D.R.A.I.C.H How to kill a big mean Ogre v7.0

[Enkiel]

Presentation

My first ever army was Ogre Kingdoms. Only gods knows why. My friend advised me to start Dark Elf or some strong army like that, but i really liked the Ogre Kingdoms. Its a very straightforward army, that do not require to know the whole rulebook to be played. It is a challenging army to play, but it can be somewhat powerful in the hands of a great general. Here is my first takes at winning against them. I used my personnal strategy, and experience to write this. It is obviously incompleted, but i will try to complete it before 8th release, or the new books, whichever come first.

D.R.A.I.C.H How to kill a big mean Ogre v7.0

Know Your enemy.

This strategy guide will hopefully help you cope with one of the most unique army of all ; the Ogre Kingdoms

Strenght
- Everything except Gnoblar, have Toughness 4 or better.
- Everything except Gnoblar, have Strenght 4 or better.
- Everything except Gnoblar, cause fear.
- Core units have 3 wounds, and 3 attacks.
- Caster knows all spells from their lore, and all of them are cast on 3+.
- movement of 6” for everyone except Gnoblar.
- Bull charge (single impact hits/models) as soon as they charge from over 6”.

Weakness
- Low armour. The best they have is 5+ on ironguts or the Bull upgraded with ironfist and light armour.
- Low leadership. A mixt of 7 and 8. Coupled with the MSU (Minimum Sized Units) technique, it makes the army very easy to scare away.
- Expensive units (except Gnoblar).
- Relies on ACR (active combat resolution) to win combat.

Characters
The Ogre only have access to 3 type of heroes, and 2 lord (one requiring another lord to be chosen).
Lord : Tyrant and Slaughtermaster.
Slaughtermaster : You will never see him, unless playing a 3000 pts army, and its not likely that someone will field him, so we’ll leave him out of the analysis.
Tyrant : with 5 wounds, 5 toughness, 5 attacks and a base strength of 5, he’s a beast to kill and a killer. He only has access to a 5+ ward save at best, which can cost him a life if he rolls a 1 when deploying him, so he’s not really the hardest character to kill.

Heroes : Bruiser, Hunter and Butcher.
Bruiser : Bruiser is really just a cheaper version of the Tyrant. Just one less Weapon Skill, Wound and attack. He can be a BSB, but don’t expect any magic standard that would be a game winner, since they have none.
Hunter : Hunter is basically a mobile bolt thrower, that can’t move and shoot. His 2 sabretusk can be a pain since they can charge without the hunter at 16”, but they’re relatively easy to kill.
Butcher : the caster of the Ogre Kingdoms. They can be fearsome opponent, with T5,4 Wounds, immune to poison, and since all their spell can be cast on 3+, and they all know all the magic spell from their lore. But it is important to note ; even if all Butcher knows all spell, you cannot spam those each round, as each spell can only be casted once by a butcher in a magic phase, and if it works(means not dispelled in anyway), it requires a 6+ to be recasted during the same phase by another Butcher. Also, no unit can have 2 buff at the same time, under any circumstance.

Special Characters
Skrag the slaughterer : Skrag is a 400 pts frenzy character that give blessing to his gorger and himself depending on how many model he killed. He is also considered as a Slaughtermaster (without the tyran requirement). He also allows the general to field more gorger, which can be a big problem for our warmachine. A fair warning : On his first kill, he gets regeneration, and all gorger enter combat on next turn.
Greasus Goldtooth : A general that helps all the army, he has many tools at his disposition ; Everyone in line of sight of him gets +1 CR, He can make D3 unit stupid at the start of opponent turn, and it last until next turn. Everything within LOS of him rally on next turn. On top of that, he has a 4+ wardsave against non-magical missile.


Core
Ogre Kingdoms have some of the best core in the game. The base stats for the Bulls and Ironguts are 3 WS 3 Attacks 3 wounds, 4 toughness, 4 strenght. That’s a frontage of 9 attacks minimum, and coupled with the bull charge, it can be devastating on low toughness enemy.

Bull : basic unit, they come armed with nothing but their club for 35 pts.
Ironguts : same as bull, with heavy armour and heavy weapon for 48 pts.
Gnoblar Fighter : Bicker, could be compared to skaven slaves. Easy to kill, but don’t cause panic on any ogre units.
Gnoblar Trapper : Bicker and scout. They’re great march blocker, but that’s about the only role they can perform.

