Army Tag-team Ideas. Ogres + ??? (1500pt total)

Righto, I have a good, growing 750 point Ogre Warband which I am using to play two of my friends in a steadily growing escalation campaign. Alongside the escalation campaign my two friends now want to team up (probably because they are a couple) forming a joint 1500 point VC/DE army. I have seen this as an opportunity to start collecting a second army to grow alongside and compliment my Ogre Clan.
I personally am drawn to the fluff of Tomb Kings, Skaven, Empire, High Elves, and Dwarfs.

If you have any ideas on what of these armies work well with Ogres please speak! And let me know any strengths and weaknesses I should consider.

Thank you
Jagoo

Well, a good primer to this question would be this:

1. What do you have in your Ogre army?
2. What do you wish you could have in your Ogre army that's not well supplemented by the Ogre book?

At 750, it's still pretty small, so it's a tad harder to see the fullest potential of a paired army. I'd say it gets a little more interesting at the 1500each/3k point, but of course I know you're growing into it!

...That being said, I'd go with this; looking at the five armies you've listed, I'll throw my two cents in for each.

Tomb Kings - Great fluff, but unfortunately one of the weaker 8th armies (or, at the very least, one of the more complicated-to-make-work armies). They have access to some magic that Ogres don't have, but the Lore of Nehekhara is a bit wonky in its use (it can single-target any unit, but the bubble-casting only affects TK units...), Lore of Death is already in our roster, and Lore of Light can be good (but we'll get to that later). Shootingwise they're okay, but nothing that I think we can already do better via Leadbelchers. And at 750 you're not going to get access to the TK toys that could really help them be great.

Skaven - Tarpits and nasty warmachines. You can squeak (ha) in one WLC and some large packs of clanrats or stormvermin or whatnot, but if you wished to go this route, remember that Ogres are M6 and will be outrunning any tarpits that you use. Magic-wise, they're alright, and their shooting can be either really good or really bad. Probably not the "best" if nitpicked by those more experienced than me, but you could make it work.

Empire - Now, I've been doing a lot of research into Empire (as I'd like to start them as my second army), and I think they'd be a great pair-off for any army, including Ogres. They have a lot of tools that they can use to tailor themselves to fit any situation. If you want the most versatility and variety to support your Ogres, Empire can do that. Want a lot of shooting? Cannons. Want a lot of magic? Wizards with access to any basic Lore you want. Want something silly? If you're allowed to, have a warpriest on horseback riding with your character bunker, giving them Hatred and all the prayers (I mean, they'll be different footprints, but they'd just sit on the side of the unit, right? Right??). You can do a lot with Empire, but the best thing would be to use them to cover any weaknesses you feel that your Ogres have.

High Elves - I think that these guys can actually be a good pairing for Ogres. High Magic has a couple of good augments that can help the Ogres out, as well as that Drain Magic that can help debuff any enemies that are against the Ogres. Also, they too have access to all the basic Lores. Their shooting is good, and they can do quite well in close combat if they're kitted right. Maybe not quite as versatile as Empire, but they can be made to work, too.

Dwarves - I have about 1% knowledge of Dwarves, and less now due to the new book. From what I can ascertain from batreps and random forum posts, though, makes me think that Dwarves, although much better now, may not be the best fit for Ogres. Unless you go gunline Dwarves, which would be quite dull. They have Gyrocopters and bombers, but I don't think they fit any niche that we need help in (Sabres great with chaff/redirect, MFC great with T3 infantry hordes). I've already said more than what I fully know or understand, but I'd say, if you want to you can try, but they may not be the "best" fit.

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Ogres are a weird army to pair with, because of how drastically different they are from the rest of other armies. A primary Monstrous Infantry force with average Movement 6 and good buff magic? It's funny, I see them more as being the supplements to other armies, not the other way around

Fluffwise Empire makes the most sense, being they are the most frequent employers of Ogre mercs, however there are High Elf styled Maneaters, so some Elf princes must occasionally hire Ogre mercs.

Empire fits tactically though, and VC/DE are a tough combination, they are going to be a hard hitting army. Empire gives you blocks of cheap troops to help shield your Ironguts and such, and give you the ability to control deployment a bit, as well as giving you cheap cannon to field alongside your Ironblaster. This ensures minimum monster shenanigans.

