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Okay, so me and my buddies are all starting warhammer and everybody but me knows what army they are going to play. So far I've narrowed it down to Dark Elves and ogre Kingdoms, I'm quite torn between the two, I like the models of both( with a few exceptions) and the fluff of both, so that doesn't narrow it down at all. Now it really comes down to play style, I've used my Google foo to attempt to get info on this but I think ultimately the people of Dakka will be able to help me. Does anybody here play Dark Elves or Ogres and if so what do they play like? Also, my friends are going to be playing Skaven, Bretonians, Wood Elves, and High Elves; so is adding Dark Elves to that mix going to make everybody sick of pointy ears?

(tl:dr What's the play style of Dark Elves like, and the play style of Ogres? Specifically in small point scenarios)


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Additionally, does anybody have a ~750 point army list of either force that they could post?

I play DE!!! However, I'm no master, but I do know a lot of the basics. For super deep DE tactics, I suggest checking out http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?t=65603 And for Ogres, I'd suggest trolling around http://www.ogrestronghold.com/

To answer your questions regarding play styles:
DE - great Magic, great Monsters, good/great shooting (from troops), serviceable troops, serviceable cavalry, weak war machines. Play style consists of using your heavy magic and troops are mostly fast, finesse and squishy, but some troops hit very hard. The monsters (War Hydra) is possibly the best in the game and dirt cheap. Also have assassins! (...but not recommended). So the actual style consists of taking advantage of your great magic, shooting if you want, and moving your units around for optimal results in combat - i.e. charge w/ the hard hitters and try to get charged w/ your spearmen - and field your Hydras and let them wreak havoc

Ogres - not 100% familiar w/ their style, but I think I know the general feeling - lots of big elite units w/ high wounds. Great at charging. Can move long ranges, but have low Initiative. Supposedly "mandatory" units in lists include the Sabretusks (super fast?) and Gnoblars (cause Panic?). My guess is great Monsters (duh!), good troops (depending on how you look at it), good cavalry, ok shooting, ok magic (Lore of Maw seems mostly supportive), no war machines, but those are just guesses from what I can tell. I've checked out Ogres in play, but have never actually played against them. But play style would probably be just trying to charge in to combat ASAP.


As for the pointy ears, I suppose you'd have to ask your friends about that.


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oh as for a 750 list...well, that's quite small... I suppose it depends if you want to field a couple big blocks of troops or a bunch of small blocks of troops

A quick list:
Dreadlord (only lord that can fit in 750 pts)
Master w/ BSB
~300pts of troops
War Hydra x1 (may be frowned on by your friends)

Thanks for the all the info!

But one more thing, what would ~300 points of troops look like? As I don't currently have the DE army book

I play Ogres.

I would guess that the recieved wisdom is that Ogre are an army that just runs foward and hits things.

I don't play them that way, as I think it wastes the great advantage they have - their movement.

So defining a playstyle is difficult.

They are certainly a fun army to play, and the new book has offered a great deal of choice and flexibiltiy that the old book didn't have.

Phyrexia wrote:Thanks for the all the info!

But one more thing, what would ~300 points of troops look like? As I don't currently have the DE army book

well, i should've clarified - ~300pts of core, but anyway... ~300 pts of core could go as is:
Crossbowmen x10
Spearmen x20
Corsairs x10

or
Crossbowmen x20
Spearmen x20

or
Corsairs x30

or
Crossbowmen x10
Spearmen x10
Harpies x5
Harpies x5

etc etc. (Keep in mind, that doesn't include command upgrades - champion, musician, or standard bearer, which will be ~30 pts extra per unit). Again, it all just depends on how you (and your friends, I suppose) want to field your unit blocks. A couple big ones or a bunch of small ones.

Also, I'd suggest checking out Army Builder by Lone Wolf - http://www.wolflair.com/index.php?context=army_builder - to see more of a breakdown of units and their pts. But it's like $30 or $50 to use it, so be warned.

Thanks for the all the help guys,

well, i should've clarified - ~300pts of core, but anyway... ~300 pts of core could go as is:

Yeah, I understood what you meant.


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If I were to play dark elves, would it be viable to grab the battalion, a hydra, and a dreadlord?

Phyrexia wrote:
If I were to play dark elves, would it be viable to grab the battalion, a hydra, and a dreadlord?

Oh yeah, it even gives you a couple hundred pts to spare for some flexibility. 20 Corsairs, 16 Crossbowmen, and a Hydra at ~700 pts? OP'd haha

Dr. Cheesesteak wrote:

Phyrexia wrote:
If I were to play dark elves, would it be viable to grab the battalion, a hydra, and a dreadlord?

Oh yeah, it even gives you a couple hundred pts to spare for some flexibility. 20 Corsairs, 16 Crossbowmen, and a Hydra at ~700 pts? OP'd haha

Okay cool, thanks for the help, I think I'm kind of leaning towards playing DE at this point.

Ogres are very expensive units. So you're going to have much fewer pieces than just about any army in the game. There's pros and cons to that.

300 pts could be as few as around 6 CORE models (Ironguts with a banner). Most armies would run about 20 models of core for the same cost.

Ogres have lots of wounds, which is basically their defense. They don't have high armor or ward or weapon skill or unit numbers. You're going to get hit and take damage. The point is it takes a lot to knock them down.

Ogres can go big ranged, with awesome (expensive) cannons and troops that carry cannons and can fight. They also got probably the best heavy cavalry in the game. They got a handful of monsters that are somewhat better than most, but still, monsters aren't all that great in 8th (IMHO). Their casters are combat casters, not fragile sissies in dresses.

It's an extremely competitive army and while you can tailor lists to beat it pretty bad, it can also tailor lists to beat most folks too.

Thanks for all the help guys, I really appreciate it.
Also, I thought I should let you guys know that I went with Ogres. I picked up the Army Book today and I plan on purchasing the minis later this week.

Phyrexia wrote:Thanks for all the help guys, I really appreciate it.
Also, I thought I should let you guys know that I went with Ogres. I picked up the Army Book today and I plan on purchasing the minis later this week.

I'd love to see Ogres at ~750 pts. Like 10 or so models? Hope you and your friends enjoy the games! For further expanding.

Yeah, it was a tough call but ultimately I didn't really want to play a different flavor of elf than my friends. I wanted to play something completely different.

Phyrexia wrote:Yeah, it was a tough call but ultimately I didn't really want to play a different flavor of elf than my friends. I wanted to play something completely different.

yeah, that's one thing I love about Fantasy - the variety of armies in terms of aesthetics, play style, and frequency played! You and your friends are all playing 5 unique-looking and -playing armies. Should definitely make for some interesting matches and rivalries. I almost envy you having a small group that plays frequently (assuming you guys will play frequently)! It'd be cool if you guys did a group stage play ala soccer or something...

Dark Elves are fragile and more unforgiving but they can do well in all three phases.

The Ogres are excellant in combat, their range is alright but their magic is still only ok.