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Something I've been seriously curious about for a long time now. Does anyone run an Ogryn list?

What happens when you have 2-3 squads of Ogryn?

The pretense to this post, is that my meta is mostly bikes now. Ork bikes, all chapters of SM bikers, and then every other kind of fast assault unit. Slamming the enemy with bikes is the new black, at least in my meta, and it works too well. My army just melts once we're in CC. Power blobs are great, but don't have much damage output, and therefore, if they are kited due to their slow speed, they become a point sink.

I've purchased SM assault terminators to counter this, but I've always been curious about Ogryn. I never got into them because they are 20$ per model.

Even if I don't end up purchasing Ogryn, can anyone describe from experience, HOW Ogryn actually work in a defensive role? I've always wondered.

Ogryn in a defensive role is an interesting one. I've never used them that way, but here's some theoryhammer based on what they are capable of:

- Against SM bike armies, Ogryn are a good investment, as both Grav guns (the go-to for SM bikers) and bolters wound them on a 5+. Hence, by using Ogryn en masse, you are rendering a 15 point upgrade all-but-useless, contributing nothing more than one more shot. It's a good way to counter a list that brings a lot of grav, as you are essentially making the enemy pay 40 points per squad (assuming combi and 2 grav) for next to nothing.

- Slow speed is a chronic disadvantage of Ogryn, but against bike armies (and particularly ork bikes here) this is less of an issue. The enemy will close with you faster, meaning that you can move in for a counter-charge more quickly. You'll want to make sure you get the charge to take advantage of FC, but having the enemy come to you can be helpful in this.

- The high S of ogryn compared to what IG can generally throw around is very useful against bikers. Rather than wounding on a 6 with lasguns and bayonets, wounding on a 4 with Ripper guns and bigger bayonets is a huge advantage.

- Bike armies will generally have high concentration of firepower in a low area, as well as frequent twin-linking, so can put out a lot of shots from only a few guys (I'm really thinking Eldar and SM bikes here). Having to take 3 wounds before losing a model can be a great advantage here, as it means you can hit back with more firepower despite having taken damage that would probably cripple a blob squad.

- Ogryn will be fire magnets and can take a lot of punishment, so they do a lot to keep your squishy guys safe.

As above. Dont' be afraid of your opponent closing on you and get those Ogryns into melee.

Once your intent is known, they should become good fire magnets as well.

This is exactly the information I was looking for! Thanks guys!

I'd done some of this math, roughly, and given that your experience matches my expectations, I feel a lot better about considering them in my army. I hadn't thought of the fire magnet element, that's very true, and something that my army could use to lighten the load on my other units.

Dammit though they are expensive to purchase, that's why I bought some cheap plastic SM models instead, trying to save money. Looks like it might be time to sell some organs for cash ... probably worth it, right? This crazy hobby ...

You can convert them from wfb ogres with a little plasticard, so that's a far cheaper option than dropping hundreds on a couple of squads. Might be an idea if you feel your converting skills are up to it.

To make ig blob frightening in mellee you just need to add an inquisitor with nades.
I've tried a combo:
50 guyz, 30 with nades, 3 power axes, 3 meltas, 2 vox. No hwt.
Xeno inquisitor in power armor with all nades (rad, psyk-out, psychostroke), tome (to get scout, counter-attack, hatred, etc.), 3 sculls, psyker
Tigurius for 4++ and some other not so mandatory stuff

50 conscripts with a comissar

And i faced a rather gun but mellee-heavy csm + daemons list with bikes, 2 flying daemon princes 1 of which was Be'Lakor and some other fast and mellee-oriented stuff.

So while bikes killed 50 conscripts in 1 turn of mellee cause they managed to take out a comissar, platoon killed be'lakor on his charge and suffering no losses. Then they shot down bkerz. Those 30 pts for nades make the difference.

Are ogryns T5 & 3W? I forget, but if they are they'll hit reasonably hard, and with reasonable survivability. Like Chaos Spawn, except they dont move as beasts. I can see them working well as a counter charge unit.

The S5 on their melee and ranged attacks are favorable against bikes. Plus, They're T5 and W3, so they'll be able to take some punishment in return.

