Tactica: Gnoblars

Tactica: Gnoblars 



Last month we presented you with the Sabretusk Tactica, now whilst just about every Ogre army of all shapes and sizes will include at least a single unit of these we’re going to get neck deep into our loved/hated greenskin unit – Gnoblars.  Interestingly enough the Gnoblars house a canny trick and have a wide variety of options provided you’re willing to learn them well and change your regular game plan up a little to accommodate them in a sound army list.

Advantages:

-   Cheap!

Undoubtedly so.  Right behind Sabretusks a unit of 10 will set you back 25 points.  These can be used as ‘cheap drops’ or a larger unit can be built for a variety of reasons.  The Trapper upgrade is a fantastic addition and will give most enemy units (anything really given the points value of any single model in comparison to the Gnoblar!) pause for thought before charging and possibly losing models.  They are also our cheapest ranked unit which is something difficult and extremely expensive to achieve using any other choices the Ogre Kingdoms have access to.   The low points of Gnoblars allows a unit to become affordable in a list that is already tight on points.  For dropping a single Ogre you can field a unit of Gnoblars.

-    Initiative

At Initiative 3 it’s surely not that impressive however keep in mind the majority of the army is hitting at I2 or striking last courtesy of great weapons so it’s worth mentioning here.

- Beneath Contempt

This rule allows the Gnoblars to wander around anywhere without fear of causing panic tests in our Ogre units and other Gnoblars.  Bonus.  One less thing to worry about.

- Steadfast Breaker

Being so cheap to gain ranks they are our premiere unit to break the enemies steadfast to ensure we have more ranks than them in a combat.

- Cheap Champion

I mention this purely because a cheap champion can be handy in the right circumstances.  If you’re in combat with Warriors of Chaos for example who cannot refuse a challenge or some Bretonnian builds you can sacrifice this five point gem to not only protect your other characters/units in the combat (assuming they’re in combat) but it allows you to focus all of your attacks onto the enemy unit and hopefully destroying them via combat resolution and running the ultra bad ass character down.  Lastly at times challenges require enemy models to move into contact with the challenger which in some circumstances can even prevent the rest of the unit from attacking.

Disadvantages:

-   Movement

They’re the slowest unit in our book unfortunately and cannot keep up with our Ogres causing the most negative issue with the entire unit I believe.  This requires a bit of planning on our behalf to ensure they don’t get left behind.  Think about deploying your Ogres 4-6” behind there deployment ‘line’ or you may have to not think about marching your full movement allowance to prevent them from getting bogged down.  Keep in mind however if a unit is behind the Ogres they’ll more than likely arrive to battle without casualty.  Something worth considering.

Keep in mind however they can effectively move 48” over 6 turns if they’re allowed to march.  Of course this isn’t a typical situation however it clearly demonstrates the potential for them to charge an enemy warmachine for instance late game if required.  I guess this highlights the fact if an opponent ignores them, often that ignorance will come at a cost.

-   Poor characteristics

Let’s face it, Gnoblars are only here to do very few things.  Provide cheap ranks, provide a immovable wall of green filth (provided they’re in range of General + BSB) and cause casualties with the Trappers upgrade.  At S2 they will not be causing much damage to the enemy themselves in shooting/combat and whilst certainly they can be augmented with magic, why would you do this when your other Ogre units could be getting the benefits instead? 

-   No armour

Although we’re not renowned for our armour, these guys will drop to a stiff breeze.  That being said however if your opponent is shooting at these guys then you can be sure you’ve lost the game because of the rest of your army has been wiped out and he’s got not targets or he hasn’t played against Ogre before.  The usual theory here applies, if they’re being shot at the rest of your army isn’t.

- Combat Leak

Beware of this.  Your giant Gnoblar unit is in combat and you send your Ironguts/Ogres in to clean up the enemy.  More than likely they’ll be striking first and will allocate as many attacks as possible onto the Gnoblars for cheap  wounds and in turn cheap combat resolution.  Whilst they can break steadfast just be aware this can turn into a double edged sword because they’re so crap in combat and you may end up requiring a break test yourself.

Unit Options:

Size:  Gnoblars have a fair bit of utility about them in terms of setup.  They’re valid being fielded as units of 10 models with trappers purely in an annoyance role trying to get in the way of enemy charges to net some kills via trappers.  Remember every model in the enemy unit tests, use this to your advantage.  On the flip side a unit of 50 Gnoblars with command options and trappers is under 180 points, yes that’s 6 Ogres or an Ironblaster however this unit can tar pit something in order for the remaining forces to get into a more dominant position or just ignore them and carry on as it’s unlikely your opponent actually wanted to charge the Gnoblars more so that they were probably in the way and needed to get rid of them.  Of course there is everything in between.

