8th Ed. Ogre Army Book Analysis and tactics

[Knoffles]

This thread will be a compilation of several guides created by/from the below players/sources. Most views expressed are theirs and I have attempted to blend them into a coherent document and added a few thoughts and updated articles where I (or others) have noted errors and where I thought pertinent.

The Ogre Stronghold forum, going the way of the dodo, was what galvanised me to start this project, trying to preserve the great knowledge scattered across various, blogs, forums and other sites.


The below is a list of all the posts.



Post 1. Recognition of contributors, list of posts and introduction to the guide and Ogres

Post 2. Special Rules & armoury

Post 3. Big Names & Magic items

Post 4. Named Characters

Post 5. Generic Lords & Heroes

Post 6. Core

Post 7. Special

Post 8. Rare

Post 9. Ogre Magic

Post 10. Ogre Tactics: Maneaters

Post 11. Ogre Tactics: In Defense of Hunters

Post 12. Ogre Tactics: To horde or not to horde

Post 13. Ogre Tactics: Guts vs Bulls

Post 14. Ogre Tactics: Stonehorn vs Thundertusk

Post 15. General Tactics

16.


Contributors

1D4Chan: Army Review

1d4chan.org/wiki/Warhammer/Tactics/8th_Edition/Ogre_Kingdoms

The Dice Abide: Various articles and tactics guides

www.thediceabide.com/blog/2011/11/ogre-kingdoms-tactics-food-for-thought

Nate Stevens: Unit review

www.belloflostsouls.net/2011/09/wfb-ogre-kingdoms-unit-by-unit-reviews.html

Avian: Written before 8th edition but some valid points never-the-less

www.avianon.net/tactics/ogre_basics.php

Knoffles: That's me!




Why Play Ogre Kingdoms

You want a simple army that hits like a brick, consist of hugely built, flabby gorging mounds of muscle, fat and saggy moobs, which can ultimately win a combat via high Strength Impact Hits before a single punch is thrown, as well as take a brutal punching before they go down, then Ogre Kingdoms is for you!

Strengths

While it's a good idea to be cautious in any combat scenario, remember, Ogre's are humanoid tanks. They can take damage as well as they can deal it, so don't be too concerned if you lose a few unless you have, say, 4 Bulls left on the field. They are extremely durable, so no need to shy away from serious combat unless you've got no chance to win the fight.

The first stat on the Ogre line is quite an impressive one, a Movement of 6" means that it is much easier for Ogres to pull off a successful charge than their slower enemies. Let’s imagine that the enemy is 12" away, M4 armies will complete that charge 42% of the time, while M5 armies will succeed 58% of the time, neither of those odds are really fantastic, but the fast M6 Ogre Kingdoms will make that charge 72% of the time! That is a massive advantage, especially compared to M4 armies. To put that in prospective, an Ogre will make a 12" charge as often as a human will make a 10" charge. Using your extra movement, it is easy to put yourself in a position where the opponent has unfavorable odds of success, while you have very good odds. Also, I should note that having that 2" advantage, and getting the charge will mean you get Impact Hits, which are extremely important to the Ogre army for grinding down a foe. Ogres may be fat, but they're still quite spritely.

Ogres have raw strength and toughness values of 4, which makes many elves quite jealous. They're often wounding on 3's and being wounded on 5's, making them a tough force to fight in melee, not to mention their characters who often sport 5's, which are wounding on 2's and being wounded on 6's when compared to your standard 3/3. It's because of these relatively superior stats that charging into a fight with a bunch of spearmen, which can often be intimidating, really isnt' that bad and you'll often win with just your raw power.

On top of good S/T values, Ogres also sport an impressive 3 wounds and 3 attacks, while being monstrous infantry also means that they get 3 supporting attacks as well as a stomp attack! They will take a lot of hits to take down, and because of this, you will often have a lot of supporting attacks. Combined with their high S/T, Ogres are really a hard troop to face down.

Troops aside, the Ogre army has access to devastating monsters, insanely heavy cavalry, versatile Maneaters, the occasional warmachine, and cheap troops to absorb charges, deny steadfast, or add ranks. There are definitely a few ways to play the Ogres, just pick your flavor. You can use the fast and extraordinarily resilient Mournfangs against hordes of low strength troops and just laugh as you grind them away, killing rank after rank, or alternatively, you can something like the Thundertusk, which will make enemies strike last, or even make High Elves lose their lovely re-rolls, or what the hell, take both and really stick it to 'em!

Weaknesses

Not all is overpowered stomping for the Ogre Kingdoms. While their troops have fairly impressive stat lines, they are also extremely expensive, weighing in at 30 points for a stripped Bull or 43 points for the slightly more beefy Irongut. Your typical unit of Ogres will probably be about 8 strong, which means you will only have 1 rank when it comes to calculating combat results, and also means that enemy units will almost always be Steadfast.

Aside from their low numbers, Ogres really do lack much of a ranged presence. As far as it goes for hitting the enemy first, you're pretty much restricted to certain Maneater builds (which means expensive), Leadbelchers, Ironblasters and Thundertusks. While this sounds like a lot, with how many points everything in the Ogre army is, you end up spending a lot of points to get a decent ranged presence, and often times, these points are better accentuating the strengths of your army, rather than trying to compensate for the weakness. Thundertusks are always an amazing choice though because they help out your combat blocks, while adding a mobile stone thrower to the army. This does mean that they can suffer in ranged siege battles (a dwarf gunline will give you a rough time for example), and wizards can hamper your units quite a bit. Ogres play in the same way like Beastmen, better in close combat then ranged combat.

The Lore of the Great Maw is a very impressive lore to have, since it is full of AOE buffs, it ends up resembling Lore of Life in a way. The problem with Ogre magic though is that their casters are extremely expensive. If you want that coveted level 4 caster in your army, get ready to suffer the consequences of having a LD8 general in your army. Also, unless you want Lore of Fire or Lore of the Great Maw, you will need to have 2 casters before you have access to the other lores, since at least one of your Butchers must have Great Maw. While not hugely terrible, it is frustrating.

While Ogres do have some impressive raw damage output and resilience, there are a couple stats that really hurt them. The first is their poor WS 3. Almost all ogres in the army, even the elite Ironguts are WS3, meaning that unless the enemy fails a fear test, their impressive number of attacks will be hurt by their low skill, additionally, this also means that enemies will frequently hit you back on 3's, which doesn't feel good. In addition to their low WS, they also have a low Initiative, so they'll be striking at the same time as Orcs and Dwarfs, which frequently results in a few good Ogres dying before they ever get a chance to strike. Possibly the most dangerous low stat for the Ogres though is their Leadership. Most Ogre units sport a LD of 7, which means that if they lose combat, even by 1, they have a good chance of running away, thankfully it should be rare that you lose combat. Ironguts and Maneaters are the exception to this poor LD rule, as they both have a respectable LD of 8, so if you feel like a combat might be risky, it's probably better to use your more strong willed troops, instead of risking having your ~250+ point unit of Ogres get run down by some girly High Elves.

Overall, the Ogres do offer some variety of play styles, though they will almost invariably be based around beating your opponent into paste and grinding their bones for your bread in viscous close combat. If you have been on the fence about the Ogres, I definitely say that they are a very rewarding army to play, for both new and veteran players.

Being an army of primarily monstrous infantry the army will also be of a low model count. So might appeal if you really dislike painting lots of models!

 

[Knoffles]

POST 2 - Special Rules & Armoury


Special Rules

Ogre Charge

Each Monstrous infantry model on foot with this rule, that successfully charges an enemy, has the impact hit (1) rule. Models with this rule that are part of a unit, add their rank bonus to the strength of the impact hit.

On top of that, if you roll a 10 or more for the charge distance, each ogre inflicts D3 impact hits instead of just 1.

With the weakest model in your army having Str 4, a unit of 3 models will inflict 3 Str 4 hits before any other attacks are done. A unit of 6 (in a 3*2 formation) will cause 3 str5 impact hits. This can max out at Str7 (basic str 4+3 for the rank bonus) and this is just for your lowest strength model.

The ability to inflict D3 impact hits from a charge roll of 10 or more means you should ALWAYS remember to roll to charge even if you are within 1” of your target. Getting impact hits is just so useful against opponents with Always Strike First (ASF) or high WS/I. The additional impact hits could mean the difference between causing 3 wounds and 9.


Ironfist

An Ironfist works in the same way as a shield, providing a +1 to the save and granting a parry. In additional, mounted models using it can also parry.


Look Out Gnoblers

These can be taken as an upgrade for standard bearers and allow look out sir rolls to be taken for Characters and champions, as long as there are 3 rank and file models left in the unit.


Bellowers

Some units have the option of taking Bellowers and not musicians. For the purposes of the game, Bellowers follow the same rules as muscians



Other Rules

The next three rules are not Ogre special rules but as almost everything in the army has the rules, it’s worth noting them as they can make a big difference to combats


Fear

All ogres (and quite a few of the non-ogre options) cause fear. This not only grants you immunity to fear, and makes you only fear any unit with terror, it also means most opponents will need to take a fear test in combat. If they fail, their WS will become 1 and this can make a huge difference on your to-hit with your frankly mediocre weapon skills.


Stomp

Again all your ogres on foot (and many of the non-ogre options) have the ability to stomp opponents at their base strength, at the end of the combat (stomps have the Always Strike Last (ASL) rule and also don’t benefit from the extra strength from ranks, unlike the ogre charge). It’s easy to forget this attack but the extra damage can win you the combat.


Supporting Attacks

As long as the unit is 3 models wide, monstrous infantry, in the second rank, get 3 supporting attacks rather than just 1. I mention this for those players who have not used monstrous infantry before as it’s an important rule to remember!



Ogre Armoury

Chaintrap

A huge mantrap attached to a steel chain with a range of 12” which hits at Str 6 and has killing blow.

This is only available to Ogres mounted on either the Stonehorn or Thundertusk. With a BS of 3 and such a short range, it is likely that it will only be hitting on 6’s most of the time (due to -1 for moving and shooting and -1 for long range). If you hit, the chances are you will wound as it has a decent strength but overall it’s a fairly meh ranged weapon.


Harpoon Launcher

A huge crossbow that fires a barbed arrow with a rope attached to it. It has a range of 36” which hits at Str 6 and has the multiple wounds (D3) and move or fire rule.

Whereas I don’t rate the Chaintrap, this is not a bad ranged weapon and as a bonus, the ogre on the stonehorn can upgrade from the chaintrap to this and the second ogre on the thundertusk comes equipped with this too. As an added bonus, if an Ogre with this weapon is mounted on one of the two aforementioned monsters, they can ignore the move of fire rule. The only time it would apply is if a Hunter on foot chose to use it.


Ogre Pistols

These as basically empire handguns that ogres use as pistols. They have a range of 24” at Str 4 with the armour piercing and quick to fire rules. They can be used in close combat with the additional hand weapon rule (so they grant an additional attack, striking at the strength of the user rather than the weapon str of 4)


Brace of Ogre Pistols

As above but for shooting they have the multiple shots (2) rule.

