Post by Deraj on Dec 29, 2009 21:46:05 GMT -5
This was my first game with ogres, at 1750 points. Each paragraph starting at the line is a player turn.
1 ogre bruiser with a sword gnoblar, luck gnoblar, heavy armor, and a thunderfist with a unit of
10 ogre bulls with a full command, two hand weapons, and the magical maw banner
1 ogre butcher with a tooth gnoblar, two gnoblar theifstones and
9 ogres with 2 hand weapons and a full command
4 leadbelchers with a bellower (who I had forgotten was in the unit)
3 yhetees
20 gnoblars
20 gnoblars
VS:
1 mounted empire captain with
10 knights of some circle, but… as an ogre player, it’s not my job to pay attention to what gets eaten.
1 priest of sigmar with 42 spearmen and a full command with
a detachment of 10 crossbowmen
and 10 halberdiers
1 priest of sigmar with 30 swordsman
a detachment of 10 crossbowmen
and 10 halberdiers
10 hangunners
5 pistoliers
1 hellblaster volleygun
1 cannon
Gharek Chainbreaker had been enslaved by the chaos dwarves for more than a year when he finally managed to snap the chain binding his wrist to the anvil where he had been forced to hammer the dwarves ore. He had been enslaved with two dozen of his kind, and countless gnoblars. As soon as he broke free, the butcher who had been chained beside him bent down, biting off his own hand. Together they began freeing their kin and breaking open the gnoblar slave pens, then running rampant through the dwarf smithy reveling in their first feast in a year. The butcher, biting through the stomach of the dwarf leader prayed for guidance from the maw.
When they finished their feast, they finally left the smithy, finding a host of ogres outside of the gates. There at the head of the army was the ogre tyrant, seated on a massive rhinox made of iron. The newly freed bruiser strode forward to meet him, and getting down from his steed, the tyrant took one look at him and gave him a massive head but to the forehead. The bruiser dropped to one knee, but the tyrant was amazed that he was still even alive, having born a blow that could drop a rhinox. Looking at the newly freed slaves, then back to the bruiser, the Tyrant proclaimed ‘You are mine; from this day onward you follow my rule. As my first order… I want you to go forth and get me gold, iron, meat, and slaves! Meet me back here by the time of the great feast, and you shall be part of my tribe.’
Gharek’s journey took him to the edge of the Empire, to a small village with an oddly large garrison. Marching to the outside of the village, he saw an army arrayed for battle. Luckily he had picked up a few allies on his way here.
Far to his left, Gharek saw a unit of knights and a unit of pistoliers. To his right were two houses, both of which seemed to have men in them. The one furthest to the right had handgunners, and the other had crossbowmen. In between these buildings was the massive unit of more than 40 spearmen. Directly in front of him was a unit of swordsman, to the right of that was a unit of crossbowmen, then the buildings. At the front right corner was a hellblaster volley gun, and to the left was a cannon on a hill.
He had told the yhetees to wait in a copse of trees to his left to head off anyone trying to flank him, which in hindsight was lucky, he thought, looking at the knights and pistoliers. In front of him was a unit of gnoblars, so they could get hit by ranged weapons and give him a laugh at the same time. To his right were 4 leadbelchers, and to his far right and directly across from the spearmen was the butcher and his bodyguard, as well as their own screen of gnoblars.
The hellblaster was the first thing to make noise. Gharek loved fighting humans, because not only did they taste better than orcs, but they had things that made lots of noise. With a click and a puff of smoke… the hellblaster fell silent. Disappointed Gharek looked over at the cannon. It fired a shot that landed only feet in front of him, then bounced over his head, taking out the only bull in the last rank. It served him right for going so slow. The handgunners and crossbowmen opened fire, killing two leadbelchers, causing the other two cowards to flee. The pistoliers moved behind the trees with the yhetees, while the knights moved in front of the trees.
The yhetees turn to face the pistoliers, but luckily were hidden by enough foliage to not be targets. Gharek suddenly rethought allowing the gnoblars to run in front of him, as their short little legs slowed his unit down. Looking over at the butcher, he saw that he was having the same predicament, when suddenly he felt the stirring of ogre magic, but in an instant it disappeared. Looking at the butcher, he noticed that the butcher was glaring intently at the priest directly in front of him.
