Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Warscrolls Compendium/Ogre Kingdoms
What your Ogre Kingdoms have turned into, so you can go and eat the new things of the nine realms! Ogors have gone from an inexpensive, fun, and fairly powerful army in WFB to dirt cheap to play (An Ogre Battalion Box is more than enough to start a solid cheese-fest army), fast moving, hard hitting and obscenely tough army in AoS. Aside from Gnoblars, EVERY model has multiple wounds, multiple attacks and deals multiple wounds, usually with a -1 rend. Also The Maw is not only useful but actually quite good now.
Rules are here [1]
A word of advice from your local Butcher
So, Ogors are utterly broken, yes? After all, they hit harder than anyone, they have most wounds than anyone, and they're very fast. They've got more POWER than anyone, so the only thing you have to do with them is close in to the enemy, charge, then win, yes? WRONG. Yes, Ogres are probably the army with most raw power, but that's all they have. You practically have no buffing/support. You only get two unique spells. You don't get medium range shooting, and have little long range shooting. Your infantry is fast, yes, but the rest of your units only move 9" max (except the Stonehorn, and you won't have many of them), and you have no flyers. You don't get many different units, and they don't have almost any sinergy between them. What does all of this mean?
It means you're also the most inflexible and unforgiving army. Your opponent, if he's a little good, will try (and many times he will succeed) to outshoot, outmagic, outcharge, and outmaneuver you. He'll bait your more powerful units, he'll blast you to pieces from far away, he'll mess your units with spells/abilities, he'll charge your units at their most vulnerable point, he'll force very damaging Battleshocks on you, he'll surround your units. And there's no army that can withstand all of that, powerful or not.
So, be smart with your guys, while also being brutal. Keep your units close to each other, mind your moves, try to unbind the most crucial spells, plan ahead, don't think you're unbeatable. Ogres have the potential to be the best army of the game, but only if you're a good General for them. Keep in mind your strengths and your weaknesses, adapt to your opponent, learn from past mistakes, and you'll have a Great Feast at the end of each battle.
Ogors Warscrolls
Forenote: The following section will be arranged with similar units and formations being grouped together for easier reading.
This is by no means a complete guide, and focuses only on Ogors. Also due to the relatively recent release of Age of Sigmar and lack of Fantasy players remaining, most of this is based on theory. Take everything with a pinch of salt.
Named Characters
Greasus Goldtooth Ouch, what a disappointment for such a great character. Brutal in combat, but with 3" Move and one dice to charge, he'll never get there, or only at the last turn of the game. His Command Ability can be nullified merely by your opponent saying "No" (and he'll say that every time unless he's playing strictly for fun). His only value is that he adds 1 to the Bravery of Ogors within 14" of him when taking battleshocks, but being so slow it's difficult to take advantage of that. Still, he can be kind of useful, and very fun if your opponent is willing, but he's such a waste of a Hero it makes me sad.
Skrag the Slaughterer I always cry at the part where they eat Skrag's hands, then he rams his butcher's implements into his wrist-stumps and starts killing things in droves. I'm such a softie. Anyway, this time around he's not a Wizard, but a Priest, so he can't cast/unbind. He's well protected and has a good number of attacks, but they're random and have no Rend, still good. He can pray, with success on 4+ (3+ if he killed something last turn, and he suffers a mortal wound on 1s) to deal a mortal wound on 4+ to every enemy unit within 7" of him, or heal D3 wounds to an Ogor within 14". But the best thing about him is his cauldron: depending on the number of models he killed last turn (in combat or praying), he can heal himself and Gorgers D3 wounds (1 kill), and add +1 to hit(2 kills) and wound(3 kills) rolls to Gorgers within 14" and himself. To sum it all, he can be almost inmortal, all while killing lots of things, he makes Gorgers much better, or he can just heal a nearby powerful Hero/unit. Great by himself, but you can make a killer army with some Gorgers, he's specially good against things with low saves. Just what you'd expect from someone who throws the guys he kills to the cauldron on his back while the battle is still going on.
