One of the guys I regularly play fields an Ogre army. I have struggled against his army on most occasions but recently had a discussion on this forum concerning strategies against Ogres. I put some of those tips to use yesterday and I had the match sewn up by the end of the third round and tabled him in the fifth.
The match was 1850 points with no scenario. I brought an all-cavalry list including:
Lords:
Battle Wizard Lord lvl 4: Lore of Shadow, Warhorse with Barding
Heroes:
Battle Wizard lvl 2: Lore of Heavens, Dispel Scroll, Warhorse with Barding
Captain: BSB, Warhorse with Barding, Full Plate, Shield, Sword of Might
Luthor Huss: General
Core:
10 Inner Circle Knights w/ FC
5 Vanilla Knights w/ Great Weapons, Musician
5 Vanilla Knights w/ Great Weapons, Musician
Special:
Great Cannon
Great Cannon
3 Demigryph Knights w/ Musician
Rare:
Steam Tank
I don’t have the exact list that my opponent fielded but he had 2 blocks of 9 Ironguts with a Tyrant in one as his General and a Bruiser in the other as a BSB. He also had a Firebelly in the group with the BSB but interestingly didn’t have a Butcher for Maw spells. He had 6 Lead Belchers, a unit of 2 Mournfangs, a Gigantic Thundertusk, an Iron Blaster and 2 Sabre Tusks. I’ve yet to see this player use the Hellheart and he didn’t in this game either thankfully.
In each match I’ve played against Ogres, getting to go first was paramount to ensuring I could play the way I wanted to. I won the roll and went first in this game and I got every spell I wanted including Pit of Shades, Miasma and Withering and Okkam’s Mind Razor for the Shadow wizard and Harmonic Convergence, Ice Shard Blizzard for Heavens. The first turn was pretty epic as I got a Pit of Shades off with Irresistible Force. The scatter roll was kind and I hit his Thundertusk, he failed the save and said good bye to 250 points before the match really got started. Unfortunately I rolled Power Drain and even though my Wizard Lord only lost 1 level, since he was casting Pit of Shades… he lost it. In Shooting I took out his Iron Blaster with one of my Cannons and I feel that put him in a hole that he couldn’t dig out of.
Highlights:
One of the brightest spots throughout the match was Harmonic Convergence. The impact that made (at least with the list I ran) was incredible. My opponent hated that spell and was visibly frustrated by it.
As usual the DGKs were amazing. They took a charge from the Mournfangs and weathered the impact hits without losing a model then proceeded to defeat them. The DGKs then took out his entire Leadbelcher unit with some admittedly good rolls of the dice.
A shout out to mottdon for the strong suggestion of Shadow/Pit of Shades. I hated losing the spell in the first turn but it took out the most threatening unit he had on the board. After the Pit, the largest nail in the coffin was an Okkam’s Mind Razor on my ICK’s on the round where they charged his Tyrant’s Irongut block. Seeing Knights attacking with such high strength was glorious.
Lingering Questions:
I know some people will not agree with having 2 cannons in this list but they really have an impact on the battle and not just in shooting things. My opponents are always terrified of them and they spread themselves out thin trying to get to them as quickly as possible. I also like the insurance of 2 for the inevitable misfire.
I’m not sold on the Great Weapons with the Vanilla Knights and I know that breaks the “rule” about never giving up 1+ armor saves. I’ve just had so much difficulty getting wounds in when they have STR 3 after the initial charge, that I wanted to try something different.
The only mistake I made really had no impact but I regret it none the less. I accepted a duel near the end of the match against his Tyrant with Luthor. Luthor didn’t survive (the duel lasted 2 turns) even using his super power (rolling a +1 on that didn’t help too much).
In conclusion I put this post in the Tactics board because I felt it had more to do with tactics that work against ogres than the battle report itself.
