The bread and butter of the Chaos Chosen team, Beastman Runner Linemen, or just Beastmen as we’ll refer to them from now on to save our word count from hitting astronomical levels, are your more flexible players compared to the big guys and Blockers.

While noted as “linemen” they don’t really fill that role, as they’re not cheap enough to use as fodder, come with no defensive skills and average armour makes them a poor choice compared to the much, much beefier Blockers. Instead, these guys fill the gaps left by your 5 bashy players by taking on blitzing, ball-carrying and other utility roles.

At 60k each they’re pretty decent value for their average statline, you’re paying 10k more vs a Human Linemen for additional Strength and Mutations access and the Horns skill. They need these though to cover the roles they’re required to do and you’ll often find yourself with 6-7 Beastmen to choose from plus and subs you take.

Build List:

• Random Skills
• Ball Carrier
• Killer Blitzer
• General Utility
• Fouler
• Passer/Catcher

Beastman Runner Linemen Base Stats:

Randomised Skills:

Honestly, you probably could! General is definitely the category to choose from here and depending on what you roll, you can lean into that skillset. Get Block, well he’s your Blitzer. Wrestle? Now a Ball Hawk! Sure Hands, huzzah a ball carrier!

It’s pretty hard to go wrong there, the only dud really is Shadowing and at 60k, that’s easy to replace. Frenzy might get you into some trouble, but gives you a surfing threat. Dauntless isn’t great value when you have the Warriors but useful if they’re tied up and will make your Dauntless rolls vs ST5 and higher easier (as it happens before the Dauntless roll).

Everything else is pretty solid and gives you a cheap starting point for most of the following builds.

Ball Carrier | Beastman Runner Linemen Build

Primaries: Sure Hands/Block, Extra Arms, Fend, Big Hand
Secondaries: Dodge, Side Step, Sure Feet, On the Ball
Characteristics: ST, AG, MV

You’ll want at least one of these Beastmen players, as Chaos do struggle when it comes to moving the ball around. Your first skill ideally is either Block or Sure Hands and there’s an argument to be made for either, although you’ll definitely want both.

Block gives you some added utility throughout the game, but Sure Hands will give you that safety net when picking up the ball. As your team starts with no re-roll skills or block anyway, your Team re-rolls are pretty valuable so personally I’d grab Sure Hands first out of the two, so you’re not burning precious resources trying to pick up the ball.

After that, Extra Arms means you’ll be picking up on a 2+, so you’re hitting that 97% success rate which is lovely. It gives you some passing options too and there’s an argument to be made on taking Monstrous Mouth on a 2nd Extra Arms Beastmen, so you can Quick Pass/Hand Off the ball in a pinch.

Fend is a staple on ball carriers, making giving you some space if you get hit, then Big Hand means you can recover the ball should it fall loose into some tackle zones and ignores Weather Storm too, very…handy!

For Secondaries, Dodge makes you harder to put down and dodging away on a 3+ isn’t awful. Side Step is nice if you’re running down the sides but Fend is probably better overall. Sure Feet again gives you some more in-built re-rolls and additional movement range, then On the Ball gives you your out-of-turn movement shenanigans.

For characteristics, all of them are pretty good, depending on your roll, I’d prioritise Strength, then Agility, then Movement.

Carrier Attacker | Beastman Runner Linemen Build

Primaries: Wrestle, Tackle, Strip Ball, Two Heads, Frenzy
Secondaries: Dodge, Side Step
Characteristics: ST, AG, MV

Simple enough, you take Wrestle and Tackle to hit those pesky ball carriers daring to try and put the ball in your touchdown zone (how very dare they!). Strip Ball is nice early on too but becomes less effective when you start seeing lots of Sure Hands come about.

The advantage these guys have over other ball hawks is Two Heads, giving you easier dodges to reach the carriers or to cheekily negate one tackle zone if trying to cage dive or make a last-ditch run through some players. If you manage to get an AG+, this means you go through a single tackle zone on a 2+ then two tackle zones on a 3+, very nice indeed!

Horns really comes into it’s own here, most carriers are strength 3, so assuming you’ve prevented enemy assists, you’ll be hitting them with 2 die blocks, usually knocking them down with your Wrestle/Tackle combo. You could nab Frenzy as well for a second go too!

General Beast | Beastman Runner Linemen Build

Primaries: Block, Mighty Blow, Tackle, Guard, Kick
Secondaries:Dodge, Side Step,
Characteristics: ST, AG, MV

Sometimes you just need a do-er on your team. You’ll want a few of these to just generally hit and mark things. Block and MB give them some decent removal potential, which works well with Tackle to take down Dodgers and make their lives generally harder. Guard gives you a mobile assist unit too, your Blockers as mentioned before won’t be moving around the field a lot, so having a MV6 Guard piece to slot in wherever they’re needed is nice to have,

You could nab Kick as well and you probably should have at least one player with this. If you manage to randomly roll Kick then follow it up with the above for a good all-rounder.

Ref? What Ref?| Beastman Runner Linemen Build

Primaries: Dirty Player, Pile Driver
Secondaries: Sneaky Git
Characteristics: ST, AG, MV

Fouling seems to be a bigger thing in 2020 compared to other rulesets, due to the ability to tell the ref to get lost and ClawPOMB being sent to a farm upstate. I think these guys are just…. just cheap enough that you could have room for one of these guys. To put it simply, Dirty Player for that sweet +1 and then Pile Driver for a free action should you knock someone down naturally.

They’re not gonna get a ton of SPP outside MVPs so while you could get the Sneaky Git combo it will take a while and I don’t see these guys lasting too long, at least if you opponent has anything to say.

Elf in Disguise | Beastman Runner Linemen Build

Primaries: Sure Hands, Extra Arms
Secondaries: Pass, Accurate, On the Ball
Characteristics: AG, MV

Yes ok, passing isn’t at it’s best in BB2020 and Chaos Chosen aren’t exactly known for it, but a couple of mutations CAN help and these guys do have Passing access in their secondaries. Sadly the days of giving these guys Strong Arm are long gone as it only applies to TTMs now, but there’s potential still.

You’ll need some SPP to get this going, unlike BB2 you can’t just roll the passing skills so this build will take some commitment and a few MVPs. I’d get Pass as early as you can to keep the SPP cost down, once you have that, Extra Arms gives you your +1 and you’ll be able to farm SPP from there onwards.

If you want to pair it with a Catcher, simply choose Monstrous Mouth instead of Sure Hands, ditch the passing skills and add Block along with Extra Arms.

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There’s a massive range of ways to build your Beastman, the options are pretty limitless if you’ve got the SPP for it. A good range of builds is necessary for this team to succed, but I think at least one ball carrier along with some killers and ball attackers should make up your core. Followed by a couple of general utility players and maybe a fouler if you’ve got the bench for it. Or pick the passing builds if you feel like cosplaying as an Elf but still fancy that Chaos aesthetic.

That’s it for the Beastman Runner Linemen build! Check out our guides for Chaos Chosen Blockers, Chaos Ogre, Chaos Troll and Chaos Minotaur.