Little Emu's Little Gnoblog (now with pictures)

January 8th

Reasons behind this Gnoblog (or why did I start an Ogre army).

I've always liked the idea of Ogres. Few very big, very strong guys backed up by a mob of small creatures the big ones have slavered. I like to play Warhammer quite competitively, all the tournaments I can go to and my gaming group is very tournament-oriented too. So, I have never played against an Ogre army. There was a tournament I participated in at 29th and 30th of December and my main wish was to play against an Ogre army. The only army I've yet to play against. But nope, there was no Ogres in the tournament. None! I played my games with a generic VC tournament army. Two of the games were very frustrating: in first one a HE army diverted all my units and Wraiths were too afraid of Amulet of Light to do anything. I lost a unit of Bats and killed two Eagles and a unit of Archers and captured some quarters more so 12-8 victory for mee. Yippii. The game was over in about an hour and thus I had to wait two hours before next round. Then my next game was against a WoC army; a strong magic phase with three Tz mages and a Chaos Lord with a fireball (that magic item). I gave him the first turn, he didn't move forwards and didn't cast anything besides a lame fireball I dispelled. In my turn I decided not to risk too much and I was satisfied with a draw, so we shaked hands and called it a draw. After ten minutes of playing...

So, after the tournament I had a feeling that 'no more VC'. And at the same time a had the thought that Ogres are cool and there are too few Ogre armies in tournaments. So yes, that's exactly what I did, I started an Ogre army. Stupid me, perhaps...

The List (or what I have to paint).

Lords & Heroes

Tyrant
- H. Armor, Luck Gnoblar
- Tenderiser, Gut Maw, Wyrdstone Necklace
= 311p

Butcher
- Siege Breaker, Skull Mantle
= 180p

Butcher
- Bangstick, Scroll
= 180p

Butcher
- 2x Scroll
= 180p

Core

22 Gnoblars, Champion
= 46p

9 Trappers, Champion
= 58p

3 Bulls, Musician
= 115p

4 Ironguts, Std, Mus., Look-out-Gnoblar, Ragbanner
= 262p

3 Ironguts, Mus.
= 154p

3 Ironguts, Mus.
= 154p

Special

3 Yhetees
195p

3 Yhetees
195p

2 Leadbelchers, Mus.
120p

2 Leadbelchers, Mus.
120p

Rare

1 Maneater, heavy armor, GW
90p

1 Bull Rhinox Rider, Standard, Warbanner, Heavy Armor, Ironfist
210p

Gorger
75p

Total: 2600p exactly
Power Dice: 8 + Bound (maximum)
Dispell: 5 + 3 Scrolls (maximum)

The list is made with ETC10 Composition Rules, because here we play mainly using these Composition Rules or a variant of them.

(Note, that using these rules, it is okay to have 6 special and 4 rare choices.)

The Painting (or the major pain in the...)

I'm not really into painting. I like good looking armies on the battlefield though, so I try to paint my armies. I've used dipping and GW washes; more recently more washes (they are awesome!). But with an Ogre army I was thinking to get back dipping again. I was thinking Kommando Khaki (or Vallejo equivalent) skin, red trousers and rusty metals. I'm not big fan of gore on miniatures but on the other hand gore plus ogres seems to be a nice combination, so I'm not sure what to do. And then brushing Armypainter's Dark or Strong Tone dip to whole miniatures. I'm too wondering whether to use Dark or Strong Tone; probably I have to make some test models before deciding it conclusivelly.

What now (or why am I writing this and not painting).

I ordered an Ogre Batallion (which is awesome, btw), but I'm still waiting for it. I thought using these Wendigos made by Crocodile Games as Yhetees. Note 6 Wendigos in a box and 6 Yhetees in my list . So basically I have nothing to do for my (cool) Ogre army but to read forums and wait for my order to arrive.


I made this Gnoblog so I could show some people pictures of my army and thus try to keep up my motivation to paint. Hopefully soon I'll be able to put some pictures here.

