Overview

Sons of Behemat are basically the Imperial Knights of Age of Sigmar. A new faction of giant monsters that you can either take alongside another army as a mercenary or as a unique force consisting solely of their own models. Sons of Behemat offer a truly unique playstyle where you can push the fewest number of units possible and laugh off damage that would fell lesser creatures. At 35 wounds a pop and dishing out tons of damage, the low model count can be deceiving.

Sons of Behemat were a solid mid-tier with their premier in second. They weren’t bad, not by any means, but had to really get creative to play missions with lots of objectives. Possibly more than any other army, your opponent and mission type can decide if you win or lose making for a surprisingly tactical experience. How do they fare in 3.0? Read on.

3.0 Changes

3.0 was very kind to Sons of Behemat. Every change that occurred around them was a major buff. First, the most notable change is that everything is battleline now. Previously you were forced to take the old Gargants as battleline, which inflated both the cost of the army and didn’t contribute quite as much to the party as their big bros. What this ultimately means is that you can take 4 Megagargants, leaving a rough bid of 25-45 left for a Triumph. Going forward this is probably how you’ll play them, as having an army of all Heroes and monsters is a huge boon in your favor, and the gain from multiple smaller models really doesn’t make up for the loss.

Heroic Actions are huge since, assuming you took all Megagargants, your entire army can utilize them which gives you unparalleled flexibility. Megagargants have a ton of wounds but a pretty mediocre save and no built in ward. Spam attacks with decent rend will fell them evantually, so having a source of healing is crucial even if its minor. The other options are also always useful, with CP generation and unbinding spells always being handy. The big ticket is going to be Their Finest Hour since that’s 4 out of 5 rounds where you can be absolute hammer into enemy lines with a ton of attacks that wound on a 2+.

Monstrous Actions make a strong showing too, since everything in your list is a monster, you can potentially use all 4 actions every turn. Easy and flexible access to Stomp and Roar is crucial, as is Titantic Duel if you go up against another monster. Smash to Rubble stings a bit because what used to be “your” thing is now universal but the rest of it more than makes up for it.

Sons of Behemat also get a lot of of the new generic command abilities. All Out Attack and All Out Defense are staples of course. Feral Roar is your big ticket as it lets your gargant act as if it is on its top stat block for damage, which can make all the difference when they are at death’s door. As an army of all monsters you benefit from this more than anyone else, so abuse it!

Finally there’s a few new generic enchantments that Sons of Behemat really benefit from, which we’ll discuss in more detail in strategies. Otherwise, the tome remains much the same as it did in 2.0. The errata has been decidedly light since its release. The book seems to be in the place they want it.

The Units

With only 4 units it’s pretty easy to go down the list and examine each one and their role in the army.

Mancrusher Gargants are your little guys (well comparatively speaking). Their role was generally to take the bare minimum of three to fulfill battleline requirements and then subsequently ignore them, maybe snag an objective if you got an opening. Now that Megagargants are battleline you’ll probably see very little action from these guys. Counting as only 10  means they’re pretty easily outnumbered by a decent sized unit and they are squishy at only 12 wounds and a 5+ save with no ward. They do still see play but not nearly as much.

Each Mega fulfills a unique role. All 3 have built in abilities to make their damage better against other Monsters, making taking them down with a Monster a fools errand unless properly supported. Kraken-Eater is probably the most consistent damage dealer of the lot, with a respectable 7 attacks at full health and a 3+ to hit, he also has the ability to kick an objective away once per turn which is crucial considering how much you struggle to keep objectives to yourself. Counting as 20 models is a lot, but it’s not outside of the realm of possibility to just outnumber you by throwing enough models at you.

Warstomper has attacks that scale up to the number of models that he is engaged with, making him largely appropriate for dealing with Hordes. He does have a few tricks though, like Hurled Body which is designed mostly to dispatch smaller elite units with 4 wounds or so and his primary attack also counting Monsters as 4 for the purposes of the aforementioned scaling attack.

The final entry, Gatebreaker is pretty nasty. He gets the most attacks on his “primary” weapon of all 3 but is saddled with a 4+ to hit instead of 3+, which hurts a lot more than you’d think. If you’re able to support it, it comes with a positively nasty -3 rend and 3 damage though. His gatebreaker ability that was his namesake is no longer special, moved over to monstrous actions which makes his now far more expensive cost a bit questionable. You can still fit one in your list and I think he’s worth bringing along.