 

[Knoffles]

Post 3: Big Names and Magic items

Ogres have 2 forms of magic items, the big names and actual magic items themselves. This post will cover just the army book magic items.


Big Names:

Most of the Big Names aren't very good, or are at least kind of limited in their application. Keep in mind though that a Bruiser who is your Battle Standard Bearer and has taken a magic standard can still take 50 points of Big Names (confirmed by FAQ) so they might be useful under those circumstances.

It’s also worth noting that the cost of the big names come from your magic allowance limit (it’s not like vampires where you get an allowance on top of the magic item allowance), so it is one reason why you often don’t see them used.

Mawseeker: This is only available for Tyrants and for 40 pts, gives him +1 Toughness (so it will take him to T6). This is good but it also gives him the stupidity rule. With a base LD of 9, he is unlikely to fail the test but you can almost guarantee that on the one turn you don’t want him too, he will fail it and that will impede the unit he is in!

Wallcrusher: For 30pts, the ogre gains one additional impact hit. They will also ignore any effects of obstacles when attacking units that are defending them (this is only for him, not any unit he is in). It’s a bit too expensive for an additional hit that only comes into play when you charge and a secondary bonus that is highly situational.

Kineater: This is only available for Tyrants and for 25pts and any friendly unit within 6” may re-roll failed panic tests. The range is too limited to be of more than superficial usefulness. If it had bigger range it could be useful against a gunline. As it is, it means the Tyrant's unit and maybe one other if you're lucky. It is basically the same as the Dwarf Longbeard’s ‘old grumblers’ rule and I know how often I’ve seen that actually be used (none!). Not worth the points.

Mountaineater: For 25pts the bearer can never be wounded on lower than a 3+ (it doesn’t affect things that auto wound). With a standard toughness of 5, the list of things that can wound a Tyrant on a 2+ are very limited and if you think he's going to find himself facing one of those alone, you're better off finding him a ward save.

Giantbreaker: Costs 25pts, 5pts more than the Sword of Might but is much better since it increases your base-strength by +1 and not only your close combat hits. So it also affects impact hits, stomps as well as characteristic tests and it cannot be broken by spells and the like. Also, if you want to go with +1 Strength and a magic weapon, this is the way to go. For lulz, combine it with the sword of might for an expensive Great Weapon that doesn't strike last (AKA an expensive Ogre Blade that has to accept challenges). Combine it with a Great Weapon and you have a Strength 8 Bruiser! Great against heavy cavalry (not that you see many of those that S6 wouldn't deal with anyway). The only drawbacks are it doesn’t allow the character of his unit to flee as a charge reaction and he cannot refuse challenges.

Deathcheater: This costs 20pts and once per game, nominate one model is base to base contact that has hit the Deathcheater (but not yet rolled to wound). That model has to re-roll successful wound rolls made that phase (includes any mount/chariot etc.). I can see it having some utility if you were expecting to be targeted by a mounted character or hit by something with impact hits and crew attacks but how often would that kind of thing target characters? This is again a fairly situational ability but not too expensive. There are just better options.

Longstrider: For 20pts, adds +1 to the characters movement. Good for a Hunter who wants to run with his Sabertusks or maybe a Bruiser who wants to hang out with Yhetees.

Beastkiller: Hunters Only. 20pts gives you +1 to hit (shooting or combat) on rolls vs large targets but if you are using a magic weapon, you don’t get the bonus. Not really worth your time as not every army has a large target that they run regularly. Maybe if your opponent keeps running a Star Dragon and he's pissing you off, but then you should just dump the Hunter for another Ironblaster.

Brawlerguts: 15pts to get to re-roll the hero's impact hits to wound. Not his mounts or else this might be funny on a Hunter on Stonehorn. Probably the best thing to be said about this is it is cheap.



Magic Items:

Thundermace: For 85pts you get a great weapon (+2 Str, ASL and requires two hands). In addition, in combat, the wielder can exchange all of their attacks to make a single thudercrush attack. Roll to hit against the highest WS of anything in base to base contact. If it hits, place the small template so it touches your base. Any infantry, war beasts or swarms under the template are hit at Str 3 and any model under the centre, gets a S9 hit with D3 wounds. Any other troop type are unaffected. It’s just too expensive for what it brings. I’d rather give the tyrant the giant breaker name and sword of bloodshed so he got a consistent 8, str 6 attacks at initiative 4 for the same cost.

Siegebreaker: Again another 85pt item that is at its core a great weapon (ASL, +2 Str, requires two hands). In combat you roll to hit against initiative not WS and no parry saves are allowed. In addition, when assaulting buildings, you can make a Siegebreaker attack – D6 hits at a strength equal to the height of the building in inches. You're going to be hitting on 3+ and 4+ already and if you really wanted a Strength boost then get Giantbreaker or a sword of might or a standard great weapon for a good deal cheaper. They'll do pretty much the same thing and you won’t find yourself at a disadvantage if you're suddenly up against a high Initiative enemy. This is another weapon that I’d avoid like the plague.

Gnoblar Thiefstone (talisman): This gives the bearer Magic Resistance (MR) 2. In addition, roll on the table below to see what additional item you gain. If another character (friend or foe) has the same item, you steal the item off them. It can result in you having two magic talismans.

1. Nothing

2. Luckstone

3. Talisman of Protection

4. Other Tricksters Shard

5. Ruby Ring

6. Talisman of Preservation

It can be amusing if you do steal the ToP off an enemy wizard but it’s so random, has a 1/6 chance of doing nothing and for 45pts, you may as well just buy any of the items listed as they either work out cheaper or the same cost and you guarantee that you get the item you want.

Greedy Fist (talisman): 40pts buys you a talisman that grants +1 Str and a ward save of 6++. If you ever make your ward save against someone attacking you with a magic weapon, you drain the weapons powers and it counts as a normal weapon for the remainder of the battle. A nice ability but you can’t count on it happening with any frequency. The other ability of removing a magic level and spell of any enemy wizard hit is also a good ability but 90% of Wizards who are getting punched by an Ogre hero/lord are going to die so quickly that it doesn't matter that they're losing Wizard levels. The only wizards it can be decent against are the Incarnates, Glottkin and Archaon, however in all of those situations those are going to kill your character and possibly make their points back in combat anyway. If you want to try this, put it on a Bruiser and give him nothing else (as he's not going to live very long anyway).

Gut Maw (armour): For 45pts you get heavy armour and the Terror special rule. In addition, in a challenge, the bearer recovers one lost wound for each wound caused. Like the other items looked at so far, it is too conditional and expensive for what it brings.

Grut's Sickle (arcane item): At the start of the magic phase the bearer can inflict a single wound on their unit. If he does, he adds +2 to all casting rolls during that magic phase. At the end of the phase, roll 2D6. On a 3+ nothing happens. On a double 1, the unit automatically slays the bearer and he is removed as a casualty. It costs 50pts and you can think of it as an infinite powerstone for only 30pts more. It’s a great item that works very well on a level 4 Maw caster, effectively making him a Lvl 6 on the first cast of the law of the great Maw or lvl 7 on the second+ cast of the lore. There is the small matter of the potential drawback of losing the caster but the chance is very small (which means it will probably happen the first time you equip and use the item…)

Hellheart (arcane item): A one use item that is used at the start of the opposing player’s magic phase, after rolling for the winds. All enemy wizards within D6*5” immediately have to roll on the miscast table. After resolving this, the Ogre player gains +1 dispel dice for each wizard that rolled on the miscast table. This item is almost universally agreed to be the best one in the book and one of the best ways to defend against enemy wizards. Its potential is massive against armies that rely on or like to bring plentiful wizards (Light Councils beware). The drawbacks are the random range, the price (50pts) and getting your bearer into the correct position to use it correctly.

Rock Eye (Enchanted item): At the start of each turn, the bearer may nominate one unit in line of sight and the opposing player must reveal any hidden models (fanatics etc.) within it and also what magic items are contained by anything in the unit (though not who who has them). It’s limited in usefulness, especially in casual play where everyone tends to disclose their magic items. But it is only 5 points, and finding out an Assassin is in that unit you're about to go crush is worth it. Also useful if you can see which unit is running the Eternal Flame Banner before you try and Trollgut the unit nearest to them.

Rune Maw (banner): A 60 point banner. If a spell is cast at the unit, roll a D6. On a 2+ they must choose a new target. If there is no target available, then the spell is wasted. Just shy of being worth it for general use. It can still be worth it if you want to run a deathstar, true it can't help you with Purple Sun but it can really save you against spells like Dwellers or Final Transmutation which can easily kill 1/3'rd of your unit or by ensuring that you avoid debuffs in a crucial combat. It has also been FAQ'd to only effect enemy spells so you can keep buffing your unit.

Dragonhide Banner: A 50pt banner which allows the unit equipped with it to re-roll hits, wounds and saving throw rolls of ‘1’. On top of that, it gives you a Str 3 breath weapon that also gives anything hit by the breath weapon the ASL rule until the end of its next turn. This one can be really fun. A breath weapon attack can turn combat all on its own and the forced ASL and rerolling 1's is just the icing on the cake. It works wonders with Mournfangs as they are one of the few options in the army that can make the most of the re-rolls on armour saves and also on the missed stomps, impact hits and the Mournfang attacks themselves all of which (if you pointed them at the correct target) should be 2's or 3's anyways. I’d consider this an almost auto include choice for Mournfangs (though it does add to their already considerable cost). This is the other magic item vying for the best item in the army book award.

 

[Knoffles]

Post 4 - Named Characters

Greasus Goldtooth: Let’s start with the cost, 545 points. This is over twice the price of a vanilla Tyrant, or well over 200 points more than a fully kitted out Tyrant. So what do you get over the standard tyrant to validate the points? For start you get +1 to both toughness and wounds (putting them to 6 apiece). You can’t complain about those increases. On the flipside he loses a point of BS (who cares), 3 of initiative (down to 1!) and two of both movement and attacks…..ouch. With that initiative you’ll need those extra wounds and toughness to give you a chance of striking back. The reduction in movement is quite a killer too, as he will severely slow down any unit he goes in. The other thing to note is he also loses his Ogre Charge and thus the impact hit (though at least keeps his S5 stomp)

He does come with a magic weapon, the Scepter of the Titans, that gives his 3 attacks S10 and multiple wounds (D3). This helps against tough, high armour, multi-wound targets but with a M4 will he ever realistically get to attack them?

He also gets the Overtyrants Crown. This gives him a 4++ ward (thank god as his 6+ armour save is good for nothing). It also gives his unit immune to psychology. This is normally a positive thing as the only drawback is you can’t flee.

He does get two other unique abilities:

Everyone has their price. At the start of each enemy turn, nominate D3 enemy units within 18”. These units will have the stupidity rule until the end of the turn. This is a very fluffy rule with some utility but enemy units within a general and bsb bubble are unlikely to fail it so you have to pick your targets. Oddly this rule affects all armies including Vampires/Tomb Kings as immune to Psycology doesn’t impact stupidity (this has always seemed an oversight with the rules).

The other rule is Hordemaster. Again another reasonably fluffy rule with an 18” bubble. Friendly units within that range can add +1 to combat res and fleeing friendly units automatically rally.

