Ogre Almanac - Mercenary Work (2006)

A good part of the adult life of many male ogres is fighting on the battlefield... for other people!  Nearly anyone can hire one of these hulking beasts to beat up and eat whomever they like, as long as the price is right!  So...

~How does an antisocial thing like an Ogre, surrounded by small edible things, manage to get a job?  Working for human mercenary companies?  Ogre mercenary 'Tyrants'?  Halfling sponsers?
~When not directly fighting, what are Ogre mercenaries doing?  Milling about, getting into trouble?  Hiding out in isolated mercenary camps?  Or is there a... support system... in place to house and entertain Ogres between jobs?
~What other kind of work are Ogres doing when they travel away from their tribes besides direct Mercenary work?  Working for the sheriff?  Strong-arming for the thieves guild?  Independant bandantry?  Body guarding the rich and tolerant?
~What exactly do you pay an ogre anyways?  Sure, most of their wage goes into food and booze, but there is bound to be something left and at least until very recently in ogre history coin hasn't held much value...
~While I can understand why Chaos Dwarves, Chaos, Orcs, and humans will hire a little ogre muscle, almost anyone has the option to... under what circumstances would we see Ogres working for dwarves?  Elves  Undead?  Lizardmen!?!  Just how *do* those racial relations work out?
***Extra Credit Assignment!***
If anyone feels up to it, I'd like outside input answering that last question... if someone would could hunt down the other big warhammer communities for each race (druchii.net, asrai.org, etc) and ask them about the races that they are most familiar with: their racial relations with ogres, under what circumstances they would hire ogre mercenaries, what sauces they prefer to be marinated in... that sort of thing... and report your findings back here.  An extra helping of mammoth heart to anyone who decides to help in this outsourcing of our project!

Dwarves - These hardy folk do not procreate that often.  When they do they stay with thier small clan inside of one citadel or another.  With the day to day chores of protecting thier home taking many many bodies that leaves fewer to go out and defend thier lands away from home or attack those who threaten thier lifestyle.  With this in mind it seems that, after some particularly nasty battles, they would need some sort of help in order to maintain thier hold on thier homelands.

Dark Elves - I think hire would be the wrong word.  In my eyes the druchii would want to enslave them and force them to do thier bidding.  If not enslave then they would use thier mental prowess to trick them into taking the brunt of the attacks while they snuck up behind thier foe and put a knife in thier kidneys

Well first of all, I think ogres are one of the most social races in the warhammer world. Albeit a very large, dangerous kind of social. And I think ogres have a great spirit of wanderlust. So eventually a young ogre gets bored of life in the mountains, and travels west. Why? Because ogres like eating & hitting things, and they like bragging about it. And people like having ogres hit other people.

But how do they get hired? That's hard. Because an ogre can't just walk up to a caravan or a town and not look threatening. So I bet somewhere between the Mountains of Mourn and the Empire there is a great stretch of land where man eaters converge and camp, and wait for humans to come hire them. I say this be because I can't think of a system where a bull, who probably can't speak full sentences, could conceivably go out to offer his services without being viewed as a threat.  These camps are probably centers of great trade for the criminal and uncivilized. And these camps would have to be out of the Mountains of Mourn territory because traveling there to recruit ogres would simply be to dangerous.

And what would someone pay an ogre? Probably not alot more than food and drink, most of which is generated on the job. Beyond that, just repairs and metal working services. Those are the things which would keep an ogre happy; food, booze, and big chunks of killy metal. Which leads to what they do when not fighting. Because of their rarity ogre mercenaries won't be able to socialize with their own kind alot, and they can't have ogre fun with thinlings, so they'll just eat and drink and sleep. But if the ogres are stationed near a city of any size they'll participate in pitfights, which is probably the job with the second highest demand after soldiering. Other jobs such as guard duty, thuggery, police work and the like is very rare, simply because for an ogre to do those things requires not only a great amount of food and money from the hiring party, but specialised housing.

I have to go now, so I may write more later.

I really like tis idea of maneater camps where you go to recruit ogres. Opens up storyteling possibilities about the difficulty of reaching them, or some perilous feat you must perform upon reaching them.