Please, if you have any comments about my list or anything else, say it!

January 25th

The Assembly has Begun.

The Battalion box arrived at Friday. I started an assembly-frenzy and now all I need to assemble is Gnoblar Fighters. I converted a Tyrant/Bruiser and two Butchers from the box, and thus I now have Bruiser, 2 Butchers, 3 Bulls, 4 Ironguts, 21 (yet to make) Gnoblars and 9 Trappers. I'm going to use some minorly converted Gnoblar Fighters as Trappers until I can really accomplish my ultimate goal with them (using Ninja Goblins of Rackham as Trappers and GW's Ninja Maneater as their "big brother" as rare choice.)

I'm trying to get first test games during this very week.


All comments would still be very welcome.

Hello and welcome to the Stronghold!

Your list looks very much like the "old' and "competitive" Ogre list. Not sure you will find much success with it now but never give up!

Why the single Maneater instead of a second Gorger?

Hello and welcome to the Stronghold!

Your list looks very much like the "old' and "competitive" Ogre list. Not sure you will find much success with it now but never give up!

Why the single Maneater instead of a second Gorger?

Thanks! It's good to be here.

My list definitely is not unique, but Warhammer tournament armies rarely do so. =)

Single maneater is there to give Tyrant Stubborn and ITP when needed. (Tyrant joins Maneater and Maneater goes to back rank, and thus can not be targeted in combat.) And second Gorger wouldn't be okey with ETC rules either.

With that Tyrant+Maneater combo I was thinking about stopping perhaps even VC regebunker or something else nasty which has lots of combat resolution but not that much hitting power. And Maneater's S5+GW (that can not be challenged) seems good against the Popemobile too.

What do you guys think about Yhetees? M7, magical attacks (Wraiths, hrr) and moving through terrain seems really nice but they cost a lot, have no armor save and test panic with only LD7. And they aren't classified as 'Ogre' units, so I can't even cast Regenerate on them, right?

I don't like Yhetees at all. They are the "glass" in glass cannon but without the cannon bit!

Very expensive with no save means they don't have a place in my list.

I'm not sold on the solo Tyrant w/ Maneater back rank either. You are just as likely to bounce off a block if you whiff your attacks in CC, or worse, they don't have anyone to challenge. You're paying a lot for little benefit. I would rather beef up the Maneater unit into something that can be a real threat to all units and doesn't depend completely on your Lord.

I don't like Yhetees at all. They are the "glass" in glass cannon but without the cannon bit!

Very expensive with no save means they don't have a place in my list.

I have quite the same feeling about Yhetees too, but I want to test them out. Probably I'll have couple of test games with proxies before buying the models.

I'm not sold on the solo Tyrant w/ Maneater back rank either. You are just as likely to bounce off a block if you whiff your attacks in CC, or worse, they don't have anyone to challenge. You're paying a lot for little benefit. I would rather beef up the Maneater unit into something that can be a real threat to all units and doesn't depend completely on your Lord.

90 points is much for ITP and Stubborn? Jade Lion for Example Costs 30p (from Magic Item allowance even), and only gives rerolls to psych test (and I lose that if Ogre with Jade Lion flees). I think that 90 points for ITP and Stubborn is quite good price (in an OK army). And even if (when) I whiff my attacks, I'm still testing LD8 Stubborn check; it could (should?) hold. What else do I have with OK army to stop for example that big Black Knight unit with dozens of static CR?

LD8 Stubborn isn't the best in game, and it really sucks not the have a BSB in my list. A rerollable LD8 Stubborn would be something I could even count on to succeed.

You are already running 3 Butchers. If you can't get Toothcracker on him with that you are already in trouble. You can get ItP with a 15pt big name.

You are already running 3 Butchers. If you can't get Toothcracker on him with that you are already in trouble. You can get ItP with a 15pt big name.

Really? I can cast Toothcracker three times in a magic phase. A normalish (5DD and three scrolls) Dispel pool should be able to dispel that easily if he wants to use a scroll.

