New to ogre

Hello everyone

I am a long time 40k Tournament player, and currently have a Vampire Counts, skaven, and Lizardmen.  I love painting my vampire counts, but to make them a Tournament army, I either need to do a Knight bus(not my play style), or buy/paint 400 more zombies(I want to play this, but this will take a year or two to paint.  Also transporting them  ).  I am in a love/hate relationship with my lizardmen.  Love the models and theme, I hate their rule and play style.  My skaven I got for cheap probably will be selling them, I don't need another horde army(looks at zombie).  So I look at all other armies available.  I hate elves, I will not do chaos because they are my main for 40k, I dislike dwarves, Orc and goblin to much horde, and humans are boring.  So Ogres fit perfectly.  An army of 30-40 miniatures is perfect for travel, a converter dream, and decent at tournaments. I really want to go to brawler bash and local tournaments next year, so I am looking for advice for competitive 2400 pts to 3000 pts.  Currently, I have one box of mournfangs(for $18 no less), and plan to snipe two battalion off ebay.   I need some advice on the mournfang loadout, and what to use the battalion for.  Also general advice for 2400 pts games.  Thanks for your time.

Mournfangs want Ironfists and Heavy armour. ALWAYS.

Mournfang want a standard bearer and Musician, though only having two can mean that you don't want to risk giving more  victory points away - as the unit will be a little throwaway to some degree. I'd assemble a regular one and a Musician one, and if you get a second box, regular and Standard, so you can run a 4-man unit with proper command.

Use the Pistols for converting up Maneaters though. You never want them on a Mournfang champ - or indeed, do you ever want a Mournfang champ (well, unless challenges are your thing).


For the battalion, it's hard to say. You want to focus on lower points games first - you obviously will know what you're doing, but jumping in at 2400 can be a bit much with a new army regardless. Converting up characters is always fairly easy though - basically a bit of greenstuff skills can give you the mandatory BSB, and a Firebelly or Butcher/Slaughtermaster if you so desire.

Ogres are a bit awkward to recommend stuff for at times too because there's no actual bad unit, save for Bragg. Some are mediocre though.


Of competitive builds, the main thing is two Ironblasters. Outside of that there's plenty of room for experimentation, which is good.

Leadbelchers are great for dealing with chaff and fast cav and so forth - 2x2 units are very useful.

Ironguts tend to be better than Bulls in most respects, but Bulls can still get the job done, and enjoy a parry save and more bodies in the process. Personal preference, though I'd go with Guts.

Maneaters have a LOT of builds. Sniper and poison lets you mess up enemy characters, Stubborn and Poison can make for very effective CC builds, Swiftstride helps with the Ogre charge as well as getting into CC comfortably. It's a learning experience finding what you want from them.

Of magic, it comes down to taking a Butcher and Slaughtermaster for the Slaughtermaster having access to different Lores - Death and Heavens are the competitive choices here, though the Maw does have a lot of merits. Alternatively you can take a Firebelly and Slaughtermaster, which gives you a S4 Breath Weapon and a chaff clearing fireball, amongst some other benefits. Restricts your level 4 to Maw though. And finally, there's a dual Firebelly build, with Tyrant leading, which some people have luck with.

Magic items are a real difficult one though. The Arcane item list is full of fun tricks - Hellheart and Grut's Sickle are immensely obvious good items. Ogres are also one of the few armies that can benefit from the Forbidden Rod too. This is all on top of the rulebook items, so make your choices wisely!

Other people will give you more advice, I apologise for not being immensely thorough. But the best way of course is to play!


P.S. Definitely advise against a Horde though. The Elf-heavy meta eats those for breakfast.

Thank you for the help/tips, it was extremely insightful.  I also read this 8th ed ogre guide (http://www.ogrestronghold.com/forum/index.php?topic=26888.0) , so I have a better understanding of ogres. 
I just bought a battalion and hunter for $65.00.  My next purchase will be another mournfang box, and blaster.  I also figure out my theme for my ogres.  I can't wait to get started.