First Thoughts on Ogres

On Saturday morning, like a good little sheep, I dutifully picked up my copy of the new Ogre Book. The first thing I noticed was that GW had managed to sneak a little price increase in. When the hard covered books were released they were $73, the new book was $80. This 9.5% price rise since February is entirely justified by the rampant inflation gripping the Western world. I must remember to cite this inflationary pressure when I’m renegotiating salary next week. The book is nicely presented; full coloured and I must say I prefer the hard covered books to the 40k soft covers. I just hope that they manage to control their rapidly escalating costs :-)

So what about the army? Well there are a few things that can be ascertained from a cursory read.
o The army has been strengthened relative to its predecessor, and its strength is broadly in line with the two recent 8th Edition books. o This is largely achieved by re-pointing existing items – Core troops are considerably cheaper than they were in the last book. o The existing army has been strengthened by the addition of new character, Monster and cavalry options. o The pressure point in list construction is going to come in the Rare section (compare this to Skaven where pressure point is making Core percentage). o As a result of pressure on Rares you are unlikely to see Gorgers or the Scraplauncher. Points will be spent on the new cheaper Maneaters, the Stonehorn and the Thundertusk. o Cheaper cost means you’ll see bigger Bull and Irongut blocks. o New character option Firebelly looks full of win. Access to lore of Fire, breath weapon and flaming attacks makes him a great choice for your Irongut units. o Hard to see the case for Tyrant over a Level 4 Slaughtermaster – especially with Bruiser BSB and Standard of Discipline. o Wider breadth of magic lore with secondary wizards able to access Heavens and Death, while Firebellies can get Fire. However, Gut Magic looks less effective especially with the loss of Loremaster. o Really unsure where Gnoblers fit – apart as secondary “clippers”. Therefore I suspect the initial army will look something like this: o Slaughtermaster o BSB Bruiser o 1-2x Firebellies o 2 6-8 man blocks of Bulls o 2 6-8 man blocks of Ironguts o Block of Leadbelchers o Mournfang Cavalry o Ironblaster o 1-2 blocks of 3-4 Maneaters or single block of 6 o Either Stonehorn or Thundertusk