Battle Tactics

Subfactions

Your subfaction is determined by whichever Megagargant is your general. Generally speaking, the Kraken-eater’s Taker Tribe is your best all around choice solely for the Get Rid of Em’! Which makes your Gargants count as 15 models (instead of 10) and your Megas as 30 models (instead of 20)! 30 models is pretty difficult to over crowd. It also has a crucial trait to exploit, Very Acquisitive which gives you an extra artefact. We’ll get to that in a minute.

Breaker Tribe isnt a bad second place choice because it basically gives you a list of different enemy types and gives you reroll 1s against it. Since Sons of Behemat lack many ways to buff their stats, adding rerolls to the mix can really improve their chances against certain lists. Generally Taker is still preferrable but you can make something out of Breaker.

Artefacts

The new generic enhancements benefit Sons of Behemat in 2 notable ways. The first is the Amulet of Destiny. You will want to take this every game as your first artefact. A 5+ ward is good for anyone but it is obscene on a model with 35 wounds. Functionally, a 5+ ward is 50% more wounds, on average. Sometimes the dice might roll badly and sometimes they’ll roll hot but in aggregate you’ll have a model with 52 wounds! Gross!

If you took Very Acquisitive as the Taker Tribe you can get a second relic. The Glowy Lantern became a lot better in 3.0 and has a two part boon. The first is that Mystic Shield is worth casting on somebody every turn, +1 goes a long way on your guys not so great saves. The second boon is here is much more controversial, as there’s some debate if this next part is even allowed, so check with your TO. The generic spell Flaming Weapon increases damage for the user, which is great on Warrior-Wizards. There’s some debate here if becoming a Wizard after picking a artefact still lets you pick a spell but the general consensus is that you can. Just check with your TOs and don’t be upset if they say no, having Mystic Shield and an unbind per turn is still really good.

Strategy

As stated before, more than any other army you’re going to be very much at the whim of your matchup. If its a match with 4 or fewer objectives, you’re going to have an advantage as you can simply camp the objective and it will be hard for an opponent to overwhelm you. Even if they’re a horde list, your base is so large they simply wont be able to fit a ton of models on it to outpace your 20 (or 30!)

Where you will struggle is missions with a lot of objectives, like Power in Numbers or Feral Foray which force you to push up while defending your backline. Unlike your theoretical opponent you won’t have the forces to hold the back line which means leaving your objectives open to being taken by their cavalry.

Missions that require a lot of back and forth movement like Veins of Ghur and Tectonic Interference can also be a struggle, as you can’t always cover all the objectives (especially if one of your guys goes down). Your opponent meanwhile will likely be able to move a lot faster than you, darting back and forth with infantry and cavalry. Your 12″ movement isn’t bad but Longshanks doesn’t quite work as it should and while it lets you step over an enemy unit in theory you won’t always get the clearance to walk over them and end 3″ away from them. This ultimately means you are very easy to bog down. This applies to any mission but particularly to these mission modes.

Spreading out isn’t always wise. While it might give you more board coverage it gives your opponent an easy opening to pick them off with a strong push. Gargants are tough but they are not invincible. Don’t let yourself get cocky. Unless it has the Amulet of Destiny, Mystic Shield and All-out Defense. That might do it.

List Building

Allegiance: Sons of Behemat
- Tribe: Taker Tribe
- Grand Strategy: Beast Master
- Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders
Kraken-eater Mega-Gargant (490)
- General
- Command Trait: Very Acquisitive
- Artefact: Amulet of Destiny (Universal Artefact)


Battleline
Gatebreaker Mega-Gargant (525)
Warstomper Mega-Gargant (470)
Kraken-eater Mega-Gargant (490)
- Artefact: Glowy Lantern

Total: 1975 / 2000
Reinforced Units: 0 / 4
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 140

This is the skeleton of much of your lists. You can swap out the Gargants you bring, 2 Warstompers and 2 Kraken-Eater is popular for more horde control for example. If you want to swap in some mini gargants for your battleline thats ok too! The skeleton doesn’t change too much as you don’t qualify for many battalions. 3 Mancrushers can qualify for Hunters of the Heartland and you can fit a Battle Regiment in if you brought some Mancrushers but ultimately it’s probably not worth the hassle to make it work. 4 drops is pretty low and no matter how hard you try you won’t beat drops on a list built around Battle Regiments anyway.

The command trait and artefact choices have been explained above, and the 25 points left over can be used on a Burning Skull if you wish, or you can hope for that triumph. It ultimately doesn’t matter all that much as playstyle isn’t going to wildly change. It’s all personal preference. Get up there’s and crack some skulls.

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