Warhammer: Age of Sigmar WarCry Untamed Beasts Guide

Last Update: May 26, 2023 1:43 PM /

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Photo showing several miniatures sitting in front of a warcry box on a table with a white tablecloth placed on top.

If you're already familiar with Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, then you might have also heard of WarCry. This adaptation of the AoS universe turns the wargame into a skirmish game, making it much easier to understand and play without a huge amount of space available. That said, if you're into the main version of the game, wrapping your head around the way factions work could be tough. To help with that, we present our WarCry Untamed Beasts Guide.

If you enjoy this guide, consider checking out some of our other WarCry content as well. We've also written guides for the Iron Golems faction, as well as a general guide for the skirmish game itself for anyone making the transition. 


Who are the Untamed Beasts?

The Untamed Beasts are master hunters who bind themselves to the spirits of animals. They long to join Archaon on the great hunt.

The Untamed Beasts have an average toughness and a low wound count, but they make up for that with some interesting abilities, great movement, and reasonable attack numbers.

Firestorm Games

You can buy all the Warcry Products from our Tabletop Sponsor, Firestorm Games.

warcry untamed beasts 2
The Untamed Beasts have few choices for their warband composition.

Untamed Beasts Fighter Types

The Untamed Beasts have access to the following fighters:

  • Heart-Eater - Heart-Eater is a solid fighter for the Untamed Beasts. 20 wounds and 4 toughness gives them some survivability but doesn’t make them too much of a challenge to remove. They do have the highest number of wounds for the warband. They do have 5 move and 4 attacks, so they are able to dish out some damage with a good threat range. They have access to the All-Out Attack rune, which means they can make a bonus move or attack action if they take an enemy out that turn and spend a double. The Heart-Eater isn’t incredible but is useful.
  • First Fang - First Fang comes in at 15 wounds and 4 toughness. They’re pricy at 140 points, but they do have an 8-inch attack with their harpoon. So with their 4 move, can threaten 12 inches away. Their harpoon attack only has 2 attack dice, and their 1-inch melee attack has 3, but they make up for their points with their harpoon ability, which gives them a bonus attack which can be used to drag enemies off objectives, away from fights and into range of other fighters, or just off ledges. It’s an incredibly diverse and useful ability to have access to.
  • Beastspeaker - The Beastspeaker is a versatile warrior. 4 toughness and 15 wounds mean they’re as durable as the rest of the warband, but with move 5 and a 4 inch, 4 attack dice attack, they can be positioned easily to pick off or wear down an enemy fighter. 125 points mean that they’re a great investment and they have a rune ability that means they can make a bonus attack with a nearby beast by spending a double.
  • Rocktusk Prowler - The Rocktusk Prowler is 180 points, the same as the warband’s leader, but with 20 wounds, a move of 8 and 4 attack dice with 5 crit damage, they can be exceptional at charging in for a last moment kill, or simply used to deny your opponent optimum positioning with their own forces. The Rocktusk Prowler can move 16 inches with a double move. This means that it can cover the entire board in 2 turns. If it gets within 1 inch of an enemy, they either have to kill the Prowler, or use an action to disengage, making it perfect for locking down valuable enemies and also threatening large portions of the board.
  • Preytaker with Fanged Axe - The 2 Preytaker options are identical but for 1 stat. Both are 105 points, 4 move, 4 toughness, and 10 wounds, making them fairly average. Both have a 1-inch attack, with 2 normal and 4 crit damage. The Fanged Axe option has 3 attacks with 4 strength. Neither option has access to a rune beyond the standard. It’s better to spend extra points to get another Beastspeaker or First Fang, or for 5 more points, you can have 2 Plains-Runners. They are durable fighters, but nothing incredible.
  • Preytaker with Sawtooth Blade - The Sawtooth Blade option is the better of the 2 Preytaker options. 105 points for 4 move, 4 toughness, and 10 wounds. Both have a 1-inch attack, with 2 normal and 4 crit damage. The Sawtooth Blade option, however, has 4 attacks with 3 strength. Rolling more dice is always better, as a crit is always a crit and more dice means a better chance of that. Neither option has access to a rune beyond the standard. As above, taking other options is better, but they are durable, and the Sawtooth Blade is the better option of the 2.
  • Plains-Runner - Plains-Runners are fantastic. 55 points for a move of 5 and a 3 attack dice with a crit of 3. They’re not durable, they’re not amazing in combat, but they move fast and they’re cheap. They can be great for locking up enemy fighters, simply swarming objectives, or screening your other fighters.
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The Untamed Beasts are fast but lightly armored.