Like many special characters he is expensive and unlike others, his unique special rules arguably, are not worth the additional points.



To quote 14Dchan: Do note that if you still intend to use him anyway, give him Toothcracker the second it looks like he's going to enter combat and he'll surprise you, so long as you don't pit him against models that auto-wound or have the multiple wounds rule (unless they wound him on 5's/6's already and/or lack a Ward save). With Toothcracker he can take on Archaon in a dual and come out on top (even if Archaon rides his horsey, which makes him cost a lot more than Goldtooth) and despite what happens in the fluff, he'll kill Grimgor the Incarnate of Beasts in only 3 rounds (or Tyrion's Incarnate version in 5). Even without Toothcracker his sheer Toughness and Wounds counts allow him to take on some heavy beatsticks, for example (on average) he 'can and will kill all non-End Times Vampire Lords, all generic Chaos Lords (and nearly all of the named ones), and even standard Grimgor (a shame the Lore of Beasts chose the more popular character). Of course he still costs a shitload more than all of those, but that's just the price you pay for seeing the look on your opponent's face when this fat bastard flattens some of the most infamous close combat monsters in the game, presumably after making them stupid.

If you're lucky enough to get it, put Savage Beast of Horros on him along with Toothcracker. If you can manage this then he's easily one of the best close combat Lords in the game, able to take on and beat even Archaon Everchosen (the End Times version). It's not something you should be counting on but if you got it, why not use it.



Skrag the Slaughterer: Has one of the best back stories of any Ogre special character. His Tyrant chopped off his hands and had his own cauldron attached to his back with hooks and chains before throwing him into the caverns under the mountain, all for cooking and serving the Tyrants favourite Gnobler. His model is pretty cool too. He costs a whopping 425pts. This is 140 more than a basic level 4 Slaughtermaster, though after taking into consideration 100pts of magic items, only 40pts more expensive.

So what do you get for these points? He has an extra hand weapon, taking his attacks up to 5, Frenzy (so 6 attacks) and killing blow. He also gets an extra pip of: WS, S, T and LD, taking him to 5, 5 6 and 9 respectively. These are on top of the standard Slaughtermaster rules of: lvl 4 wizard of the great maw, immune from poison & ogre charge. He also causes Terror rather than Fear.

He also has the ability to increase a Gorgers unit size from 1-2 and removes duplicate restrictions on them.

His single magic item is his cauldron. He and any Gorgers in the army are buffed depending on the number of models skragg kills in combat. Bonus start with giving him regeneration (you need this as he has no other save) to getting all ambushing Gorgers on the board automatically, to +1 attack, hatred etc. This means you want him in combat as soon as possible. You also want to bring gorgers to make the most of his abilities and they aren’t considered to be a competitive choice in 8th ed.

I think he is a solid alternative to a standard slaughtermaster, is very viable as an option to take and has something I like in a special character, rules that allow you to change the composition of your standard army.



Golgfag Maneater: The most famous Maneater returns but at 2 ½ times more than a standard Bruiser, ignoring his fluff, why would you want to take him? He has slightly better stats than a Bruiser, +1 BS, I and A, putting them up to 4, 4 and 5 respectively. He also has an additional hand weapon so has 6 attacks as standard. The BS comes in handy as he has an Ogre Pistol.

He has two special rules to complement the improved stats. The first is Easy Come, Easy Go. This gives him the chance to get between 20 and 120pts of free magic items. Free items are good but the random nature of the points available is just too random to rely on.

His second rule is: Golgfag’s Maneaters. He can basically bring along his own boyz and they automatically get Stubborn and Vanguard. These aren’t the best options for Maneaters. It feels like they missed a trick and could have given them a unique ability to make them more appealing, maybe WS 5 or something. It does give another very conditional ability that means they are counted as trusted allies in any army. Very fluffy but not something that will be used in much outside of a narrative style game.

He’s a classic character but definitely not one you’ll see used often.



Bragg the Gutsman: Looks like an old school hangman which is pretty cool but he costs twice as much as a bruiser and what he gets for that is two handed weapon that gives +1 S but allows him to strike at initiative. If he is in a challenge he gets Heroic Killing blow so he could at least kill a dragon that a foe might be riding, IF he gets to strike before it (let alone survives anything thrown his way with his 6+ armour…). If he does kill someone in a challenge, the unit that foe is in, counts as disrupted, which is something I guess.

Overall, he’s not worth the points and you’ll get far more mileage out of a standard bruiser.

 

[Knoffles]

POST 5 - Generic Lords and Heroes



Tyrant: Your combat lord and the biggest guy in the army. Perhaps a little overpriced, He boasts a stat line that rivals many fully fledged monsters with 5, WS6, S5 I4 attacks. He also has 5 wounds and is toughness 5 which makes him difficult to take down too.

The Tyrant boasts a healthy LD of 9, the highest in the Ogre Kingdoms army, which is important to think about when you're building a list. The tactics for a Tyrant are pretty straight forward, give him a big club, give him some protection and then watch him beat people into paste.

The main drawback is that he unfortunately competes for Lord Points with Slaughtermaster, which has MUCH more bang for your buck, especially since you no longer need to take a Tyrant to take Slaughtermaster. As he costs just over 300pts fully kitted up if you are playing with a 25% allowance, you could also take a slaughtermaster but if you were also wanting to take a BSB and Firebelly you will be seriously eating into points that could be used for troops.

Can be useful in larger point’s games, but be careful not to waste him by throwing him into fights he can't win (no matter what the fluff tells you, a Tyrant will struggle to deal with a Bloodthirster alone).

Possible equipment: Giant Breaker, Sword of Bloodshed, Enchanted Shield, Dragonbane Gem, heavy armor. This makes a Tyrant with 8 attacks, at S6, he has a decent 3+ save, which you can always add Regen to with a Butcher, plus the Dragonbane Gem for when he's fighting the ever popular flaming attacks. He's a vicious brute who will definitely kill a few guys.



Slaughtermaster: Your lord level wizard. He has the statline of many other armies combat lords with 4 I4 S4 attacks and 5 wounds and toughness 5. He only comes with LD 8 and at 250pts base will normally be both your only lord and your general. He does only come with WS4 and that is one of the reasons he is normally found wielding the Fencers Baldes (for WS10 and an extra attack).

Also unlike most other wizards, he's technically allowed for you to take Magic Armour, due to the fact that they can take an Ironfist. This is confirmed in the FAQ, but discouraged as an oversight by the writers. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone not give him magic armour.Recommended combos are: Grut's Sickle and the Armour of Destiny, or Fencer's Blades and the Glittering Scales (to make him only be hit on a 6+ by most troops). Kitted up right this guy can take the same beating that would destroy a small unit and walk away barely scathed, even before we consider he can cast Regeneration on himself, turning him into an absolute rape train with no brakes. Only thing to watch out for is anyone that strike first with a shitload of Strength 5+ attacks.

It’s worth mentioning that at least one slaughtermaster or butcher must take the Lore of the Maw. This is not a drawback as it is a fantastic lore, especially for a tightly packed line and the Lore Attribute means that these guys can sit there and heal themselves over and over (while getting a 5+ total boost). A single one of these can be all you need to turn the game, especially in a 2K game.

Possible Equipment: Fencer's Blades, Glittering Scales, Earthing Rod. In combat, most things will need 6's to hit him, and often 6's to wound, so he's not going to be suffering much damage from being picked out like a weedier wizard, plus he's dishing out 5x WS10 S4 attacks, which isn't bad. I didn't used to take the Earthing Rod, but with how often I 6-dice Troll Guts, I won’t leave home without it.



Bruiser: A Bruiser is just a Tyrant Jr. His stats are still on par, if not better than most Lords, though at 105pts, he costs a considerable amount less. The Bruiser also acts as your BSB, which is great considering he has T5 and W4, plus access to good armor and magic items and when compared to most people’s T4 W2 BSB's, he truly shines. If you have the points to add a Bruiser to a block, then it will dramatically increase the damage output, causing a S5 impact hit, plus his 4x S5 attacks, add on some suitable magic items and not much can stop him. As much as I would like to add a fight Bruiser to most of my blocks, the point cost of the rest of the army frequently prevents this, and he usually relegated to BSB in my army.

Possible Equipment: Crown of Command, Dragon Helm, Ironcurse Icon, heavy armor, ironfist. Since I don't often have a Tyrant, usually this guy is running with my Crown of Command, which is so very important for Ogres. Also, he has a 3+ armor, 6+ parry and a fair number of wounds, which makes him ideal for defending the banner.



Hunter: 25 points more than a Bruiser, for 1 higher BS and Ld (but he can't be the general) and has some nifty choices, but he can never join non-Sabertusk units. Can also take a Stonehorn as a mount which, along with a Harpoon Launcher, is a solid choice for him as it lets you deal with enemies on the move and stonehorns just look the nuts! Not the most competitive choice, but can be fun and useful under the right circumstances. Also remember that even though he can't use Hold Your Ground when he joins a unit of Sabretusks, he can use it when he's on his own or on a Stonehorn.

Possible Equipment: Longstrider, additional hand weapon. That's it, keep him simple! He's going to run 14" a turn and piss off your opponent to no end. If you absolutely must doll him up a bit, go with the Berserker Sword and Shield of Ptolos, as that will protect him from ranged attacks, as well as panic.



Butcher: The Butcher is our Level 1/2 mage. Similar to the Slaughtermaster, the Butcher has a respectable stat line, and can survive a great deal of punishment. Not quite as useful as a Slaughtermaster, but costs less than half the points. Can be useful to make sure you get all the Spells in the Lore of the Great Maw, or alternatively can be used as a pretty brutal damage based caster with Lore of Death, or a specialty augmenter with Lore of Beasts. He can also take Lore of Heavens for its awesome signature spell or you can try for the comet. Can take the Hellheart or Dispel Scroll, if you want to save your Slaughtermaster's Arcane Item for something else. You will normally want to do this.

Possible Equipment: Hellheart, great weapon. Since the Butcher is often at the front of the army, casting Wyssian's on his buddies, it’s good to give him the short ranged, yet very potent Hellheart. You certainly can't go wrong with dimensional cascading someone's frog or elf.



Firebelly: The last slice of Hero pie is a burnt one. Firebellies are a new addition to the Ogre army, and a very welcome one at that! For 20 more points than a normal Butcher, you get a hero level wizard with the same base statline, that specialize in the Lore of Fire and killing stuff with fire in other ways. Flaming Attacks is always welcome, and the Lore of Fire is pretty decent. The fact that he has a S4 Breath Weapon (Breath Weapons, for context, can turn an entire combat on their own) means that he makes a good mainline unit supporter and he's invaluable if you find yourself facing Hordes or Ethereal units.

As a bonus, he also gets a 4++ ward vs flaming attacks. Also, don't forget that ALL of the Firebelly's attacks are flaming, that means flaming impact hits and flaming stomps!

Possible Equipment: Potion of Speed, Dispel Scroll, great weapon. The potion of speed means that he gets to use his breath attack at initiative 5 in combat, which means it strips off regen BEFORE the rest of your ogres take a swing, this is absolutely massive, and a steal at only 5 points! Alternatively, you can go with the Sword of Swift Slaying or the Gold Sigil Sword, but I prefer the handy flaming great weapon any day.

