Considering Ogre Kingdoms

[mikethefish]

So I get that 9th is about to drop, and all this might be invalid fairly soon, BUT...

I'm an older player who is considering rebooting/repurchasing Ogre Kingdoms (I played them when they were originally released). Trying to get the lay of the land about what is considered by the community to be good and what is considered worthwhile options and what's not?

1) What are the most commonly used units? What units are considered to be duds?

2) Monsters? Are there any that are really good or really aweful?

3) What does a typical "competetive" OK army look like?

[Mr Mystery]

There's very little drivel in the Ogre Kingdoms army book.

Ogres and Ironguts are staple units of course. Extremely popular units include Ironblasters and Mournfang Cavalry.

As ever, will really depend on what units tickle your fancy, and how many points you want the army to be.

I favour 3,000+, and as such can easily accommodate 18 strong units of Ogres and Ironguts, which precious little can stand up to!

[Wildeybeast]

In terms on monsters, both the big mammoth things are fairly good, but as with all monsters, they are vulnerable to cannon fire and will lose out to big locks of infantry if you send them in unsupported.

[Mr Mystery]

Stonehorn is surprisingly resilient, as any 'multiple wounds' are halved. Will save you from a single cannon, and two fairly reliably. But 3 will still make you d.e.d......

I also, perhaps alone, quite rate Sabretusks. They can come in ridiculously small units, and don't cost a great many points. Yet, they're really, really fast - and make for excellent Wizard Killers. In short, you use their speed to advance well ahead of your main line, aiming for pesky Casters, or even Fighty Heroes at a pinch, hiding in units (where they have to be in the front rank). Your opponent can either divert some firepower on to them (wasteful when I'm running them in units of two!) or ignore them as they would other charge blocking units. Either is a reasonable purpose for their points, but do get a charge in if you can. Direct all attacks at the Wizard, and he's very likely toast.

Downside to this? It's a tiddly unit, and easily dealt with. And Ogres do not take terribly kindly to panic tests - distinctly middling Ld, and distinctly high 'per unit' points cost can see a single failed Panic test ruin your game!

But I've found the trade off to be worth it, particularly if your opponent is one to go for Buff Spells, as Ogres really shine when they can wallop a unit off the board in a single round of combat!

[Erik Setzer]

Ogres are a pretty fun army. I haven't had much chance to try them in games that weren't against someone using a cheeky list (because I bought mine right about the time that WFB went officially "Unbound"), but they still held up pretty good and should be able to give anyone a tough fight.

I actually prefer Ironguts as my core because, heck, you're striking at I2 normally which is below pretty much everyone, so why not just go with great weapons and get +2 Strength? A three-wide unit should be getting something like 19 attacks (with Champion) at S6... not much will stand up to that. (Plus the impact hits.)

You can also do Ogres pretty cheap, if you're willing to do a little work. I grabbed a couple battalions, a couple boxes of Mournfangs, a Stonehorn, and an Ironblaster. Six of the basic Ogres I set aside to use bits and green stuff to model characters, so rather than paying $40 per character I've made my own Tyrant, BSB, Firebelly, Hunter, and Slaughtermaster/Butcher. I also have 6 Bulls, 12 Ironguts, 4 Mournfang (with great weapons... see above), an Ironblaster, a Hunter on Stonehorn, and 8 Leadbelchers, so 3000 or so points for around $300-$350 (or your local equivalent). When you have all those kits, you have plenty of bits left over.

Bonus, you'll have enough Gnoblars to do a unit of them, or use them as Grots in 40K (if you're an Ork player, or just want to do a Grot Kill Team).

[Mr Mystery]

Gnoblars should always, in my opinion at least, be upgraded with Trappers.

Those Dangerous Terrain tests can wreak merry bollocks on anyone charging them. Yes, statistically it's only 1 in 6 taking a no-armour save wounds, but it doesn't take much 'off average' luck to do serious damage, especially against Cavalry, which is always hilarious!

[Erik Setzer]

It does seem like the most hilarious way to deal with a Horde formation Chaos Warrior unit. Sure, the Gnoblars will die a gruesome, squishy death, but that's a lot of Chaos Warriors tripping and killing themselves in the process.

[Mr Mystery]

Yup.

For certain high cost units, charging Gnoblars is a decidedly risky prospect. Sure, the Gnoblars are toast once the charge connects, but they're so ridiculously cheap that you can easily lose more points charging than the Gnoblars cost.

It's not a universal thing - for instance Gobbos, Zombies and other cheap units will march through the Gnoblars just as quickly (they really are otherwise terrible!) as Chaos Warriors. But definitely food for thought, spesh as you'll wind up with quite a few of the little green sods anyway!