Ogryn Brute

Ogryns are dumbasses. While this dumbass-ery fortunately means they are usually loyal to the end and won't (or rather can't) even think about becoming a traitor, this also means that a shrewd heretical asshole can make them fight for the wrong team.

This is where Chaos Ogryns or Ogryn Brutes comes in. Chaos renegades are quick to forcibly conscript them into their ranks and doing so is pretty damned easy. They just tell the Ogryns that the new Gods they are fighting for is instead another variation of the Emprah. To make them more lethal, the renegades use crude surgical procedures, combat drugs, and sorcerous rituals to control the beasts and set them upon their enemies. Modified and warped by forbidden methods, the Ogryn Brutes used to be split into two varieties, these include Ogryn Berserkers and Plague Ogryns (presumably because they are too stupid to worship Tzeentch, though they'd likely still be found as Slaaneshi due to gluttony fitting excess, the existence of Malal Ogryns is still up for debate.) But Darktide seem to introduce three more variants of these guys.

Ogryn Reaper

An Ogryn coming out of a Death Metal concert.

The most basic and stock-standard of Chaos Ogryns. Ogryn Reapers function as a very mobile form of Heavy Weapon Squad without the unfortunate side effects of huffing too much Drugs to be effective. As such, Reapers are pretty 'sane' by Chaos Ogryn standards as they still retain the motor functions in using a Heavy Stubber like a machine gun.

As such, they are positioned by the Renegades as a form of backline suppressive unit. Unfortunately, an Ogryn's Ork-tier weapon accuracy means it would either miss their shots by a barnyard or would instinctively rumble closer in-range, which eventually defeats their purpose as a fire-support member in the first place.

In Darktide, you can stop them from firing by engaging them in melee. They have very high hitpoints so can be a bit tricky to take down. Their right shoulder and their forearms are protected by Carapace Armour, with Flak Armour on their torso, so their resistance will vary a lot on where you hit them. Nevertheless, they are the weakest Ogryn in terms of both resistance and hitpoints in the game, so enough lead and laser bolts will eventually put these lumbering brutes down.

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Ogryn Crusher

40k's equivelent of the Trolls from Isengard.

The more melee orientated Chaos Ogryns. The yin to the Reaper's yang. Whilst nowhere near on the same levels as an Ogryn Berserker, Ogryn Crushers are still pretty dangerous folks to face in CQC given that they wear heavy Carapace Armour all-round their bodies. They still possess enough intelligence in coordinating with their human allies without tearing them limb-from-limb by just being in the way.

Therefore, they act in the opposite direction of the Reaper, as Crushers form the frontline living battering rams of the Lost and the Damned. They wield an assortment of heavy two-handed primitive but tough weapons like a giant Maul or a Warhammer to pulverize shit into dust and break through columns of guardsmen. Interestingly enough their warhammer looks like a combination of two weapons used by the Ogryn Berserker models (the ripped off lamp post and the hammer with slashy bits riveted to it's sides).

In Darktide, as they are covered head to toe in Carapace Armour, they are highly resistant to Autoguns and Lasguns. Caution must be taken as their overhead strike deals massive damage and they are difficult to take down. Alone and by themselves, they are not too dangerous as they are even more cumbersome with their movement and their predictable attacks, so you can just dodge their heavy hitting swings. In groups however they can be much more deadly.

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Ogryn Bulwark

A literal wall of meat.

Ogryn Bulwarks are the Chaos version of Bullgryns. No seriously, they just decided to use the full designation rather than the trademarkable shorthand. They are the 'elite' of the Chaos Ogryns and they carry a giant slab shield and a heavy but crude and simple weapon like a Maul to bludgeon enemies to death.

However, like their loyalist counterparts, the Bulwarks greatest strength is not in offense, but is in defense. His heavy slab shields can act as a wall of hardy flesh and steel, protecting the more vulnerable and squishy renegade troopers from being crumped by counterfire. Several of these Bulwarks can form a defensive line that can either stop an enemy's advance or completely block off a potential flanking avenue.

In Darktide, A Bulwark's shield protects most of the front of their body so it's difficult to damage them from the front. The best way to take them down is with teamwork via flanking maneuvers. Nevertheless, a couple of these guys can ruin anyone's playthrough as they can literally cockblock you from moving towards your teammates or preventing you from escaping the slimy clutches of a Beast of Nurgle. Explosive weapons and Flamers seem to be the most effective weapons as they bypass his shields and straight into the meat.

