I like Ward saves on most characters - they're hard for enemies to negate, and work in conjunction with armor saves. Given that Butchers and Slaughtermasters can wear magic armor, I'd aim for Armor of Destiny on my most important caster, and a Talisman of Preservation on the most important fighty character (Bruiser BSB, Tyrant, whoever it may be). An alternate strategy is to make sure you don't get hit - Fencer's Blades and Glittering Scales means any opponent at or under WS4 hits you on a 6, and you can squeeze in a smaller Ward save on the side.

On offense, a Great Weapon typically suffices (an Ogre Blade will also work if you're paranoid about Ethereal enemies and such), unless you boost your Strength through the Giantbreaker big name and/or the Greedy Fist, in which case the Sword of Swift Slaying is probably better, unless you foresee having to chop down a Steam Tank or something.

 

I'm pleased with your equipment suggestions, for the tyrant, so I'll shake up my own. Keeping the Fencer's Blades, I'll replace the Armor of Destiny with the Glittering Scales, and add the Talisman of Endurance.

I don't agree with giving a tyrant a great weapon, as he has the highest (I) stat in the list, apart from Golgfag.

Unless I'm playing a 1k game, my bruiser will always be a BSB, and equipped with heavy armor and the Talisman of Preservation.

Great weapons for butchers, always, and magic items to reflect their role. Since I use 2, I'll equip one for bonuses to his casting, while the other carries a dispel scroll and an item with a bound spell. This is usually the Ruby Ring of Ruin.

I can't comment on the Slaughtermaster, as I don't use a wizard to led my force, nor have I ever run a list more than 2k.

 

At 2K or higher, you'll find you need a L4 or some bangin' magic defense, or you'll get rolled by the stronger lists out there, especially if your opponent is playing a magic-hog army. Can't stress that one enough, I'm afraid, which is why a lot of folks these days have been shelving their Tyrants unless you're running at 3,000 or so points, when a kitted-out Tyrant and a kitted-out Slaughtemaster become available. Also, the Butcher can't take a Great Weapon (but the Firebelly can) - that said, they can wear magic armor.

Initiative is something that went by the wayside the second you picked up the Ogre army - I say take advantage of your huge Strength and kill things dead when you do hit them, because you're not beating any other character to the punch, and you need S7+ to chew through those pesky armor saves you're bound to run into if you fight other characters for a living (and there's not much point in bringing a Tyrant otherwise!).

 

Again, you've pointed out some great ideas ...

I'm going to rethink my general choices.

However, on page 89 of the OKAB, a butcher can purchase a great weapon. It was one of those rules I was hoping GW would keep :clap:

 

Can they now? Does that also extend to the Slaughtermaster? Because if so, I'm making the switch from Ironfist to GW in a second.

 

Sorry, but no, Slaughtermasters lucked out.

I gave mine the Fencer's Blades, and he's quite happy with it.

 

I think the Hellheart is pretty much an auto-include.

On one hand, opponent's will be overly paranoid about it possibly blowing up entire unit/s. Even at the very worst, you can negate 1 magic phase just by hitting 1 enemy wizard with it. Add a dispel scroll, and you've effectively shut down or at least seriously neutered 2 magic phases!
Best of all, it destroys undead - especially VC's who are forced to take wizard levels on every single vampire in the amry. (god I hope GW wakes up and fixes this problem!!!)

I'd say in tourny lists ogres won't leave home without the heart, but in friendly games, it's probably a bad idea to take it against undead because it can so easily break the game...

 

Great tip! Rep!

 

man, there are so many good ones!

Tyrant- +1 T bigname, reroll successful wounds on your guy helm + IF, HA and either a GW, or just handweap + potion of speed means you have a monster in combat who is either ASL, but hits a lot and like a truck, or str 5, but with that nice Init + the pot for I7 for a turn. both styles are resiliant.

Also, there's the classic WS10 sword + -1 to hit you armor. throw in a CoC, and you have a solid lord right there.

Slaughtermaster: This guy is usually my general and I find my chars not dying so much to being attacked, but from being overrun after a combat goes particularly bad for me (usually not hitting with even close to 50% of my attacks). Therefor, I think a CoC is CRUCIAL for any army. If nothing else, this guy will have that. If I have the points, hellheart is nice, or if you use an ogre hoard + a smaller unit, you can start off in the smaller unit, use grull's sickle and just run to big unit when danger approaches (to save wounds on the money unit). units with a frontage of 3 containing a FC can also protect your casters by putting the characters in the 2nd rank and not making way, so protection is not AS vital as with most casters. So that's something to consider, but grut's sickle coupled with a successful gut mgc cast and blood gruel means +7 to cast on most of your spells each turn! I cannot stress how many dice this can save you over each phase (AND cost your opponents in dispel dice!). It also increases the efficiency of a 3 wizard army substantially. That's worth the risk of rolling snake eyes, I'd say.

Butchers: Pretty standard, really. Give em a great weap and stick em in the 2nd rank of a unit if taking anything other than gut mgc. Wider frontage and putting him in front is acceptable if he has gut mgc and is able to get wounds bck. Dispel scroll is nice + so is the channeling staff. The forsaken rod is awesome on one of these guys coupled with gut mgc to redeem the lost wounds. ESPECIALLY if your SM has gruts sickle and you'll get those extra dice you don't need with him to increase the chance of successfully casting the L2's spell to get his wounds back. Sometimes a feedback scroll coupled with sniping maneaters can really ruin an enemy character's day.

Speaking of Maneaters: give them a brace of pistols, sniping and one of the other rules and a flaming banner and you have a delicious wizard/other character killing or regen hunting unit. a small unit of these guys inflicting a single wound and all those other units with shooting can unload into the targetted unit and reduce them to gore in a single shooting phase. If you haven't tried leadbelchers yet, run a couple units of 5 with a bellower, or even a big unit of 10 with a bellower to put some serious pain into an enemy unit every turn while backing up as they advance, then rank up to recieve a charge. They can still beat many of the common rank n files in combat!

Firebellies: same as the butcher (minus the forbidden rod), except it might be more practical to stick him in the front rank with his flaming impact hits on the charge. Otherwise, just keep him in the 2nd rank. A potion of speed is awesome with this guy if you're virtually guaranteed a charge for the I5 breath weap attack. Remember, this is a special close combat attack and so if he's in the back rank he'd only get 2x other supporting attacks when he uses it.

 

+1