Bragg the Gutsman Your anti-Heroes Hero, can do lots of damage against them, still nothing truly impressive. But if he deals even one wound any combat, enemy units within 6" of him sustract 1 from their Bravery for Battleshock that turn. Combine that with the Bellower basic Ogres and Ironguts get (another -1 Bravery), and their Great Maw Skull/Rune Maw Bearer (another models flees for each one that flees on a 6), and the enemy will be fleeing left and right. Still, not that great a strategy, and not that great a character. Useful, but nothing more.
Golfgag Maneater This guy is tough as nails, and with his set up ability he becomes even better. The bonus he gives to his Maneaters is minimal, but it doesn't hurt, and he's strong enough to include anyway. Take him and start killing things left and right, simple enough.
Heroes
Tyrant All by himself, he's as powerful as a minor Monster. You can give him a low-range(12") missile weapon, a normal "re-roll 1s to hit" weapon, or a two-handed weapon with 2" range and -2 Rend. At the start of the game he becomes either stronger, tougher, faster, or better against Monsters; if you roll 6, you choose, nice ability, but too random. With his Command Ability you deal D3 mortal wounds to a Ogor unit within 6", and they don't take Battleshock anymore while the Tyrant is alive. That's a great ability in this army, but it has short range, and won't make your guys killier, only tougher. Remember that sometimes Inspiring Presence is just better. Use this Hero to support your Ogres while still bashing heads, but don't expose him too much, you lose his bonus if he dies, all after having hurt your own troops. Also remember that this targets Gutbusters, not just Ogres. No, that's not the same thing. It means you can target Gnoblars with this, take D3 of them off the board and never have to worry about their piss-poor Bravery again.
Bruiser Standard Bearer Strong in combat, but he doesn't do a good job as a Standard Bearer. He lets you re-roll Battleshock for units within 6" of him, but before that they suffer D3 mortal wounds, so you could end up worse than before! Only use this if the Battleshock roll was truly disastrous anyway. Also, if you don't move him, Ogors within 18" made an additional mortal wound on wound rolls of 6+. Because it's only on wound and not hit rolls, and the low (but powerful) number of attacks Ogor units deal, this is a pretty mediocre ability. Overall, a disappointg Hero.
Butcher Mediocre (for an Ogre) in combat, and with 7 wounds but only 5+ save. But each time he casts/unbinds a spell, he recovers a wound on 2+, or suffers a mortal wound on 1s, so he's got great survivability after all. He can only cast/unbind one spell a turn, but his The Maw unique spell is great: 7+ to cast, 18" range, deals D3 mortal wounds, then D3 more each time you get 4+, repeat until it fails/kill the unit. So, it's a more powerful version of Arcane Bolt, that with some luck can crush anything. Overall good Wizard, but, as always with Ogres, he gives you less support that you'd want. Still very useful.
Firebelly Same statline as Butcher, but with 2" range in his melee weapon. Also has a Fire Breath shooting attack, 6" range (which means it practically is a melee weapon, unless you put the Firebelly behind one of your units already in combat), no roll to hit or wound, but on 4+ you deal D3 mortal wounds, pretty good. He's also a one spell/unbind Wizard, and his unique spell, on 6+ to cast, deals D3 mortal wounds to each enemy unit within 3" of the Firebelly, but only if you roll 4+ for each target. Remember you can only end up 3" to the enemy by being in combat, where the Firebelly is pretty good, but that'll be risky for him, and generally you want your Wizards to survive and continue to support your other units and unbind the opponents' magic as long as possible. Instead you can get him close to already fighting units (put him behind your own units), attack them with the Fire Breath, then Arcane Bolt them. Generally the Butcher is the better Wizard for Ogres, because of his regeneration and his awesome spell, but the Firebelly is not bad by any means.
Hunter A guy who doesn't know what he wants to be, always a bad sign. Not very much stronger or tougher than a normal Ogre, he gets some shooting attacks, but too few to have any impact in the game. His Great Throwing Spear can be good, but is unreliable. He makes Sabretusks better, but not by much. He gets better against Monsters, but again not by much. Use him with Sabretusks, then go for some Monster or the unit the Sabretusks went for, I suppose. Or use him as mobile artillery with his Spear, but even then he'll never do very much, I'm afraid.
