My son's first army

My son wants to get into Warhammer Fantasy, and he just turned nine and he has chosen Ogres.  Being a novice player myself and have focused on Daemons, I would like some help designing a 2250 point list that will be fun for him. The one request as he would like like lots of cannons.  Any help adive would be appreciated.  This is meant to be a fun based army as I am going to keep him out of the tournament scene.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

hmmmm lots of cannons. well two iron blasters than and I guess a couple units of leadbelchers are required.

Well, he's in luck, because Ogres are blessed with a book that has a lot of strong choices, and just about all the stuff that has cannons in it make the list. I'd suggest getting two Ironblasters (cannons on chariots!), as well as two 6-man squads of Leadbelchers (Ogres with cannons!), and then filling the rest out with Ironguts and characters. To put my proverbial money where my mouth is, here's a list I'd advocate:

Starter List - 2250 points

Core - 575 points:
2 x 10 Gnoblars, Trappers
10 Ironguts, Full Command, Standard of Discipline [BSB and Slaughtermaster go here]

Special - 579 points:
2 x 6 Leadbelchers
3 x Sabretusk

Rare - 340 points:
2 x Ironblaster

Heroes - 336 points:
Bruiser, BSB, Armor of Destiny, Ironfist
Butcher, Additional Hand Weapon, Hellheart, L2 Wizard [Lore of the Great Maw]

Lords - 385 points:
Slaughtermaster, Dispel Scroll, Fencer's Blades, Greedy Fist, L4 Wizard [Lore of Heavens]

Grand Total: 2250 points

The strategy behind this list is fairly simple - you have a big block of Ironguts running up the middle to smash some face, while the cannons stay behind and shoot everything to soften tough targets up, while the Butcher runs close to enemy Wizards to try and blow them up, the Sabretusks run interference, and the Gnoblars stick in front of the Leadbelchers to dissuade people from charging them. I'm a big fan of Heavens' augments for this sort of list, but Lore of Death can work just as well (maybe even better, given the synergy with the Greedy Fist). Either way, this isn't meant to be followed as gospel as much as it is a starting point so that you know what models you need to buy (fortunately, Ogres aren't that expensive an army). Good luck!

I think rothgar13 is on the money here.
fairly simple list with some things he has to look out for, but are not hurting his beginning play style.

The biggest issue he will have in terms of movement will be the sabretusks in my opinion:
- If they get shot within panic range, they cause panic
- If they are within 8" of the enemy they can only use their own low leadership to march test.

But then again, they are not THAT important in the list ( a good comet will have the same result)

Far be it from me to give any form of advice whatsoever in regards to children, but 2250pts seems like a fairly large army potentially with a number of complex units that might be a little tough to manage for such a relatively young player. By starting at 1000 or so points instead, you can still fit an Ironblaster and a bunch of Leadbelchers to satisfy that cannon craving, along with some Ogres/Ironguts, Gnoblars and a Bruiser or Firebelly. That way, you get medium-size games with a reasonable vareity of units that shouldn't be too complicated to get the hang of, and then your son could perhaps pick units he thinks are cool/he enjoys playing to expand it.

The problem with low points is, that it is hard to make a balanced fight.
Especially against daemons (which he will be probably facing the most).

To learn I suggest 2000 points, no magic.
Just moving, shooting and fighting.

Magic changes alot and it makes it so much more difficult

You need a caster in a starter army as magic is a big issue this edition. When I started back at the beginning of 6th the first model I bought was an orc caster, and it helped me to learn the game. Having a mix of the phases is always good, and magic can be especially appealing to a new player.

Ask your son what attracted him to ogres and then we can try and build a list around those choices. We can tell you alot of competitive lists, but if he loves the stonehorn, then we can try and accomodate that into the list. You said he likes the ironblasters(smart kid) but is there anything else he likes ?

The problem with low points is, that it is hard to make a balanced fight.
Especially against daemons (which he will be probably facing the most).

To learn I suggest 2000 points, no magic.
Just moving, shooting and fighting.

Magic changes alot and it makes it so much more difficult

The problem is the local meta most people will not play with less than 2250 and since there are no other other kids playing in the area he has to take his lumps I am just trying to minimize the pain and frustration

Approaching this from a slightly different angle, I say buy him a battalion box first and then an ironblaster and a character of his choice (bragg looks awesome, and makes a good bruiser/tyrant IMO) later on.  This will give him plenty to build and paint, as well as a decent force to play against Dad while he's learning.  It will also be a fairly economic start, and give you some idea whether or not your son actually plans on sticking with the game, or whether or not they'll stay in a box somewhere until they wind up on ebay.

Great advice here all, but then again.....the kid is 9 years old. Let's approach it with the view of a nine year old. The main reason he wants cannons probably is because he thinks they look cool (cannons are cool!). His biggest motivation to start warhammer is probably because dad does it and he wants in on the fun and wants to learn to make the awesome stuff that dad is making.