The handgunners fired on the butcher’s bulls, killing two, while the crossbowmen shot down two of gharek’s bulls. Everyone moved back except the knights, who stayed where they were, trying to coordinate and gain shooting time against the ogres. The cannon fired and killed several of the gnoblars, having bounced right over gharek’s unit.
Gharek’s leadbelchers continued fleeing, while the yhetees turned to face the knights. His gnoblars moved to the right, while the butcher’s did the same. He moved forward, the only way he understood to go. The butcher was so ready to jump into battle that he completely forgot to cast any spells.
The pistoliers moved back to nearly where they had started the battle in fear of the yhetees, while the knights continued to wait for Gharek to charge so they could flank him. The cannon attempted to fire but failed, jamming. The hellblaster fired on Gharek’s unit, killing 2 ogres. The handgunners fired on the gnoblars on the right, killing several, and the crossbowmen failed to kill anyone.
Gharek was angry. He had lost nearly half of his bulls, only having 5 left. He charged the Hellblaster, hoping that it couldn’t fire when he charged it, then began thinking of how fast they would have to reload. He felt a squish and quit thinking, instead looking down. He and his bulls had run right over the hellblaster crew and were about to crash into the crossbowmen. Sadly they fled in terror. The leadbelchers took heart from the charge and finally stopped fleeing, instead turning to face the pistoliers. The butcher’s unit charged the spearmen, crushing many, and causing the rest to flee. The halberdiers had countercharged the Butcher’s unit, but seeing the spearmen break, they fled toward the center of the battlefield, stopping just short of Gharek’s unit.In celebration, the butcher began eating trollguts and other strange items, his magic flowing into his unit, and causing the unit of crossbowmen in the building to flee out in terror. The gnoblars on the far right charged the handgunners, but fled combat, luckily drawing them out of the building. The tide had finally turned.
The pistoliers moved behind the knights, trying to hide from the yhetees, while the knights moved slightly toward Gharek’s while trying not to turn their back on the yhetees. The handgunners turned to face the butcher, while the fleeing crossbowmen turned back, quickly regaining their nerve. The halberdiers rallied and turned to face Gharek’s gnoblars. The cannon crew worked furiously to fix their cannon, but could not fire it yet.
Gharek’s unit turned to face the knight, opening his unit’s side to the crossbowmen in calm acceptance. He knew he wanted to charge the crossbowmen, but the knights were the danger. He would take their charge to the face, or he would charge them, either way, he knew what he had to do. The gnoblars moved forward to support him against the knights. It was either the funniest or saddest thing he had ever seen. There were only 5 gnoblars left in the unit, and they were standing proud, ready to take a charge from knights. After battle, he would see that each one would become a sword gnoblar to a good bull. The Butcher’s unit started to move around the back of the building, standing behind Gharek’s unit. The yhetees came out of the woods toward the knights, and the leadbelchers moved around the trees to get ready to fire on the pisoliers when they stopped hiding, because unlike most ogres, they respected ranged weapons, and knew the damage that could be done by them. The butcher started eating random bodyparts, and suddenly the last unit of crossbowmen fled in terror and disgust.
The pistoliers did come around the trees, firing on the leadbelchers. Many shots hit the ogres, but when the smoke cleared, both were standing, and both looked angry. The knights moved forward, preparing to charge Gharek’s unit, and the swordsmen and halberdiers prepared as well. The cannon finally fired again, nearly hitting the butcher, but instead hitting the bull beside him, and the one behind him. Both were bruised by the hit, but stayed on their feet. The handgunners came forward to try to get into a better firing position, but the battle had shifted far from their position.