Infantry
Ogres Your basic guys. Their outline is similar to the rest of your units, therefore some of the following advice apply to them as well. Impressive statline: 4 wounds, 3 attacks dealing 2 damage each, 6" move. Their weapons either lets you reroll 1's to hit or deal a mortal wound on a save of 6+, it's debatable what's better. Ogres are indeed powerful, but they have some disadvantages: mediocre save (5+), no Rend, and they're so big they'll pile in clumsily and get outmaneuvered. Also, while their Bravery it's not bad (6), fleeing is still very painful for them (you can't afford to lose many models that way, your opponent probably can). With their banners you make better the results of their Battleshock test, and also more enemies will flee from them. Ogres also gets wounds re-rolls when charging with 10+ models, or re-roll 1s if less than then, so always try to get the charge. To use well these guys, support them, do not let them get separated from your other units, protect their flanks, and don't use them against units with high armor. Do that, and you'll feast on the guts of your enemies.
Ironguts Brutally, unfairly powerful. Remember the basic ogres downsides? Well, these guys have ALL of them covered. Compared with vanilla ogres, Ironguts get +1 save, +1 Bravery, +1 Damage, and Rend -1. They also make more enemies flee with their Bellower and Banner, and grants some protection against spells. And their weapons are 2" range (you can't get two rank attacks with them, sorry, but you can put a unit with smaller base size in front of them and still attack over their heads). Lastly, one time per game, and only if some other Ogor fled at any point (which is probable but not definite, as Battleshock is the only area where you have a good number of support rules), they re-roll 1s for hits, wounds and saves, making them even more balls-powerful. These big boys are good at everything, use them for whatever task you need and they'll give a good account of themselves.
Maneaters Like normal Ogres but with better attacks, Bravery, and Rend. Also, some get at no cost a missile weapon (12" range, as always). The thing that makes them specially good is that you pick on set up if you improve their melee or shooting, or give them run+charge in the same turn, or inmunity to Battleshock. That makes them very versatile, you can use them to fix holes in your army, or adapt to different opponents. Their downside is their low save (5+), but they're strong enough to make up for that.
Leadbelchers Cannon ogres. Same basic stats of normal Ogres, with only two melee attacks at -1 Rend. Oh, and they get a 12" range shooting attack, D3 shots at 4+/3+/-1/1, pretty good. Which becomes D6 shoots if no enemies are within 3" and the Leadbelchers didn't move last turn. The range of their cannons is so low they'll probably only shoot outside of combat one or two times, but that can be enough to obliterate something. Yes, with D6 attacks they become devastating, but this is where things get tricky: it's difficult not to move them in an army with so little shooting as Ogors, you can't wait for the enemy. You can use them as support for other units, or just ignore the improved shooting (they're still brutal enought with "only" D3 shoots). But the absolute worst thing you can do with them is to try and get the D6 shoots when you should just advance, you'll let your opponent dictate the flow of battle if you do, which can cost you the game. So, don't get too greedy with them, they're amazing even while moving each turn. You can, however, just let them stand behind a normal Ogre unit. Remember, you can shoot in combat and into combat, so have your bulls stall them and then shoot them dead.
Gorgers Demented and deformed Ogres without bellies. Scary at 5 attacks and 5 wounds each, but shitty 6+ save. Also 8 Bravery, and can charge after running, so they're pretty fast, too. You can make them appear in the first turn at 12" from any enemy units, at the cost of their Move, so you can't charge that turn (well, with a 12 charge roll you can, but...). So you can use them to ambush/assassinate things, but you'll probably have to weather a round of shooting before that, and fast things can escape you, oh well. With Skrag they basically heal D3 wounds each turn (remember you can't distribute Wounds, so that'll only heal a model, which doesn't matter as only one model per unit can be wounded at any time), and if at 14" from him they'll probably get bonus to hit/wound, making them VERY scary. Always nasty, but even more with Skrag, use their "teleport" ability to give your army some much needed flexibility.