With a Maneater I can get a certain Stubborn if I want. Though, I'm still not sure how should I equip my Tyrant. Tenderiser + Wyrdstone Necklace + Jade Lion seems a nice combo too.


I had something else in mind too: I'll be playing in a Dualblade tournament (where a round consists of two games; first I play with my opponent's army and then we swap armies back.) next Sunday. I've been thinking about a list like this:

Heroes

Bruiser, Light Armor, GW, Jade Lion, Wyrdstone Necklace
192p

Butcher, Bangstick, Power Stone
180p

Core

3 Ogre Bulls, add hand weapons, musician
127p

4 Ironguts, standard, musician, look-out-gnoblar, Ragbanner
262p

Special

2 Leadbelchers, Musician
120p

2 Leadbelchers, Musician
120p

Total: 997p
13 models ( )


I'd really like some gnoblars in my list but I've been hoping to get whole list painted by Sunday.


I've already got Leadbelchers and Bulls painted: two Leadbelchers are dipped and finished, yay. I'm trying to get some pictures ASAP.

I played first test game about a week ago (and of course lost horribly). This week I'm trying to get as many test games as possible to actually learn how to play these monsters before the tournament.

Any comments on the Dualblade list?

That dualblade tournament sounds amazing, i really want to try my hand at one of those! Really just fun gaming byt eh sounds of it!

Nice to see this gnoblog coming along - more pictures please!

That dualblade tournament sounds amazing, i really want to try my hand at one of those! Really just fun gaming byt eh sounds of it!

Nice to see this gnoblog coming along - more pictures please!

Dualblade is an awesome gaming format. The power level of your level doesn't really matter as you also have to defeat you own list. In our first DB tournament couple of months ago I played with a HE army consisting of Dragon Mage, Silver Helms and Ellyrean Reavers; something I'd never take for a normal tournament. (In my first game I was paired against a Daemon player. He didn't seem too happy when he had my Silver Helms and Reaver while I had his block of 36 Horrors and other daemonic stuff.)

I'm a bit worried about the tournament as I have only played one DB test game and one normal game; and I'll probably have time for max. one test game more. So I'm not too familiar with ogre. But on the other hand, probably my opponents are not too comfortable with them either. =)

I just finished a painting frenzy of couple of hours, now I have to get some sleep before waking to school. I'm trying to get some pictures on Saturday when I've varnished my ogres. Every ogre is now happily waiting for some dipping, yay. =)

Pictures - They are here finally!

Group photo:


First heroes, Butcher and Bruiser/Tyrant:


Unit of Bulls:


Unit of Ironguts:


Two units of Leadbelchers:

A whole week with not a single comment? You make me a sad emu =(.

They all look great mate! One thing I would do is try to add some more to your Butcher because at the moment he just looks like a bull with a standard. Just add some spare bits, cleavers, chunks of meat and hooks. Just to differentiate him from the others.

the dip seemed to have worked well, but its time to break out the dullcote now   Testors Dullcote will take off the shine that the models have and leave you with the effect you desire.

I agree about the butcher - at the moment he looks like a bull standard bearer.  Go to the command sprue from the irongut/bull box and grab some of the bitz to add to him.

I varnished Ogres with two layers of Armypainter's anti-shine varnish. In a photoing situation I have of course more lamps than in a normal gaming situation, thus the shine looks a lot worse in pictures.

The Butcher indeed needs more stuff. From backside it looks a bit better as there are gnoblar-bags etc hanging from his belt, but something must be added to his frontside.

And then some gaming: I played my first ETC-sized game last week and won, yay! My opponent played Lizards, which included Carnosaur-lord, Saurus BSB on cold one, Engine Priest (lvl2), a lvl1 priest with a diadem and a scroll, three skink skirmishers, two ranked skink boxes with a kroxigor (three ranks in each), a Stegadon, Saurus cavalry and two units of Terradons.