Gharek charged the knights, when to his surprise, his little gnoblars charged alongside him. With a roar that sounded much akin to a mountain avalanche, he suddenly saw a flash of white behind the knights. The yhetees had hit the from behind! The leader of the empire men yelled out a challenge to Gharek, which he happily accepted. He hit the man hard, but the man swung his sword right at Gharek. He saw the sword arcing right at his unprotected neck and there was nothing he could do, when suddenly his lucky gnoblar who had been sitting upon his shoulder dropped down, the sword hitting it instead. This entire battle was making Gharek feel something frighteningly close to respect for the little creatures. His ogres had pulled down 3 of the knights, and the yhetees had even taken another down. The knights attempted to flee, but were quickly run down. The butcher charged the halberdiers that had just attacked him, but they fled. The leadbelchers fired on the pistoliers. The first ogre to fire noticed he had lost most of his ammunition while fleeing, and when his cannon fired, it only fired two swords, both of which fell short. The second ogre fired, only firing a battleaxe and a fist sized rock. Fortunately a fist sized rock for an ogre is pretty large, as it took down one of the pistolier. The battleaxe killed the other, and the pistoliers fled.
The cannon fired its last shot, and killed a yhetee. The halberdiers continued fleeing, and the swordsmen and their halberdiers charged Gharek’s unit. Being slightly wiser than most ogres, he knew he wouldn’t win that battle, so he ran. Looking around, he began laughing. They had soundly beaten these men, getting away from a charge wouldn’t make him look weak, and even if it did… he could still knock heads.
He turned around and taunted the swordsmen. The yhetees, angered by the loss of one of their own charged the halberdiers from the side, causing them to flee and running them down, before continuing into the swordsmen. The yhetees killed several, but the swordsmen killed one, causing the other to turn and run. The Butcher’s unit attempted to charge the fleeing halberdiers again, but the halberdiers were done. All of the men of the empire began fleeing, and Gharek knew he had won. It had been fun, he had lost 2 leadbelchers, but their expensive guns were ok, and he had gained a new cannon and a hellblaster, as well as food. And, hur hur, a village left to loot!
So…. Ogres. Sure, empire aren’t a 1st tier army, but they are in the second tier, and the player I played against (Grunt) is a decent player, though empire aren’t his strongest suit, he did feel more confidant with them than he did with his beastmen. I wasted quite a few points on magic resistance, but I feel that they will be useful against most armies. The yhetees… didn’t let me down, but I’m not sure what I will do with them. They do have 7” movement, which helped a little, and their magic weapons may come in handy once in awhile. It just seems that a small unit (3?) bulls would work just as well for what I used them for. The army seemed to have the main generic points, and I enjoyed them. I felt as though I was losing the entire first half of the battle, but in reality I only lost most of my gnoblars, 8 bulls, 2 leadbelchers, and 2 yhetees. On of the yhetees in hindsight may have been dumb, though I was happy to kill those halberdiers.
What my other thoughts on the army are:
So… this army seems like it will work well against tier 3 armies, IE orcs and gobbos, beastmen, and such, but… Dwarves have guns, which takes me to what seems to be the biggest problem. Ogres can march and charge 12”, so they should be able to charge on the second turn if you do it right. But... shooting is still scary, and you will almost never get the second turn charge. Tier 2 armies will also be beatable with ogres, though Wood Elves would scare me, especially with their shooting. Now… when we get to the first tier comes the scary part. High elves… well… screw that. Dark elves have enough shooting to be scary, but the big problem in the first tier seems to be magic. Ogres seem like they would do great against undead and demons, but ogres don’t have enough anti magic stuff, so this may be a problem.
Oh, and.... do two hand weapons count as clubs? Because... the clubs are the normal handweapon of the ogre, but I'm not sure enough to risk cheating.
1 ogre bruiser with a sword gnoblar, luck gnoblar, heavy armor, and a thunderfist with a unit of
10 ogre bulls with a full command, two hand weapons, and the magical maw banner
1 ogre butcher with a tooth gnoblar, two gnoblar theifstones and
9 ogres with 2 hand weapons and a full command
4 leadbelchers with a bellower (who I had forgotten was in the unit)
3 yhetees
20 gnoblars
20 gnoblars
VS:
1 mounted empire captain with
10 knights of some circle, but… as an ogre player, it’s not my job to pay attention to what gets eaten.