Special Choice
In the special category, there’s no obvious choice. Some will love the Scraplauncher (especially against us), some will love the Leadbelchers or the Yhetees.
Scraplauncher : One word to keep in mind : Bad Tempered at 5 Ld. They must charge unless they pass a leadership test. This can be pretty useful to keep it from shooting at our units with his big template. Also, it is considered a chariot, so a little S7 hit, and there he goes.
Leadbelchers : a very expensive bulls (55 pts) with a big cannon. It can shoot 12” an artillery dice number of shot at S4. But then it must stay still for one turn to recharge.
Yhetees : 7” movement, can move through impassable terrain without penalty, and can even charge through terrain if they have line of sight. They got an aura that reduce our chance to hit them, so shooting them from a distance is the easiest way to get ride of them. Despite that, they are considered a glass cannon, without the cannon part.

Rare

Magic
All spells cast on 3+, unless already casted successfully (which then cast on 6+). All spell can only be casted once per butcher per magic phase. Also, keep in mind that 3 spells can/will arm the butcher as well (BoneCruncher, ToothCracker and TrollGuts)
BloodGruel : Ignore this spell unless you think you can/will kill his butcher. It just gives him 1 health back.
BrainGobbler : cause panic test. Can be very annoying, but should not be #1 priority.
BullGorger : Butcher take a Strenght test, if successful, a unit gain +1Strenght. That’s the difference between a 3+ and a 2+ on bulls. Again, I wouldn’t consider it a priority.
BoneCruncher : 2D6 S2 hits with no armour save.
Toothcracker : +1 Toughness and unit become stubborn. Making an ogre toughness 5 is bad for us. This one is in the top 2 to dispel at all cost.
TrollGuts : Unit gain regen and magic resistance(2). The other “must dispel”.
Keep in mind that both Bullgorger, Toothcracker and TrollGuts can be dispelled during your own magic phase or a following opponent magic phase, so if you let one pass, its not the end of the world. But to dispel them afterward you need 7+.



Psychology
They have low leadership, best use it to our advantage. Even if everyone cause fear, a leadership test can be devastating for them.


Druchii Tactics
Do not deploy right at 12’’. Giving you an extra inch between you and his army could really screw up his plan. It’s not very a great cunning plan, but it can fool some players, especially if you hide your measuring well. This could give you either another round to shoot, or a much unexpected charge.

March Block! The longer they stay away from you, the better your chance to avoid their club, and the better are your chance to kill them from a distance. Also, your goal when you’re shooting at them, is to target different bulls and ironguts unit, and making sure to kill just enough for a panic test. Gnoblar are not to be considered, as they are ignored by Ogres.

Keep your General near. With so many fear causing units, a Ld of 10 will always help. They will rarely cause autobreak, unless you play MSU as well.

Manage your dispel dice. You just don’t want his general’s unit to gain regeneration.

10 crossbowman shooting at bulls at long ranges.
No multi shot
10 hitting on 4. 5 hits. 1.7 wounds.
Multi shot
20 hitting on 5. 6.7 hits. 2,2 wounds.
10 crossbowman shooting at bulls at short ranges.
No multi shot
10 hitting on 3. 6.7 hits. 2.2 wounds.
Multi shot
20 hitting on 4. 10 hits. 3.3 wounds.



It is better to run, than to get charged. It is especially true from those. With 3 attack/base on core units, It is very easy to get beaten to pulp on the charge. Example :
3 bull charge. First they get 3 bull charge at STR4 then 3 attack each at WS3 STR4 Armour Piercing
Bull charge does 2 wounds.
9 attacks. 4.5 hits. 3 wounds, and no armour saves.
5 wounds total, there goes your front rank.

3 Ironguts charge. Same Bull charge, but 3 attack each at STR6.
Bull Charge does 2.5 wounds
9 attacks. 4.5 hits. 3.75 wounds, and of course no armour saves.
6 wounds total.

Important Notes
- Bull charge only works if there’s more than 3 ogre in the unit, and if they charge from further than 6”.
- Ogres can’t spam a spell. Each butcher can only cast a spell once/magic phase, and if successful, the next butcher can only cast the same spell on a 6+.
- A unit can only have one Butcher’s spell buff, but a butcher can have as many spell active as he can cast.
- Once the butcher is dead, all spell casted by him disappear.

[Enkiel]

[reserved for addition]

[Enkiel]

[reserved for addition]

[Cananatra]

A small addition for the butcher. Be careful, though he's a caster he can seriously ruin the day of combat heroes.

[Rabidnid]

A small addition for the butcher. Be careful, though he's a caster he can seriously ruin the day of combat heroes.

Yep, he can increase his own strength and recover wounds.

Smart Ogre players will spend a lot of time running, especially with leadbelchers , you need to bracket them with DR or harpies to ensure the destruction of fleeing units, or at least forcing them to fight on your terms.

[Calisson]

Enkiel's first D.R.A.I.C.H. article!
Thank you for that.

There is no rare?
Reading you, it seems that our shooting is our best, and possible only asset.
Gnoblars are to be completely ignored?



