[ArtificiallyEnhanced]

"From time to time the Emperor sees it fit to allow the induction of abhuman races into the Imperial guard. The most common of these races are the great, hulking ogryns and talented ratlings.

The ogryn are a large, muscled race, able to carry massive loads that a regular guardsman could only dream of. However, their limited intelligence means that they lack any kind of tactical prowess. Their main use in the Imperial Army is as shock troops. They are often given a large, uncomplicated gun and pointed at the enemy. The ogryn sergeants (commonly referred to as bone 'eads in the ranks) are given artificial enhancements in the form of neural bioncs to increase their brainpower and understand orders given to them by their commanding officers.

Ratlings are a contrast to ogryns, their small stature and stealthy nature combined with a natural aptitude for marksmanship lends them to perform the role of proficient snipers. They are also employed in a support role in the Army, as they have a great natural talent for cookery and acquiring essentials though the inventories don't often tally due their light fingered nature!"

So, the 2 non-human elite choices. Good or bad? Or useful? What circumstances do you take them in and how do you use them? Do they really deserve their oft-maligned status?

 

[Technique13]

short answer - no.. like all the elite choices in the 5th edition codex (except for probably guardsman marbo) ive found that the abhumans are very circumstantial, particularly ratlings. Ive experimented around carrying a unit of five, and thought about a unit of ten, but unless the enemy is packing a nightbringer, they probably wont even get to pin down anything or do any substantial damage. (and if you get dawn of war they dont get to fire until the second turn, and they cant infiltrate!

I suppose ogryns are much less circumstantial than ratlings, but again, you're paying 40 points per model for big 3 wound short ranged assault troops with strength/toughness 5 and furious charge. they may seem like a solid unit for assaulting, and often they are, but for the price you pay they really aren't going to kill a whole lot in your average game. Ive been getting really frustrated with my guard getting ripped up by cc armies, but these guys are not going to stand up to the likes or khorne beserkers, orks, templars, assault termies. I sat down with my local store manager and tried to come up with a situation where it is better to have a squad of ogryns or a squad of GK terminators and we could come up with only a few where the ogryns where more useful. Id be interested to hear if anyone has some good stories about them.. in the meantime, my grey knights grandmaster, colonel straken and a 30 man blob squad with commissar killed 15 blood claws and a 220point wolf lord to win the combat, do that with ogryns!

 

[Dheorl]

I haven't tried them in the new codex/rules, so this isn't going to be a constructive post... just a warning.

One thing I did want to say though, is when I eventually get round to restarting my guard army these will definatly be near the top of my list, even if I never game with them, purely because I absolutely love the models.

 

[AppleCookie]

I don't like the fluff of abhumans, we don't need those scum to win. I'll take pure blood humans and send them to their death thank you very much.

If Ratlings manage to pin a scoring unit ontop of on objective and the game ends, do they still count as holding that objective?

 

[ernie55]

I think that they still count Applecookie, I'm pretty sure pinning is just an involuntary "go to ground" move in the new rules.

I quite like the fluff. I'm not entirely sure why people seem to think abhumans are evil and not pure, because as far as I am aware its to do with the gravity on the world they're on more than mutation. Also the models are quite nice, but ogryns are prohibitively expensive (in the UK for a unit of 5 you're looking at about 60GBP, considering that buys 2 LR demolishers or a battleforce with change) and GW stores ban people from using models from other sources. I have a friend who has some large robots that are roughly ogryn sized from pigiron, but can't use them in a store.

In game terms I think they are ok but are quite specialised to one role and don't do much else. They're roles can be covered in other ways. I think they suffer from being slightly expensive choices in a codex full of reasonably priced (points and pounds) and flexible units.

Ian

 

[kevin vanrooyen]

I think that they still count Applecookie, I'm pretty sure pinning is just an involuntary "go to ground" move in the new rules.

Nope they can't hold an objective while they're pinned or falling back, going to ground is keeping your heads down while calling in support. Being pinned is dropping your gun and going into fetal position, there's a difference between the two.

