Beast 09
![]() |
Beast 09 |
Prime This model is available in two Prime Armies, Armored Koprs and 5th Division. It can also be used in the Unlimited game mode. You can view the other Mk3 models that made it into a Legacy Army at this page. Note that the rest of this page is about the model's Mark III rules. |
Originally known simply by the designation "09" by its master Sorscha, based on its allocation to her, the 'jack nevertheless gained her respect over the years proving to be a ferocious fighter. It still bears the designation 09 to this day despite having outlasted all those that came before it and many that came after it. Sorscha named the Juggernaut Beast after its timely arrival and mighty axe swings saved her life in the Llael campaign. After the invasion was complete Sorscha ordered Beast 09 to be fitted with parts from a wrecked Kodiak and be issued with an improved ice axe known as Ice Breaker. Beast 09 has picked up Sorscha's inherent ruthlessness and takes some enjoyment from each kill. Blows striking its armored hull only serve to drive it toward murder. Sorscha has found Beast 09 to be an invaluable tool, especially when outnumbered, as he always evens the odds.
Contents
Basic Info
Beast 09 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Warjack - All warjacks share the same set of special rules. Most notably being big and stompy. Click here for a newbie-friendly recap, or click here for the full rules.
Abilities
-
Construct
-
Immunity: Cold
- Bond [ Sorscha ] - If this model begins the game in Sorscha's battlegroup, it is bonded to them. This model is not considered to be bonded while under your opponent's control. While this model is bonded to Sorscha and in their control range, it gains Shield Guard. (Shield Guard - When a friendly model is directly hit by a non-spray ranged attack during your opponent's turn while within 3" of a model with Shield Guard, you can choose to have the model with Shield Guard directly hit instead. It is automatically hit and suffers all damage and effects. A model can use Shield Guard only once per round and cannot use Shield Guard if it is incorporeal, knocked down, or stationary. The Shield Guard special rule can only trigger once per attack roll.)
- Hyper-Aggressive - When this model suffers damage from an enemy attack at any time except while it is advancing, after the attack is resolved it can immediately make a full advance directly toward the attacking model.
- Murderous - This model gains an additional die on melee attack rolls against warrior models.
Weapons
Open Fist | |||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() |
RNG | POW | P+S | LOCATION | |||||||||||
1 | 3 | 15 | Left | ||||||||||||
Ice Breaker | |||||||||||||||
![]() |
RNG | POW | P+S | LOCATION | |||||||||||
2 | 7 | 19 | Right | ||||||||||||
|
Theme Forces
- When taken by Sorscha1, Sorscha2, or Sorscha3
- Armored Korps
-
Flame in the Darkness - Jaws of the Wolf. Beast 09 gains Pathfinder in this theme.
- Legion of Steel
-
Warriors of the Old Faith - Winter Guard Kommand
- Wolves of Winter
- When taken by Sorscha0
- Jaws of the Wolf. Beast 09 gains Pathfinder in this theme.
- Winter Guard Kommand
- Infernal players can take Sorscha0 & Beast in the Hearts of Darkness theme, but only if Malakov2 is leading the army. Beast gains Accumulator [Soulless] in this theme.
- When taken by anyone else
Thoughts on Beast 09
Beast 09 in a Nutshell
Much like the Juggernaut of which it is an "evolved" from, Beast-09 is a beatstick heavy melee jack. Unlike the Juggy, Beast has 1" farther reach, excels at killing swarms of infantry thanks to Thresher and Murderous, helps alleviate its slow speed with Hyper-Aggressive, and is a Shield Guard model when controlled by any version of Sorscha. However, it does require careful positioning the turn before to get use out of any of that. Its high MAT and Murderous ability also make it particularly deadly to enemy casters, if one is foolish enough to get within range (or when combined with the right range extenders).
In a straight comparison to the Juggernaut:
- +3 points cost
- Dies just as easily as a Juggernaut, and the weapons don't hit any harder.
- The axe reaches further, has +1 MAT, +d6 to hit vs warriors, and has the Thresher attack.
- Immunity: Cold, Hyper-Aggressive, and sometimes Shield Guard.