Yhetees Mutated Ogres with 9" Move! Just what this army needed! Indeed, they're so fast you can just think of them as cavalry. They hit as hard as a normal Ogre but with Rend -1, great, and have 6" pile in, so even if your formation gets messed up or the enemy charges you at a weird angle, all your Yhetees will probably reach the enemy and bash them. Only a 6+ save, but in the combat phase enemies get a -1 to hit them. That makes Yhetees vulnerable against shooting, but in melee it's better than a 5+ save, because even against things with Rend -2 you'll still get a "save", and it nullifies the abilities of models that do things on a 6+ hit roll. Fast and powerful, use them to counter enemy cavalry or charge isolated things, just watch out for shooting.
Gnoblar Fighters People say these are good, but I can't see how. I understand they're meant to be sacrificial units, but even at that role they suck. They get 3 attacks each with 30+ models, but so weak they won't do anything, and with 3 Bravery they'll suffer so much losses you won't keep the bonus more than one turn. They get a shooting attack, but is utter shit. They make D3 mortal wounds to units charging them, but only on a 1/6 chance. Their minimun unit size is ten, which limits their flexibility. As tarpits/nuisance, Ogors get much better units. They only bring something to the army if you're using a comp system that makes them dirty cheap, as it should (if that's the case, they can be useful, yes). About the only use I see for them is to be in front of your Ogres, to make sure you get the charge (the Gnoblars get the enemy charge, then next turn the surviving ones retreat beneath the gaps of the Ogres, roman infantry style). And even at this they're not that good, because they're slower than Ogres, with a 5" Move! I don't know, perhaps I'm being too negative here, alternative opinions are welcome.
- Alternative opinion: While by no means a devastating unit, Gnoblars have a couple of uses. For one, a Tyrant can simply eat D3 of them turn 1 and make them immune to Battleshock for the whole game, so aside from Banshees, nothing should ever care about their Bravery. Then, they can act as a dragnet for your Leadbelchers, keep the enemy tied up so your Leadbelchers can shoot D6 shots per model at them. And finally, the rule that increases their attacks according to their unit size doesn't specify melee-only, so in a big enough unit, each Gnoblar throws Sharp Stuff three times and then attacks another three times in melee. That's 9 attacks per round! Sure, they're weak attacks, but if each of the 40 or 50 Gnoblars does this, you'll kill anything by sheer weight of numbers.
Cavalry and Monsters
Sabretusks This is supposed to be your fast cavalry, but their lame 9" Move cripples them. With a Hunter at 16", they get +3 to their charge at the Charge Phase, which is not very useful, he should have improved their Move, oh well. Also, with the Hunter at 16", they get 7 instead of 5 Bravery, luckily the Hunter wants to Run every turn. They've good Attacks (and 3 each), but even the weakest shooting or melee attack will decimate them, and if the Hunter is not in range they'll also run quite easily. Overall, is not easy to take advantage of them because of their slowness and fragility, but if you manage to get them into combat and get the priority, they can do some good damage. All in all, pretty lame and disappointing, sorry.
Mournfang Cavalry Just amazing. 9" Move, 6 Wounds, 4+ Save, 7 Attacks each. Also you re-roll charges, and on a 4+ you deal a mortal wound to things you charge, for EACH of your models within 1" of the enemy. Your heavy cavalry, not very fast and maneuverable, but still able to do anything that other armies' heavy cavalry do, while packing much more of a punch. They will destroy basically any other cavalry, or massacre that already engaged unit, or even gut all sort of Monsters. Another very relevant unit, think well how to use these guys, because they'll be crucial every game.
Stonehorn Of course the most brutal and excessive army gets the most brutal and excessive Monster. 12 wounds, with the absurdly powerful "halve wounds suffered" ability, 12" Move, and must charge when able, even if it ran (so he can run and charge). In other words, it's capable of catching basically anything. It also has some shooting, hugely powerful melee, and deals fucking D6 mortal wounds to whatever it charged. Your opponent will try to shoot or slow down this unstoppable murder machine before it reachs his lines; in particular, he'll try to bait it with some very fast and weak unit, that you'll be forced to try and charge. To counter this, keep your Stonehorn in the center of your army (things with high Move are usually better in the flanks, but this is brutal enough to be an exception), or shoot/catch with something fast the baiting unit. And remember you don't have to say what you're charging until after you roll the charge, so if there's various eligible targets, always pick the stronger one, so you don't waste your enormous stone monster.
