Ogryn Tactics

[librisrouge]

I remember when I first got into Imperial Guard (ext. 2004) and one of the first things to catch my eye, after tanks, tanks, and tanks, was the Ogryn. I even eventually purchased some but the few games that I played with them convinced me that that was a poor idea and I sold them (for a small profit even.) Now I am wondering if there is a way to field them effectively and I am reaching out to the barracks for help.

 

BTW, I am only concerned with Ogryn, not Bullgryn. Bullgryn are a bit silly and out of place to me. Much of the fluff for Ogryns make them seem almost ignored and treated as disposable to upper echelon IG and yet there are this subset that has specially made wargear and advanced weaponry assigned to it. Seems odd to me, given the imperial prejudice against abhumans.

 

Here is what I am thinking that Ogryn need to attempt to be effective.

 

A- Advisors. Commissars are ok, if you're wanting to keep it relatively cheap and simple, because they solve the problem of leadership nicely. Priest are probably better because of fearless and prayers, as well as being a bit tougher themselves, though the lack of power weapons means they don't contribute directly as much. Strength 5 of the ogryn means that the re-roll to wound prayer is especially useful, and hatred gets wacky with that many attacks. If I had a large squad of ogryn, I would consider 2-3 priests as a reasonable investment.

 

B- Psykers. Bolters shred ogryn, even with their toughness five. Battle companies mean that there are more and more bolters on the table than ever. Many psyker disciplines can do a lot to assist in keeping them alive. Divination has a +4 invul. power and re-roll to hit. Pyromancy has a +4 cover save power. Biomancy can give them FnP and buff the psyker so that he can contribute in melee as well. Telepathy has invisibility, as well as a power that grants shrouded. Any of these give the ogryn more to keep them alive than a tee-shirt. Doing this reliable though is a bit hard for IG, unless you're looking to invest 300 points into psykers just to make 400 points of ogryn work.

 

C- Allies. I am always hesitant to talk about allies because I like the idea of IG standing on its own. Despite that, there are some good allies for ogryn to have. Azreal of the DA can give them a solid CC boost and a +4 invulnerable save. Telion is cheaper and gives stealth. White Scars characters can grant scout. The Red Scorpion psyker is more likely to get the power needed to give them the boost they need; ditto for Tigirius as well.

 

D- Deployment help. The best solution is the Strategic Warlord Trait, which grants three infantry units infiltrate. Of course, giving this to the ogryn means burning more of those three on priests as well, just so that they can come along. Commissars help here since they're part of the unit. This is all moot of course if you don't get the trait. I recommend, if you want to go with way, picking up Creed and getting him two strategic traits. It increases the odds of getting Master of Ambush considerably. You can also pick up Issodon of the Raptor's chapter (against, non-IG help to make IG work) who has the trait by default. 

 

Off of the top of my head, I'm thinking something like.

 

IG CAD-

CCS

Priest x2

Ogryn x10

Platoon One

Platoon Two

 

Raptors CAD-

Issodon

Tactical Squad in Pod

Tactical Squad in Pod

 

Inner Circle Formation - Azrael, etc.

OR

Red Scorpions CAD - Chief Psyker (cannot remember his name) and some FnP tactical squads to hold objectives, or to contribute to the drop.

 

The battle plan would be to pressure the enemy early, infiltrating toughened ogryn right into their face and immediately supporting them with podding space marines. The enemy will hopefully be so pressured by the amount of things in their face that they cannot handle it in time to deal with the horde of IG men coming their way. Of course, none of this really deals with the fact that ogryn cannot handle walkers and the like.

 

 

What are your ideas for making ogryn work?

[greycat]

I've never used them myself as I dislike mutants in my army but a friend of mine had success running a large unit with a priest and just charging the opponent. Of course he had an all infantry list so there was a wave of troops going towards the enemy. I would definitely recommend transport for them.

[SW1]

I've played them against BA's and just hugged cover while advancing them as quickly as possible. Once in h2h they've always done well.

 

Treat them as a throw away unit and place them in the most inconvenient place possible. If they are ignored they will squish things. If they become your opponents main focus then the rest of the army is going to get a turn or two of being ignored.