A lot of its value comes from the fact that everything is its preferred target - its just as happy destroying heavy jacks/beasts as it is masses of infantry. However, it's an expensive upgrade that demands that you be selective about where you send it. Let cheaper models take charges so Beast can follow up and be the offensive piece it needs to be. If you're not careful and use it just as a Juggernaut with 1" farther reach, you could very easily trade down.
Combos & Synergies
With Sorscha
As a Bonded warjack it can be taken in any theme and gains Shield Guard with Sorscha, which is an excellent ability to accompany the often fragile ice queen 'caster and force Hyper-Aggressive moves where the opponent really doesn't want them. It is essentially the big daddy to Sorscha's little sister.
- Sorscha0: Shield Guard on a Large base is absolutely perfect for protecting a squishy solo from ranged assassinations, Fog of War offers some protection and Boundless Charge is excellent on Beast as ever. She has just enough focus to load Beast up for a frenzy and will continue to help her Winter Guard comrades even after Beast has done its job and retired for the day. Aside from Sorscha, Beast can also protect her warcaster, which casters like Butcher3 or Karchev & Deathjack will love. In a pinch they can also take over beast if Sorscha dies before Beast does. DJ K's kit is pretty awesome with it.
- Sorscha1: Sorscha's rapid pace fits well with Beast's movement abilities which she can further augment with Boundless Charge, she enjoys Shield Guard quite a bit and if Beast happens to freeze something she can Shatter it even outside of the feat turn.
- Sorscha2: Her feat is an amazing damage multiplier on a high-damage 'jack like Beast, she still has Shatter and can now use Freezer to keep frozen models frozen for longer and Boundless Charge lets Beast continue to keep pace with her.
- Sorscha3: Beast is an excellent Flanker, might just be the quintessential Stoke the Fires target and the Cold Immunity lets you use cold tricks on or near it without hesitation, including targeting it with Winter's Wrath to easily freeze enemies surrounding it. It protects her with Shield Guard, she protects it with Storm's Embrace and her feat.
With Other Casters
When not on Sorscha, Beast-09 is limited to the Winter Guard Kommand theme, but there are still plenty of opportunities to capitalize on its strengths with more traditional jack casters. Beast especially appreciates a buff to its threat range on top of Sorscha0's Boundless Charge. A combat heavy with a 13" threat range is quite good.
- Vladimir1: His feat plus Boundless Charge can catapult Beast-09 14", deep into enemy lines. Even just the threat of doing so can be trouble for the opponent, since there's almost nothing that isn't prey to Beast.
- Karchev2: With a similar feat as Vlad1, plus Death Ward and Locked Horns for extra survivability, this premium jack caster is unsurprisingly an excellent controller for this premium jack. You can even bring Sorscha0 along for Boundless Charge, but give her a more disposable jack while Karchev keeps Beast all to himself, or give Beast to her to have a very durable Shield Guard, and take over Beast if Sorscha dies.
- Strakhov1: With his feat, Superiority, a triggered Overrun move, and a Boundless Charge from Sorscha0, Beast-09 can reach a ludicrous 23" melee threat! And when fully loaded with Focus at MAT8 Murderous and POW19, he's almost guaranteed to kill an enemy caster when he gets there. Even if you can't quite get there, this potent assassination threat can help limit your opponent's options.
- Kozlov1: Kozlov loves a jack with 2" melee reach to help trigger his Field Marshal: Gang Fighter, and Beast is actually 1pt cheaper than the only non-character option (Spriggan).
- Zerkova1: Beast-09 is an excellent Watcher target: with excellent MAT, Murderous, and Critical Freeze, he can shut down an assassination attempt immediately, or even just punish careless positioning on your opponent's part.
- Butcher1 - Full Throttle gives the beast a free charge and boosted Thresher attacks, meaning it rolls 4 dice against warrior models and still 3 against non-warriors. On feat turn you can even have boosted damage rolls as well. Vengeful is a great spell on Beast, to make it so the enemy cannot engage it safely in melee or at range.
- Butcher3- Beast loves Energizer. Alternatively, you could run him under Sorscha0 to give Butcher a Shield Guard.