Here are the old threads superseded by the present D.R.A.I.C.H. article (temporarily stored here).
D.R.A.I.C.H. - knowing your enemy
High level tactica against all races
2000 pts probably mostly vs. OK
Shooting vs Ogres?
Defending against single PD spells.(very interesting).

[Gruff]

Don't forget that Ogres are terrible in movement, magic, shooting, and combat. There can be some surpises, but they are honestly worse at everything than DE.

Movement: Yes, they generally have a mv of 6" (12" march/charge), but they are wide and don't turn well. They're like very short-range cav. They have no flyers and no fast cav (outside of released Sabretusks). You can and will run circles around them.

Magic: This is one of those things that can surprise you if you're not familiar with it. Here's the trick: Dispel Bonecruncher and Braingobbler on his turn, as well as any buffs cast on units that will see combat that turn. Ignore any buffs he casts on units that are not in combat that turn. Then, on your turn, dispel the other buffs. Don't underestimate Bonecruncher and Braingobbler. Bonecruncher will make your expensive unit of Cold One Knights explode, as 2d6 str 2 hits with no armour save against t3 models averages to 2.31 wounds. A slightly good roll will kill 3 knights and ruin the effectiveness of that unit. Braingobbler causes panic tests. Sure, DE have good leadership, but every test you have to take is a test that you can fail. I've run more units off the board than I can count with my ogres by forcing panic tests that the opposing player was confident he'd pass.

Shooting: Ogres don't have it. 2 leadbelchers cost the same as a unit of 10 RXBs with shields and average the same number of shots (without multishot and at a lower BS). However, when leadbelchers misfire, they do d6 str 4 hits to their own unit, which will often kill off a leadbelcher and cause a panic test. They are a high risk, medium reward unit. The scraplauncher is very unreliable. Gnoblar trappers have very limited range and hit at str 2.

Combat: An ACR army with low weaponskill is an invitation to failure. Sure, Ironguts can hit hard. But they will miss 50% of their attacks and they don't have hatred. Bulls are only str 4, so they will also miss 50% of their attacks and will only wound (against t3 models) on 66% of the attacks that DO hit. So a unit of 3 bulls (say they have additional hand weapons) will do 12 attacks. 6 will hit. Then 4 will wound. So they have CR of 4, which means they'll bounce from anything with any ranks, a banner, and outnumber. Ironguts will hit hard if they get the charge, but will lose the next round, as they have great weapons and will strike last and are only t4 with a 5+ save. All you need to do is cause 3 wounds to remove 3 str 6 attacks from battle.

Ogre characters are brutally strong on the attack, however, with an ogre hero equalling the combat lord for many armies. Don't underestimate them. The Ogre lord is also a beast, but he's expensive and isn't really backed up by any grade-A troops.

The Ogre rare choices (Gorgers, Maneaters, and Slavegiants) are fun. Gorgers are a nightmare for warmachines, as they are deadly and pop up from a board edge chosen by the Gorger owner. Maneaters are super expensive, but are essentially characters in their own right. I would not put my DE hero up againt a Maneater and expect it to win every time. A unit of 3 Maneaters with Brace of Handguns can put out 15 str 5 attacks at WS4, which will carve through many units. They can also take a few potshots at soft targets with a fair amount of success. However, they are fragile and expensive.

Bullcharge is a neat mechanic, until your opponent realizes that all they have to do is get inside 6" to eliminate the Bullcharge. Lots of people won't do that, but experience players will.

All of that negativity aside, when I play my Ogres, I always have a ball. There's a lot of luck involved with them (more than any army other than O&G, probably), but they can and do surprise a lot of people and they force you to really think about how you play. They're just a big step below any army other than O&G and don't excel at anything.

[Enkiel]

Enkiel's first D.R.A.I.C.H. article!
Thank you for that.

There is no rare?
Reading you, it seems that our shooting is our best, and possible only asset.
Gnoblars are to be completely ignored?

I need to write up on the rare choice, but felt like i needed to post it to get the general feeling of my article.

Shooting is not our only option, but since when they get in close combat, they really hurt, the best strategy is to try and avoid it as long as possible.

While they're not in melee, #1 priority is to use their low leadership at our advantage, either with shooting, or magic.

I am trying to think of strategy, but since Ogre player are pretty rare around here (i was actually the only one), its hard to test anything except what i know killed me


On Gnoblar :
All they will bring to the table is SCR (which Ogre obviously lack). But being bicker and not moving as fast as the rest of the army means that 90% of the time, they wont be joining the fight until at least turn 4 or 5, so yes, they can be ignored almost entirely.

[Desert icon]

I'm an Ogre player myself (for about 2 1/2 years), and I wouldn't mind helping you out with this article if you're feeling up to it. They were my first army ever, and they are still my favorites! Just PM me or reply here, and I'll give you a hand with anything you might need!