I think it is great you are sharing the hobby with your son. I have three little'uns myself and have rescently given an old dragon to my eldest (. He is painting it up in really swell and strange colors.

Main issue here is not what he wants to play ingame. He doesn't care what is a good choice. Just pick up the army book, flip through it with him and let him pick some stuff that he thinks are the coolest looking models or units. Take some time for this. When he points out a unit/model, tell him what it is and read the fluff of it with him together. If he descides he still likes it, note it down.

Make a list of those things and post them here. The great people here will then make a workable list for you whatever those choices may be.

(oh.....and when you start playing against him...do not massacre him each time to boost your own competitive ego!!!! )


Hope this helps!


D...

Ironically I have a feeling alot of the ones he thinks are cool will be the more useful units lol. I mean I look through the book and am like "Oh that is awesome looking" and generally its a useful model. I do agree with the battllion idea though. That thing is just to good of a deal not to grab up

Ha, this is really awesome! It's kinda funny, because for me, I started with a large Ogre army, and then got my brother into it, who has decided to run Daemons (so, a bit of a flipflop there)

I agree with Darkminion's advice on this one. Have a sit down and a read through, and whatever he thinks is awesome, go with it! It sounds like he's wanting to play the hobby for the fun-factor, which is the most important part

Also, I'd say, once he gets a certain number of points built and established, I'd recommend for you to make a list that would be easy for his list to defeat (well, "easy" being subjective to the dice gods alone lol). I've always believed in giving people the first win, because it whets their appetite to play more. Give them a couple wins, a few losses, and they'll be hooked no doubt! And when your son gets older and starts to develop more in the game, he'll be able to use his Ogres to even better efficacy. Ogres are a tricky army to figure out, but once you get the hang of them, they can easily be one of the best (or, at least, the top of the middlepack lol).

Congrats on the bond of hobbying, btw! When I have kids, I'd love to share with them this hobby. Treasure every moment

Congrats on the bond of hobbying, btw! When I have kids, I'd love to share with them this hobby. Treasure every moment

Don't be too eager with this Sazel! Untill a certain age you absolutely want to keep your kids away from your models. I did NOT 'treasure the moment' when I found my 4 year old twins in my hobby room with smashed up armies laying about that made the first Chaos invasion look like 'childsplay' (pun intended!).

D...

Hello,
I believe there are 3 main reasons for collecting an army:
by the aesthetics of the thumbnails (painted and developed),
by the background of the Army (literature)
or by the characteristics and rules of Army (tactics and game).
If you are able to mix three things in the same army then is almost perfect.

When I started with ogres kingdoms did not know the warhammer world, nor knew that the ogres were difficult to play or that they were ready to removed (before the free of our new army). I buy me the background and aesthetics of the thumbnails, but in contradiction, the part that I liked to the hobby was the tactic and play.
I think should start making lists of 1000 or 1500 points, with a little bit of everything and balanced, try the units that you like, either by: background, image unit or by the rules to play.
So for my the hobby consists of these three things, and one must discover which is which he likes by yourself.

Congrats on the bond of hobbying, btw! When I have kids, I'd love to share with them this hobby. Treasure every moment

Don't be too eager with this Sazel! Untill a certain age you absolutely want to keep your kids away from your models. I did NOT 'treasure the moment' when I found my 4 year old twins in my hobby room with smashed up armies laying about that made the first Chaos invasion look like 'childsplay' (pun intended!).

D...

Yechk... Well, let me rephrase myself then...

Congrats on the bond of hobbying, btw! When I have kids, I'd love to share with them this hobby When they are old enough and mature enough to respectfully and appropriately handle the hobby

hehe

Well I am glad to help, and give an insight of a 15 year old Ogre player.
When I started playing Fantasy, I tried lots of armies and I wanted some fun with them. Now I like the background to moet armies but by far Tomb Kings and Ogres beat the bunch. Now Tomb Kings were cool but I found that I didn't like how un competitive they were (most guys in the shop run cheesey ass armies). I tried Ogres and I loved them. I found that there was nothing more fun then ploughing into the enemy and blasting them apart with the old Leadbelchers. I started in 7th edition so the Ogres were old enough and nobody really saw them. So I bought a battalion of the ogres (I think you got Bulls and Ironguts and some gnoblers in the first one) and I just got some extra men (like leadbelchers and a butcher). The Ogres were great fun to play with and I then heard about 8th edition. Everything new caught my eye, so I ended up buyimg 2 Ironblasters and something like 11 leadbelchers. I bought the battalion again because it was good value and it would increase my small playforce. By the way, I built 10 Ironguts and 6 Bulls from that box. I think I had about 1500 points right there, I now believe I have something like 3500 points or so. But if he likes cannons then it's best to get these
2 Ironblasters
A Battalion (To make 6 Ironguts and 6 Bulls for Core and 4 Leadbelchers for Special)
A Box of Leadbelchers
A Butcher
Some Mournfang as they are epic!
Gnoblars to block the leadbelchers
And anything that he likes.