- Irusk1 - Superiority is an amazing buff for Beast, especially the MAT buff which, with Murderous, means its swings are near inescapable.
- Irusk2 - Beast loves Energizer. Alternatively, you could run him under Sorscha0 to give Irusk a Shield Guard.
Other Models
Beast-09 is a pretty straight-forward melee jack that generally kills whatever it touches, so there's not a ton in the way of synergies outside its battlegroup. That said, the standard jack support applies:
- Battle Mechaniks - While typically hard to reach, Beast-09 can be Repaired.
- Greylord Forge Seer - He cannot 'Jack Marshal Beast unless you're playing out-of-theme, because the only time the two of them are in the same theme is when Sorcha is the boss of Beast. That said he can buff Beast:
- He can give Beast a focus and clear Disruption via Empower.
- He can give Beast Freezer, which puts opponents in a double bind. They can make melee attacks vs Beast, but suffer stationary at the end of their activation; or they can shoot Beast and trigger his Hyper-Aggrressive.
- Beast gains Flank [Man-o-War] while controlled by Sorscha3 and the Forge Seer is a Man-o-War model.
- Colbie Sterling/Gobber Tinker/Raluk Moorclaw/Widget1/Tubbin: These five are Mechanikally Adept, meaning they can Repair Khador models.
Drawbacks & Downsides
- Typical for Khadoran warjacks, it has low native SPD and DEF.
- It lacks native Pathfinder.
- It's an expensive warjack lacking additional defenses.
- If it can't reach melee it can't do much.
- You don't get to choose your facing after triggering Hyper-Aggressive.
- Despite the benefits it get from its bond, none of the Sorscha care all that much for Beast:
- Sorscha0 can be sniped rather easily and losing control of a 16 pt jack can be detrimental, so she often just takes a Rager or Marauder.
- Sorscha1 like ranged jacks more to pop-n-drop enemies after her feat.
- Same with Sorscha2.
- Sorscha3 needs to take thee jacks at minimum with lost of initials to make the most of her Field Marshal, so Beast's price tag become a cause for concern.
Tricks & Tips
- Beast-09 appreciates any SPD buff it can lay its axe on (Boundless Charge, Stoke the Fires, etc.).
- Beast has one of the rare 2" melee weapons available to Khador warjacks, making it ideal to threaten free strikes. Add in the extra attack die from Murderous, and the Critical Freeze effect with an effective MAT 10 and you can see why warrior models will almost never risk free strikes from the Beast.
- You can trigger Hyper-Aggressive multiple times throughout your turn.
- Hyper-Aggressive is not mandatory! Don't advance Beast-09 if it will put it in a bad position or open it up to more attacks.
- Shield Guard is a great way to trigger Hyper-Aggressive.
- Murderous works on your power attacks too - if you cannot find a good spot for Thresher, feel free to trample around with 3d6 on the attack rolls.
- You can use Thresher for charge attacks, but only the charge target has its damage boosted from the charge.
Other
Trivia
- Released in Warmachine: Legends (2008).
- Beast is one of the few remaining warjacks that doesn't have a plastic/resin (re)sculpt.
- When he was spoiled in mk1, the image filename was "Mammoth.jpg". If you translate the runes on his cowl, it spells Mammoth. Obviously the name "Beast-09" was a last minute change.
Other Khador models
Rules Clarifications
![]() |
Rules Clarification : Open Fist (aka, Power Attack Throw) (Edit)
|
![]() |
Rules Clarification : Freeze (Edit)
|
![]() |
Rules Clarification : Thresher (Edit)
Some have Infernal Rulings that pertain only to themselves, but the clarifications below are applicable to all of these abilities: [Show/Hide]
|
![]() |
Rules Clarification : Warjack (Edit)
Inert warjacks
|
Rules Clarification : Construct - None yet. (Edit)
Rules Clarification : Cold - None yet. (Edit)
![]() |
Rules Clarification : Bond (Edit)
|
![]() |
Rules Clarification : Shield Guard and/or Shadow Guardian (Edit)
|
![]() |
Rules Clarification : Hyper-Aggressive (Edit)
|