minotaurs weapon options

[Lance Tankmen]

i have been wanting to start a beastmen army, im not going to anytime soon but i have been looking at minotaurs, ive seen them only every used with extra hand weapons, personally great weapons looks beyond cooler to me, and deadly. They have the options for shields too but that one seems the most useless, seeing as how they have frenzy. so my question is if you ran minotaurs what would you use them with and why? and dont post "i wouldnt run them cause there bad". thanks

[wascloud]

Mine have great weapons. But it's mostly because it looks cool. I've never tried anything else, but they never seem to do much for me. That being said, I only have one small unit of them, and rely on my bestigor to do most of the damage.
Still, it does look exceedingly cool

[ftayl5]

Shields are silly because they don't get the parry save due to frenzy.

Great Weapons are an incredibly expensive upgrade for an already expensive unit and often won't be necessary. Generally, S5 is enough for most situations. Also if you're smart you'll be casting Wildform on your Minotaurs (mainly for the extra toughness) but this will also make them S6. If they had GW's they'd be S7/8 which is just overkill in most situations.

Extra Hand Weapon thus is the best option in my opinion but even it is lacking and I would not give it to large units. The reason is that the second rank of models can only make 3 attacks, thus right from the start they don't get this benefit. It is the best choice however and the models don't have an option for just 1 weapon so I would go with 2 hand weapons every time.

[Lance Tankmen]

guess ill go for over kill!

[Kayosiv]

I wouldn't go for great weapons if you also run bestigor. They've got strength 6 and that is enough. if you don't run Bestigor, then I can see a use for strength 7 minotaurs to be your monsters hunters. I don't think I would take both unless you expect to see a lot of chariots/knights/monsters in your opponent's lists.

[Harwammer]

I go with nothing or shields as my front rank consists of just the champion and characters when in combat. A 5+ save (or 6+ vs S4) isn't too bad on such expensive T4 models.

[-Totenkopf-]

There is nothing like a ton of str 7/8 attacks to make heavy knights and monsters cry (two things I see a lot of).. Bestigors being str 6 does not negate the option for giving them a GW because they should be going after different targets..

[Vandelan]

Shields are the way to go to keep casualties down from small arms fire, and they're cheap too. Great weapons are expensive and force you to give up initiative, making the unit more vulnerable and AHW only nets you 3 extra attacks for the same price as shields when you should be getting extra attacks from winning combat anyway.

I take shields on my minos everyday and twice on Sunday.

EDIT

That isn't to say I haven't magnetized the left hands of my minos to hold either AHW OR Shields...

[mrtn]

I go with nothing or shields as my front rank consists of just the champion and characters when in combat. A 5+ save (or 6+ vs S4) isn't too bad on such expensive T4 models.

I don't use minos currently, but if I did I'd do as Harwammer; naked or with shields.

You don't have to buy an upgrade for them.

[Harwammer]

How would you run minotaurs in a non-minobus format, mrtn?

I'm not sure if it is really worth using minotaurs in small units, but if I did it'd probably be xhws or (again) nothing. What about you?

[The bearded one]

I go with nothing or shields as my front rank consists of just the champion and characters when in combat. A 5+ save (or 6+ vs S4) isn't too bad on such expensive T4 models.

I'd do this too, actually; they will have no shortage of attacks due to frenzy stack and the second rank doesn't benefit from additional handweapons, while great weapons are a bit expensive, and overkill, while slowing down the minotaurs' strikingspeed. As they're only t4 and very expensive, I'll take any bit of save I can get! And if they get beaten in a round of combat.. at least you'll get the parry out of it.

[mrtn]

How would you run minotaurs in a non-minobus format, mrtn?

I'm not sure if it is really worth using minotaurs in small units, but if I did it'd probably be xhws or (again) nothing. What about you?

I'd think about shields or naked then as well. But then I'm mostly an armchair general, I don't get to play nearly as much as I should.
In other words I agree with The bearded one's analysis.

[Lance Tankmen]

hmmm shields or nothing makes sense, but ive never been one for that, so great weapon minos it shall be, the bane of monsters and solo armor crutching characters

[sulla]

XHW if they're on their own or nothing if they have 2 characters in the front rank. Minos without the characters are an extremely risky unit though. Soft, expensive, vulnerable to panic plus the d6 overrun leaves them vulnerable to flanking.