Hmmmmm...an ogre camp where one would hire ogres would be neato. Would it be feasable for such a camp to be found near the border prince areas? I mean, a mercanary group there would never be out of work, especially when you're big and mean. ^^

I bet a lot of ogres are actually hired when battles occur too. Isn't there a skirmish scenario in warhammer dealing with two bands of heros trying to hire a group of ogres to tip the tides of battle for their side? I can imagine if a fight happens, any ogres nearbye will congregate to the battle mostly to devore the dead, but survivers of the battle will see the big brutes and want to enlist them.

Another area where ogres could be hired is probably at the beginning of the ivory road. I mean, you need big guys to protect those caravans, so it would be wise for ogres to set up there and wait for some caravan guide to say "hey! You! with the big gutplate!" With such a big demand for ogre guards, I would think that things such as gnoblar translaters would be used to let even ogres with no inkling of launguage to work. The caravan boss tells the gnoblar what he wants the ogres to do, and the gnoblar translates.

Payment for ogres is first and foremost food. I imagine that a caravan that hires ogres takes along livestock or extra mules or oxen to pull the carts, and when it comes time to feed the ogres, the slowest, lamest, or most tired looking beast of burdon becomes a beast feast for the ogres. Raw meat couldn't be kept on such a long trip, and I don't imagine ogres would much like beef jerky when fresher supplies could be had.

Maneaters are said to be paid in modified guns, so it's probable that they get other fancy weapons as well for helping out. Ogres don't care for fancy clothes, but armour is probably appreciated. Gold coins are probably appreciated under greasuses rule, but I see a big problem with them. Imagine how small a human coin is, then imagine it in the big clumsy paws of an ogre. He'd be losing change left and right through his stubby fingers. I'd think that after the  first several instances of angry ogres demanding better money, an actual "ogre koin" would be made, a big lump of melted down gold in a disk big enough for an ogre to use. This would be much more valuable then a bunch of smaller gold coins, be less easily lost, and if I know ogres, they would punch holes through these coins and wear them like a necklace, both to show off their wealth and to keep gnoblars from filtching them. For paying humans, these ogre coins would have pre-scored areas on them where a piece could be snapped off, to pay for something that requires less gold then a whole coin.

An ogre fighting as a mercanary would have to have a bit of people skills, more so than an actual ogre. Think of how hard it must be for them, going from a tribe where the biggest ogre makes the rules, and then fighting for a puny thinling and doing what he wants you to do, even though you could squish him like a bug. I bet only the smartest ogres would ever work as mercenaries, the dumbest ones would end up eating someone's kid or something and be promptly fired/hunted down and killed.

I believe there is a mention in the diaries of Reuben Kyte (featured in WD) that he hired ME from the Ogre tribe inhabiting the Sentinels. This could be one of the many such Ogre colonies outside the Mountains of Mourn, which were started by young Ogres emmigrating from their Tribes. These young Ogres will have come across humans or another race near their camp (an example would be if an Ogre group set up camp near a trade route through the Darklands). The Ogres are hired there, and, if they come into contact with other Ogres of their tribe, may spread the tale that their first campsite is a good place to get hired. Eventually this grows into that all young Ogres from that Tribe go there to work as mercenaries. The hiring race catches on that this is the place to hire Ogres, and inevitably, merchants will appear to take advantage of this. A small township may spring up, as the gold of the hirers attracts business. Finally, from nowhere, a township will have appeared, most likely split into two halves: Ogres and thinlings, the centre of which is the designated bargaining point to buy an Ogre's services. The Ogre half will be governed by a Bruiser from the Tribe whose Bulls created the foundations of the township, and part of the revenue from the hiring of the Tribe's Ogres will fill the coffers of said Tribe. I would expect a Tyrant like Greasus to control a huge many of these towns scattered across traderoutes in the Darklands, Cathay etc.

I believe I once read that ogres are often hired because otherwise they just roam the lands and hit people that don't deserve to be hit.
An elector count who has ogres in his land would do wise when offering these guys a job in his army. I don't even think he has to pay them much. Ogres enjoy fighting so will happily participate in a large battle, and they can find a lot of food on the battlefield!

