Planning Ogres

Okay I'm trying to plan out how I want to go about starting up Ogre Kingdoms. While the book should be the first purchase I'd rather have models, book I can barrow in shop to play. So I'm left with what I want for initial buys. I'm thinking either two battalions, or single battalion mournfag box and ironblaster box. The second is cheaper, but won't have as much (thinking of making the orges inside the second Slaughtermaster, BSB, blox of ogre bulls roughly 7-8 big, and some manhunters I think if I can put enough.) What do you guys think would be better? I've read up in your stickies here, which are quite helpful I might say, but they seem to spoil me with options.  Also what is a good way to come up with a tribe and names? It helps too attach me to them and lets me focus on painting them better.

I'd say start with the one single Battalion and a character (Butcher or Bruiser) - it's enough models to get you started with some painting and even some small games (you'll have about 850pts ish).

One battalion will be enough to paint without putting you off starting the pile of plastic you have (a common problem for gamers!) and the couple of practise games will allow you to see what you like in the box - are you an Irongut or a Bull guy, do you like Shooty ogres or do you want more hitty ones?

I think the Tribe name will come when you start painting them, it is a personal thing but character names don't forget we have a name generator here on the stronghold!

Hope this helps!

Tozon

I'd personally advocate two battalions due to the fact that you can make an awful lot out of them - Maneaters, Butchers and Bruisers/Tyrants are all pretty easy with a creative mind and perhaps a bit of greenstuff. A pack of small bases will also allow you to field a handful of Gnoblars as there's a bunch that come on the sprues. Whilst you might miss out on the tad more exotic stuff, all the battalion contents (in additions to the Gnobs and possibly some 'Eaters) are really solid units and give you a decent enough amount of variety to figure out where you might want to take the army.

Oh, and as for big names, play a few games first, see what your characters get up to and then come up with a fitting moniker. If your Tyrant kills a Hellpit Abomination single-handedly, 'Ratchomper' might be ideal, for example.

Any characters I make will be from other boxes as I don't see why I should pay GW the same price for one Slaughtermaster as a box of bulls. Its insanity to me. All and all two battalions, roughly 32 ogres and 40 gnoblars isn't too huge to me. I've just got to knuckle down and do it. Still it sounds like more bodies in the form of more ogres is a better start.

I should mention this isn't my first time playing Fantasy. Played Skaven for years before I was forced to sell them off earlier this year, due to lack of interest in my gaming group. Now with that interest renewed I want to get back in, but with something else as i didn't like GW's direction from 6thed to 7th ed Skaven. Ogres interested me a lot, and were cheap got to love cheap, and are almost a 180 from Skaven.

Back to the original topic though so Two battalions eh Tyrant Eg? Hm, from characters I'm likely to go Slaughtermaster (as I love magic), and BSB for sure. Any other characters worth adding to them? Without that leaves me with roughly 30 ogre models for a solid core of Ironguts, Bulls, and Maneaters I think.

You will need.
1. The Book. Very necessary.
2. 2 Battalions. You can make a unit of about 12 guts(your first deathstar! ) a Big unit of bulls, a few Leadies and a couple of Characters. Thats great value.
3. Some Greenstuff to make the characters stand out. Give the Slaughtermaster an apron and make the BSB stand out, very simple stuff.

That will get you right on your way to gutstardom!

I've got access to a copy of the book, so I'm not too worried about owning my own just yet. This gutstar you mention sounds interesting to me. The one thing I'm having difficulty in understand, and perhaps its just me not finding the right article, is where do I place my characters?

Varies from game to game friend. You must play be feel. The BSB simply must be in a unit(the 12 Ironguts) at all times. But the Slaughtermaster has options. If there are no Cannons or bolt throwers about he can go solo, but putting him in a unit is still a safer option. If its a true gutstar you want to run then put him in the guts, but putting him in the Bulls to give them a higher LD and some much needed magic support is also good.

Hm Slaughter, BSB, 12 Guts, 12 Bulls makes 26, leaving six ogres if my count isn't off. Enough for a nice little unit of maneaters and some gnoblar chaff. Might it be worth running slightly smaller units, say only 10 guts or bulls, to fit in a unit of three belchers?

Varies from game to game friend. You must play be feel. The BSB simply must be in a unit(the 12 Ironguts) at all times. But the Slaughtermaster has options. If there are no Cannons or bolt throwers about he can go solo, but putting him in a unit is still a safer option. If its a true gutstar you want to run then put him in the guts, but putting him in the Bulls to give them a higher LD and some much needed magic support is also good.

Putting a character of that magnitude, who often act as the general and a lvl4, in anything but a Gut unit with the discipline standard is not wise at all.

Hm Slaughter, BSB, 12 Guts, 12 Bulls makes 26, leaving six ogres if my count isn't off. Enough for a nice little unit of maneaters and some gnoblar chaff. Might it be worth running slightly smaller units, say only 10 guts or bulls, to fit in a unit of three belchers?

I personally really like Leadies, though that's probably one of those things you can trial using bases and torsos before making a decision.

In regards to the 'Gutstar', it's the Ogre take on the 'Deathstar', a big, chunky and powerful unit that can take on the best part of an army and win. Like the Deathstar from the films, they can carry some significant weaknesses, such as the fact that they can be lead astray by cheap enemy units and delayed whilst said foe takes apart the rest of your army with his own forces. The Gutstar is a fairly specific thing though, it takes more than just a big unit of Ironguts. Characters are the vital ingredient - they provide Ld and magic defence whilst the Ironguts provide lots of wounds and S6 attacks. The characters have another really important role though - taking hits. For an 'elite' unit, Ironguts are fairly soft targets, what with their low WS and armour saves. In combat, the characters will move to the front rank and prevent the Ironguts from being attacked with the high T, W and, potentially, ward saves. Of all the various takes on the Deathstar in the game, I'd reckon that the Gutstar is probably the best.

Hm, a question comes to mind reading the maneater entry. Do you have to write down witch two traits you are taking in your list and may you change them per round of say a tournament?

In friendly games I just decide and tell my opponent when I put them on the board. At a Tourney you will need to write it in your list.

Okay so its like i thought and you can't change them in between matches. Hm, that makes choice tricky. I trust finding which I'll prefer will come with playtesting? ITP+Stubborn and Scout/Vanguard+Swiftstride seem like top contenders off the bat. (Planing small unit mix of 3/3 AHW+GW with fire standard). Correct me if I'm wrong, but the fire standard would apply to the Impacts, but not Stomps right?

Impact hits aren't affected by the banner IIRC. My personal favorite combo is Stubborn + Poison.

Impact hits are attacks and should get the fire benefit, just like impact from a firebelly are flaming.

Yeah, Stomps are the ones that don't benefit from pretty much any special rules. As far as Maneaters go, I'm perpetually torn between Immune to Psychology/Poison or Poison/Stubborn - the former is better for a unit that figures to spend time outside the Ld bubble (or if you roll with Ld8 a lot), the latter is better if you're sitting in a Ld9+ bubble. Either way, the good news is that you can evaluate what the rest of your force looks like before you write that into your list.

Don't forget, Swiftstride is more likely to help you get that roll over 10 for the additional impact hit bonus.

However, any characters in there will immediately negate that benefit. Slowpokes.

I heard that so I had not planned on any characters in that unit.

EDIT: Okay here is a link to my new armylist thread. link