[WarriorFish]

I think they're a fairly straight forward unit, send them in to bully something that will struggle to hurt them. Like SW1 said either they catch, tie up and destroy (ideally) something troublesome or they draw fire letting the rest of your army do its job. Bolters may do ok with enough dice, 5+ to wound reduces it - but those bolters would do much worse to Guardsmen. I don't think they're effective enough for their points to justify more than adding a character of some sort (Priest?) and sending them in!

[CoffeeGrunt]

Ogryns are a unit I've struggled with, mainly because for 5pts more each Bullgryns just get so much more. Getting a 3+ Armour Save is a godsend, but anyway.

 

I suppose you could throw in a Primaris Psyker and a Priest. It's a 100pt investment, but you get a Force Weapon, psychic buffs and CC buffs. Biomancy is a good table to roll on for these guys, while Divination is also very strong. Endurance is hilarious if you get the power off, 4+ FNP with Eternal Warrior is great.

[Tallarn Commander]

I hadn't used ogryns much since 3rd edition (when we could have str 6 ogryns!) so I took a unit of 5 ogryns with attached priest to an 8-game tournament over Labor Day weekend.  I was very impressed with their performance. They rarely won a combat (although they did take out a squad of chaos termies somehow as well as a squad of 3 necron destroyers).  However, they usually tied up an enemy unit long enough for my other units to either grab objectives or shoot  some more.

 

The ogryns were usually accompanied by my squad of 30 conscripts with a priest.  Priests and ogryns really worked well together--the orgyrns provided the toughness while the conscripts provide the numbers.

 

 

Tallarn Commander,

IG, "We are many. They are few."

[SW1]

I just can't wait to field 60 of them (mix of Ogryns and Bullgyns). Will be fun and not likely to win much but will be far easier to move about than a similar points value of grunts.

 

Slowly sourcing them but it'll be worth the wait. ;)

[WarriorFish]

Taking anything in number becomes hard to deal with, lots of Ogryns would be trouble for all but armour I imagine. Even then most tanks they could punch to death in CC...

[Gothical]

I can see a couple of options that would make Ogryn fairly decent.

 

Firstly, the Ogryn themselves: although they only have a 5+ Save the T5 keeps them relatively safe from Bolter fire, they carry 3-shot Str5 guns which can make them lethal at close quarters, and a heap of Strength 5 attacks (including Hammer of Wrath). Stubborn is good, but at Leadership 6/7 it is certainly not to be relied on. I think the best way to take advantage of their natural stats is to leave them in cover (they have Frag Grenades so you won't be losing out) for better saves and counter-charge as opposing units approach your lines.

 

The advisors you mention are certainly useful. A Priest to get initial combat re-rolls and make them Fearless, or a Primaris Psyker to get them up to Leadership 9 (with innate Stubborn) will keep them on the field.

 

There are other factors to consider too - chiefly, which HQ you are running. Yarrick could be a great addition - takes them to Leadership 10, his Warlord trait means no 25% casualties morale checks, is fairly good in close combat too, and can still issue the full range of  Orders. Another one to consider is a Company Command Squad with Colonel Straken. Giving all units within 6" Furious Charge and Counter-Attack can really turn the Ogryn into killing machines. They become excellent charge deterrents - volleys of short-ranged fire, Overwatch, then 4 attacks each, or you boost their charge just enough to wound Marines on 2s and instant-kill any human/Eldar characters.

 

Orders don't really benefit the Ogryn too much, but you can either make them run faster/shoot-and-run if you are using them aggressively, benefit from Go to Ground and yet still counter-charge if you are using them defensively. With Strength 5 guns there might be some cases that Ignores Cover is useful, but Tankhunter/Monsterhunter do have some interesting applications and can be something of a surprise from an ostensibly assault-based unit for the opponent.

 

Transports may or may not be useful. Personally I find the transport capacity of in-codex choices to be far too small - either 3 Ogryn an attachment or 4 Ogryn.

 

As an aside, I do think Bullgryn to most of the same things as Ogryn but better, and if I ever get back around to my Steel Legion army I'm taking a unit of Bullgryn and Yarrick in either a Chimera or Banehammer/Doomhammer/Stormlord depending on the size of the game.

[librisrouge]

I think I'm also overlooking a time when Ogryn might be especially effective, Zone Mortalis (which I've yet to play but totally want to.) However, all of this has given me much to think about.