I designed this build appositely to fit multiple factions keeping the same unit formation, so you can pretty much keep the same playstyle even on a faction you might not know well.
 
It features a wide infantry formation, made of elite and low tier units, supported by the rest of the army, including the lord.
 
I made it with Beastmen in mind, (and I will use them as a base in this guide) then I translated it to other factions.
 
 
It features every faction in the game, enjoy!
 
 

Introduction

Welcome to my new Multi-Faction Build!
 
You are tired of playing the same meta build over and over again?
 
 
You have to play the same matchup multiple times and want a surprise pick?
 
 
You want to improve your micro?
 
 
You want to play a different faction you aren’t confident with?
 
 
You are a new player looking for an aggressive and wide build for most factions?
 
 
You have trouble breaking enemy formations?
 
 
If one of your answers is yes, this is the guide for you!
 
 
Introduction
 
 
This is a build based on swarming and surrounding the enemy lines with your whole army, disrupting the enemy key units.
 
 
I designed it appositely to fit multiple factions keeping the same unit formation, so you can pretty much keep the same playstyle even on a faction you might not know well.
 
It features a wide infantry formation, made of elite and low tier units, supported by the rest of the army, including the lord. More in the strategy section.
 
I made it with Beastmen in mind, (and I will use them as a base in this guide) then I translated it to other factions.
 
 
Featured factions: Every faction in the game.
 
 
 

Warnings

• It is NOT meant to be a meta build and it’s NOT optimal against every faction or build, but answers to many
• It can be countered if the opponent knows what’s going on
• not a balanced build, if you get countered the chances to win are pretty low
• consider it a huge bet, but this build won me many games
• Some factions perform better than others, however the non-optimal factions will be even more unexpected to your enemy
• It is a multiplayer build and follows banner rules (if something changes I will update the build)

 
 
 

Pros and Cons

Pros

 
+ Good against most defensive builds, small armies and wide cheap armies
 
 
+ If your enemy is not prepared for it, you can overwhelm him easily
 
 
+ Hard to stop, even big single entities will have a hard time
 
 
+ Great support from both lord and magic
 
 
+ Nothing you really need to protect
 
 
+ Pretty easy to understand for a beginner, very strong in the hands of a veteran
 
 
+ Destroys balanced armies
 
 

Cons

 
– Low mobility
 
 
– Can be overrun by a huge amount of cavalry or single entities even if you have some answers to it
 
 
– Very risky against blobs and melee boxes, especially Vampire Counts
 
 
– Looks easy and straightforward, but requires planning and micro to be effective
 
 
– Your only defense against kiting are your numbers, usually it is not a problem but a full flying/kiting army can be too much
 
 
– Casters can destroy your army, but you can avoid it with good positioning
 
 
– Some maps are harder than others
 
 
 

Formation

 
 

The build
 A tanky lord on foot, with many support abilities like summons or buffs, capable of boosting the infantry advance and hard to snipe
 A summoner caster (if possible) lore of beasts, can be on foot or mounted depending on the cost
 5 units of Anti-large infantry
 4 heavy infantry
 2 archers
 4+ cavalry and other mobile units like dogs

 
 
 

Strategy and roles

This is how I play this kind of army, it’s only my personal opinion and every game will be different, but this section will give a general idea of the plan behind the build.
 
 

Lord

 
– positioned near the heavy infantry in the middle
 
 
– support the frontline with his abilities
 
 
– serve as an anchor to hold a unit if needed
 
 
– deal damage to single entities (not duel)
 

 

Caster

 
– positioned behind the frontline
 
 
– the only important unit to keep safe, try to avoid combat as long as possible, but sometimes
 
fighting a low tier infantry in the frontline is safer than sitting behind infantry
 
 
– add even more pressure with summons and spells
 
summoned units have 2 roles:
 
– intercept cavalry and other mobile units
 
– snipe important targets (especially casters)
 
 

Anti-large infantry

 
– positioned in a wide formation in front of your army, they should cover the whole map and form a checkboard formation with the heavy infantry
 
 
– their job is not to kill anything, but to disrupt the enemy backlines and core units
 
avoid fighting the enemy frontline and blobbing at all costs, if you manage to do it, you pretty much won
 
 
– as you approach the opponent army, force your way behind the enemy infantry and target every archer/artillery or even single entities
 
 
– being anti-large units, your opponent will have a hard time counter-charging with monsters or cavalry
 
 
– if they get kited they are still dong their job
 
 
– if your opponent wastes resources to counter them, they did their job
 
 
– if they are engaged with enemy infantry, wait until your second wave arrives, then disengage and move on, keep an eye for this situation as you will be vulnerable to magic
 
