05 Dec 2006
Introduction
So, I've decided to collect Ogres. I'm intending for this Gnoblog to record my progress and show off the forces as they are assembled. To start with a little bit of background might be in order though so this first post will be all about me and my reasons for choosing the big-bellied beasts. The next post will focus on what has happened so far. After that the posts will detail what I've been doing with the force since the previous time.
So, to start with I got into the hobby way back in... well, around 1993. Can't remember exactly when. I do know, however, that the 4th edition High Elf book had just been released and that was the army I started with. My heart beat for the Dark Elves but since they had no book and the light cousins had just got a nice, shining book I settled for them instead.
The Elves became my force for around 8 years or so. Possibly 9. During the time I also flirted briefly with Space Marines, Eldar and Chaos Dwarves (lost all my CD models by accident. About 1500 points in metal.
)
With the arrival of the 6th edition High Elf book I got too frustrated with them and switched to the Undead which I used for a couple of years. Eventually I sold off that army as it was too boring. Too reliant on magic and the general. In other words, I didn't really have fun with it.
With the money I gained from the sale I purchased an Empire force instead, made several conversions and played with it for some time. Now, the main point for me in gaming has always been to have fun. People liked playing against my humans and I did pretty well in my native Denmark. I then moved to Poland though and after playing with them in two tournaments I gave up on them. The mentality here is different and way more competitive. After noticing that the normal Empire build here revolved around a tank, 4 wizards, max artillery, two IC knight units and then handgunners I scrapped them for the sole reason that I wasn't having fun. The powerlevel was really through the roof compared to what I was used to. The army then made its way to Ebay and was sold.
That is almost a year ago now. For that time I didn't play at all and had no real interest. I couldn't just let it go then. I needed a hobby and some fun. So, I started thinking long and hard about what to do and tried to come up with an idea for an army.
I knew I wanted an army that I enjoyed the look at, was fun to use and fun to play against. Also, I wanted one without too much infantry as I had had enough of that after painting and transporting an empire infantry army. Too much hassle. That ruled out several armies. Bretonnia was never an option as I consider them too point and click, too popular and not really fun to use or to play against. The new Wood Elves were in contention, but dropped because of too many skirmishers. Dwarfs had too much infantry and were too slow to really appeal though the fluff is excellent.
Chaos was briefly considered as well, but dropped as I'm not that keen on the newer models.
In the end I was down to Ogres, Dark Elves and a Daemonic Legion.
Having decided it was to be one of those I started looking at the weaknesses of them. The Legion would be very expensive to collect and was thus ruled out though I'd still love to get my hands on some 60 plaguebearers.
The Elves were a strong contender again, but in this environment I didn't consider them good. I don't want to use a dragon nor do I want to get steamrollered. They were shelved again.
The Ogres... well, the book is considered weak by many, but I'm not really sure I agree with it. It also had some massive advantages. It is low in modelcount, so easy to pack and move. It is almost all plastic, so not too heavy either. Further, it is easy to convert the models into characters, it is rather cheap and, most of all, it looked to be fun both to play with and against. The choice was made!
Coming up next:
My initial background drafts, thoughts on the units, models collected so far and some info on my first battles.
So, I've decided to collect Ogres. I'm intending for this Gnoblog to record my progress and show off the forces as they are assembled. To start with a little bit of background might be in order though so this first post will be all about me and my reasons for choosing the big-bellied beasts. The next post will focus on what has happened so far. After that the posts will detail what I've been doing with the force since the previous time.
So, to start with I got into the hobby way back in... well, around 1993. Can't remember exactly when. I do know, however, that the 4th edition High Elf book had just been released and that was the army I started with. My heart beat for the Dark Elves but since they had no book and the light cousins had just got a nice, shining book I settled for them instead.
The Elves became my force for around 8 years or so. Possibly 9. During the time I also flirted briefly with Space Marines, Eldar and Chaos Dwarves (lost all my CD models by accident. About 1500 points in metal.
) With the arrival of the 6th edition High Elf book I got too frustrated with them and switched to the Undead which I used for a couple of years. Eventually I sold off that army as it was too boring. Too reliant on magic and the general. In other words, I didn't really have fun with it.
With the money I gained from the sale I purchased an Empire force instead, made several conversions and played with it for some time. Now, the main point for me in gaming has always been to have fun. People liked playing against my humans and I did pretty well in my native Denmark. I then moved to Poland though and after playing with them in two tournaments I gave up on them. The mentality here is different and way more competitive. After noticing that the normal Empire build here revolved around a tank, 4 wizards, max artillery, two IC knight units and then handgunners I scrapped them for the sole reason that I wasn't having fun. The powerlevel was really through the roof compared to what I was used to. The army then made its way to Ebay and was sold.
That is almost a year ago now. For that time I didn't play at all and had no real interest. I couldn't just let it go then. I needed a hobby and some fun. So, I started thinking long and hard about what to do and tried to come up with an idea for an army.
I knew I wanted an army that I enjoyed the look at, was fun to use and fun to play against. Also, I wanted one without too much infantry as I had had enough of that after painting and transporting an empire infantry army. Too much hassle. That ruled out several armies. Bretonnia was never an option as I consider them too point and click, too popular and not really fun to use or to play against. The new Wood Elves were in contention, but dropped because of too many skirmishers. Dwarfs had too much infantry and were too slow to really appeal though the fluff is excellent.
Chaos was briefly considered as well, but dropped as I'm not that keen on the newer models.
In the end I was down to Ogres, Dark Elves and a Daemonic Legion.
Having decided it was to be one of those I started looking at the weaknesses of them. The Legion would be very expensive to collect and was thus ruled out though I'd still love to get my hands on some 60 plaguebearers.
The Elves were a strong contender again, but in this environment I didn't consider them good. I don't want to use a dragon nor do I want to get steamrollered. They were shelved again.
The Ogres... well, the book is considered weak by many, but I'm not really sure I agree with it. It also had some massive advantages. It is low in modelcount, so easy to pack and move. It is almost all plastic, so not too heavy either. Further, it is easy to convert the models into characters, it is rather cheap and, most of all, it looked to be fun both to play with and against. The choice was made!
Coming up next:
My initial background drafts, thoughts on the units, models collected so far and some info on my first battles.
As I recall there were two realm units, one errant, one pegasi, some archers and some man-at-arms. One BSB of course and a hero. There was also a smattering of magic items.
Fortunately my unit had had recieved the blessing of the maw and had +1 T and stubborn. It was needed. I also needed my laurels to reroll as I rolled a nice 11 for the first break test. That was, however, the turning point. Stuck in combat there was little they could do as my brutes enjoyed their high toughness and strenght to slay knights left, right and centre. The Bret BSB was easily killed off in a challenge that he accepted for some strange reason. Without his banner and +1 CR virtue things became much easier for me.