Some ogres might then try to make a carreer out of fighting, adopting weapons and clothes like the soldiers they're fighting with. These eventually become maneaters and will be quite famous in the area they're in. New employers will contact them and they will learn the use of gold.
I agree coins are too small for ogre hands, but they can be used in bags and pouches. I think guns and 'cool stuff' are not used as payment but as ways to attract ogres to fight for a new cause. Ogres can get pretty loyal once they've accepted an employer.

Though most maneaters live wealthy and good lifes, they are all eventually drawn back to their tribe. There they tell their stories and inspire more bulls to go a wanderin'. This might even result in whole tribes offering their services, though these travel considerably slower than small groups and usually don't go as far as to the old world.
The Ivory road is a good place to be as a mercenary. Alongside the ogres are many 'contracters' who make the deals between caravans and hirelings. These individuals could be human, gnoblar, ogre or anything really.

Of course really there's no one reason for why Bulls go mercenaring and everything posted here is completely plausible.

So I've taken up the suggestion to ask other forums their opinions, so far I've only gotten onto the UnderEmpire and Da Warpath.
The orcs were predictable and would hire ogres for bashing.
The skaven said 1) hire to kill, and after the battle set them up for death or send them in on suicide missions. 2) buy/steal ogres for Moulder experiments and 3) hire them under the guise of human employers and create havoc in human lands so the skaven can strike.
I'm working on all the other races.

Both those sound pretty feasible in my mind Reg06.  Good Work!

Just got done reading the replies at CotEC and they said Ogres would only be hired to fight battles. However, this would be a rare thing. Most Chaos generals would be unwilling to hire any mercenaries. When they did they'd offer the usual (gold, food and loot) as well as the power of the dark gods.

Ill tackle the question of Ogre employment: firstly, hired toughs
Across the Old World, like in so many Fantasy worlds, there are bound to be various 'thieves' guilds', who either cooperate with or control the local authorities. Such guilds are only controlled by the most unprincipled and ruthless amongst them, and such beings would not be put off by the seeming immorality of Ogres. In fact, any guild that has Ogres among its ranks will be extremely powerful, as the fear they inspire will aid the business of exacting money from people so that the guild doesn't destroy their livelihoods, and scare off competition. However, Ogres, being decidedly unsubtle, blunt and non-secretive would not be used without direct supervision, in case they harm the guild's plans more than help.

The second job is bodyguard to the rich. Only those Ogres who have been exposed to a 'civilised' culture for so long that they have lost all tendencies to bite great chunks out of everything they see are candidates for such a post, but their skills will more than make up for their unfavorable reputation. Ogre bodyguards are ideal protection from assassins as they are so tough and resistant to poison. They are also very suited to a job involving only very simple instructions. The only problem with Ogre bodyguards is that they are very expensive to maintain, as the employer must make sure that no-one can buy off his bodyguards. Another similar occupation to bodyguarding is employment as a bouncer. The advantages of this, from an Ogre's point of view, is that, not only does he get gold, he also gets booze. From the owner's point of view it's good, because no-one is stupid enough to make a fight in a place guarded by an Ogre, and also it could lend his establishment some publicity as only the richest bars can afford an Ogre.

Third job is law enforcement. Ogres in this capacity, like bodyguards, would need to be very cultured. Ogres, being unsuited to sleuthing, would probably act in a riot-breaker, strongarm capacity.  However, using Ogres as policemen would not really be popular with the locals and so only in the more police-state areas would this happen. One unique job for Ogres in a law-enforcement capacity would be in employment in an Orc and Gobbo tribe in order to make sure the orders of the Warboss are followed, and that no other Greenskins would get ideas about ruling a tribe. Related to this job is bounty-hunting, but only the smartest of Ogres would ever be able to do this independantly, though they would make good hired muscle for defense of a professional bounty hunter.

In conclusion, most Ogre jobs in the Old World will be ones that require a great deal of strength and very little brain, that preferably involve fighting and drinking. For races like Chaos Dwarfs and Dark (and possibly High) Elves, who consider Ogres beneath them to employ, Ogres could act as heavy-labour slaves for lumberjacking and mining. And as for Undead, I've been having some strange ideas about an Ogre Vampire? 

