# Ogre tactics



## Blueberrypop (Apr 27, 2010)

I'm just trying to figure out some tactics for my 1k ogres army. At the moment it's my bruiser with great weapon and heavy armor butcher with boom. A unit of bulls with IF and Iron guts along with a unit of leadbelchers. My Idea is to put the bruiser with the ironguts and the butcher with the bulls. not really sure what to do I haven't played a game yet.


----------



## Doombreed (Dec 20, 2009)

The OK were my first Fantasy army and they were a bugger to learn with. I've only played 1,500 and 2,000 point games so not to sure about 1,000 but here a some tips I've picked up: The Tenderizer is the best weapon to give to any Tyrant or in your case a Bruiser, it dramaticly helps the Ogres handicap of SCR. Don't over look Gnoblars and GTrappers, at 2 points a peice they will lend a tiny green hand to shield your lines and boost combat with their numbers. When I played I NEEDED as many Butchers as I could gather to throw Magic and to boost your Ogres. Also squeeze in a lot of Ironguts, their GWs combine with their speed and number of attacks will crush whatevert hey hit just make REAL sure you get the charge off.

Hope that helps and happy hunting.


----------



## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

Well I would suggest you alter your army- 1 butcher will rarely do anything. TO get ogre magic working you need to be rolling quite a few power dice (otherwise you'll roll a couple of 1s or 2s, cast 1-2 spells and teh opponent will dispel them easily). I either use 0 or 2 butchers at 1k and either 0 or 3 at 1.5-2k simply because if I dont take that many Im just wasting the points (only exception is if Im taking a single butcher as a scroll caddie, but thats a very defensive tactic and certainly sholdnt be tried at 1k- magic just isnt that nasty at that points level).
Im also not a fan of leadbelchers- they either work beautifully or not at all... and for me they just blow up and/or miss the enemy.

At 1 k my standard army is bruiser with tenderiser, bulls with AHW or IF (iron fists sound awesome but I almost never use them as anything but AHW, if I have a spare 3pts I'll upgrade AHW to IF but its only to fill points, not because I want to have them- certainly dont take any light armour) and then 4 units of 3 ironguts.
Never never take any ogre command other then the odd bellower (and then only if you have the points spare). Champions simply arent worth it (1/2 the cost of an ogre for +1A, and bruisers/tyrants will almost never need someone to save them from a challenge) and standards are just too easy to capture off a unit of 3 models.

The tactics I use are to race forward and surround my enemies. If they are slower then me then I can set up mulitple charges while out of the enemy charge range (forcing them to show their flank to at least 1 unit) and then charge home, if the enemy is faster I draw them into a charge on 1 of my units, flee and then counter-charge in the flank with another. This takes a lot of practice to know how to manouver to get into these positions but is well worth it when you can. I would also almost always just send bulls up a flank- they arent good enough to deal with the 'central' enemy units, but against poorly armoured 'flanking' troops they do very well... if they can avoid running away before they get to them.
Other then that I would avoid doing certain things
- dont put a butcher with a unit of bulls (their both Ld7, and a Ld7 character is aweful) put him in a unit of ironguts instead. They have Ld8 making it harder for your butcher to run away and they are your hammer unit, so you'll want to have your buffs on them above all.
- Never charge a non-buffed unit into the front of an enemy ranked unit without a supporting flank charge unless you have extreme reason to do so or have a tenderiser tyrant/bruiser (or similar) to help up the CR. I would rarely charge a buffed unit in anyway, maybe with toothcracker but then only to hold up a nasty enemy unit. Charging the front of a large ranked unit means the enemy is likely to have equivalent +6 CR over you (3 ranks, banner, outnumber and then the musician if its a draw) and with only 9-12 attacks for most units of ogres you can only expect to get <6 hits, let alone wounds...
- never let anyone charge you... unless its unavoidable (eg your unit is too close to be likely to get away if you flee). Ogres pretty much have to hit first, and often rely on their bull charge (hopefully you can get it, but I often set up my charges/counter-charges so that I dont- it makes its much riskier for the enemy to flee if you are close). Very occasionally lettign a S3 unit charge you if they have little SCR and/or you have a good combat character in the unit then you'll do well enough to draw... but not always.


----------



## Blueberrypop (Apr 27, 2010)

What did me was the magic phase, rolling 2's on EVERY spell does not help. Bangstick did its job though. As for flanking my bulls with IF took out 2 units of squig hoppers then chain feared a chariot and a unit of spider riders off the board, they wiped out the entire flank. My opponent got lucky on his casts, even with his many many miscasts. He killed 2 ironguts with foot of gork which my ironguts fled from thus putting them in range to panic my lead belchers. Over all it was a decent game, he had a hill and 50 or so archers so getting to his army was rather hard.

And I am honestly considered putting the tenderizer on my tyrant and just putting him with the bulls with AHW and just crushing faces I've also thought about adding a unit of gnoblars as a target finder


----------



## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

gnoblars are great but I find that they are too slow to really have an impact on 1000pt games- at that level almost all games end in massacres (if you win 1 fight then its down to 2-1 outnumbering on the remaining enemy, so draws are unlikely) meaning just using them to claim quarters (as I do at 2k) isnt a good idea... and they'll rarely be able to move to where they are needed. But having said that if you have a spare 40pts throw in the gnoblars to fill points.


Its always a balancing act with ogres at low points (if you play them like me at least), because either you take lots of core ogres or lots of magic to keep your fewer ogres alive longer. Ive tried and been successful with both types and both have their bonuses and flaws... and I havent yet worked out which I prefer, but then I only play a few 1k games a year so havent really had the time to playtest enough (other then a 1k tourny at my FLGS which my ogres stormed though- managed to down an enemy steam tank to win.. not easy).


----------



## Blueberrypop (Apr 27, 2010)

yeah this 1k army is for a GW tourney and so far Ive faced goblins with orcs and skaven and there is something we always forget and that is fear. It's my fault for forgetting but you can be sure that in my next game I will be bringing it up


----------