 

[Knoffles]

Post 6 - Core


Ogre Kingdoms core is thankfully brief and efficient, with only 3 units to choose from, it can actually be difficult to decide which one is best for you. Two of the three choices are obviously Ogres, which have the impressive stat line which we talked about before, while the third choice are the lowly Gnoblars.



Ogres (Bulls)

Regular Ogres, or Bulls as they were previously known, are a unit of thugs who are both resilient and capable of dishing out quite a bit of pain. At 30 points a model, these are the most economical ogres in the army.

Their selection of equipment is fairly straight forward, either stripped with a hand weapon and light armor, with an additional hand weapon, or with an ironfist. With how cheap the upgrades are, it is safe to say that you should rarely, if ever, be fielding a unit of bare bones ogres, which leaves only the debate of ironfists vs additional hand weapons.

Personally, I vastly prefer the ironfist. For only 2 points, your ogres now have a 5+ armor save as well as a 6+ parry, which may not exactly be invulnerable, but it certainly helps them survive. The additional hand weapon isn't a terrible choice, but it's only giving you extra attacks to the front, so 3-4 tops and even only 6 in a horde, I think you're much better off spending the extra point and getting the save.

Bulls will often be your go-to unit when you're considering an Ogre Horde, at a fair cost of 606 points with ironfists and full command. That may seem like a hammering, but it's nearly 200 points cheaper than going with an Irongut horde. With a block of 18 Ogres, there isn't much that can stand in your way, but be careful not to get them in combat with units that have great saves, as S4 is only going to reduce the enemy's survival by a slight margin.

Typically, I run my bull units 4x2, which is a healthy unit of 8 bulls, with a rank that can suffer 5 wounds before losing that bonus, and at a relatively low cost of 286 points with all the upgrades.



Ironguts

Ironguts are our second choice of ogres for Core, that's not to be confused with second rate. An Irongut comes in at a hefty 43 points, but for that we get an ogre with a Great Weapon, Heavy armor, access to a magic banner and most importantly, LD8. Ogres aren't renowned for their bravery, nor their cunning, so having a LD8 on some basic troops is definitely welcomed.

I have on occasion run Ironguts as horde, but I don't recommend it. This unit will cost you about 804 points and they are still just Ironguts. Pit of Shades and Dwellers will make you very sad, so to keep them alive, you should consider a BSB with the Runemaw, and now we're nearly at 1000 points for a unit, that will still suck down cannonballs and warplightning blasts like a magnet. If you are going to go with the Irongut horde, just be prepared to run a Deathstar army (the Gutstar) and hope you don't face dwarf artillery, warpfire throwers and anything else that hits multiple models and causes multiple wounds.

Not as good as Bulls, but still a solid choice, especially in units of 6-8 with a sprinkling of characters and the Magic Standard can do amazing things (try the Dragonhide Banner).



Gnoblars

Nobody likes a gnoblar. These guys are dirt cheap and come in vast quantities. They have the Beneath Contempt rule, which means that not even other gnoblars care about them dying or fleeing, and it also means that Ogres will not be caught dead joining them. What these pesky greenskins offer your ogre army is numbers, each bull you take could have been a dozen gnoblars.

Gnoblars also have the ability to be upgraded to Trappers, which force any enemy that successfully charges them to take a dangerous terrain test. This isn't huge, but killing 1/6 of the enemy before the combat starts is a lot more than the Gnoblars will actually do in the fight and if that enemy is a horde, then things can become spicy.

Typically, I don't take big units of gnoblars, often times just a unit of 20 or so to harass/annoy the enemy. One very important use of gnoblars though is to take a unit that is 5 wide and as deep as you can stand to help your bigger blocks strip steadfast.

Do note that most players will be taking steps to counter your ogre placement since you'll usually have few units compared to them. If you concede the +1 bonus to the roll for first turn you can take small units of Gnoblars to force your opponent to deploy their units first, from here you can put down your Ogres to make sure they aren't getting screwed before the game even started.

Fun Fact - In 2400 points, you can fit 220 Gnoblars. This unit (with Full Command & Trappers) costs exactly 600pts.

 

[Knoffles]

Post 7 - Special


Leadbelchers

Leadbelchers hold a special place in my heart. For the price of an Irongut, you are getting an Ogre with what is essentially a D6 S4 AP shot handgun, which suffers no penalties for moving and shooting or multiple shots. I used these a lot in the previous book, where their gun had a limited 12" range, but now they've been increased to 24" and don't have to reload! The new rules for 8th edition regarding missile weapons allows you to fire these in two ranks, which now adds a lot of versatility. For a narrow frontage of 2 models you could have 4 firing, which will be an average of 14 shots... not bad for some ogres!

Typically, I either run them in small units of 4 with a 2-model frontage, or as a bigger block of 8. They are unable to stand and fire, but when they're a big unit of 8, they are still very deadly in close combat. Keep them advancing with your army, pelt the units that need to be ground down (Whitelions, Executioners, etc.) so that your main combat blocks, or even the Leadbelchers themselves can have an easier time in combat. There aren't really any special tricks with the Leadbelchers, as they are a pretty straightforward unit, but that doesn't mean that they aren't deadly.

No Ogre Kingdoms army is complete without a unit of these lads.



Maneaters

This is one of those units that a little article like this won’t do justice. Maneaters are an incredibly versatile unit, which can be anything from a monster close combat block, to character snipers or scouts. I'll go over them a bit more in detail in my next article, but for now I can tell you that whatever you want to do with them, make sure that they are fully specialized. If you want a unit of scouts, take a smaller unit that is either stubborn or immune to psych, if you want a nasty combat block, go with a unit of 6 with additional hand weapons in the front rank, great weapons in the back rank and probably the flaming banner.

Several common ideas for special rules are presented below, but most combos can work on one level or another. Just don't forget to give them heavy armor and remember if you're stuck, Stubborn is always a good choice. See Post 10 for more detail.

• Classic: Immune to Psychology and Stubborn. Stubborn is always a good choice, but the weakness of Terror and Fear under the current edition makes ItP pretty much worthless.

• Runners: Swiftstride and Strider. Can be fun, especially with great weapons, allowing them to intercept a unit you need dead. Drop them on the flank and have them go diving through terrain to hit the enemy where it hurts.

• Snipers: Sniper and Poisoned Attacks, with Brace of Handguns. This one is especially nasty against Vampire Counts/Tomb Kings where killing their general can really hurt. Don't spend too much on this unit though, as they're only really useful at killing heroes.

• Trolling: Scouts and either Strider, Swiftstride or Stubborn. Not a great choice, but really lulzy (SCOUTING OGRES), especially against Dwarfs and armies that thrive on units with lots of ranged weapons and war machines.

• Bland: Stubborn and either Strider or Swiftstride. The best overall and therefore blandest choice but not a bad one. Swiftstride has some nice synergy with the Ogre Charge rule.



Sabretusk Pack

The Sabretusks of yesteryear are long dead, and thank god. Now you can pick them up in units of 1-10, without any pesky hunters. For 21 points you get a M8 beast with T4, 2 wounds and 3 S4 attacks There are a few different ways to run them, though the most effective I've seen is taking 2-3 individuals and have them run around the edge of your army, charging into lone characters or warmachines. Killing a warmachine, or at least tying it up for a couple turns can make a huge difference in the game. The major fault of Sabretusks is that they are LD4, cannot use the General's Inspiring Presence nor the BSB's Hold Your Ground special rules... Ouch! The only character that can join them is a Hunter, so if you're going to take a unit of more than 1, you're probably going to want a hunter so that they don't run off at the first sign of trouble, but then you're also increasing their points drastically.

The Sabretusk also have the Running With The Pack special rule, which allows them to have Vanguard as long as the Hunter is part of the pack, and it also gives the Hunter Swiftstride. This can be used as a nasty tactic by taking a single Sabretusk to catapult your Hunter across the board, allowing him Vanguard and Swiftstride so long as the single Sabretusk is alive. I have toyed with the idea of taking a bigger unit of Sabretusks (6 or so) with a Hunter, but since they are Warbeasts, they will only grant a single supporting attack, and with a hunter, that unit is going to cost at least 256 points (2 points less than 6 Ironguts).

They are in the running for the best chaff unit in the game and I’d recommend never leave home without at least 2.



Yhetees

These are the black sheep of the Ogre Kingdoms book. One more point than a Leadbelcher or Irongut gets you an unarmored model which moves incredibly fast on paper actually looks pretty decent. They're faster than a normal ogre with M7 and Swiftstride, with an impressive I4 and S5, in addition, enemies have -1 WS when in base to base contact. So why does everyone think that they're so bad? The first reason is that they have no armor at all. The second, and much more important reason is that they are Flammable! With everyone out there running the Banner of Eternal Flame, unless you're playing an open list game, you may have the unfortunate experience of being burnt to the ground by any army you face.

If you're like me and enjoy giving the "bad" units a try, I have to strongly suggest taking the Rock Eye when using Yhetees, for 5 points you can hopefully identify the unit with the Banner of Eternal Flame before they end up eating your Yhetees.

If you are taking them, at least try to give them Regeneration, at least then they'll be able to cause quite a bit of damage and maybe earn their points back.



Mournfang Cavalry

These are the other popular kids in the Special section. When it comes to the ability to take punishment and deal it out, nothing in the game comes close to the Mournfang Cavalry. At 60 points base, they're an okay unit, but after you upgrade them to have Heavy Armor and Ironfists, you now have a 2+ save (and 6+ parry) unit that does 4 S5 and 3S4 attacks per model! Top that off with D3 S5 impact hits and an extra S5 stomp in each round, it is no surprise that many Ogre players have come to swear by this new unit.

I prefer to take mine in units of 4, and since one unit of them can take a magic banner, I always oblige, either with a Dragonhide Banner for some added punishment, or even the simple flaming banner so that they can eat up trolls and take down hydras (who doesn't like a little BBQ?).

Some armies I've seen take 3 units of 4 Mournfangs, and while this is a pretty nasty thing to have to face, Mournfangs are not invincible. When using them, avoid anything that is S5 or higher, as they will demolish your save, and with only 12 wounds for a full unit of 4, you don't have as much staying power as you may think. That said, if you manage to get in combat against S3 spearmen, you are going to have a grand time, crushing dozens of foes every turn and making taking a wound back.

Mournfangs also have the ability to take Great Weapons, which is something that I haven't personally tried, and while it does sound like an interesting prospect, losing your 2+ save and parry seems very dubious.



Gorger

The unit which was once ever present in the previous book has unfortunately become almost completely ignored. The Gorger is largely unchanged from its previous incarnation, except that its ambush rule has changed slightly for the better, so why do we not see them as often as we used to?

The answer is simple, we don't need them. In the old OK book, Gorgers were necessary to fill gaps that nothing else in the book could, they were warmachine hunters, flankers, redirectors and tarpits all in one. Now the OK book has new options to perform all those tasks, so sadly the Gorger does not have much of a place. With all that said, are Gorgers a bad unit? Definitely not, they now have a greater chance to come in earlier in the game, and if you don't have any other way to hunt warmachines, they are not a bad addition. Stat wise for 90pts you get 4 (5 with frenzy) S 5 Killing blow attacks in an unbreakable model. They also become considerably better in an army with Skragg as they can gain +1 attack, hatred and regeneration.