How to build out of the box

You can get the Untamed Beasts in their own boxed set here.

The Untamed Beasts only have a single fighter option choice out of the box, which is not just cosmetic. You are able to build both options if you want one of each, but multiple sets will be required to have access to multiple copies of the elite fighters.

The sprues let you build.

  • 1x Heart-Eater
  • 1x First Fang
  • 1x Beastspeaker
  • 1x Rocktusk Prowler
  • 1x Preytaker with Fanged Axe
  • 3x Plains-Runner
  • 1x Preytaker with Sawtooth Blade or 1x Preytaker with Fanged Axe

General Tactics

The Untamed Beasts are fast. They all have access to the Savage Fury rune ability that adds one to their move and attacks for their next move and attack that turn. They also have several abilities for bonus move and attack actions that can really be capitalized on for dominating the board. They aren't very durable, so you need to pick your battles.

Plains-Runners are fantastic for locking up enemy fighters, so they either have to eliminate them, or waste an activation disengaging. Once tied up, the Beastspeaker and First Fang can use their ranged abilities without having to move within 1 inch and locking themselves into combat.

Taking on fighters one on one isn't a great idea for the Untamed Beasts, so keep mobile, gang up on your enemies and use their momentum and the First Fang's harpoon to control the battlefield.

warcry deployment
WarCry Deployment Cards.

Deployment Tactics

For this section, we're only looking at the balanced options for each of the decks. Using all the cards is harder to predict and plan for, but great for open friendly games.

Using only the balanced deployment cards, Shield is deployed 15 times out of 18 on the table. The Untamed Beasts have some great movement, so having some of your forces come on in later rounds isn't as detrimental as other warbands. Having your core of Plains-Runners and maybe the Heart-Eater in Shield will help you get the battle started early.

Hammer appears in Round 2 onwards 10 out of 18 times and Dagger 8 of out 18 times. Having your Beastspeaker and any Rocktusk Prowlers in either of these can offer some great flanking attacks or last min objective grabbing.

The flexibility of solid movement gives the Untamed Beasts a lot of options when it comes to their deployment, and it is very dependent on the warband you are running. Having multiple First Fangs or Rocktusk Prowlers means you can spread them across their deployment.

warcry victory
WarCry Victory Cards.

Mission Tactics

Out of the 18 balanced missions, 6 are combat based, requiring removing either the leader or different deployment groups. 9 are objective-based and 3 are mixed, movement/survival-based. The Untamed Beasts can be great for swarming last min objectives or taking out individual fighters. Taking out an entire deployment group can be a challenge, as your opponent will know it's coming and will be able to shield that group. They have the maneuverability to get around, but having to battle through several other fighters to get to your targets can be problematic. Use the harpoon and Rocktusk Prowlers to put the positioning of fighters in your favor.


The copies of the WarCry products used to produce this article were provided by Goblin Gaming.

We have plenty of other Warhammer: Age of Sigmar - WarCry articles to check out

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A Potts TechRaptor
| Senior Tabletop Writer

Adam is a Tabletop Specialist for TechRaptor. He started writing for TechRaptor in 2017 and took over as Tabletop Editor in 2019 and has since stood down… More about Adam

More Info About This Game
Learn more about Warhammer Age of Sigmar
Publisher
Games Workshop
Release Date
July 1, 2015 (Calendar)