I'd imagine ogre bounty hunters would be very similar to hunters, which is really scary. Can you imagine being tracked like an animal (both the tracker and the trackee), looking for refuge in the bars and taverns, and one moonless night you stumble out drunk, and end up with harpoon sticking through your gut?
I can't imagine a beast more terrifying than an ogre vampire.

I'd imagine ogre bounty hunters would be very similar to hunters

That's a good idea. Hunters, since they are officially independant of the Tribe, could wander over to the Old World and get hired on as bounty hunters, and while hunting, they could check out prospective job markets.

I'd imagine ogre bounty hunters would be very similar to hunters

That's a good idea. Hunters, since they are officially independant of the Tribe, could wander over to the Old World and get hired on as bounty hunters, and while hunting, they could check out prospective job markets.

Agreed. Sounds like a cool concept, ogre hunters covered in man/dwarf/elf skins instead of animal skins. Would make a very interesting conversion/piece of artwork. I really like the idea of ogres being seen as more than just mercenaries, they are afterall bodyguards etc too.

Here's some to add to the orcs' and skavens' opinions;
Wood Elves- Too xenophobic.
High Elves- The colonists would only in the most dire of circumstances, but never would an elf on/from      Ulthuan.
Vampire Counts- Depends on the bloodline. The Necarch and Strigoi would not. The Blood Dragons would attempt to avoid it, but for short campaigns they may consider. The Lahmians and von Carsteins already make exstensive use of mercenaries. Payment would mostly be in meat, which both parties can use.
Chaos- Over at COTEC there's some dissension, but the general consensus is that it depends on the general. Many may find it dishonorable to hire mercenaries, some may just want to kill everything. Marauders and beastmen are more likely to hire than mortals, because of the similarities. Daemon generals would never. And the ogres would get paid in the standard ways, as well as what chaos always offers; power.

There is a large part of the (Averland or Ostland?) Empire Army which is an Ogre Detachment. They were taken in by the Empire literally as they naturally lived in that region anyway. (I will find out the area it is in, Ostland and Averland spring to mind). And apparently the Ogres there dress in Imperial colours and have full citizen rights. (I like the idea of imperial ogres)

And here's the last of my reports;
Dwarves- Dwarves actually have a tradition of hiring ogres almost as well founded as the humans do. Many dwarves may be too traditional to hire them, but no one gets the job done like ogres. Plus, both are mountain races. The ogres would be hired to battle, and for some bodyguard/bouncer work. Dwarves have 3 things ogres like; gold (may not be applicable depending on where the ogres hail from), beer (though it has nothing on ogre beer), and enemies (the dwarves would want nothing more than to see every greenskin and every ratman gobbled up by some hulking brute).
Tomb Kings- They are much too closed to even consider the option of hiring mercenaries. However, there is a chance, a very slight chance, that one of the few Tomb Kings with a mind would allow a bunch of ogres to fight for them and take the loot from the battlefield, but never would a Tomb Prince (is that right?) give up some of his treasure)
Beastmen- Very few beastmen speak anything but howls and the Dark Tounge. A few more progressive leaders might offer to hire some ogres. But generaly if the ogres were mercenaries employed by beastmen they'd simply have an unspoken agreement where the ogres attack alongside the beastmen and keep the gold and bodies, for food.

Looks good, the only thing I don't agree with is the wood elves.  They can take them so there MUST be some reason they would...

I agree... any army that CAN hire ogre mercenaries probably at some point (regardless of how rarely) do so... though I would happily concede that of the races that can hire ogre mercs, woodelves are up there with the ones that would do it least often.  Just so we are clear everyone can hire ogre mercs except Brittonians and... lizardmen?

I dont see Tomb Kings hiring anyone. At all.

The tomb kings would just raise old Ogre servants of the king...

To be honest I doubt Tomb Kings would bother, seing as they have Ushabti

It would take a very, very desperate wood elf to hire an ogre. But yes, the top three who would go without are; Wood Elves, Tomb Kings and Brettonians.