Rhinox Riders

These are elite Ogres mounted on the toughest and most savage type of Rhinox, the Grimhorn. They are monstrous cavalry that can be taken in units of 1+.

The Ogres themselves have a boosted statline with WS and BS or 4, S5, I3, A4 and LD8. The T4 and W3 are the same as a standard Ogre.

The Rhinox are best compared to Mournfang and share the same stats of WS3, S5, I2, A4 and LD5. They have a reduced movement of 7 but boosted T5 and W4. On top of that, the model gets the following rules: Fear, Frenzy, Impact Hits (D3+1), Iron Skinned, Stubborn, Swiftstride and Broadbacked (and don’t forget the stomp as well)..

Iron skinned means that a model gets +3 to their armour. This means that as standard, the model will have a 3+ armour save (as they start with Light armour). The unit can be upgraded to heavy armour and also have the option to equip Iron fists, so they can all get the magic 1+ save.

Broadbacked allows an ogre to use an additional hand weapon with no penalty (I believe in the same way as Savage Orcs on boars).

One thing worth noting (and my guess is this is a mistake in the rule writing), is that both the Ogre and the Rhinox receive the +1 attack from frenzy.

The unit can also take a 50pt magic standard but with each model costing 105pts base (115pts to get a 1+ save), auto losing the standard if they break is an expensive gamble. The command options are the same cost as any other unit, so adding a musician/champion could be worthwhile.

You are likely to run these in two ways. Units of 3 or 4 models (as you would other monstrous Cav) or using them as a single model, fielded similar to a chariot.


The Rhinox are a forgeworld unit with ‘experimental’ rues. As such you should probably ask your opponent if they are ok with you fielding them.

 

[Knoffles]

Post 8 - Rare



Gnoblar Scraplauncher

First up we have the venerable Scraplauncher. For 130pts you get a chariot mounted stonethrower that is S3 (including the hole) but also has the Killing Blow special rule.

When using the Scraplauncher, keep it moving along the flanks of your army and don't be afraid to charge it into combat, often times the D6 S5 impact hits, plus the 3 S5 Rhinox attacks can really help tip a hard fight in your favor. The downside to the Scraplauncher is that while it is nice to have a stonethrower, especially with Killing Blow, it is rare that Ogres need more help with anti-infantry, they've got that down pretty well in combat.

It’s a solid choice when taken on its own merits, but loses out a lot when compared to the Ironblaster. As a plus point it is cheaper than any other rare choice in the Ogre Kingdom book.



Ironblaster

Next up we have the incredible Ironblaster! This unit is very similar to the Gnoblar Scraplauncher in that it is both a warmachine and a chariot and only costs 40pts more. Most ogre players have fallen madly in love with this unit, and for good reason, adding a cannon to the ogre army (one with a very reliable bounce at that due to rolling 2(!) artillery dice), gives the ogres a chance to deal with serious threats, long before they're stuck in combat with you. I don’t think I’ve ever faced an Ogre army that hasn’t packed one of these and they are the reason you never see the Scraplauncher.

Like the Scraplauncher, these work well when advancing down the sides of the board, and when there isn't a super juicy target, charging into combat to help out is always a good choice.

It can’t be emphasized enough how powerful it is having a cannon that can move and shoot and thus can hide out of sight initially, keeping safe from anti-battery fire, before popping out.

Giant

Giant: It's a Giant. What can we say? You know it and love it. LD10 Stubborn monsters are always nice. It's also worth pointing out that ALL of its 'Pick Up And...' results end in death for the picked up model. Giants are THE monster killer, with relative ease they can fell a star dragon. That being said, they're sadly not worth it in general lists as with no armor and with an abundance of S5 around in 8th they can drop dead fast. Feel free to take them however if you know what you're up against and are sure you can get them in combat with a similarly-priced monster/single model unit.



Stonehorn

Now we're talking, the Stonehorn is a 250pt beast of destruction with no peer in the Ogre Kingdoms army book. This monster (like the Thundertusk) has an impressive S/T/W 6, as well as 5 attacks, add frenzy on to that and you're getting really mean. Something nice to consider about the Stonehorn is that the whole model is frenzied, this includes the standard rider and as such, is immune to psychology until beaten in combat, so no worry about having your lone Sabretusk killed within 6" of it. The best way I've found to use this monster is to advance up flanks, preferably behind terrain that will help protect you from cannon balls, then have it charge into the flank of anything it can reach. On the charge, it's going to do 3-12 impact hits, plus 4 rider attacks and D6 thunder stomps, because of all that, it is rare that it will lose the first round of combat, meaning the following turn you're doing 6 attacks, plus the rider and thunder stomps. This monster is perfect for any army looking for a nasty close combat threat.

Always remember that due to its Stone Skeleton rule, it halves any wounds inflicted by attacks with the multiple wound rule.



Thundertusk

For the same price as a Stonehorn, you can get the Thundertusk. What it lacks in close combat ability (it doesn't get impact hits and only has 4 attacks, but it does get a second rider for an extra 3 S4 attacks on top of its thunderstomp), it makes up for with a wealth of versatility.

Not only does it get a 6-24” S3(6), D3 wound stonethrower on it (which following the trend you can move and shoot with), it gets an amazing ability called Numbing Chill. Any enemy model within 6” gets the ASL rule. This rule is amazing as it helps to overcome the Ogres naturally low initiative. It is however worth noting that it is models within 6”, not units so it does have a limited effect so careful placement is required to make the most of it.

As such it’s good to place the Thundertusk behind a unit, or right next to one. When behind a friendly unit, the 6" Numbing Chill should reach most of the enemy's front two ranks, letting the ogres it is supporting attack first and hopefully do some meaningful damage. When facing wider units, it's not always a bad idea to have the Thundertusk charge in with the unit that it is supporting. This will add 10 attacks to your combat, as well as D6 stomps, in addition to making the enemy all around it strike last. Even though the Thundertusk isn't quite as mean as the Stonehorn in combat, it is still no slouch, so don't turn down a good charge when it comes your way.

 

[Knoffles]

Post 9 - Ogre Magic

One of the great things about 8th edition Ogre Kingdoms is that they now have access to some new magic! To be precise, they can now take Lore of Death, Lore of Beasts, Lore of Heavens, Lore of Fire (Firebelly), and their own Lore of the Great Maw.


The Butcher Tax

Similar to Tomb Kings, Ogres have to pay a tax if they want to take something besides Lore of the Great Maw, or a Firebelly. Before you can select Lore of Death/Beasts/Heavens, you must first have a Butcher with Lore of the Great Maw. This means, if your Slaughtermaster wants Lore of Death, you'll need to take another Butcher with Great Maw as well. Because of this, I'm going to be looking at the lores they have available from the perspective of a Level 4, or a Level 1/2.



Lore of the Great Maw

This is the signature lore for Ogres, it contains 4 buffs (+1T, +1S, Regen, Stubborn), a Magic Missile (2D6 S2, ignores armor), an auto panic check, and a so-so Vortex. The Signature Spell causes Stubborn, which can be extremely useful when fighting through some of the tougher units, like hordes of Empire Knights (damn you Damon!), Chaos Warriors, etc. Be careful though, since it is a spell, it's not something you can rely on 100% of the time.

As with all 8th edition lores, do not forget your lore attribute, as a few casts of low level spells can really help you get the bigger one off later in the phase. Also remember the lore attribute for Great Maw is not optional, even if you have no dice left and full wounds, you still need to roll to see if you take the S6 hit.

Slaughtermasters or Butchers who are using the Lore of the Great Maw can happily use the Forbidden Rod to gain D6 additional Power dice while suffering D3 wounds. Usually quite a bad item since many Wizards are 2 wound or 3 wound models and some people only give their Wizards basic protection (if any), so in many circumstances it can kill their Wizard outright or leave him on the verge of death... however not for Ogres! They have 4/5 wounds so D3 wounds isn't that bad PLUS with Great Maw they can restore wounds. It's an item worth considering.


The Ogre Lore is as follows:

• Lore Attribute: Bloodgruel. Whenever you cast a spell, roll a D6. On a 1, take an S6 hit, on a 2+ you get to recover a wound you lost earlier in the game AND get +1 to your next attempt to cast or dispel. This is pretty useful, as it can mean a quick and dirty first spell can make your next bigger spell easier to cast, or a small spell at the end of your magic phase makes your next dispel easier. Plus getting wounds back is useful.

• Spell 0: Spinemarrow Makes one friendly unit within 12" Stubborn on a 6+. Can be increased to 24" for 9+. Since Ogres rarely have enough ranks to get Steadfast, this is an easy way to keep your units from running (and an easy way to trigger your Lore Attribute).

• Spell 1: Bonecrusher: A range 18" Magic Missile that 2d6 S2 hits with no armor saves allows on an 8+. Can be beefed up to 36" inches for 11+. Low toughness heavy cavalry (Elves for example) HATE this spell and it's generally a pretty good spell, but not great.

• Spell 2: Bullgorger: One friendly unit within 12" gets +1 Strength on 7+. Can be increased to ALL friendly units within 12" on a 14+. Good way to make sure your Ogres hit harder than before, but generally overshadowed by the next spell.

• Spell 3: Toothcracker: One friendly unit within 12" gets +1 Toughness on an 8+. Can hit all friendly units within 12" on a 16+. Fucking awesome. There is almost no situation where casting this is a bad idea.

• Spell 4: Braingobbler: One enemy unit within 18" has to take a panic check on a 9+. Can be pushed up to 36" inches on a 12+. Can either be fucking amazing (ask those Poisoned Wind Globadiers how they feel about it), mediocre (Elves, Warriors of Chaos and Lizardmen will often shrug it off) or useless (just switch it out if you're up against Daemons, Tomb Kings, Vampire Counts or Dwarfs). Still, if you're up against low-medium Ld, it's often a good way to send a chaff unit out of position and can occasionally be used to disrupt your enemy's battle line, so it's usually worth a look.

• Spell 5: Trollguts: Back to augments, gives one friendly unit within 12" Regeneration 4+ on a 12+. Can be boosted to all friendly within 12" on a 20+. Unlike the others, this one will be hard for a level 2 to cast with less than 3 dice (and even 3 dice can be risky) so if you roll it on them, might as well drop it. Level 4's will get good mileage out of it though, and it's a good spell (since Ward Saves are rare to non-existent in Ogre Kingdoms armies).