The Emperor Protects

 

[AppleCookie]

Sorry that its off topic a little, but where does it say that, just curious to know?

 

[Sancraer]

I'm not entirely sure why people seem to think abhumans are evil and not pure, because as far as I am aware its to do with the gravity on the world they're on more than mutation.
Ian

So would Orgryns(/Ratlings) be a high-gravity world or a low gravity-world.
(If there is more gravity they need to be stronger to move but if they're is less they're bones may find it easier to grow).

 

[kevin vanrooyen]

Damn, I can't find it. I found where it says that faling back troops can't hold objectives but it says nothing about pinned models. (p.90 under Ending The Game).

The Emperor Protects

 

[curly24242]

i think that ogryns are great and would be use much more if their was a cheap plastic kit available. until then there is still ogre kingdoms! i converted 5 which look nice. i dont do guard anymore but if i did i would take 30 ogryns for a laugh.
As for ratlings i think tey are over priced they are almost the points of a spacemarine!!!

 

[Oats]

I think ratlings are awesome.

one time, a bounch of destroyers were heading for my flank. my 10 ratlings took took aim, and got 3 rending hits. they killed one of those squads all by themselves. infantry mopped up the rest.

Ratlings are perfect for taking out tough opponents, the pinning is more of a bonus.

And they look awesome too. little spacehobbits

 

[Intrepid]

Were it not for powerfists, there would be little reason for Ogryns...but powerfists are everywhere and so Ogryn do very well against MEQs. They also perform reasonably well on most GEQs, particularly if they get the charge. Their only disadvantages are needing leadership support and having too high a $ cost. Try a squad of five Ogryn in a Rhino. It's a huge amount of dakka with some reasonably good followup CC.

 

[kevin vanrooyen]

Try a squad of five Ogryn in a Rhino.

Silly Intrepid, IG don't use rhinos.

But five of them in a chimera, each using one of it's 5 fire points, it's expensive as hell but other than that i'd like to try it.

The Emperor Protects

 

[stayscrunchyinmilk]

I use a squad, five ogryns in a chimera. (just as being discussed earlier)(It's a themed Catchan army i sometimes field)
They are a very expensive unit for guard, but they can come as quite a shock, especially shooting - fifteen S5 shots is quite brutal.
If you keep them in the chimera until you can just disembark and charge it can blunt a assaulting unit (Ork mobs are a good target here)
It's just a shame that they don't have a power weapon access.
And that GW make them very unuseable as they're hideously expensive, and having just been re-released will stay that way (i was also surprised they didn't make them cheaper as it was a new release)
Ratlings are the most eficient way of fielding sniper rifles, but they're still poor. and T2.

 

[cKerensky]

I'd never take Ogryns over Grey Knight Terminators. I can't see a paticular reason why I would ever take them. GKTs feature into every list I run over 1000 (as do PAGKs). They provide the infantry punch IG lacks. They either draw fire away (and they'll both survive just fine, they're Grey Knights, after all), or they'll be ignored, allowing my psycannons and Nemisis Force Weapons to do their job.

S6 Power weapons attacking in initiative? Yes please. Grey Knights just have too many good special rules and quirks that make them useful in my army. If I run more than 2 infantry squads in a game, Power Armour grey knights are always one of them.

With that said, I have little points left over for Ogryns, or on the larger point, no use for them, either.

 

[Steadfast]

I am very fond of the Abhumans, especially them Ogryns. I do not consider them impure, rather than evolution. They adapted to survive and now their skills are brought to those that find them usefull. As a Deathworld Veteran fan, Ogryns are my choice and in my fluff, they play some important role in my stories.

Acquisition of them though is very difficult because of their high money costs, and fellow Guard players even find them expensive in game point cost as well. However they are a strong tool for those that want to provide their Guard List with some Close Combat effectiveness.

Well, apparently it is fluff over game effect that I prefer Abhumans (Ogryns!) and I even remember once back with the Doctrines that White Dwarf had published an Issue where you could add Doctrines to represent Abhuman Auxilaries and make some of your Troops to have derived from various strange planetary environments, bringing some special abilities with them...