1 priest of sigmar with 42 spearmen and a full command with
a detachment of 10 crossbowmen
and 10 halberdiers
1 priest of sigmar with 30 swordsman
a detachment of 10 crossbowmen
and 10 halberdiers
10 hangunners
5 pistoliers
1 hellblaster volleygun
1 cannon
Gharek Chainbreaker had been enslaved by the chaos dwarves for more than a year when he finally managed to snap the chain binding his wrist to the anvil where he had been forced to hammer the dwarves ore. He had been enslaved with two dozen of his kind, and countless gnoblars. As soon as he broke free, the butcher who had been chained beside him bent down, biting off his own hand. Together they began freeing their kin and breaking open the gnoblar slave pens, then running rampant through the dwarf smithy reveling in their first feast in a year. The butcher, biting through the stomach of the dwarf leader prayed for guidance from the maw.
When they finished their feast, they finally left the smithy, finding a host of ogres outside of the gates. There at the head of the army was the ogre tyrant, seated on a massive rhinox made of iron. The newly freed bruiser strode forward to meet him, and getting down from his steed, the tyrant took one look at him and gave him a massive head but to the forehead. The bruiser dropped to one knee, but the tyrant was amazed that he was still even alive, having born a blow that could drop a rhinox. Looking at the newly freed slaves, then back to the bruiser, the Tyrant proclaimed ‘You are mine; from this day onward you follow my rule. As my first order… I want you to go forth and get me gold, iron, meat, and slaves! Meet me back here by the time of the great feast, and you shall be part of my tribe.’
Gharek’s journey took him to the edge of the Empire, to a small village with an oddly large garrison. Marching to the outside of the village, he saw an army arrayed for battle. Luckily he had picked up a few allies on his way here.
Far to his left, Gharek saw a unit of knights and a unit of pistoliers. To his right were two houses, both of which seemed to have men in them. The one furthest to the right had handgunners, and the other had crossbowmen. In between these buildings was the massive unit of more than 40 spearmen. Directly in front of him was a unit of swordsman, to the right of that was a unit of crossbowmen, then the buildings. At the front right corner was a hellblaster volley gun, and to the left was a cannon on a hill.
He had told the yhetees to wait in a copse of trees to his left to head off anyone trying to flank him, which in hindsight was lucky, he thought, looking at the knights and pistoliers. In front of him was a unit of gnoblars, so they could get hit by ranged weapons and give him a laugh at the same time. To his right were 4 leadbelchers, and to his far right and directly across from the spearmen was the butcher and his bodyguard, as well as their own screen of gnoblars.
The hellblaster was the first thing to make noise. Gharek loved fighting humans, because not only did they taste better than orcs, but they had things that made lots of noise. With a click and a puff of smoke… the hellblaster fell silent. Disappointed Gharek looked over at the cannon. It fired a shot that landed only feet in front of him, then bounced over his head, taking out the only bull in the last rank. It served him right for going so slow. The handgunners and crossbowmen opened fire, killing two leadbelchers, causing the other two cowards to flee. The pistoliers moved behind the trees with the yhetees, while the knights moved in front of the trees.
The yhetees turn to face the pistoliers, but luckily were hidden by enough foliage to not be targets. Gharek suddenly rethought allowing the gnoblars to run in front of him, as their short little legs slowed his unit down. Looking over at the butcher, he saw that he was having the same predicament, when suddenly he felt the stirring of ogre magic, but in an instant it disappeared. Looking at the butcher, he noticed that the butcher was glaring intently at the priest directly in front of him.
The handgunners fired on the butcher’s bulls, killing two, while the crossbowmen shot down two of gharek’s bulls. Everyone moved back except the knights, who stayed where they were, trying to coordinate and gain shooting time against the ogres. The cannon fired and killed several of the gnoblars, having bounced right over gharek’s unit.
Gharek’s leadbelchers continued fleeing, while the yhetees turned to face the knights. His gnoblars moved to the right, while the butcher’s did the same. He moved forward, the only way he understood to go. The butcher was so ready to jump into battle that he completely forgot to cast any spells.
