03 Jan 2010
by arisen
An odd one out in the ogre kingdoms army, and not in the army book, are Rhinox riders. Theyre about the biggest, scariest cavalry in warhammer, and have the stats to match it.
Bull rhinox or rhinox?
Mostly, the upgrade to bull rhinox pays off. Sure, it becomes a large target, but the advantages far outweigh the disadvantage: causing terror, unit strength 6 each, and S6, WS4 and 4 attacks for the rhinox. Mostly the WS4 is a big issue as you'll be hitting normal units on 3s instead of 4s, while wounding on 2s like ironguts.
An option is to only upgrade one rhinox rider to a bull rhinox to get more ironguts with the points saved. The reasoning behind this is that the unit only needs one bull rhinox to cause terror, and your flank will be smaller. The irongut you get for the points (well, almost the same points), has 2 more attacks than the bull rhinox upgrade.
It is a gamble though, as if your opponent targets all shots at your bull rhinox (as they can choose to shoot at either the bull rhinox or the rhinox in the unit), you've lost the only terror-causer in the unit, and your unit strength will be lower, which makes it harder to outnumber if they charge into a unit on their own.
Another advantage of a unit full of bull rhinox riders is that if only 1 survives to get to the enemy (bad things can happen), he can still negate ranks on his own.
Single minded and bad tempered
With these rules, deployment is very important for rhinox riders. With only 1 wheel per turn, you have to make sure you can get them where you want them in time, which shouldn't be a problem with M7.
Tactics
The best use I've found for rhinox riders is to try and get into your opponent's flank. If you make a pincer move (i.e. the rhinox riders go round the side while your ironguts go through the center, and yhetees or more ogres in the other flank), everything will arrive at about the same time, and your opponent will be hit by ogres in the front and rhinox in the flank at the same time which is mostly enough to break anything.
If possible, don't slam a unit of rhinox riders into the front of a fully ranked-up unit unsupported though, there's a chance they might not break them, and gives your opponent the chance to get in their flank.
Although rhinox riders have lots of wounds, great toughness and good armor, it's wise to keep them safe from massed shooting by clever use of terrain, e.g. using woods to your advantage, or even putting gnoblar trappers in front of his missile unit to block line of sight.
There's also an option to make the unit even more deadly by giving your tyrant the longstrider big name, and put him in the unit as well. This however, is overkill, and the general's leadership is removed from where it's most needed: in the center of your army. The unit will also be more unwieldy, and one rhinox rider will probably not even get into base contact with the enemy unit unless it's a ranked-up unit in the front, or a unit with 25mm bases (e.g. saurus warriors, chaos warriors, orcs,...) in the flank. It's better to keep the tyrant at the center of the army instead, and use his extra movement after reaching the enemy line to keep up with the rhinox riders.
Unit size
At 2000 points, a unit of 3 bull rhinox steamrolls over anything if you can get them in the flank of your opponents line. At less then 2000 points though, you can use a single bull rhinox rider, and upgrade him to a thunderlord.
Equipment
Ironfists: Not a necessary upgrade, but a handy one nonetheless. A 2+ armor save in close combat can come in very handy e.g. against units with the always strike first rule.
Heavy armor. Always upgrade your rhinox riders with heavy armor: this gives them a 3+ armor save vs shooting and in close combat.
Command
Champion: When fielding a unit of 3 bull rhinox riders, I wouldnt recommend upgrading one to a thunderlord. That way your unit cant be challenged. When fielding a single bull rhinox rider though, a thunderlord is a great upgrade.
Musician: Try to give a unit of bull rhinox riders a bellower if you can. If they do fail a panic test from shooting (or things like the screaming skull catapult), the +1 to rally can be a lifesaver.
Standard bearer: A standard bearer is an essential element in a unit of 3 bull rhinoxen. Not mainly for the combat resolution, but for being able to give them a magic banner. The 2 banners which work best on a unit of rhinox riders are the runemaw (to redirect dangerous spells onto e.g. a unit of gnoblars trappers), or the ragbanner which helps with panic tests with the low leadership value of rhinox riders.
What about gut magic?
Since theres an ogre bull on top of the rhinox, the general consensus is that gut magic spells augment a rhinox riders abilities. E.g. they can get MR(2) and regeneration from trollguts. One exception to this though is bullgorger. The +1S only counts for the rider; the rhinox itself wont get the strength benefit from this spell.
Rhinox riders legality
In friendly games, youre free to field rhinox riders in accordance to the rules in the pdf, but what about tournaments and organized play? The answer is simple: ask the organisers if rules printed in white dwarf are permitted, or check the rules booklet thats published for tournaments.
