 AS won't help. Shoot for the panic checks. Your magic is much better than his... Death, shadow and Wild just aren't the same as being able to pick a lore. There's a good chance that you'll just be facing the token scroll caddy, if that. Your saurus are head and shoulders above gors. Any kind of gors actually. Chariots are about the nastiest troop choice they have. Razorgor Chariots are dangerous, but hopefully you can single those out and deal with them. I would be wary of harpies, who can fly all over the place, and GW minotaurs and beastigors. GW are about the only things that will do substantial damage to Lizardmen troops so be careful. Beastigors and Minotaurs are two units that can really snowball as they run through your lines. Poison and magic should be enough to kill at least a unit or two before combat starts since they have no armor and T4.
The chariots can hit pretty hard also, and be very wary of the Minotaur blocks. Most of the large targets can be taken out with skink shooting, so they are not that scary to deal with. Saurus do beat gors hands down, and Terradons are nice against any of the small ambushing units. I have played Beastmen a couple times, check out my battle reports if you want to see.