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So, rescently a very good friend of mine got me a box of ogyrns as a birthday present. I've wanted the models for a long time but I really have no idea on how I want to kit them out. As it stands I'm probably gonna make them Bullgyrns. As they seem to be "the most effective" although I kinda wish they gave the option of equipping them with any of the ogyrn war gear. Ie give them power mauls and slab shields. Or even ripper guns and brute shields. 

When comparing the effectiveness of the weapons I think the ripper gun is much better then the grenadier gauntlet.  So I am kinda leaning towards. The basic ogyrns but I know that they are just gonna get slaughtered so in the end  it's probably better to go with the bullgryns with brute shield.

As a fun way of running them I think I am gonna throw them in a valk and have them deep strike in with the formation that allows no scatter on the deep strike. 

That or I can have them march up the centre of the board providing mobile cover for my squad of rough riders.  With sniper support from some ratlings! 

bullgryns are nice i like the models imho they have some problems and are massively overpriced.

-> bullgryn 45 pts. with brute shield an power maul 60 pts and bone' ead 70 pts thats a lot of points for 6" movement, they will never see the enemy :(

-> when deep striking they can not charge. the enemy has one round to kill them ...

-> you really use rough riders o_O

I don't use rough riders very often sometimes I'll throw them in to watch them do what they do best. Die spectacularly!

Ogryn & Bullgryn are in a really bad way right now. As vostroyan mentioned, they are massively overpriced for what they bring to the table. To start their base cost is almost 33% more expensive then Wolfen with no awesome special rules. Despite being what should be the designated counter assault unit in the IG codex, 2 of the 3 offer no benefit to melee. Ripper Guns give no bonus to strength, despite giving +1 in 3rd edition. Nor do they add rending or any other melee benefits. Which is a huge disappointment. Ripper guns are specifically designed for Ogryn to be used as melee weapons yet it is not reflected at all on the tabletop.

Then you have the slab shield option. Which forces bullgryn to take grenade launchers. Once again...not providing any benefit to melee. IG's primary weakness.

Lastly you have power maul & brute shield. Now, while this is likely your best option it is still pretty terrible. The increase in points to an already expensive unit is well beyond reasonable. The +2S is nice, however the concussive bonus is less than ideal. One of Ogryns biggest threats is S10 power weapons. Thunder hammers, power claws & what have you. Concussive does nothing for you when those weapons are already hitting at initiative one since they are unwieldy. If any of those attack get through its instant death despite the ogryn/bullgryn's 3 wounds.

Then there is the issue of low leadership. Meaning you have to add a commissar or some other babysitter to actually make the unit effective...bloating the points even more...

All in all, I have no idea what the GW designers were thinking. Ogryn/Bullgryns are definitely in the running for one of the worst units in 40K as whole. The one thing they do have going for them is their new models. They look fantastic. I'd love to field them more, but doing so is putting your opponent at a significant advantage before the game even begins.

Please GW, for the love of the emperor...make their rules not horrible...

their models are so god damn amazing. The Slab Shields are really what takes the model from great to fantastic though. But why would IG use bullgryn grenade launchers? They already have better options for shooting...

The bullgryns gave the grenadir gountlet because the designers have no clues.

Renegade Ogryns are in just as bad a state, and don't get that nice Baneblade variant to lug them around. They are at least fearless though.

Ogryn of all types are trash.

I don't like to say that, as I have a number of Bullgryn I would love to field, but it's a simple fact. Unless you're playing fluffy training wheels lists--Ogryn are garbage. The whole of the Guard Elite choices are garbage truthfully.

If you do use them try them out in this fasion. Get two with the slab sheild and 3 with power mauls. Keep the power maul guys behind and the slab sheilds dudes, and keep the two together for a 3 up armor. Put them by your gunline and next time some one deep strikes or gets close to your gunline smash these guys into them, I have had these guys kill huge death balls. Oh and just throw a priest in there for the leadership issue and use the reroll saves power. This tactic wont work on every army but it still forces them to deal with these guys before they get to close to the tanks and arty.

Ally in Azrael from the DA for a cool 4++ and LD 10.