• Spell 6: The Maw: A big direct damage spell (NOT a vortex) that's quite fun. Drop the small blast somewhere within 18" and Scatter it. If misfire is rolled, enemy gets to place and scatter it. Once it lands, everyone under it takes an Initiative test. Pass and you take a S3 hit. Fail and you take a S7 hit with the Multiple Wounds (D6) rule. This casts on a 15+ and can be pushed up to a large blast on a 21+. This one is quite risky, requiring 4 dice for a Level 4 to reliably get off (and 6 for it to reliably get the big version off) and a misfire can cost you dearly with your Ogres' poor Initiative. This spell's not usually worth it; to start it relies on hoping you get it but don't get a miscast that fucks you, hoping that your enemy didn't bring a scroll for this moment (or dispel it themselves), hoping that you don't misfire or scatter off the unit you wanted to hit and hoping at the end that the enemy fails the test (and gets hurt enough to make a difference). On top of all the chances that it might fail (or do nothing), even if it succeeds it's probably not going to justify it's massive cost. This one spell is likely going to drain most to nearly all of your magic dice and waste most of your phase when there are so many buffs you could've been using instead.


Lore of the Great Maw on a Level 4

On your Slaughtermaster, you are essentially guaranteed to get some great buffs. These can often be augmented to affect all units within 12", due to the Slaughtermaster's lofty +4 to cast, those aren't always that hard, plus you can always 6-dice a big regen spell and make your opponent cry. If you aren't sure about what to give your level 4, this is not a bad choice.


Lore of the Great Maw on a Level 1/2

When you are using a level 2 wizard of any kind, it is very important to look at the Signature Spell. Stubborn, while handy, isn't often a super important spell to have, and will be even less useful in the presence of a Crown of Command. If your level 4 is going for a different lore however, you have little choice. I wouldn't ever take a Level 1 with this lore, since there are too many spells that you might just not want or need.



Lore of Heavens

Similar to Lore of the Great Maw, Lore of Heavens has a lot of utility. Two hexes, one augment, 2 magic missiles, Comet and Wind Blast. The Signature Spell is going to make your ogres harder to hit in combat, while simultaneously making it more difficult for your enemy to pass fear tests (which could put you up to needing 6's to be hit!), plus it can help negate a cannon to boot! The main Hex and Augment from this lore will either let you re-roll 1's, or force your opponent to re-roll 6's, while not huge, this can help against Poisoned attacks a ton, or give you a couple extra hits.

Lore of Heavens on a Level 4

On your Slaughtermaster, you will reliably end up with a magic missile of sorts, Ice Shards, and maybe some extra offense, or another Augment/Hex. Harmonic Convergence works fantastically with Ironguts and any other unit hitting and wounding on 2's and 3's. The magic missiles are both amazing at eliminating chaff and redirectors, especially so if they happen to be a flyer, and Ice Shards will help keep you alive in combat. If you're playing against a static, or clumped up army, Comet of Cassendora is really nice. I typically tend to play an army with few units, so the amount of damage I will take from Comet, is minimal when compared to the enemy. With this in mind, you can often cast it into the middle of the field with little worry. This is definitely not a bad lore for a Level 4, though keep in mind that using this on your Slaughtermaster will mean you won’t necessarily have all the great buffs from the Great Maw.

Lore of Heavens on a Level 1/2

The Signature Spell here is Ice Shards, which you may have noticed that I'm a huge fan of. With that in mind, the other spells in the lore (maybe except Wind Blast) are all pretty good. If you need to save points, you can take a level 1 for just Ice Shards and he will be well worth his points, though with the utility of this lore, I would recommend taking a level 2 and subbing the less desirable spell for Ice Shards.



Lore of Beasts

Now we're talking a lore I can get behind! Lore of Beasts spell attribute won’t mean much for your army, but generally, this lore makes your characters stronger, tougher and have more attacks. Combine that with a nasty curse, a good magic missile and the ability to turn yourself into a Mountain Chimera and we're talking a lore that Ogres can really take advantage of.

Lore of Beasts on a Slaughtermaster

The most impressive spells in the lore, and the Signature Spell are all 10-16+ to cast, because of this, your Slaughtermaster is an ideal Wizard to take this lore. On a Level 4, you'll probably be able to get one of the offensive boosting spells, plus the Curse of Anraheir or Amber Spear. Personally, if I have to pick between one, I'll take the Amber Spear, while the Curse is nice, it does slow down the enemy and can keep them from getting within charge distance, which is never a good idea. Savage Beast of Horos takes Slaughtermasters from good fighters to near greater daemon levels. The only spell that I really don't like taking is Flock of Doom, generally the rest can all be useful, and often times I even use Pann's Impenetrable Pelt on my deathstar to make all the models in the front rank, sans musician and standard, T7-8.

Lore of Beasts on a Butcher

When I take Lore of Beasts on a Butcher, it is probably for one reason, Wyssan's Wildform. This handy spell is going to turn your unit of ogres into S5 T5 monsters! Even though it has a fairly high casting value, this is a spell that I have no problem taking on a Level 1/2 because I'm going to be throwing quite a few dice at it anyhow! The problem with a Butcher with Beasts is that just about any other spell he gets is going to also need several dice to cast, so it means your lower level wizard may be sucking up all the dice in your magic phase. All that said, if you've got a Level 1 that you're not sure what to give, Lore of Beasts can complement the Great Maw nicely, giving you yet another spell to make your units stronger with.



Lore of Death

Lore of Death is clearly an offensive based lore, though it also has a sprinkling of debuffing. It also contains the dreaded Purple Sun!

Lore of Death on a Slaughtermaster

When considering Lore of Death, there are many reasons to get it on a Slaughtermaster, the Signature Spell, Spirit Leech is based off of Leadership, so there's a good place to start. A Slaughtermaster has an unimpressive LD8, but that's still one better than a Butcher at LD7! Additionally, there are some spells that just aren't useful, like Aspect of the Dreadknight, and when you're rolling more than one or two spells, it is less of a problem if this one comes up. In terms of utility, having a Slaughtermaster with Death isn't a bad idea, since it will give you some good offensive magic, as well as making your enemies weaker in combat.

Lore of Death on a Butcher

Sadly, due to the LD7 of a Butcher, it is very rare that I would justify taking Death magic on a Butcher. Since you will frequently take the signature spell with a Level 1/2, having one based on your own LD isn't a great starting point. In addition, all the fun spells have a fairly high casting value, which will mean 3-4 dice, just to have an average chance of casting. Sorry Butcher, I'm leaving this to the Slaughtermaster.



Lore of Fire & Firebellys

Another option is the Firebelly, who has access to Lore of Fire (duh). Lore of Fire offers decent offensive spells and the Firebelly himself is a useful hero, with some solid combat abilities.

The Firebelly is one of my favorite models in the Ogre Kingdoms range, and fortunately, he's pretty useful in the game! In addition to being a Level 1/2 Fire wizard (which I'll get to in a minute) he also has Flaming Attacks, a Breath Weapon and a natural ward save to flaming attacks! The Flaming Attacks is very important because it means he has flaming impact hits! This means, when you charge into a regenerating unit, if his Impact Hit causes a wound, it will strip regeneration from the unit before the normal attacks and stomps are made. Similarly, if he is in a unit of Ironguts, you can use the Breath Weapon at his normal initiative to strip regen, before swinging with his, and the rest of the unit's, great weapons.

In addition to the awesome utility that the Firebelly brings with his combat abilities, he is a Level 1/2 Fire Wizard. Generally, I only take him as a level 1 with Fireball. The other spells in the lore are alright, but typically I find my ogres do best when their magic supports the units in combat, rather than blasts the enemy from afar. Fireball is very useful to kill charge redirectors, but unfortunately the other spells don't fill this role reliably enough. The only other spell from Lore of Fire that I would like is Flaming Sword of Rhuin, which makes your units a bit harder hitting in a fight, but only being a level 2, means the chances of you getting that particular spell aren't very high, so I typically save my points and just be happy blasting chaff away before it slows me down.

 

[Knoffles]

Post 10 - Ogre Tactics: Maneaters

www.thediceabide.com/blog/2012/01/ogre-kingdoms-tactics-maneaters?rq=ogre


Hey everyone and welcome back! As you may have read, I recently did a general synopsis of the Ogre Kingdoms book. This will probably serve as a good starting point for new OK players, but I wanted to give a bit more attention to some select units, and probably the ones that need the most attention are the Maneaters.


The Basics

The first thing you'll probably notice about Maneaters is their impressive stat line. There is nothing in the game that I think can compare with them on a point per point basis. In close combat, they're dishing out 4 attacks at WS 4, S5 and at a respectable Initiative 3, and that's without weapons! If you use an additional hand weapon (or brace of pistols) their damage output will be devastating, especially when you consider that they have S5 impact hits and stomps. Unlike previous incarnations, Maneaters now have access to a full command group, as well as a 50 point magic banner. Being able to equip everyone differently, as well as their wide variety of skills, your Maneaters will always be a tough unit to face.


Been There, Done That

In the previous OK book, Maneaters were Stubborn and Immune to Psychology by default, which made for a unit that was very hard to shift in combat, in this new book though, they have lost those rules (kind of) but instead have their choice of two skills from a list of 8!

• Immune to Psychology - This is a solid choice, as it will keep your Maneaters from panicking when friends around them die or flee, and it will also protect you from the odd Terror test and magic power. I don't always take this ability, but when you're not sure what to take, this is always a good choice.

• Poisoned Attacks - Poisoned Attacks at first sounds like a no-brainer, especially when you look at the high number of attacks that the Maneaters are dishing out, but when you remember that they're already S5, it may be less relevant, unless you know you're going to be hitting some monsters. Additionally however, Poisoned Attacks also works on your brace of handguns, which can definitely be a scary thought.

• Scouts - This is one of my favorites, people don't often like having even just a few Maneaters on their flank, or behind their lines. Unfortunately, the rest of your army will struggle to support them, so they will probably die, but they will go down swinging.

• Sniper - When combined with handguns or a brace of handguns, sniper can be really nice for killing mages, BSB's and so on. Because you only have two abilities, I would only recommend this if you are taking your entire unit with ranged weapons, otherwise you're going to be restricting yourself.

• Strider - Walk right through terrain like a boss, this gives you everything strider! I like this ability on paper, but because you could take a magic banner to duplicate this ability if you really need it, I don't often take it.

• Stubborn - This is another very solid choice and probably one to always consider, there is nothing more embarrassing than having your 400 point unit lose combat by 1 and get run down.

• Swiftstride - I think that Swiftstride is an underestimated ability, if anything because it increases your chance to do extra impact hits significantly, and it will also give you a long charge that your opponent may not see coming. Because this tends to get your Maneaters off on their own, you usually want to be sure that you're Stubborn so that you don't end up running away.

• Vanguard - Similar to Scout, except that your Maneaters still take up one of your normal deployments, but you will see where your enemy scouts go before you have to move. I personally would rather scout, but if you're running two units of Maneaters, this may be something to consider.


Motley Crew

Unlike any other unit that I'm aware of in Warhammer, Ogre Maneaters are able to mix and match their weaponry within a unit. This allows you to do some interesting combinations, but really, it generally comes down to either a brace of handguns for everyone, or front rank with additional hand weapons (or pistols) and the second rank with great weapons. Since you are restricted to 3 supporting attacks for Monstrous Infantry, the second rank will not benefit from additional hand weapons, so there is no need to pay the points for them, I love it!


