Hi everyone! This weekend I am going to play against a friend of mine who will be using the forces of Ogre kingdoms. We will both be playing with an 1500 pt army, though I dont know what to put up against the rocks. He will be using Ironguts, bullers and gnoblins for sure and his lord will be a buthcer.. Any Idea what i Shall put up against these? I have following in my arsenal: 1 x batallion 2 x salamanders 1 x stegadon with bow 1 x Slann 1 x skink priest 1 x hero on cold one I am kinda new to the 8th rules, so what should my settings be and is there anything specific i should watch out for? hope you can help me..
My other army is Ogres, and they can be tough if the opponent is on his game. They aren't as strong in smaller games in my experience though, so you should have an advantage (especially with the Slann) For a 1500 point game, you will need 375 of your points to be from the Core choices. I think the battalion box comes with 20 saurus and 12 skinks, so you might have to use some of the temple guard models as more saurus. If you want the temple guard to go with your Slann, however, you could use two of the Cold One riders as "fillers" in their unit and bring them up to 24. Here is the list I would try against the ogres using the models you have. It uses most of your models, and gives you a good variety. Remember, this is just a suggestion, and half the fun is figuring out your own answer. Slann: General, Standard Bearer. Plaque of Tepok, Divine Plaque of Protection, Focused Rumination Scar Veteran on Cold One: light armor, Piranha Blade, Charmed Shield, Luckstone 30 Saurus, full command (using the Temple Guard models here) 12 skink skirmishers Stegadon 7 Cold One Riders Salamander The Slann will be by himself, so keep him behind the lines to avoid being charged (but still in range to use his leadership and banner) Lore of Life is always a good choice for spells, but Light or Shadows is good, too. Ogres fear the Pit of Shades as much as Lizardmen! In friendly games with pals, I don't usually take Life, as it can be overwhelming. The Scar Veteran goes with the Cold One Riders, and his weapon will be great against the multi- wound Ogres. He can do well against enemy characters, if it comes to that. The Ironguts can cut down your cavalry if you hit them head on, so be sure to go for a flank. Also, don't let him cast Bonecruncher at this unit; it ignores armor and can do surprising damage with a good roll. (My Ogres love to get Chaos Knights with this spell). Cold Ones move fast and hit hard, so be sure to get the charge and go for a weak point. The stegadon's giant bow will be good until you get close enough to charge; don't forget it does D3 wounds just like a bolt thrower. Combo- charge it with the Cold Ones, or try to get something in the flank when you get close enough. Your saurus will have plenty of ranks to be steadfast when they get into combat for at least a while, so just make sure the cavalry or stegadon is waiting to support them with a flank attack. I'd deploy them 5 wide, 6 at the most. Protect your own flanks or all is lost! Salamanders are one of our best units, but Ogres are one of the few armies they don't do as well against- they're too big to get many hits. You can still get good kills, though. Flame the Gnoblars if you can to get them out of the way. He can have a banner for his BSB or Ironguts that allows him to transfer the spell you cast onto another of his units, so with the gnoblars gone it narrows his options. Make sure to get rid of his Gut Magic spells whenever you can. They can stack up and make his units a nightmare to fight. Even if you have to use your own power dice to do it, dispel the magic on any unit you're in combat with. Well, those are my thoughts. Try whatever you like, have fun, and let us know how it goes!
Gor-rok's list is a good one, but friendly or not i nearly always take life for the slaan. Q: Whats the best way to counter hard hitting ogres? A: 30 Saurus with Toughness 8! Thats what!
Thanks for the fast replies.. And especially gor'rok for your time to write all that information down. Ill go with lore of life, since I'm eager to try the new 8th editions spells, and this lore will keep my lizards alive. Is poison effective against these Ogres? I just recalculated my collection and found out that i had another box of 24 skinks to use, if so. I will tell you how it turned out, soon enough
poison certainly does work, all rolls to hit of a 6 auto wound, which will be great considering you'll most likely need them when rolling to wound as well. Problem is with only a 12" range to use them you'll be well within range of a bull charge, considering ogres move 6" as standard.
The good thing (for you) is that Ogres rarely have a good armor save. Even the Ironguts only have 5+, and the Bulls have 6+ against shooting, at best. If you place the skinks right, so that charging them makes the Ogres vulnerable to getting charged themselves, you can chip away at their wounds with your poison, even if they have Toothcracker (+toughness spell). If the Ogres have Trollguts cast on them (regeneration spell), have your salamander fire at them first. If it causes a wound, they can't regenerate for the rest of the shooting phase, and the skinks and stegadon can fire at will! The one exception is that his all his Butcher characters, hero, lord, and special, are immune to poison. If you often give your characters the Firefly Frog venom, as I do, it is good to remember.
So, since i found out that I got another box of skinks, should i then be using them over another unit, say the steg? So it would look somthing like: Slann: General, Standard Bearer. Plaque of Tepok, Divine Plaque of Protection, Focused Rumination Scar Veteran on Cold One: light armor, Piranha Blade, Charmed Shield, Luckstone 30 Saurus, full command (using the Temple Guard models here) 3 x 10 skink skirmishers 7 Cold One Riders 2 x Salamanders So should I stick with the steggie for "anchor/hammer" unit? Or with the extra poison rain and the extra sally?
If it was me I'd get a game in with stegadon and see how he does. The giant bow is poisoned, don't forget, and so are the javelins the rest of the crew carries. You have some shooting from him, plus the impact hits and combat ability it offers. You could always trade some saurus and/ or cold ones for more skinks if you want more shooting. I'd just make sure your line stays strong enough to hold, if you trim your combat numbers down. You have enough skinks now to fill core without using the temple guard models as saurus. However, I don't recommend putting the Slann with only 10 temple guard; once they are all killed the Slann will likely break, and if he breaks he will die trying to protect the battle standard. Besides, then you have just 20 saurus, and that is too few to hold, I think. The extra salamander probably isn't worth it against Ogres. You won't usually hit that many per shot, you'll wound them on 5+, and you have to kill one entire Ogre to cause a panic test. Those are just my thoughts, but you are the General. Do whatever you think will work, and, if it doesn't, try again!
I would like to point out that nothing messes up ogre magic like the cube of darkness, with most of their spells being remains in play using it to end a potentially successfull magic phase and remove all of their buffs, especially if he managed to stack them up, can make them much easier to deal with, just time it carfully the best time to activate would be just before your lines clash so he ddosent have a chance to start casting again.