Brettonians would, and do often. Just not "officially" as the Brettonian RP Sourcebook says. It has happened alot in the history of brettonia, they just dont note it in history. (GW says they do, but not as an army.. hard to explain..)

I cant see Brets hiring Ogres. They would be more interested in killing Ogres to prove their valour in my opinion.

I know alot of people don't think a certain army would do so for one reason or another (Tomb Kings, Woodies and Brets have been specifically mentioned).  Unfortunately, they can according to the rules so we need to find a fluff reason for it.

Brettonians cant in the game. But in fluff not all Brettonians are chivalrous, take "The Wild Kingdoms" for example, a knight there uses a pistol (He's a Bret). The Brettonian Merchants in that hire Ogre Bodyguards.

We know they can officially, but no one, including the players at the major forums for those three races, can give a good reason, or one at all.

Wood Elves I can *sort* of cobble together an explination... I imagine that, although extremely rarely, Wood Elves occasionally go off to do battle outside of Athel Loren: hunt down a threat before it gets to the homeland, at the mysterious request of an ancient treeman, seeking another grove of 'living forest' outside of Athel Loren (there are a few out there)... while it would greatly strain my imagination to see Wood Elves inviting obnoxious outsiders like Ogres into thier home to fight, when 'out and abroad' in the outside world I see it much more likely to occur when faced with a powerful threat.  Also, there is some evidence of historical cooperation between the Asrai and the surrounding Brettonians, which although Brettonian ARMIES (with all the nobility and such) don't make use of mercenaries, Brettonian people sometimes do... and thus we have a link to hire Ogre Mercenaries, if rarely, in times of extreme emergency.

The armies I most struggle with justification for are the Tomb Kings and the Lizardmen... almost any scenario you read with these guys they are the passive party.  Tomb Kings don't raise up armies and march into the Chaos Wastes and do battle, they kind of... mill about and wait for people to come try and steal loot or something.  Lizardmen almost as much so, they don't do much maurading and thus don't have the same kind of access to mercenary hiring traditions as other races.

For tomb kings, my three guesses would be:

1)  Some humans in Araby, perhaps mortal decendants of the people from Nehekhara, feel a connection/worship of the pharonic Tomb-Kings and thus try to support the Tomb King armies while on the march... by fighting themselves as dogs-of-war or sending the Ogres (which are somewhat common as mercenaries in the ports of Araby) to do so for them...

2) Tomb-Kings sort of have that 'stuck in loops modeling what I did in life' sort of undead feel... so maybe a Tomb-Prince of a nation that was prosperous but small in it's 'living' days and relied on hired swords to protect it in times of strife might make overtures to continue that behavior in death.  Most mercenaries wouldn't take keenly to being hired by a robed corpse, but gold is gold and especially isn't that discriminatory as to where his pay comes from.

3)  I can imagine some Tomb-Princes and Ogres coming to sort of a 'silent arrangement'... a band of Ogres mills about Nehekhara, eating what there is to eat there but otherwise leaving stuff alone (no interest in the 'wealth of the tombs' that seems to cause at least half the attacks on the Tomb-Kings), and the thousand-year-old walking bones that are around just aren't appetizing.  However, when some crusading Empire zealots come rolling through, that is good eating!  Those same ogres would gladly fight 'along side' skeleton hordes to get a decent bite to eat, and they would have pretty much free rein of the spoils of war so long as they didn't try to take anything from a fallen Tomb-King soldier.  This is probably the most sustainable of the guesses: not hiring Ogres per-se but having an unspoken agreement between a band of Ogres and a nearby Tomb-Prince.

Lizardmen... I'll think about it today but I'm at a huge loss as to find reasons here, they are much more isolated and actively xenophobic than anyone else...

Well Lizardmen have a use for everything, if they don't have a use for it they eliminate it.  I suppose the slann could have interpreted ogres as easily manipulated tools to help in their extermination of useless races.  Just a guess from a lizzie player

True... and I imagine being the 'old one's last creation', what ogres are and what they were built for is probably pretty fresh in some Slaan's mind... heck some of them were probably involved in the process... meaning when they are stomping through the jungle eating everything a good use for them wouldn't be hard to plan