Putting It Together

There are many ways you can build this extremely versatile unit, and it can actually be a bit overwhelming, so I'll give you a few suggestions that I've run:


Urgut's Shootin' Squad

Equipment: Brace of Handguns, Ogre Pistols, Heavy Armor, Banner of Eternal Flame Special Rules: Poisoned Attacks, Snipers

This unit is a fairly common set up, and usually taken in 6's. You have the ability to pick out and shred your opponents characters with 6-12 shots, often hitting on 6's. Since you're going to usually hit on 6's, any hits you cause will automatically wound due to Poisoned Attacks and will ignore regeneration because of the Flaming Banner. Another good use for this unit is to put some flaming shots onto regenerating monsters in the shooting phase, before you lob a cannon ball at it to finish it off. In combat, these guys are no slouch either, if you know you're going to get in a fight, reform as wide as you can to get the most in base contact, even 4 wide is going to dish out 26 poisoned flaming attacks!


Lugnut's Sneakin' Lads

Equipment: 4x Additional Hand Weapon, 2x Great Weapon, Heavy Armor, Standard of Discipline Special Rules: Scout, Stubborn

A unit of 6 Maneaters with Ld9 and Stubborn, sprouting up deep in enemy lines is going to cause most players to have a mild heart attack. I've had pretty decent luck with this unit in the past, and it often ends up completely ruining a players battle plan, since they're going to have to deal with a gross unit right away. If you think you're going to be within your general's LD or BSB range, then you could probably exchange the Standard of Discipline for a Razor Standard (for dealing with those tough WoC) or the Ranger Standard to ignore terrain.


Sorgags's Sprinters

Equipment: 4x Additional Hand Weapon, 2x Great Weapon, Heavy Armor, Banner of Swiftness Special Rules: Swiftstride, Stubborn

This is another fun combination that totally catches people off guard. With the Banner of Swiftness and Swiftstride, these larders are no slower than a barded warhorse, and stink at least twice as bad. With their immense speed, they have a good chance of landing those extra impact hits (4D3 S5 will make people cry) and striking deep in enemy lines. Because of their stubbornness, you'll probably cause a ton of damage on the charge, the enemy will overcompensate and as long as one is left alive, they'll probably be in a vulnerable place for you to counter charge with the rest of your army.


Overall, Ogre Maneaters can fill a wide variety of roles and take on many different kinds of opponent. Even when you take them specialized in shooting, they are still a devastating close combat unit and don't forget it!

 

[Knoffles]

Post 11 - Ogre Tactics: In Defense of Hunters

www.thediceabide.com/blog/2011/10/ogre-kingdoms-in-defense-of-hunters?rq=ogre


So hopefully by now, all of you who enjoy sweaty larders as much as I do, have played a few games with the new book and tried out everything there is to offer. After playing a few games, I feel that the Hunter is an underutilized unit in the army book. You may disagree, but hear me out...


The Package

So what does this hunter look like on paper? For 130 points, you have a Bruiser stat line, but with a boost to LD9 and a respectable BS 4, he comes with a Hand Weapon, Light Armor and a Great Throwing Spear (12" range, S+1, Quick to Fire). The Hunter is a Loner, which means that nobody can use his LD (except Sabretusks), and he can't be the general. A Hunter's equipment options include an Additional Hand Weapon, Ironfist, Great weapon, Harpoon Launcher and Blood Vulture (pick 1 from the list). A Harpoon Launcher is usually a decent choice, offering you a 36" S6 D3 wounds weapon, though when you're not mounted it becomes Move or Shoot. The other unique equipment option is the Blood Vulture, which gives you a S4 Sniper weapon, if it didn't have to roll to hit, I'd consider it, but since you only get one choice from the list, I would skip it.

On top of the equipment options, your Hunter can take 50 points of magic items and big names. Lastly, your hunter has the option to take a Stonehorn, which I'll go over later. So after looking over the equipment, and realizing that your awesome Hunter can't fight in units, you need to figure out exactly what you can use them for. There are are 3 options on how you will run a Hunter: alone, with Sabre Tusks, on a Stonehorn.


All by myself

Taking a Hunter on foot with no back up may seem like suicide, but it can actually be a wonderful use to get a cheapish monster running around and being a huge pain in the neck. At the end of the day, a Hunter still has an impressive stat line which rivals many actual monsters in the game. When running alone, I would recommend Long Strider, to move up to M7, and some sort of ranged protection like the Shield of Ptolos, plus whatever close combat option you fancy. This allows him to shrug off most ranged shooting long enough to charge someplace tender.


Run with the Wolves

Building on the same idea of a Hunter being a speedy torpedo of fat and fists, you could run a Hunter with some Sabretusks. At 21 points a piece, these guys are pretty cheap and have a very impressive stat line. With the Hunter, the unit's typically low LD of 4 is increased to 9, and they gain the ability to Vanguard, though as a down side, the Hunter is going to be slowing them down significantly with M6. Increasing the Hunter's movement with Long Strider is again a good idea, which makes the unit M7 Swiftstride. Running a Hunter with Longstrider, some magic items and 8 Sabretusk is going to run you a mere 348 points to have a unit which is dishing out as many attacks as an Ogre, on a more narrow frontage and has WS/I 4. On top of that, they're making Vanguard moves and have Swiftstride, so if you go second, you could end up with a very nice first turn charge.


Scary Monsters

The last option I'm going to talk about is the wonderful and dreaded Stonehorn. This guys stats are sporting multiple 6's, and it does a whole boat load of Impact hits. You can read more about the strengths of the Stonehorn by itself on my article "Ogre Tactics: Stonehorn vs Thundertusk!" There are a few reasons to consider taking this as a mount for your Hunter; for me, the biggest reason is that the Hunter is LD9, meaning that your monster is much less likely to run when things turn sour, there is nothing more embarrassing than a massive Stonehorn running off the field because he got a little spooked by some Night Goblins. Another reason for taking a Stonehorn as a mount is that it means you're not using up your precious Rare points, so you could still take a pair of Ironblasters and a Thundertusk without going over your limit. The last benefit of being a Hunter mount is the Hunting Beast rule, which until a FAQ comes out, seems to overwrite the normal way that characters on mounts are affected by shooting attacks ("any shooting attacks against he model will hit the Stonehorn on a D6 roll of 1-4, and the Hunter on a roll of 5+" - p.53, Ogre Kingdoms), this means that 1/3 of all the weak shots that would normally wound the Stonehorn are now hitting the Hunter instead, and 2/3 of the cannonballs that would normally splatter the Hunter across the field impact into the Stonehorn instead.

When running a Hunter on Stonehorn, I typically give him the Shield of Ptolos (1+ save to range), the Berserker Sword (also giving the hunter frenzy and ensuring you never lose it and thus Immune to Psychology). The only down side is that at 425 points, it puts a large strain on your Hero choices, meaning you have to choose between a L2 caster and a BSB in normal 2500 point games.


The End

So there you have it! Hopefully you'll give these fur clad fatties the credit they deserve on the field and give them a try!

 

[Knoffles]

Post 12 - Ogre Tactics: To Horde or not to Horde

www.thediceabide.com/blog/2011/10/ogre-kingdoms-tactics-to-horde-or-not-to-horde?rq=ogre


Hey guys, time to get back to talking about our porcine monsters, the Ogres! I played a game last weekend with them against my friend's Tomb Kings, trying out a horde of 16 Ironguts with Slaughtermaster and BSB. While I did manage to pull off a victory, I can't help but think about how lucky I got.


To Horde

When playing an army like ogres, you always get a high concentration of attacks in a relatively narrow frontage. To maximize that, adding another rank of attacks pushes you up to a lovely 9 attacks per 40mm in the front, compared to regular A1 20mm models, who will get 6, 8 if they're spearmen. Also, when running a horde formation of Ogres, it means you have fewer units that you need to cast buffs on, effectively making your magic more potent.

A horde of Ironguts is going to dish out 54 attacks at S6, there isn't a unit in the game that wants to face that kind of punishment. Even if you go last you're only probably going to lose 1-2 ogres, which still means you're going to dish out the pain. If you're like me and run a Thundertusk along side, you might even be lucky enough to not lose any models before you get a chance to strike!

So with these great reasons to run the Ogre Horde, why would you ever not want to?


Not to Horde

Maneuverability. A Horde of Ironguts is going to be 240mm wide, or about 9.5", which makes it a royal nightmare to maneuver around buildings and other impassible terrain, as well as terrain you just don't want to be in, like Blood Forests, Boiling Floods, Mist Wreathed Swamps, etc. Also, with that wide of a unit, wheeling is much less efficient than on a unit that is half the width. A smart opponent can use this to their advantage and make it nearly impossible for you to get around to a good fight where you get to bring all your attacks to bear.

The other big reason I ran into playing with the Ogre Horde was the fact that it's very susceptible to a multi-charge. I was fortunate that my opponent wasn't able to pull it off, but I was extremely open at one point to taking a unit of flaming chariot attacks in the flank, as well as a Tomb Guard horde to my front. Had they both landed at the same time, it would have been over, fortunately however he failed the TG charge and I was able to dismantle the chariots and Tomb Guard at my leisure.


Conclusion

In the end, while it was fun to play the horde, it was just not very manoeuvrable and difficult to protect from multi-assaults, I think that my 2 units of 8 for my main blocks worked better in most of my other games. I may play it every now and then for fun, but as far as a reliable option goes, I prefer the flexibility of two units.

 

[Knoffles]

Post 13 - Ogre Tactics: 'Guts vs Bulls

www.thediceabide.com/blog/2011/11/ogre-tactics-guts-vs-bulls?rq=ogre


Once, a long time ago, you had a requirement of 1+ bulls, but that is no more, now you are free in your decision to take Guts or Bulls! Today I'm going to go over the two units and why you should take one over the other.


Bull Hockey

Ogres are a wall of meat, fists and fat, boasting the fairly impressive stat line, they move fast and hit hard. At a mere 30 points apiece, each model is dishing out 3 S4 attacks, and now they come with light armor! They have 2 equipment options, neither of which are particularly expensive, your choice is either an additional hand weapon or an ironfist (basically a shield). Standard command options, though unfortunately no magic banner.


Gut Instinct

Ironguts are a bit more costly at 43 points a model, each one comes equipped with a great weapon and heavy armor, meaning they're going to dish out more damage and take potentially less. They also have normal command options, but they also get the ability to take a magic banner, which is extremely important to remember.


Medium Units

Now we are down to units of 6 Ironguts vs 8 Bulls. Meaning 18 S6 attacks and 3 S5 impacts vs 24 S4 attacks and 4 S5 impacts. Against T4, the bulls are dealing 7.166 wounds on the charge, while the Ironguts weigh in at a whopping 9.5, though when dealing with lower toughness, the Bulls are hitting for 11.33 wounds and the Guts for 10.5. That's actually a pretty marginal difference, and when you factor in armor (5+), that 11.33 wounds on the Bulls is reduced to 9.4, while the Guts are unaffected. The Bulls can take more punishment with the extra parry and wounds, but even for the same point cost, the Guts just take the cake in combat.