The pistoliers moved back to nearly where they had started the battle in fear of the yhetees, while the knights continued to wait for Gharek to charge so they could flank him. The cannon attempted to fire but failed, jamming. The hellblaster fired on Gharek’s unit, killing 2 ogres. The handgunners fired on the gnoblars on the right, killing several, and the crossbowmen failed to kill anyone.
Gharek was angry. He had lost nearly half of his bulls, only having 5 left. He charged the Hellblaster, hoping that it couldn’t fire when he charged it, then began thinking of how fast they would have to reload. He felt a squish and quit thinking, instead looking down. He and his bulls had run right over the hellblaster crew and were about to crash into the crossbowmen. Sadly they fled in terror. The leadbelchers took heart from the charge and finally stopped fleeing, instead turning to face the pistoliers. The butcher’s unit charged the spearmen, crushing many, and causing the rest to flee. The halberdiers had countercharged the Butcher’s unit, but seeing the spearmen break, they fled toward the center of the battlefield, stopping just short of Gharek’s unit.In celebration, the butcher began eating trollguts and other strange items, his magic flowing into his unit, and causing the unit of crossbowmen in the building to flee out in terror. The gnoblars on the far right charged the handgunners, but fled combat, luckily drawing them out of the building. The tide had finally turned.
The pistoliers moved behind the knights, trying to hide from the yhetees, while the knights moved slightly toward Gharek’s while trying not to turn their back on the yhetees. The handgunners turned to face the butcher, while the fleeing crossbowmen turned back, quickly regaining their nerve. The halberdiers rallied and turned to face Gharek’s gnoblars. The cannon crew worked furiously to fix their cannon, but could not fire it yet.
Gharek’s unit turned to face the knight, opening his unit’s side to the crossbowmen in calm acceptance. He knew he wanted to charge the crossbowmen, but the knights were the danger. He would take their charge to the face, or he would charge them, either way, he knew what he had to do. The gnoblars moved forward to support him against the knights. It was either the funniest or saddest thing he had ever seen. There were only 5 gnoblars left in the unit, and they were standing proud, ready to take a charge from knights. After battle, he would see that each one would become a sword gnoblar to a good bull. The Butcher’s unit started to move around the back of the building, standing behind Gharek’s unit. The yhetees came out of the woods toward the knights, and the leadbelchers moved around the trees to get ready to fire on the pisoliers when they stopped hiding, because unlike most ogres, they respected ranged weapons, and knew the damage that could be done by them. The butcher started eating random bodyparts, and suddenly the last unit of crossbowmen fled in terror and disgust.
The pistoliers did come around the trees, firing on the leadbelchers. Many shots hit the ogres, but when the smoke cleared, both were standing, and both looked angry. The knights moved forward, preparing to charge Gharek’s unit, and the swordsmen and halberdiers prepared as well. The cannon finally fired again, nearly hitting the butcher, but instead hitting the bull beside him, and the one behind him. Both were bruised by the hit, but stayed on their feet. The handgunners came forward to try to get into a better firing position, but the battle had shifted far from their position.
Gharek charged the knights, when to his surprise, his little gnoblars charged alongside him. With a roar that sounded much akin to a mountain avalanche, he suddenly saw a flash of white behind the knights. The yhetees had hit the from behind! The leader of the empire men yelled out a challenge to Gharek, which he happily accepted. He hit the man hard, but the man swung his sword right at Gharek. He saw the sword arcing right at his unprotected neck and there was nothing he could do, when suddenly his lucky gnoblar who had been sitting upon his shoulder dropped down, the sword hitting it instead. This entire battle was making Gharek feel something frighteningly close to respect for the little creatures. His ogres had pulled down 3 of the knights, and the yhetees had even taken another down. The knights attempted to flee, but were quickly run down. The butcher charged the halberdiers that had just attacked him, but they fled. The leadbelchers fired on the pistoliers. The first ogre to fire noticed he had lost most of his ammunition while fleeing, and when his cannon fired, it only fired two swords, both of which fell short. The second ogre fired, only firing a battleaxe and a fist sized rock. Fortunately a fist sized rock for an ogre is pretty large, as it took down one of the pistolier. The battleaxe killed the other, and the pistoliers fled.