Thundertusk Some say this is the most broken Monster of the game; judge for yourself. Decent 8" Move, 12 Wounds with 4+ Save and -1 to hit it for enemies in Combat, so it's here to stay. Some shooting, and melee attacks quite weak for a Monster of its size. But... on the shooting phase, pick a unit within 18", and on a 2+ (yes, no hit and wound bullshit), that unit suffers, at full Thundertusk health, 6 mortal wounds, then D6 when the 'Tusk has suffered at least 3 wounds, and from there on it deals lower and lower wounds. Right now, there's no stronger shooting attack in the game. 6 mortal wounds usually six wounds just evaporated unless your opponent has some anti-mortal wound-shields like Chaos Warriors, auto-kill for most Heroes, or half-killing the majority of Monsters. Even D6 mortal wounds is a lot, and because the Thundertusk has the Ogor keyword, you can heal him with Skrag. The moment your opponent sees this terrifying mammoth, the moment he'll start a frenzied race to deal him at least 3 wounds before it is within 18" of his guys. Undoubtedly one of the most powerful non-named models in the game; either center all your army around him, or use him as a ridiculously overpowered DISTRACTION CARNIFEX.
Giant A not fast but not slow Monster (8" Move), with lame 5+ save but 12 wounds. In combat he's very good at full health, but that will not last long. Also, he fails 1/6 of his charges automatically, though he can damage something when he falls. All in all, good if you're capable of protecting him and getting him to combat fast, but this is not the best army to do that.
Artillery
Gnoblar Scraplauncher So turns out Gnoblar technology is lame and unreliable, who would have thought? This contraption is very tough, but that will not matter much if it isn't useful (and it isn't); also has lots of melee attacks, but most of them are weak-ass. Good range, and does industrial amounts of damage to hordes (D6 on 10+ models, 2D6 on 20+ models), but... only has one attack at 3+/4+, and no Rend! Even against no-save units you're too at mercy of the dice gods, damaging the horde only one out of each three shoots. Leave this thing at home.
Ironblaster Now this is power. Very durable, and halfway decent in combat, also excellent mobility for a war machine (7"). The problem is that it's only reliable against units with 10+ models, 'cause you then re-roll to hit with its lone 4+/2+/-2/D6 shoot. So you lose one of the main war machines advantages, namely the ability to obliterate powerful Monster/Heroes. Even without that it's still pretty good, but, again, it gives you too much killing power and too little flexibility, the perpetual Ogre problem.
Formations
Gutbuster Wartribe 1 Tyrant, 1 Butcher, 3 units of Ogres, 1 unit of Ironguts, 1 unit of Leadbelchers. On the charge, each model within 1" of the enemy deals an additional mortal wound on a 4+, or on a 3+ if either the charging unit had 10+ models or you rolled 10+ for the charge. This formation lets Ogors do exactly what they want, namely charge things without caring about anything more. Simple yet very powerful.
Beastclaw Avalanche 1 Stonehorn, 2 units of Mournfang Cavalry, 1 Thundertusk. The Stonehorn and members of the formation within 8" charge with three dices, and things charged by two or more of these units suffer D6 mortal wounds. Also, in the shooting phase, shoots that target any of your units within 12" of two or more units from this formation suffer -1 to hit. No, I'm not making this up. You take the three most broken units Ogors have, you make them faster, you make them even killier, then you make the rest of your army better. Only use this against people with Nagash, Archaon, Lord Kroak, or some other near-broken unit/combo. Remember, Age of Sigmar is about having fun, not about brutally humiliating weaker people that have no means of retaliation. That said, if you ever find someone you just need to stomp into the dirt, play this and Gordrakk. Gordrakk's one-use Command lets him add 2 attacks with each weapon to a Destruction unit and lets them charge 3D6" discarding none and if targeted at a unit in a Battalion will affect the whole battalion. Yes, you just gave a Battalion of monsters and the heaviest cavalry in the game tons of bonus attacks and gave stuff that deals one hell of a lot of damage on the charge drastically better charges.