Tactics for OK Yhetees

[Chesney]

Tactics for Yhetees

Yhetees are the evolved Ogre, their quicker, their stronger, their more intelligent and they can be the decisive edge in a combat. With a high movement rate and good strength Yhetees can perform a number of different roles in an OK army, whilst not infringing the rest of the armies battle plan.

Unit Size & Unit Numbers

Yhetees work best in units of 3. Although units of 4 can take a casualty and still do the business in combat, they then become very expensive and are a lot harder to manoeuvre. Also this can make you overly confident in them and makes it more of a loss if you flee and they don’t come back.

A single unit of Yhetees is good for harassing a battle line, excellent for sneaking through terrain and even rolling up flanks. However when used in tandem or tag teamed with another unit they can prove to be a very nasty fighting force. Especially if both units are positioned on the same flank, looking to threaten a large section of the board.

Terrain

Firstly always try to make the most of the terrain with Yhetees, I know this sounds like grandma teaching you to suck eggs, but seeing as you have paid for the ability there is no point not using it. By moving the Yhetees into a wooded or a piece of terrain you will be giving your Yhetees some valuable missile protection. Seeing as they have no armour it’s the only protection they are ever going to get.

Remember that your whole unit does not need to be inside a wood to gain the bonus of cover, therefore simply by hanging your unit out of a terrain piece your opponent will suffer the –1 to hit penalty. Meaning they may choose to not even target the Yhetees.

The one thing that Ogres have trouble with is chariots, everyone knows it, and everyone exploits it. However, the Yhetees ability to move freely within terrain means they can hide where chariots cannot go (unless Frenzied of course), always remember this when facing any of the weak, pale races as they love their fancy carts.

One last thing about terrain – don’t stick your yhetees in a wood if your opponent has tons of life wizards and multiple copies of the Master of the Wood.

Fleeing & Chasing

Yhetees are one of the few units in the OK list, which suffer a dilemma when deciding whether or not to flee. As they have a large movement of 3D6 they can often be used bait and taunt enemy units, and more often than not they will get away.

However the problem comes when you have to rally them. With a moderate leadership of 7 they have an average chance of rallying, also they have an average chance of running straight off the board and costing 195 points minimum!

Therefore when considering a flee reaction with Yhetees, it is important to consider where their flee move will position them for the following turns rallying attempt. Try to ensure that they will be within your general’s leadership to give you the best chance of success.

Another bonus of Yhetees is their speed when chasing down enemy units. Imagine you are playing a game and you have a charge with a unit of Ironguts on an enemy cavalry unit. On their own the Ironguts should win the combat (in the case of the example). However, the Ironguts on their own probably won’t kill the enemy to a man or catch the enemy if they run. Therefore by adding a unit of Yhetees into the charge you will have more chance of catching your opponent, should they run.

Combining

Although you can’t put friendly characters in a unit of Yhetees, you can simply move them around close to each other, in order for both to benefit.

For example, a Tyrant can’t join a unit of Yhetees or move through terrain like they can, but the combination means the Yhetees are leadership 9. Also he can move around the side of a piece of terrain, knowing that any enemy units looking to use the terrain to block his movement or LOS will be stopped by the Yhetees who already have breached the terrain and are covering him.

A BSB and a Yhetee unit make strange bedfellows, as the BSB means that the Yhetees can charge into combats which are slightly risky, and still have a chance of holding if they lose. Also they can provide fast support for the BSB should things go array.

My personal favourite is to combine them with a Tyrant who is movement 7. So he can keep up with them and your opponent has two quick threats to deal with, otherwise they are going to hit him hard.

Cheers

Chesney - aka Mr Belvedere

[The fearless]

Finaly...some tactics on Ogres... I have never used yhetees yet, but i think i might now. They seem somewhat useful, i just dont have room in my list for them, maybe i will sacrifice my iron guts or something for them and see how that works.

[Beastmaster kurlan]

thanks for the tips, if only they were mercenaries i would definately have a unit in my skaven army!

[Xizor]

Hey,

Good work there Ches...an interesting insight into how a good player views part of the Ogre Kingdom list

Im actually pretty interested in doing an Ogre army at some point, when they came out I got and painted a 2k army, but it was frankly a poor list and couldnt be bothered with it!

Any chance we could take a look at one of your sample OK lists?