The cannon fired its last shot, and killed a yhetee. The halberdiers continued fleeing, and the swordsmen and their halberdiers charged Gharek’s unit. Being slightly wiser than most ogres, he knew he wouldn’t win that battle, so he ran. Looking around, he began laughing. They had soundly beaten these men, getting away from a charge wouldn’t make him look weak, and even if it did… he could still knock heads.
He turned around and taunted the swordsmen. The yhetees, angered by the loss of one of their own charged the halberdiers from the side, causing them to flee and running them down, before continuing into the swordsmen. The yhetees killed several, but the swordsmen killed one, causing the other to turn and run. The Butcher’s unit attempted to charge the fleeing halberdiers again, but the halberdiers were done. All of the men of the empire began fleeing, and Gharek knew he had won. It had been fun, he had lost 2 leadbelchers, but their expensive guns were ok, and he had gained a new cannon and a hellblaster, as well as food. And, hur hur, a village left to loot!
So…. Ogres. Sure, empire aren’t a 1st tier army, but they are in the second tier, and the player I played against (Grunt) is a decent player, though empire aren’t his strongest suit, he did feel more confidant with them than he did with his beastmen. I wasted quite a few points on magic resistance, but I feel that they will be useful against most armies. The yhetees… didn’t let me down, but I’m not sure what I will do with them. They do have 7” movement, which helped a little, and their magic weapons may come in handy once in awhile. It just seems that a small unit (3?) bulls would work just as well for what I used them for. The army seemed to have the main generic points, and I enjoyed them. I felt as though I was losing the entire first half of the battle, but in reality I only lost most of my gnoblars, 8 bulls, 2 leadbelchers, and 2 yhetees. On of the yhetees in hindsight may have been dumb, though I was happy to kill those halberdiers.
What my other thoughts on the army are:
- Slavegiants suck. Seriously, there is nothing more to say there.
- I will probably not use trappers.
- Hunters may be fun, but may be too expensive for what they are, when 3 bulls (or even 2 if necessary) can do the main job of Hunters, flanking.
- Bulls: 6” movement is pretty cool, as are 3 wounds, and multiple attacks. The low armor kind of sucks, but T 4 surprisingly does it’s job. The strength, fluffwise should be higher, but is fine as is.
- Ironguts: why are they better than bulls? I'm not seeing it, and I like gnoblars enough that I will take the bulls to get them. Maybe heavy armor would be cool, but I don't like great weapons.
- Butchers… I may be wrong here, I may not understand. They know all of the spells. They are level 2, so they get 2 dice. I found nothing saying I have no dice pool, so that means with one butcher, I have 4 dice, rolling on average 3.5, where each spell goes off on a 3. That means I can cast 4 spells a turn with one butcher. A second would probably be a waste, but to me this seems pretty strong.
- Maneaters seem useful, but then I really thought about it. I can’t figure out if I like them or gorgers better. Gorgers are unbreakable, but only 4 wounds and no armor. Maneaters are just stubborn, but it would work well enough on ld 8. Neither really seem to be worth their points, but each have cool abilities.
- Scraplaunchers: yeah, the day I can fit one in the list and go buy one is the day I use it. Pie plating killing blow just seems fun against heavily armored enemies. Knights, chaos warriors, etc, just seem like they’ll be extremely fun to hit with this.
So… this army seems like it will work well against tier 3 armies, IE orcs and gobbos, beastmen, and such, but… Dwarves have guns, which takes me to what seems to be the biggest problem. Ogres can march and charge 12”, so they should be able to charge on the second turn if you do it right. But... shooting is still scary, and you will almost never get the second turn charge. Tier 2 armies will also be beatable with ogres, though Wood Elves would scare me, especially with their shooting. Now… when we get to the first tier comes the scary part. High elves… well… screw that. Dark elves have enough shooting to be scary, but the big problem in the first tier seems to be magic. Ogres seem like they would do great against undead and demons, but ogres don’t have enough anti magic stuff, so this may be a problem.
Oh, and.... do two hand weapons count as clubs? Because... the clubs are the normal handweapon of the ogre, but I'm not sure enough to risk cheating.
)