Hordes

A horde of Ironguts is a terrifying sight, and for the same amount of points you could get 24 Bulls! I wouldn't recommend a unit of 24, but a unit of 18 plus an extra unit of 6 isn't a bad idea. Lets pretend that you're fortunate enough with your horde fully in combat and they charged, your Bulls will deal 18.5 wounds vs T4 and 23 against T3. Ironguts however in this kind of volume are dealing 27 wounds against either T3 or T4! When it comes down to sheer hitting power, the Irongut horde will probably butcher anything in it's path, if you put in the Flaming Banner then very little will be able to stand up to you. Now lets talk price tag, 18 Ironguts is starting at 774 points, which could very well be 30% of your whole army, but the Bulls are only going to run you a modest 576 points, still expensive, but only 23% of a 2500 point army.

I've tried playing with both the Gut horde and the Bull horde and honestly, while the damage the Guts deal is impressive, it is hard to justify spending nearly a third of my army on a single unit. When you're running a Gut horde, it will become a Gutstar, and basically dictate the whole way your army plays, while if you're taking a Bull horde, you will still deal a ton of damage and be able to withstand a gruesome amount of punishment. Of the two, I now prefer the Bulls, since they allow me to still have a flexible army with multiple hard hitting units, instead of just the one.


Take the Bull by the Horns

I know that Bulls is now an antiquated term, but I don't care, I still love them and want to give them the credit they deserve. For both small and large units, I think the Bulls win every day, they are just so much cheaper now that for a large unit, they aren't terribly expensive and for a cheaper unit, you can still get a fair number of models on the board. I still do enjoy my guts though, but they are mostly mitigated for mid-sized units where they can deal a lot of damage without taking a huge chunk from your budget.

 

[Knoffles]

Post 14 - Ogre Tactics: Stonehorn vs Thundertusk!

www.thediceabide.com/blog/2011/09/ogre-tactics-stonehorn-vs-thundertusk?rq=ogre


Hey my fellow fattie lovers! I was inspired by eating animal hearts (as well as about 15 pounds of other cuts of red meat) last night at a Brazilian BBQ to talk a bit about my favorite lummoxes. Today, I'm going to analyze the Stonehorn and the Thundertusk and talk about which one would be best for you! It's no secret that I love the new Ogre Kingdoms book, as well as the wonderful toys it has given my larders to play with. The biggest new units in the book though are no doubt the Stonehorn and Thundertusk. Each weighing in at 250 points, you've got a hefty decision to make, do you go for the direct offensive Stonehorn or the army supporting Thundertusk? To make our decision, lets take a look at each of the units in more detail.


STONEHORN

First up we have the less subtle of the choices, the Stonehorn. This guy enjoys long walks on the mountain and eating rocks. Do you remember that kid in your 4th grade class that was ate rocks? He wasn't very bright, but he was also built like an ox, well that my friend was your first encounter with a Stonehorn in the wild!

Boasting an impressive statline, consisting of a healthy dose of 6's, the Stonehorn is no doubt one of the more superior units in Fantasy for close combat fighting. On the charge, you're inflicting 3D3 impact hits and if you roll a 10+ that goes up to 3D3+3; these impact hits are in lieu of your normal attacks (which is 5 + frenzy, so you are going to get anywhere between 3 and 12 impact hits on the charge), but you still get the rider's attacks and Thunderstomps. The beast itself is a fair pain in the butt to kill, having 6 wounds a 4+ save and it's Stone Skeleton which halves the number of wounds suffered from multi-wound attacks, meaning it will take 3-4 cannonball hits to fell on average! On it's back you have an ogre rider, who boasts a regular ogre statline, except with BS3. The Ogre is equipped with a Chaintrap, which is pretty poor (12" S6 killing blow), but you can exchange that for a Harpoon Launcher (36" S6 D3 wounds) for FREE! I honestly can't see why you wouldn't take that later option, even though it is unlikely that you will be not marching or charging.

If all that wasn't good enough, you can take this guy as a mount for a Hunter. Now, a lot of people don't think particularly like this, I however think this is a very viable option. When you put a Hunter on this monster, 1/3 of the shooting attacks that would hurt your beast are now hitting your hunter, effectively increasing the number of wounds the whole unit has, additionally, the Hunter is LD9, so you are not as reliant on your General's LD or the BSB to get this monster into the enemy lines. When considering a Hunter on Stonehorn, you must consider two things: Survivability and Delivery. For survivability, I am giving my Hunter the Shield of Ptolos, which gives him a 1+ save to ranged attacks, meaning those pesky bow/xbow shots should bounce harmlessly off. As far as Delivery goes, give him something to boost his already considerable fighting prowess. This combination means that your Hunter and Stonehorn are well suited to stampede down the flank of your enemies army and crush everything in their path. Another viable option is to give your hunter the Armor of Preservation and a Great Weapon, this will give the Hunter a 4+/4++ save and a nice great weapon, but is more susceptible to small arms fire and could run away before he gets in the fight, although it is still a very good equipment set up.

As far as tactics go, your first instinct is often to stick him on the flank where it can use it's M7 to make it down the flank of the enemy. With the Stonehorn conferring Immune to Psychology from its frenzy, it won't be fleeing through panic. However the standard Ogre rider only has a LD of 7 (vs the hunters LD 9) so if it loses frenzy for any reason it could be in trouble. As with many monsters it's a good idea to use them in combo charges and if you field it near your general and BSB it can benefit from their LD and/or the BSB re-roll. Once you get a charge off though, all bets are off, as this guy is going to crunch through enemy units and cause all sorts of destruction.


THUNDERTUSK

The Stonehorn is a rather large, comparatively slow moving mammoth thing, which has about 10 Aces up it's sleeve (or matted in it's fur). Still sporting an impressive statline, it has one less attack in close combat than the Stonehorn, but boasts an extra rider, so it can still deal out a punishing amount of attacks.

This monster, unlike the Stonehorn isn't meant though entirely for it's close combat prowess, instead it acts as a force multiplier, who can still step on some heads in a fight. The first ability I will mention is called the Sphere of Frost-wreathed Ice, which is a fancy way of saying a big frackin' snowball. Using it's freezing breath, the Thundertusk generates a (snow) ball of ice shards and hurls it at the enemy, this has the same effect as a Stonethrower, but with a range of 6-24", and nothing bad happens on a Misfire. Additionally, the monster can fire this on the move, meaning it has an effective maximum range of 30", combined with the Harpoon Launcher of one of the riders, you could actually cause 2D3 wounds on a monster at that range, which could catch a lot of people off guard, and since the Thundertusk is a smooth ride, the harpoon isn't going to suffer the penalty for moving and shooting as well.

The second special ability the Thundertusk boasts is probably the most imporant, it is called Numbing Chill. This ability makes all enemy models within 6" suffer from the Always Strikes Last rule. Ho-lee crap! Let me say that again. Any enemy within 6" is going to have it's spine realigned by the finest of ogre chiropractor (Dr. Spiky-club) before they have a chance to react! That is absolutely solid gold! Having this unit charge alongside a solid unit of bulls means that you will deal your full number of attacks before the enemy can reduce your numbers. I run my Thundertusk right inbetween my Ironguts and my Bulls, meaning that I can have it charge alongside the unit that needs the support the most, but in either case, the opponent is going to suck down the full 24+ ogre attacks before having the chance to do anything about it. I should point out that the rule does specify enemy "models" within 6", so until FAQ'd otherwise, if you're at one corner of a horde, the guys on the end may still get a few attacks through, but that will hopefully not be enough to cause any problems for you.


SO... WHAT SHOULD I TAKE?

I hate saying things like "well, it's all down to your personal preference" so I wont. To break it down nicely, if you are running an army that has plenty of hard hitting attacks already, then the Stonehorn, as fun as it is, will probably be redundant. If your army has a lot of basic Bulls or Ironguts, and especially if you're facing an army with a lot of high initiative high strength attacks (I'm looking at you WoC), then the Thundertusk will really be a devastating choice. So take a good look at your list figure out if you're a little low on the hard hitting units, or if you'll be suffering from your low initiative more and take the one that fits.

On a final note, I own both, and either one is a great choice, so I really have to suggest the age old method of playing a few games with a headless, backless monster glued to a massive base and figure out which one works best for your list.

 

[Knoffles]

Post 15 – General Tactics


Big charges to make use of all those impact hits and brawling with infantry, very little can go toe to toe with Ogres but be aware of the ones that can. The biggest flaw in the Ogre Kingdoms army is a small number of models on the field (most of the time), this makes them more vulnerable to cannons, bolt throwers and anything else that causes D3/D6 wounds per hit. Keep your models reasonably spread out to reduce the chance of flank charges and give you space to maneuver. You will need to dictate combat or your smaller units will be swarmed to death by most other armies.

For lower point games (1000, 1250, or even 1500) you need to spend most of your points on your main unit (bulls or Ironguts), and your characters. Then have some smaller units of (sabertusks for example) to hold your flanks because if your flanks are good then you can charge whatever is in front and you will most likely win (bring the dragonhide banner to ensure that).

"Gutstar:" unit of 9 Ironguts with 3 of them in the front and with big 4lv Slaughtermaster with Lore of The Great Maw and Crown of Command, Bruiser BSB (with Rune Maw banner) and Firebelly at second rank of the unit. Ultra hard to kill and while putting out great damage in return.

Gnoblars. They tend to be overlooked in favour for the more brute force of the ogre bulls, but it is said that half the battle is won through deployment. Now look at those 2 point gnoblars, you can field a massive load of them in tiny units, thus forcing the enemy to deploy his important units first so that you counter deploy. Don't try using them as a screen/chaff however, one of the strengths of your army is your mobility and if you have to wait on these little guys to catch up (or worse yet, having them in front of your Ogres) you'll be losing that bonus.

"Ogre Buffet Line:" Slaughtermaster with Level 4 Great Maw, Glittering Scales & Fencing Blades (getting hit on 5+ at worst), Butcher with Level 1 Beasts & Hellheart, Bruiser with Ironfist & Dragonhide Banner. All of these in a unit with 15 Bulls in a 6x3 Horde formation. You'll run down anything, and there is no hero in the game more tanky than your buffed up WS10/S6/T7 Slaughtermaster.

VS Dwarves: You have to get into combat now, every turn out of CC is dead ogres from all those war machines. The other option is to get something, anything that moves fast enough to go hunt said war machines down.

VS Vampire Counts/Tomb Kings: you need to take down those wizards, the sooner the better as they will most likely be more powerful than your own and will make the bones too numerous to deal with. Secondly you need to win combat fast, the longer the fight the better for the undead as even zombies can kill ogres given enough time.

VS Skaven: kill the general and watch them fall apart (this can be tricky if the general continues to bounce around the field, so remember to always dispel skitterleap. Also, Cracks, Call and Globe can wreck utter havoc in your lines), just take care around the weapons teams and war machines, they are inaccurate to the point of crazy but if they do roll well they can ruin your day in a hurry. Their Warp Lightning Cannon is your death, as it cannot be stopped like other cannonballs. Also beware the Doomwheel.

 

[Knoffles]

@Lizards of Renown There you go!

 

[Lizards of Renown]

@Lizards of Renown There you go!

AWESOME!!!!!!! You’re a legend! I’m going to pore over this one a lot more. Some great ideas here.