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Ogryn Berserker

RIP AND TEAR INCARNATE!

Ogryn Berserkers are Ogryns corrupted by Khornate Chaos Warbands, a combination of the Ogryn's simple-mindedness, strength, and Chaos' natural ability to turn it's followers completely insane has turned these Ogryns into absolute murdermachines of pure, fanatical hatred.

Unlike their power-armored brethren, brutes have been completely lobotomized, preventing any kind of higher thinking or reasoning and basically turning them into an even more horrific version of the Imperial servitor. As a unique feature: their bodies are injected with a drug called "Slaught" (An Imperial combat stim actually). Slaught increases the Brute's aggression to absurd levels, turning them into essentially a hulking, angry meatgrinder who's sole purpose is to kill with extreme prejudice. The downside is that Slaught wreaks havoc on the Ogryn's body, and prolonged combat will eventually kill the brute.

In order to get most of their money's worth with their suicide berserker, the masters of brutes typically augment their creations' killing power by sticking as many blades and pointy sticks on them as possible, removing limbs and replacing them with crude but effective weapons if necessary.

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  Ogryn Berserker with a crude warhammer with slashy spikey bits.

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  These guys would make a killing if they got power pick

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  A post and concrete, not effective for prolonged fights but good to fuck someone's day up

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  It ain't a choppa but an ork would take if if they could

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  Like a budget Big Daddy from Bioshock

Plague Ogryn

Oh god...it barely even resembles an Ogryn anymore...

As sturdy abhumans that can rival the strength and hardiness of Space Marines, it wasn't a surprise for the likes of Nurgle to take special notice. Originally created from the experiments on captive and rebel Ogryns from Vraks by a Nurgle warband known as The Tainted; Plague Ogryns are some of the newer and terrifying servants of Nurgle. Unlike the Berserker, Plague Ogryns have been mutated to the point of non-recognition, resembling a miniature Great Unclean One or an ogryn-sized Nurgling more than the ogre-ish brutes they were based on.

As you can expect, these mutations have turned these stocky abhumans into near-invincible disease vectors, their huge bulk and natural hardiness allows them to host countless numbers of plagues and diseases to fester within their bodies. Due to this, getting so much as scraped by these things is a guaranteed one-way-ticket to a most painful end best not described. A particularly gruesome side effect of all the filth and disease built up inside of their bodies is they tend to explode in showers of pus, spores, and flies when killed; while fellow Nurgle worshippers enjoy this it can be quite fatal for anyone else.

After Vraks, its speculated by the Ordo Malleus that The Tainted have been further refining their creation of Plague Ogryns to be even more potent than they already are. Additionally, as the newest hip thing and having a live demo in Vraks: Nurgle warbands have been seeking out The Tainted for an opportunity to obtain these creatures, of course in exchange for slaves who have the unenviable role of being test subjects for The Tainted's experiments.

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Tohruk

Not quite Ogryn, but close relatives like the Pelager. Difference is, the Tohruk are debased and savage, even in comparison to regular Ogryn. They are in a Dark Pact with the Night Lords Chaos Space Marines.

Tabletop

Ogryn Brutes, whether vanilla, Khorne or Nurgle affiliated, are tough motherfuckers. They are essentially Chaos Spawn on steroids-OHGODNOOOOOOOOOAFBKDNOANJDJALIJDOASASDAARRRGHHH!.... *BLAM* continuing on from my predecessor, each Brute is Fearless, with Hammer of Wrath and Rampage, which means with their base D6 attacks, you could potentially have 11 attacks per model on the charge. One brute can be upgraded to a Packmaster, which loses Rampage, but allows you to take up to 6 Chaos Hounds, which has some impressive combat stats (WS3 S5 T5 W2 I4 A3), and they allow you to roll 2D6 picking the highest for Sweeping Advance. They can be dedicated to chaos gods for about the price of a typical power fist, giving them either 2D6 picking the highest for their attacks (Khorne), Feel No Pain (5+, Nurgle), Fleet (Slaanesh), or an additional close combat weapon with Soul Blaze (Tzeentch). Additionally for a flat rate, you can give the squad Flak or Carapace armour, which means with Nurgle, they could be quite tough to kill. Overall, while a squad of 5 Nurgle Brutes with Carapace armour is looking at a whopping 360 points, but they’re likely to wreck anything they make it into combat with.

Gallery

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  Traitor Commissar and Chaos Ogryn for the Renegade Enforcers