I deployed my Tyrant on big Irongut gang in the middle and all the Butcher joined the Maneater behind them. This seemed to work rather well, as no one was really interested in challenging my Tyrant+Ironguts and Butchers could bang their magic quite nicely from there. Skullmantle and spamming panic check seemed to work wonders too against Lizards. On both sides of Ironguts I deployed my Yhetees as there was a nice forest and a lake for them to conquer. On my left flank I had two small units of Ironguts and one Leadbelcher unit. Right flank was hold by Bulls and another unit of Leadbelchers.

On my left Saurus cavalry failed stupidity twice in a row and Ironguts managed to charge them. I thought that would be a battle I'd win easily, but on the second round he killed an ogre (and had Banner+Warbanner where as I had only Outnumber) and I fled. My second unit of Ironguts got charged by Saurus BSB, and I didn't know what to expect from my 'Guts so I decided not to flee. Now I see that fleeing would have been the better choice. =)

In the middle of the field our Generals watched each other, both of them desperately needing the charge to win combat. I finally would have got the charge (with an evil bait&flee with Yhetees), but rolled double six on the terror check. :/ I had charged the second unit of Yhetees to Carnosaur's flank too, but without Tyrant's assist they lost horribly. Luckily this turned Carnosaur to completely wrong way (he got frenzy from wounding a Yhetee) and then decided to run after Trappers for the rest of the game. =)

On my right flank I charged Rhinox to skinks who would lead it to Engine. He had already made four wounds to it before charge and finally killed it with Engine's area nuke. But a small victory for me was that Engine had had to stay were it was and I was able to charge it with a unit of Bulls (hurt by Terradons) and a Gorger. I managed to kill the priest and Ancient Stegadon decided to rol 5,5,6 on his break test giving me points quite nicely.

All in all the game went pretty well for me. Of course the Lizardmen list wasn't the most powerful you can build, but a 12-8 victory for my first big game feels really nice. Tomorrow I'll probably try to get another ETC-sized game.

We are having a 750p tournament in three weeks and now I should create (and paint) an army for it. The following restrictions apply:
- Armies' characters (total) may not cost more than 150 points.
- 2+ Core choices, no more than two same choices
- 0-2 Rare or Special choices, from which one may be Rare. No same choices here may be taken.
- Unit may cost max 200p. A model (not characters) may cost max 125p
- No magic items or other upgrades which cost more than 25p.
Some other too, but they won't apply to ogres.

So, now I have to come up with a brilliant army list. My first idea was this:

Bruiser, LA, GW
138p

3 Bulls, Musician, Add. Hws
127p

3 Ironguts, Musician, Standard, Warbanner
199p

21 Gnoblars
42p

8 Trappers
48p

2 Leadbelchers, Musician
120p

Gorger
75p

Total: 749p

What worries me the most is that my general can't get a look-out-sir roll anywhere in my army. My second worry is too few hitting units; now I have only one unit with good hitting power ('Guts) and one unit with okey hitting power (Bulls). Another option would be changing Gorger and all Gnoblars to a unit of 3 Ironguts with musician.

Any comments on this?

Scrap the Gorger, I don't see any use in small points games as I doub't your oppenent will have much in the way of warmachines with those points so I'd just a couple more bulls or more fighters.

Scrap the Gorger, I don't see any use in small points games as I doub't your oppenent will have much in the way of warmachines with those points so I'd just a couple more bulls or more fighters.

Yeah, that's what I'm planning now: Getting rid of Gorger and increasing Bulls to four models with musician and even a standard.  I'd never use four Bulls w/ standard and musician in a 2k+ sized game, but in this sized game it seems I can't throw 115 points for a unit which is only for diverting.

Now I'm in a new trouble: How to paint Yheteees? I got four of them (very cheaply, I might add =) ) and I'd really like to keep them somehow in the same theme as rest of my army is (theme = red). I was thinking I could paint them with red (Bloody Red) and then Drybrush their fur to white (keeping faces more red) and painting 'ice weapons' light blue. I don't have a clue how it might look light, but is it worth trying?

Now more gnoblar painting for the tournament =)