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« on: Mar 23, 2013, 05:50:31 PM »
Viable ogre lists
So I was thinking of the ogre list, and the many ways you can use the different units in both standardized and more obscure lists to great success. I have been playing Ogres since the original army box was released which I got for Christmas back in 2004, and I have tried a lot of different lists over the many years, and even though the majority of the games were during 6th and 7th edition or even 8th using the old book, I'd like to discuss the many possible ways an ogre list can be composed, and how such a list should be played to maximum efficiency.
This is because I find that no matter what I try, I always come back to your run off the mill MMU Maw slaughtermaster/bsb/firebelly setup in the end.
The following is a rundown of the basic list constructions I have tried using the new book, the way I find they should be played, their strengths and weaknesses and my personal experiences with different lists. I am thinking tournament sized 2000-2500 points lists, and neither much larger nor smaller.
1: The typical Approach
Most ogre armies I've seen have been consisting of multiple medium sized units with varying character and support unit choices, and will typically include the following:
A Slaughtermaster (maw) general usually equipped with fencer's blades, greedy fist and either an arcane item or glittering scales, a BSB with crown of command and either a Firebelly or a butcher with either scroll or hellheart.
Core will usually be 2-3 units of 6-10 bulls/ironguts (with discipline standard) with maybe some 10 man gnoblar trapper roadblocks.
Special will typically include a unit of 3-4 mournfangs with dragonhide banner and either yhetee flankers, 6-8 leadbelchers or 6-8 maneaters and of course 2-3 single sabretusks and maybe a Gorger or two
Rare will usually include either dual ironblasters or one ironblaster and a monster of some sort (rarely a giant though).
With a main battleline all within the LD/BSB bubbles, six-dicing a Large Trollguts most magic phases is a common tactic, statistically limiting incomming damage by 50%, making for fairly easy and powerful list to play, especially you use clever deployment to make sure your main battleline is wisely placed.
This list is very strong and excels at all phases, but will easily become a bit boring to play in the long run.
A common variation of the same basic approach is a character setup of Tyrant/BSB/2 firebellies which will lose your chance of having trollguts making for a slightly more agressive but also less reliable playstyle.
The supported Ogre Horde
The second most used army will typically be based around a horde of core ogres of choice (typically ironguts with discipline banner) led by both a Tyrant and a Maw Slaughtermaster, a Runemaw BSB and special/rare choices varying the same way as the above, except a couple of gorgers are usually included in this type of list.
Tactically this army plays much like explained above, except for typically a greater focus on chaff/warmachine hunting to prevent the horde from getting redirected and gunned down.
A strong approach which is also pretty easy to play, but offers even less tactical diversity than the typical approach. Still gets kind of boring in the long run, I reckon.
3: The Ogre Gunline
A Death or Heavens Slaughtermaster, maxing out on Leadbelchers (one unit typically led by flaming banner BSB), dual ironblasters, dual scraplaunchers and lots and lots of Gnoblar trapper roadblocks and of course a unit of poison/sniper maneaters makes for a fun and shooty list. The lack of a stand and shoot option on leadbelchers severely hampers the effectiveness of a defence-based ogre list, and in the long run you will end up missing out on the key strength of the ogre army: The fact that basically everything hits pretty hard in combat.
My verdict is that it's fun for laughs, but overall one of the weaker setups.
4: The Icy mountains list
A surprisingly effective (against non-ItP Low-average LD armies) if a bit less reliable setup is a fast list based on clever use of synergies between different units. Multiple units of Yhetees, dual thundertusks and a couple of mournfang units, maybe a longstrider hunter in a sabretusk unit with the army led by a Death Slaughtermaster which uses LD debuffing hexes to maximize Yhetee efficiency by making their targets more likely to fail their fear tests. Whether failing a fear test caused by Yhetees combined with their aura makes enemies unable to strike back is still debated, and I recommend this only in environments that allows the yhetee trick to be utilized. Even a minimum sized yhetee unit attacking a large unit with doom and darkness cast on them will be prone to breaking even though they are steadfast, and the yhetees have a fairly large chance of pursuing their targets.
This list makes for a fun and rarely seen ogre list which most people will laugh at at first, but the look on their faces if their death-star is run down in turn two by a unit of three yhetees is priceless. I wouldn’t use it in tournaments but in a fixed game against armies with an average leadership of 7-8 it is definitely worth a try. Surprisingly, this setup has also proved considerably effective against other ogre armies. Namely because it plays against our own weaknesses. Just be sure to cast aspectof the dreadknight on your yhetees and it can wreck ogres.
And that is the ways I have personally tried myself. Namely due to lack of models, I haven’t tried things such as triple Stonehorns, dual core ogre hordes with little to no support or the cheeseball scouting Maneater horde. But what is your setup for more obscure armies? How do they work and what do you do to make them work? Please discuss and share.
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