And if you want to same money, you could buy ogres from WHFB and convert (stick a few IG bits on them) for cheaper ogryn alternatives


*Edit*
Oh man... ninja'd by like 3 people... ;D

Easily converted from Fantasy Ogryn for a fraction of the cost. My own, I ust added ripper guns to to give them a very feral feel but you can use other gubbins and such to make them as "techy" as you like.
To make the ripper guns, I used autocannons. Notice that I cut the muzzel off and then removed the extra barrel length and then re-attached the muzzle. This makes for a much shorter gun that makes a perfect ripper gun. Even so, the length is JUSt long enough to rech a little below the top of the base. If you alternate left and right handed models you can keep them from going below the bottom of the base so that the entire unit looks good and you get a good variety.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/557521-Ogryn.html

Here's something to consider. If you can get/use the Escalation supplement then consider taking a Storm Lord with 2 full squads of Ogryn (1000pts total) or 18 Ogryns and 2 Primaris Psykers. The Stormlord is open topped for the purposes of assaulting and allows 20 models to fire out of it. So 60 24" S5 shots on the move with the ability to assault after shooting. Or 54 24" S5 shots plus 4D6 S6 shots from the psykers is probably THE best way to run Ogryn if you have the $ and the points. Not to mention the Stormlords 15-30 36" S6 AP3 shots plus whatever sponsons you want to run.

I haven't done this myself due to not having Ogryn models yet. But you have to admit that's enough assaulty Dakka to make an Ork jealous.

 Gibblets wrote:
Here's something to consider. If you can get/use the Escalation supplement then consider taking a Storm Lord with 2 full squads of Ogryn (1000pts total) or 18 Ogryns and 2 Primaris Psykers. The Stormlord is open topped for the purposes of assaulting and allows 20 models to fire out of it. So 60 24" S5 shots on the move with the ability to assault after shooting. Or 54 24" S5 shots plus 4D6 S6 shots from the psykers is probably THE best way to run Ogryn if you have the $ and the points. Not to mention the Stormlords 15-30 36" S6 AP3 shots plus whatever sponsons you want to run.

I haven't done this myself due to not having Ogryn models yet. But you have to admit that's enough assaulty Dakka to make an Ork jealous.

hmmm after my first 6 months of projects i will try this i think. very cool. I also love the idea of super heavy transports.

 Gibblets wrote:
So 60 24" S5 shots on the move with the ability to assault after shooting. Or 54 24" S5 shots plus 4D6 S6 shots from the psykers is probably THE best way to run Ogryn if you have the $ and the points. Not to mention the Stormlords 15-30 36" S6 AP3 shots plus whatever sponsons you want to run.

I believe ogryn guns are only 12" range (sadly). Although I suppose if you count the disembark and vehicle move its 24" threat radius.

Oh oh do a conversion! As mentioned the fantasy ogres can easily be converted. I've seen one where the ripper was made from an autocannon with very little conversion. (You just take a section out of the barrel I believe.) I bought the autocannon bits years ago with that conversion in mind. Never got around to it but I have three or four cannons if you want them I'll mail them to you free for the cause.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I'll even do the conversion on the cannons before I send them if you want.

I have seen some really good ogryn using ork nobs with fantasy ogre heads.

Stick in some allied biker indep - possibly librarian - for better armor and higher mellee threat range.

That 6' move and 2d6 charge ain't great and when there's some dt - u're screwed. However, when you got a biker indep that can move up to 12 and remain 2' further ahead from a squad + 3' base - you get extra 5' closer to an enemy. Well, that's how i see them becoming threatening in mellee cause slow movement and no ap weapons are their main problems.

@wtnind - You are correct sir/madam.

Also I noticed another mistake, the stormlord has 60"range on its main wepaon.

I've already attached a picture of converted ogryn earlier in the thread along with the way to make the ripper guns from the autocannons.
It might be good to note that in "space", an ogryn take up the room of two models. This means a space designed for 20 models will only hold 10 ogryn.

 EVIL INC wrote:
I've already attached a picture of converted ogryn earlier in the thread along with the way to make the ripper guns from the autocannons.
It might be good to note that in "space", an ogryn take up the room of two models. This means a space designed for 20 models will only hold 10 ogryn.

And that is what's so cool about the Stormlord. It has a transport cap of 40 models with 20 models being allowed to shoot out of it. Perfect Ogryn transport.

just use Allied hammernaters *they kill things better *cost the same points per modle * can DS so you can come up with some tactics with that
* they have a 3++

I re-did the math on the Ogryn transport and it is actually 1300 pts
or 1400pts with both the sponsons.

Yorkskargrim wrote:
just use Allied hammernaters *they kill things better *cost the same points per modle * can DS so you can come up with some tactics with that
* they have a 3++

I just bought some of these guys 2 weeks ago
So pimp. Looking forward to being able to take hits and hit back. Running them along side Ogryn would certain bring my CC potential up a bit.

i would be tempted to see if you could ally in some sisters then attach priests to the Ogryn, (it would only work if you were footslogging it) but it might be fun to see.