 
– some of them will inevitably fail, that’s why you got 5
 
 

Heavy infantry

 
– second wave of your army, positioned behind the spearmen
 
 
– the core and most important unit of this build
 
 
– first objective is to kill every enemy infantry
 

 
– help the spearmen free themselves if engaged
 
 
– after the frontline is gone, support the rest of your army and focus on single entities
 
 
– they should also protect your lord and caster
 
 
– choose their targets as you approach the enemy lines, use this time to adjust positioning, if these units fail, the rest of your army will crumble
 
 

Archers

 
– positioned behind everything
 
 
– focus on killing cavalry
 
 
– their true role is being a bait, the opponent will have to decide between countering them or protecting his own units
 
 
– if your offense is good enough you don’t need to protect them
 
 
– they are your only answer to flyers
 
 
– if they stay alive, protect them in the 4/4 of the game
 
 

Cavalry and other mobility

 
– positioned in both flanks
 

 
– your horses and creatures are key units and the second most important asset in this build
 
 
– provide mass and support to the infantry
 
 
– while the rest of your army is disrupting and engaging the opponent, move them in a wide curve and hit any exposed unit from behind.
 
 
– use them to add pressure from every angle
 
 
– if the enemy player is not prepared, he’ll have a hard time reacting to everything
 
 
– microing infantry is more important in the beginning of the battle, if the micro is too much consider moving cavalry later
 
 
 

Every Faction

In the next section I will show how I translated this build to every faction. I played and tested everyone of them but feel free to change them as you like!
 
 
My objective here is to give a general plan and strategy for a fun, off-meta build that might win you a few hard matchups
 
 
About lord and caster kit: I won’t give the precise kit you have to bring, feel free to spend more or less money on them. The only mandatory things are magic and ability summons, as they are a key part of the core of this build
 
 
 

Bretonnia

 
 
Not optimal but will surprise your opponent
 
 
Still good cavalry, and they are free to play aggressively
 
 
Foot squires are not great, but the opponent usually won’t have a proper counter
 
 
Wider than other factions
 
 
You can switch the lord with Fay or others, but Repanse provides more buffs
 
 
Archers provide fire and poison
 
 
Caster can be mounted
 
 
 

Dark Elves

 
 
One of the best factions for this build, it doesn’t look optimal but won me many online games
 
 
Hellebron can turn the tides of a fight
 
 
Sisters of Slaughter are really hard to stop in melee but magic can hurt them a lot, use their fast movement speed to dodge it
 
 
Darkshards provide AP
 
 
Spearmen can hold even against stronger units if needed
 
 
Feel free to mix cold ones and dark riders
 
 
 

Beastmen

 
 
The faction that inspired this build and the most effective
 
 
Vanguard can be used in many ways but don’t deploy spearmen too far away from the Bestigors, as they have low leadership
 
 
Chaos spawn summons from your lord add even more pressure
 
 
Hounds + centigors are really effective and they can overcome stronger units even without AP
 
 
Ungors move faster than most of other infantry units
 
 
This kind of strategy is very common for beastmen, but bestigors aren’t
 
 
 

Empire

 
 
Nothing your opponent will expect
 
 
Volkmar on foot is stronger than expected, but you can also bring him on horse
 
 
Strong cavalry but no AP
 
 
Spearmen and greatswords are cheap, allowing the build to be more balanced
 
 
Feel free to mix the ranged units, they are more important than in other factions
 
 
Consider bringing the caster on a mount
 
 
 

Chaos

 
 
You have no summons, but your lord is a powerful single entity
 
 
Wider than many chaos builds
 
 
Not an uncommon tactic for this faction
 
 
You have few AP sources, cast plague of rust on key targets to compensate this
 
 
No archers, replaced by mounted marauders
 
 
Very strong cavalry + hounds can beat pretty much anything
 
 
Many tanky units, the opponent needs a lot of resources to stop everything
 
 
Great weapon marauders are not anti-large but they play the same role and provide AP
 
 
No units you’ll need to actively protect, you are free to play aggressively the whole game
 
 
 

High Elves

 
 
With some luck, Tyrion can be a one man army
 
 
Something no one would expect from this faction
 
 
More balanced than other factions, White lions are very cost effective
 
 
Eagle summons are weaker than manticores, but cheaper
 
 
Spearmen are stronger than the other factions counterparts
 
 
More freedom on the mobility, you can mix with cavalry and lions
 
 
 

Dwarfs

 
 
Perfect for the new runelord
 
 
This conversion brings to a slayer rush, but they will take the spearmen role
 
 
Slayers kill and disrupt everything, while miners (heavy infantry role) clear infantry with their blasting charges
 
