Ogre Firebelly

Ogres vs. Wood Elves – twice

In preparation to an oncoming tournament in Styria, – one of the biggest in Austria – I tested my Ogres in my local gaming Club. The first two battles should be against Wood Elves, as the new release of the Wood Elf army book encouraged some players to field them. So the local metagame is kind of shooty and pointy-eared these days.

Tyrant, General, 2xHw, LA, Giantbreaker, Rock Eye – 243 Pts.
Slaughtermaster, 2xHw, lvl4, Lore of The Great Maw – 287 Pts.
Bruiser, GW, LA, BSB – 141 Pts.
Hunter, 2xHw, Longstrider – 153 Pts.
Firebelly, GW, Scroll, Lore of Fire – 154 Pts.
9 Ironguts, M – 397 Pts.
9 Ironguts, M – 397 Pts.
10 Gnoblars – 25 Pts.
4 Mournfang Cavalry, HA, Ironfist, M, S, Standard of Discipline – 315 Pts.
4 Sabretusks – 84 Pts.
1 Sabretusks – 21 Pts.
1 Sabretusks – 21 Pts.
1 Gorger – 90 Pts.
Ironblaster – 170 Pts.

Total: 2498

I wanted to test the Hunter, for his abilty to operate in a group of Sabretusks should make a small but decent melee unit. The rest is nothing special, all centred around three units who could fight or at least give the characters a place to hide.

The opponents army was a big unit of Thornsisters, carrying two Level-4 Magicians with the Lore of Death and Shadow. Two small groups of Wild Hunters added some severe melee power, while two eagle ensured that I would not come into close combat too soon. Some small units of Bowmen rounded this setting up. This fight would be a tough one.

Round 1

The game started with some skirmishing, an attempt to raise the ballistic skil of the Waywatchers was banned by me. A toughness decrease for the Mournfangs wasn’t rolled high enough, so the first magic phase was generously short.

The Bowmen shot at the Gnoblars and the Mounrfangs, the Greenskins panicked and run away.

At my turn, an attempt to boost the toughness of the Butcher’s unit was banned, but I was able to cast regeneration at the Mournfangs. Also, an automatic panic test was forced on the Waywatchers by a Butcher’s spell, but the high morale of the Elves made this attempt a feeble one.

Round 2

The Wild Hunt attempted to charge the Hunter and his Sabretooths, but rolled to low. On the other hand, both ambush units of the Wood Elves entered the battlefield. A bonus to the Ballistic Skill at the big unit of Bowmen wasn’t succesful due to low dice, the Miasma was banned. A Toughness Decrease at the Mournfangs forced me to use the Dispell Scroll, for they would suffer too many casualties in the direct fire of the Waywatchers. And they would have to endure this shooting for at least this round, so I thought this banning to be important.

The shooting phase saw the death of two Sabretusks and two inflicted wounds on the Mournfangs.

In his countercharge, the Hunter reaches the Wild Hunt. But before he was able to kill four of these Elves, they managed to cause the death of three Sabretusks by themselves.

The Ironblaster aimed at the Sisters of Thorn and tried to sniper at one of those Level 4 Magicians. Sadly, he managed to pass his Lookout Test succesfully.

Round 3

Before the Ogres could reach them in close combat, the Sisters of Thorn and their lead managed to outflank the Ironguts and be safe for at least this round. The Bowmen got a magic increase to their ballistic skill, while the “Walk between Worlds”-spell was banned. The Ironblaster suffered 2D6 S4 hits, and this, together with the shots from the cavalry units, was enough to kill him.

The Toughness Decrease at the Mournfangs, combined with the final shots from the Waywatchers, forced them to panic and run.

At this point, we shaked hands and ended the battle, for the outcome was pretty clear at that time.

Sadly, the Hunter and his Sabretusks were a waste of points (which I was told several times by everybody, but I was too stubborn to listen to them). Shamefully, a model solely useful for the showcase.

At the very least, it didn’t look like a total defeat on victory points. I would have never been able to get a decent number of points, but the important Irongut units were still standing (with the Mournfangs showing their low reliability again).

Game Two

Next week, the same opponent (with exactly the same army), a new concept on my side. This time, the Hunter was exchanged to a unit of six Maneaters, a unit I love for it’s appearance, but never convinced me by it’s performance on the battlefield. I would have liked to bring a Battle Standard Bearer, especially in an Ogre army, but I also didn’t want to cut the budget of the other stuff. So Iwould have to trust in my good dicing ability.

Tyrant, General, LA, Giantbreaker, Sword of Striking, Rock Eye – 255 Pts.
Slaughtermaster, 2xHw, lvl4, Lore of The Great Maw – 287 Pts.
Firebelly, GW, Scroll, Lore of Fire – 154 Pts.
9 Ironguts, M – 397 Pts.
9 Ironguts, M – 397 Pts.
4 Mournfang Cavalry, HA, Ironfist, M, S, Std. of Swiftness – 315 Pts.
6 Maneaters, 6 x 2xHw, Immune to Psychology, Stubborn, M, S, Standard of Discipline – 347 Pts.
1 Sabretusk – 21 Pts.
1 Sabretusk – 21 Pts.
1 Sabretusk – 21 Pts.
1 Gorger – 90 Pts.
Ironblaster – 170 Pts.

Total: 2475

The Wood Elf Mages knew the spells Warp between Worlds, Arcane unforging, Drain Magic, Soul Quench, Shadow Pit, -D3 Toughness and -D3 WS/BF

Round 1

Again, I placed the center of my Army in the right corner of the battlefield, with the Maneaters holding the left flank. The Wood Elves, on the other side, were able to spread much further.

First, the Mages casted -3 Movement to the Firebelly unit, while the attempt to inflict a decreased Toughness to the Maneaters had too little energy. Arahains Curse was banned with all my Banning dice. In the shooting phase, I lost three Maneaters to the Bows of the Wood Elves. At least, I was able to cast the Toughness Buff at the Mournfangs.

Round 2

The Ogres tried to gain some field control over the battlefield and moved forward. Naturally, the Wood Elves tried to avoid melee at that moment and moved sidewards, shielded by a piece of impassable terrain.

The Shadow Pit was casted with good energy, so I had to use by Dispel Scroll that early in the game. Drain Magic at the Sisters wasn’t succesful. One Sabretusk and two more Maneaters were shot down. I tried to cast the Panic spell to the big unit of Wood Elves Bowmen, but had not enough power. The Fireball was also banned. To complete this pityful turn, the Ironblaster took his chance to fail his shot and broke his Cannon in two pieces.

Round 3

The Gorger finally showed up to force the Wood Elf units to a halt (or something like this…). The Firebelly-Ironguts were rearranged so that they faced the unit of Elven riders who came from behind. The Shadow pit had to little energy, the second Sabretusk was shot.

Round 4

My attempt to increase the Slaughtermasters Toughness was banned. In return, 2D6 S4 hits to the Slaughtermaster casted by the Wood Elf Mages inflict three Wounds. The Firebelly-Ironguts had to suffer – 2 Movement. My opponent rolled too bad for the Walk between Worlds. All Bowmen turned to the Slaughtermaster and finally shot him.

Round 5

The Shadow Pit is casted on the Tyrant’s Ironguts, which killed four of them.

Again, another game against Wood Elves which we didn’t need to play until the sixth turn to see a certain outcome. The combined moving and casting ability clearly is something I can’t cope with at the moment. While theyr miniatures and Fluff are beautiful, I feel like Sixth Edition, when Wood Elves were one of the dominating tournament armies thanks to their flexibility with wooden terrain. And I certainly don’t miss these times. May all Treemen burn in Hell.