Good morning, everyone! I am excited to get this blog kick started to help others improve at Bloodfields, and be able to compete in the arena. For our first faction focus, we are going to be taking a look at one of the top factions from last season's tournament as well as a faction making up 3 of the lists for this season. Today, we will be focusing on the overall playstyle of the Ogres, as well as how to build an effective competitive list for them. Without further delay, let's get the ball rolling!
Quick shout out to our resident Ogre experts who helped me gather information for this post:
Seriphos, Stregi and misdrak
Playstyle
The Bloodsail Ogres are a faction that typically likes to play what is referred to as a "castle" playstyle. The main source of this playstyle comes from one of their key units, Rodrigo De Ogra and his El Dorado passive which we will talk about later in this post. The ogres will want to play to their ranged strengths and use El Dorado to their advantage to score at least two objectives, and lock down the battlefield. If done correctly, this is a HARD combo to break through as the Ogres are extremely hard to kill in these conditions. Attributing to their survivability is their passive ability:
Ogre: Each unsaved hit cannot deal more than 1 damage to an Ogre.
This means that the 2 damage or higher attacks that are crucial to the damage output of most factions is negated, and it will take much more for just one of your Ogres to fall. Combine that with the inspire changes granted by El Dorado and the armor buff provided by Jolly Roger (more on this later) and you have an incredibly tanky force that can group together in terrain and secure their postion.
Faction Rating
With how strong their combo can be, and their survivability, the Ogres are receiving a rating of S tier from me. If the faction is played well, they can dominate most games in my personal opinion. They are a relatively easy army to play, with a complexity rating of 1 star. With such ease of access and possible combinations, they are easily one of the best factions to play right now. They are not without fault though, but we will touch on that Thursday when we get into more detail on countering the Ogres as well as how to pilot them.
List Building
Finally on to the fun part, building a list to play with. With the current seasons competitive rule set, the Ogres are given a 200 point budget for their lists. This is a little restricting; however, it is more than enough to get what we need in a list. Lets start off by going over the three key units every Ogre list should be running.
1. Rodrigo De Ogra - A staple piece for the army. He is the main inspiration engine that keeps the faction moving throughout the game. His El Dorado passive is what we focus the army build around, selecting a terrain piece and locking it down with our castle playstyle. Changing all inspire results to hits/saves is absolutely HUGE, and can easily swing a losing game to a winning one or start a snowball effect. He also has the Ogre Pistol attack for good synergy with things like the Mastbearer or the Crewman. Make sure he is an auto-include in all of your lists.
2. Captain Narom - As one of our primary damage dealing combos, we want Narom in our list to be accompanied by any source of consistent stun we can get such as Voltaris or Shotcaller. The critical strike on Narom means that all skulls are going to bypass armor and deal two damage for EACH unsaved hit. This combined with other buffs like that of El Dorado mean that he will likely hit both shots, and at least one should be a critical. 4 HP targets will be killed in one or two attack rounds, giving you the advantage. Make sure to stun the target first so you get the bonus of switching a blank result to a critical. Give him a Potion of Might or a Potion of Perspective if you have the extra points on hand to make him even more lethal.
3. Last but most certainly not least, is the Jolly Roger, another support element for our army. Being 26 points, he is a cheap source of extra defense, allowing us to change one armor result to an inspire in every defense. As we know now, this combos well with El Dorado meaning we have an automatic save while in El Dorado. He can also help us get closer to El Dorado faster with his Sea Shanties ability. Familiar Tune is a good control tool to help position your own units as well as move enemy units out of position (or to be within range of Narom).
Honorable mention: Shuaavek Shotcaller for the extra damage capabilities he can bring and the stun.
Now for the example list:
This list has everything we need to run a competitive Ogre army. Rodrigo for the El Dorado passive, Jolly Roger for the extra movement and defense, Captain Narom with a Potion of Perspective to get a early kill in the first turn or two. Ackimo synergizes with Captain Narom, getting 5 ranged mastery for an increased chance of stun application. Kush Mastbearer will give the Crewman and Rodrigo 4 Ranged mastery, making their Ogre Pistols a little more consistent. With the Goblin Spotter, he also helps get the half range bonus for the Ogre Pistols. The Crewman is included to add another Ogre Pistol, and give +1 attack dice. This army will hold down El Dorado and be able to dish out serious damage.
I hope you enjoyed reading part one of the Bloodsail Ogres faction focus! I will upload part two this Thursday to discuss countering Ogres as well as how to play them in depth.
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