An odd one out in the ogre kingdoms army, and not in the army book, are Rhinox riders. Theyre about the biggest, scariest cavalry in warhammer, and have the stats to match it.
Bull rhinox or rhinox?
Mostly, the upgrade to bull rhinox pays off. Sure, it becomes a large target, but the advantages far outweigh the disadvantage: causing terror, unit strength 6 each, and S6, WS4 and 4 attacks for the rhinox. Mostly the WS4 is a big issue as you'll be hitting normal units on 3s instead of 4s, while wounding on 2s like ironguts.
An option is to only upgrade one rhinox rider to a bull rhinox to get more ironguts with the points saved. The reasoning behind this is that the unit only needs one bull rhinox to cause terror, and your flank will be smaller. The irongut you get for the points (well, almost the same points), has 2 more attacks than the bull rhinox upgrade.
It is a gamble though, as if your opponent targets all shots at your bull rhinox (as they can choose to shoot at either the bull rhinox or the rhinox in the unit), you've lost the only terror-causer in the unit, and your unit strength will be lower, which makes it harder to outnumber if they charge into a unit on their own.
Another advantage of a unit full of bull rhinox riders is that if only 1 survives to get to the enemy (bad things can happen), he can still negate ranks on his own.
Single minded and bad tempered
With these rules, deployment is very important for rhinox riders. With only 1 wheel per turn, you have to make sure you can get them where you want them in time, which shouldn't be a problem with M7.
Tactics
The best use I've found for rhinox riders is to try and get into your opponent's flank. If you make a pincer move (i.e. the rhinox riders go round the side while your ironguts go through the center, and yhetees or more ogres in the other flank), everything will arrive at about the same time, and your opponent will be hit by ogres in the front and rhinox in the flank at the same time which is mostly enough to break anything.
If possible, don't slam a unit of rhinox riders into the front of a fully ranked-up unit unsupported though, there's a chance they might not break them, and gives your opponent the chance to get in their flank.
Although rhinox riders have lots of wounds, great toughness and good armor, it's wise to keep them safe from massed shooting by clever use of terrain, e.g. using woods to your advantage, or even putting gnoblar trappers in front of his missile unit to block line of sight.
There's also an option to make the unit even more deadly by giving your tyrant the longstrider big name, and put him in the unit as well. This however, is overkill, and the general's leadership is removed from where it's most needed: in the center of your army. The unit will also be more unwieldy, and one rhinox rider will probably not even get into base contact with the enemy unit unless it's a ranked-up unit in the front, or a unit with 25mm bases (e.g. saurus warriors, chaos warriors, orcs,...) in the flank. It's better to keep the tyrant at the center of the army instead, and use his extra movement after reaching the enemy line to keep up with the rhinox riders.
Unit size
At 2000 points, a unit of 3 bull rhinox steamrolls over anything if you can get them in the flank of your opponents line. At less then 2000 points though, you can use a single bull rhinox rider, and upgrade him to a thunderlord.
Equipment
Ironfists: Not a necessary upgrade, but a handy one nonetheless. A 2+ armor save in close combat can come in very handy e.g. against units with the always strike first rule.
Heavy armor. Always upgrade your rhinox riders with heavy armor: this gives them a 3+ armor save vs shooting and in close combat.
Command
Champion: When fielding a unit of 3 bull rhinox riders, I wouldnt recommend upgrading one to a thunderlord. That way your unit cant be challenged. When fielding a single bull rhinox rider though, a thunderlord is a great upgrade.
Musician: Try to give a unit of bull rhinox riders a bellower if you can. If they do fail a panic test from shooting (or things like the screaming skull catapult), the +1 to rally can be a lifesaver.
Standard bearer: A standard bearer is an essential element in a unit of 3 bull rhinoxen. Not mainly for the combat resolution, but for being able to give them a magic banner. The 2 banners which work best on a unit of rhinox riders are the runemaw (to redirect dangerous spells onto e.g. a unit of gnoblars trappers), or the ragbanner which helps with panic tests with the low leadership value of rhinox riders.
What about gut magic?
Since theres an ogre bull on top of the rhinox, the general consensus is that gut magic spells augment a rhinox riders abilities. E.g. they can get MR(2) and regeneration from trollguts. One exception to this though is bullgorger. The +1S only counts for the rider; the rhinox itself wont get the strength benefit from this spell.
Rhinox riders legality
In friendly games, youre free to field rhinox riders in accordance to the rules in the pdf, but what about tournaments and organized play? The answer is simple: ask the organisers if rules printed in white dwarf are permitted, or check the rules booklet thats published for tournaments.