Types/Builds:

-   Diverter/Annoyance/Cover

Mentioned above, a unit of 10 with trappers ( ) will fill this role nicely for five zero points.  Bargain however they’re slow so plan accordingly.  Great when matched up against expensive single wound models (Cavalry/Elite infantry come to mind) however a wound against anything point for point will net their points back.

- Steadfast Block/Breaker

Pick a number and keep them 5 wide and advance.  You may or may not feel command options are warranted as you could be giving away the standard to the enemy anyway.  Musician could be handy for a well timed swift reform preventing the enemy from doing something or screening units from shooting. 

Examples:

Here the Gnoblars (G1 & G2) are deployed in a covering role for the shooting elements of the army.  Positioned in front of the Leadbelchers and Maneaters so they can happily advance 6” per turn shooting away as the Gnoblars march 8”



In later turns an opportunity presented itself which forced my opponents hand.  He declared a charge against the Gnoblars who naturally fail against a Terror causer, they flee and now the Chimera re-directs into the Maneaters (rather than standing still and copping fire anyway) who opt to stand and shoot.  Granted the plan failed to work in this instance and no wounds were scored on the Chimera however they dispatched him next turn.



From the same game G1 clearly get in the way of the Nurgle Chaos Warriors and they only way to deal with them is ignore them or go through them.  It’s worth mentioning had my opponent here withdrawn he would have been in a spot of bother due to the Mournfang approaching from the flank and the Ironguts making advancements.  Gnoblars are sacrificed allowing  counter charges to be setup by no less than 4 units.  A very ideal situation to find yourself in.



Magic Support

I won’t go into a lot of depth here as I believe magic shouldn’t be spent on supporting these guys as they’ll be steadfast anyway or not planning on being in the combat for long.  However there are two points worth considering:

Firstly is casting Curse of Anraheir (Lore of Beasts) onto a unit that will charge a unit with Trappers.  The way I read the spell it then translates will with the Trappers abilities and your opponent will be failing Dangerous Terrain tests on a 1 & 2.  Ouchie.

Also Toothcracker/Wildform will ensure they take reduced damage from S3 opponents.  Just something to keep in mind.

Conclusion

Whilst some may feel they need to build an entire army around having ranked units of Gnoblars I don’t think there is ever a bad reason to take them.  Blocks of 10 for ‘dummy’ drops will save your precious Sabretusks for more important tasks and 20 are great for hanging back and entering that Watchtower Turn 4. 

Remember guys this is a living article, so please contribute to the belch fest and add whatever information you think may be of worth.

Excellent write-up. Added to the tactica index http://www.ogrestronghold.com/forum/index.php?topic=26514.msg350048#msg350048

It's worth pointing out that Beneath Contempt means other Gnoblars don't panic either. This makes them even easier to not care about!

It's worth pointing out that Beneath Contempt means other Gnoblars don't panic either. This makes them even easier to not care about!

Fixed up.  Thank you sir.

In my games, gnoblars have played the dual purpose of annoying, cheap chaff and of being an extra drop.

The best thing about them is that they have a wide frontage, so they are able to be a rear blocker, rather than a forward blocker like the sabretusk.



As shown in the picture, I have 1 sabretusk, 2 units of 10 gnoblars, and an ironblaster vs 3 skullcrushers.

The sabretusk is positioned as a forward blocker.  It's job is to get right up in the enemy's face and prevent them from charging your valuable unit.  This is the best option 90% of the time.  It keeps the bad unit (skullcrushers, in this case) out of combat and lets you better position your units for a followup charge.  For the other 10%, there is no place to safely put the charging unit.  For example, if the ironblaster is flanked on both sides by leadbelchers, you don't want to position your sabretusk so that the skullcrushers get redirected into them.

This is where the gnoblars are useful.  If you place both gnoblars in front of the ironblaster, there is no way for the skullcrushers to get to it.  The frontage is too big for the skullcrushers to skirt around with their charge.  Should the first group of gnoblars die, the second group catches the overrun.  You don't need to worry about keeping them close to your important unit, since they can't cause anything to panic.

If you are planning on deploying in a tight formation, gnoblars may end up being the smarter chaff choice for defending key units.

Double flees are possible when running several small blocks, trappers or not. No panic tests on your side and even if they fail to rally, its 25 pts, small matter in the end. But the delay of the enemy can win games.