 
Feel free to mix the ranged units
 
 
Gyrocopters take the cavalry role, use bombardments to help miners
 
 
A known tactic for this faction, but not very common
 
 
A little less pressure without summons and proper cavalry, but infantry is stronger
 
 
 

Wood Elves

 
 
Drycha is perfect for the role, you don’t even need magic on her as you’ll need winds for your summons
 
 
Great AP damage on most units
 
 
Multiple archers options with magic damage and poison
 
 
More risky than other builds
 
 
Many fast units,wardancers can outrun most infantry
 
 
Vanguard deployment
 
 
 

Greenskins

 
 
Grom can roam the frontline and support your infantry
 
 
No summons but you can snipe bigger units with your caster
 
 
Due to banner rules, I adapted this build in a similar way to the slayer rush,Big ‘uns take the spearmen role and the ork boys can fight enemy infantry with the multiple buffs you get
 
 
Feel free to switch different archers / cavalry
 
 
Lack of AP
 
 
There is another version of this build: with 5 goblins, 3 black orks and another strong infantry like RoR Goblins. You get more AP but no anti-large (the rest of the build doesn’t change)
 
 
 

Skaven

 
 
Rat Ogres summons from your lord
 
 
Very wide build with more infantry than others + summons from your caster, your opponent will drown in rats
 
 
Risky but is a counter to many standard Anti-Skaven builds
 
 
Limited ranged options
 
 
Great AP across the board
 
 
You can’t trust a single unit to do anything as they have low leadership
 
 
 

Tomb Kings

 
 
Lord has powerful magic and abilities, it can be mounted on a chariot
 
 
Pretty balanced, cavalry is better than most builds
 
 
Infantry is weaker than others and a bit slower
 
 
Archers and magic compensates for low AP
 
 
Not optimal but unexpected
 
 
 

Lizardmen

 
 
Many nice lord options: kroxigor ancient is the strongest but the most risky, as every anti-large unit will target him. Gor Rok is a stronger anchor and Kroq gar provides more support
 
 
Caster can be on a flying mount
 
 
Skinks have no anti-large but they move very fast,saurus warriors are very effective if supported
 
 
Pretty bad ranged options but they all come with poison
 
 
Good AP on cavalry
 
 
Not so far from a standard Lizardmen build
 
 
 

Norsca

 
 
Wulfrik is hard to take down and provides good support
 
 
No summons but more AP than other factions especially with metal magic, however the caster choice is yours depending on the match-up
 
 
Norsca is always aggressive, but heavy infantry is a rare sight
 
 
Low armor on most of the units, magic can be a serious problem
 
 
Good mobility
 
 
Archers can be either AP or anti-large, (same price) depends on the match-up
 
 
 

Vampire Coast

 
 
Count Noctilus on foot is a great anchor and provides a lot of summons
 
 
A huge and risky bet, even more than the other factions. It is not a good Coast build on paper but will hit everyone trying to outshoot or outnumber you with cheap units, the two most common tactics
 
 
Your opponent will hardly be prepared for this
 
 
Zombie pirates are too slow for disruption, so I opted for a full syreen rush, the opponent will need all of his resources to stop them while the rest of your army can deal damage
 
 
Pirates and summons will engage infantry going after the syreens and buy time
 
 
Still good AP and ranged support
 
 
Mobility will play a bigger role, bats can be used to buy some time for you to advance
 
 
Destroyed by magic damage
 
 
 

Vampire Counts

 
 
Many good lord options, but the Von Carstein is a good counter to flying units and can summon single entities with his magic, he is the best for his role
 
 
The original build i made looked like a weaker version of a standard VC build, so went for a very fast and aggressive army, something you rarely see on this faction
 
 
If you opponent doesn’t have good magic damage you virtually won the game
 
 
Not a build to trust for this faction, consider it a fun addition
 
 
A ton of mobility, mix them as you like. Bringing a mortis engine is also an option
 
 
You can switch a crypt ghoul with 5 zombies and have a 20 stack, but they will slow you down
 
 
 

Thanks!

I’ve put a lot of hours of testing on this build I’m glad to finally share it
 
 
I hope you enjoied this build, I’m having a lot of fun with it and also tried it in a tournament! (I don’t advise you to do it)
 
 
Thanks for reading this guide, if you want to support my work please give it a thumb up!
 
 
More coming soon…
 
 

 
 
Hope you enjoy the Guide about Total War: WARHAMMER II – A multi Faction build – The Wild Guide, if you think we should add extra information or forget something, please let us know via comment below, and we will do our best to fix or update as soon as possible! also you can check the original post here.