Nomadic tribes of monstrous ogors, the Beastclaw Raiders are harbingers of dark months and dead seasons. When the sun hides its face in fear and the winter winds sweep down from the sky, mortals pray to their gods for salvation --for these are the times of frost and snow, when the ravenous horde stalks the freezing darkness.
Ever hungry, the Beastclaw Raiders pillage the land atop lumbering behemoths, crushing and devouring everything their path. Slate-grey snowfall and howling gale accompany them, and nothing remains in their wake but a wasteland of cracked ice and frozen bones. They do not fight for land, empire, or the glory of the gods, but care only about their next meal.
Beastclaw Ogors are looming mountains of hunger and ill-temper standing twice as tall as a man and covered in thick slabs of muscle; even the least of them is more than a match for half a dozen Freeguild swordsmen, Greenskinz orruks or Bloodbound warriors and such is their strength that, with a single meaty hand, an ogor can crush an orruk’s skull or throttle the life from a Dracoth. Immensely resilient, they have little need for armor. Their corpulent bulk is more than enough protection.
The wandering armies of the Beastclaw Raiders are known as Alfrostuns and are led by the oldest and most powerful member of the tribe, the Frostlord. Cunning hunter chieftains, Frostlords stalk their prey across the Mortal Realms with hulking Mournfangs, mammoth Stonehorns, and frost-wreathed Thundertusks under their command. In the wake of such monsters other creatures appear, drawn to the Alfrostun by supernatural cold and the promise of prey -- snarling Frost Sabres and the savage Icefall Yhetees.
But for all the size and strength of the Ogors and their beasts they must always stay on the move, for at their backs blow the winds of winter, sorcerous blizzards that ravage all those who do not escape in time. Known to the Ogors as the Everwinter, they go by many other names across the Realms: the Wyrdwind Storms, the Breath of Gorkamorka, and the Frostfreyr March to name but a few. The Alfrostuns hunt at the edge of the storm, taking advantage of its first gusts but never lingering long enough to be caught up in its full brutality. [1]
History
The origins of the Beastclaw Raiders are hidden in the half-remembered legends of the Age of Myth. Theirs is a tale of hunger and greed, one of the retribution of pitiless gods and the spectre of a never-ending winter that stalks them endlessly like a shadow of frost and snow.
Hunger and the Everwinter ensure that Beastclaw Raiders never stay put for long. The ogors ravage the regions they cross, taking as much food as they can before the land is covered in ice. The Alfrostuns are destined to forever seek new prey, and the fate of their victims to be mercilessly devoured. But it was not always so.
In ancient days, the Ogors served as skilled hunters and trackers in Grokamorka's armies. Many stories tell of the Beastclaws riding into battle before the God's assembled hosts -- at the Riftwyrd Crossing they were the first to storm the rampart-bridges; mournfang riders broke the duardin artillery while thundertusks and stonehorns shattered the Stormiron gateways that barred the path to the Silver Vales; and in the midst of the Spiritstorm Downpour, a pack of Beatclaw hunters brought down the necrofuge sails of the Deathsong Queen. For an Age, they were the favored warriors of Gorkamorka...but it was not to last.
How the Beastclaw Raiders fell from grace is not known. Some say it was Baergut Vosjarl, the first of the Frostlords, that brought the curse of the Everwinter upon the ogors. Other claim Sigmar or Nagash are to blame. Each Alfrostun has a different tale, but all accept their fate. It is their place to wander ahead of the Everwinter.
Known Alfrostuns
Sovanheng Alfrostun -- Also known as the Fists of Winter, the Sovanheng Alfrostun is led by the Frostlord Vorgrun Loshar. A veteran of the long war between Nurgle and the sylvaneth in the Realm of Life, Loshar has earned a reputation as a shameless mercenary, fighting for both sides -- sometimes over the course of the same battle. In truth, Loshar does not care about the fate of Ghyran and fights for whoever is willing to give him the most meat.
Source
- 1 Games Workshop - Battletome: Beastclaw Raiders. pg. 4
- 2 ibid pg. 7