[Venkh]

One thing i always worry about when facing yhettes is the peeking tactic.

Y = Yhetee
W= Wood
E = Enemy

....YYYY
WWW
WWW

...EEE

In the example above the Yhetees can charge the enemy unit but the enemy unit cannot charge it.

In this way yhetees can create a no-go area for enemy units without being threatened themselves.

Rgds

[Kroxhandler]

Tactics for Yhetees

Remember that your whole unit does not need to be inside a wood to gain the bonus of cover, therefore simply by hanging your unit out of a terrain piece your opponent will suffer the –1 to hit penalty. Meaning they may choose to not even target the Yhetees.

Hmm....are you real sure about that? As a LMplayer I would love it if my salamanders would be counted as in soft cover if just one model is touching water....
I'm guessing you're basing it on BRB p.60, anyone feel another interpretation is in order?

[Chesney]

@Kroxhandler: Sorry I did put that slightly wrong. You have to have at least half of the unit in cover. Which is quite easy to do with Yhetees.

Ches

[Lexy]

What also a pretty good tactic for Yehtees is is the next:

Run them in wood and let them look to one if the sides in the board.
Now, the meaning is: have 2 inches of wood between the enemy deployment zone and the yehtees en less then 2 inch on the yehtees front.

In that case you cover a whole area of threatening a flank charge.

So it is like this:

enemy deployment zone.

WW
WW
YW
YW
YW

Your deployment zone.

It will only work with an agressive player, and not with a defensive one.

[Comaster]

I there, it's good to see that the forum is back again!

I've been reading your posts and i agree with you all, this is a good thread about yhetees but got some questions:

@Venkh: are you sure that yhetees can charge through a wood. for what i've understand of them is that they haven't got penalties in movement for difficult terrain but still they cannot see through woods, so you can't charge no one... am i wrong?

@Kroxhandler: is it a special rule for your salamanders to have cover in the water? i've never listened that water features could provide cover (unless it's a spawning pool that it's a little higher)... am i wrong? and Chesney is right you need to have at least half the unit inside to have the -1 penalty!

And as an OK's player i believe that they're most (yhettes) is really at flanks. their movement is an advantage and definitely they're a support unit (at least for me... )! it's not that they can't handle themselves but with my bad luck for dices i just tend not to use them as an assault unit (unless against small disturbing and anoying units).using them with a giant in a flank is really a must... you can secure it or flank charge your enemy when you need it (gigantic combo...)! Using a hunter in the other flank with the back up of trappers and the sabertusks will secure it to (normally i hope so... )! the rest will be your main force.

As a complement of what Chesney said i think that in conjunction with chariots, shooting is the other boring situation that Ogres have to face... with all that low leadership they tend to fail when you need them most, but hope is the last one to die. I've noticed that one gorger is a must in all OK's armys! They're tough and can deal with those nasty cannons that many armys tend to have (Empire, Dwarfs, Skaven, Elves bolt throwers, etc...). What do you think?

My regards to all Generals!!!

[Venkh]

@ COMaster

The Yhetees have the end model peeking around the side of the wood giving them LOS. Most units wont be able to charge them even if they have LOS because of the movement penalty, something the Yhetees dont suffer from.

This tactic can also be used by Silverhelms with the right banner, Ghouls and other "super skirmishers" to threaten an enemy who would otherwise be able to charge them.

[Kroxhandler]

@Kroxhandler: Sorry I did put that slightly wrong. You have to have at least half of the unit in cover. Which is quite easy to do with Yhetees.

Ches

Allright, now we're down to half. Do you have anything concrete to back that up? Any page from BRB that I can show my friends and laugh at their puny attempts to shoot up my skinks?

And about the watery cover sallies get soft cover from it( and ignore movement penalties) due to being Aquatic. Special rule that most skink units in LM share. Saurus can have it by ways of a sacred spawning. I humbly refer to the LM codex.

[Fr0]

Hey, nice writing, bro'!

I don't hear too much on this army, and really not a fan. Though I think Yhettes are the coolest models and unit in the army..


In terms of the rules question, remember so long as a unit is 2" from the edge.. this applies when they are in terrain ... The Yhettes do not all need line of sight. Scale Terrain does not give them x-ray vision however it does allow them to make that charge presumably... (OK pg. 35)

If they had Y-ray vision they could see through houses!

Fr0
Fr0