High Elves would fit well to, as their fast speed and leadership can keep up with the Ogres, and they can attack the faster things, and leave your ogres to slam into the weaker things that don't matter if they hit first, or use the elves to charge a unit, and the ogres to flank it. The elves take the brunt of the attacks, but can have the ranks and numbers to handle it, and you build combat res by murdering everything with the Ogres.

Thanks guys, the consensus seems to be High Elves or Empire, both of which I am rather fond of.
My 750 Ogre points looks like this :
1 Firebelly (Can't recall items)
2 Sabertusks
6 Bulls, Ironfists, Bellower, Standard.
4 Leadbelchers, Bellower.
1 Ironblaster

I'm leaning towards High Elves and making an Wintery Mountained themed army. Any additional thoughts would be great.

If you are going to go High Elves, either use the bulls as an anvil and get a very hitty HE army, or focus the HE army on deep ranks of spear/sea guard with PG as a core bunker for an HE wizard. I'd switch the firebelly out for a bruiser/tyrant, and let the Elves carry the heavy lifting in the magic. They are better at it.

Chaos Dwarves.


Their Lore's signature spell gives a unit Hatred. Imagine Ogres with Hatred.



Seriously though, unless you're rich, you'll prolly settle on High Elves. In which case a stabby spear bus and some Phoenix Guard ought to supplement you nicely (as it would any army really...), though for the Winter theme White Lions would look pretty cool. And don't forget that Frost Phoenix!

Empire have a few nice options - a Hurricanum can work wonders on Ogre units, though the artillery's a bit redundant.

High Elves would go nice with the winter theme, and I agree to let them the handle magic and the ogres can make a mean bruiser/tyrant for the epic fights. The snowbird does what our T-tusk does only better and gives the unit it is supporting a little extra protection in the process with it's strength debuff.
If you run Empire, consider a Hurricanum, that, paired with Ogres, mitigates one of our biggest weaknesses. If only the Bastilidon buffed non cold blooded...

Avoid the Skaven and TK as allies, at low point matches the skaven Ld problems are far more apparent than in a regular game. TK are SLOW, like wind blast can set them back a whole turn of progress without even being boosted. An M4 army with no marching is just too finicky to pair with M6 agression, unless you are running Leadies en masse but that's a different point value again.

Cool, thanks a lot guys. I have decided to start by making 750 points based around the Battalion, So 20 spears, 8 Silver Helms, 20 Archers and a Chariot. I want to make the spears Lothern and trim down the archers to a much smaller unit for sniping dark elf crossbowman from a distance.Going with level 2 Mage using lore of Light to tackle the undead troops and some of the buffs would be awesome on Ogres. Am going to stick him in my Lothern Sea guard. Who will support my Ogres, while the Chariot and Silver Helms will be used to mess with the DE cavalry. Any other pointers are very welcome. I am going to stick with this on my budget for the moment but want to move in the direction of some Swordmasters or Phoenix guard later to either soak up hits or dish more dirt.

Thanks
Jagoo

Team up with Ogres.  Double the hellheart, double the pleasure.

I think High Elves would be great.  Hand of Glory onto Ogres?  Nice.    BS6 Leadbelchers?  WS6 Ogres?  I5 Ogres?   

The High Elf/Ogre alliance doesn't quite work in my head for some reason, but game-wise it's awesome!

I can see the High Elves, especially the northern half Ulthuan, more then willing to march alongside the Ogres, and even more likely to encourage them to run head first into the enemy. I mean, if an Ogre dies, that is three Elves that did not.

Plus, Golgfag once saw Ulthuan, so evidently the High Elves have had some contact with them that hasn't revolved around the old magic item Skullplucker...

Fluff wise I have always seen empire being the best allies. They are a vast place with wealth and food. They would see no problem in paying massage through the mountains or hiring out there services to aid in war. Lietpold the black certainly likes them, as he can have ogres as core.

Plus we have the imperial man-eater and the pirate man-eater who has the empire navy shield for his gut plate. The empire must have a lot of good and bad contact with us fatties