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About Rat Ogres
Topic Started: 14th October 2010 - 11:15 PM (3,105 Views)
Mahtobedis
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Warlord
I take my Rogres in small units, two ogres and two pack master, then upgrade everything I can short of squeal. I usually have two of these bad boys running around. I have found that the SB combined with cover + other threatening targets helps make opponents forget that the unit is capable of generating 9 str 5 and 2 str 7 attacks.
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Bobtailmaneater
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Grey Seer
How do you get 9 str 5 and 2 str 7 attacks from two rat ogres and two packmasters?

I am going to be playing a 4000 point game in 2 weeks, so I have an opportunity to test out all sorts of rat ogre combinations...
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Bobtail's links:

*My Sculpting and Converting Blog on UE

*My Article on the Skaven Runic Alphabet
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spino
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Chieftain
Well 9 STR 5 for two ROs = One Masterbred champ (5 attacks) plus one regular RO (4 attacks). And he did mention upgrading everything barring the inclusion of Skweel so he probably meant 2 STR 6 attacks for the Master Moulder (technically they're considered upgraded Packmasters). I assume he's equipping the MM with Great Weaps.

I can see the wisdom in small RO unit tactics but personally I can't see myself fielding anything less than 6 ROs/unit (arrayed 2 x 3) in 8th. You need to generate a lot more CR in 8th so you can overcome enemy rank bonuses for CR. Six ROs are much better as they can churn out an awfully impressive amount of S5 attacks (25 = 22 melee + 3 Stomp). If the second rank survives combat intact that's one more CR and rank to use for SiN (if your ROs whiff mightily) and you'll negate the enemy's rank bonus if you're flanking. Eight ROs (2 x 4) if you're looking to maximize contact for an enemy unit arrayed 5 wide and/or 5+ deep (20mm bases). With that configuration you're looking at a whopping 33 S5 hits (29 melee, 4 Stomp). Even without factoring in a Mastermoulder that is a ridiculous amount of hurt running around Frenzied with M6 and I4 (I5 for champ & MM).

The cheaper price tag is great but Frenzy is probably the greatest gift Vetock/GW bestowed to ROs in the Skaven 7th ed book. The fact that these guys won't run off the table after being shot up or torched by spells is a huge boost.
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racerstephen


I played a good friend of mine today. 3000 pts.
I had 6 Rat ogres , 1 Master bread and a Lord with a bonebreaker on the right flank. Got charbed by white lions, but they rolled a 9 for fear check...
So he did 2 wounds on a Rat ogre and one on my Lord (4+ Ward).

I killed all 15 White lions.... and did not even have to use the stomp attacks.
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Scurrilous
Warlord
I had fun with a warlord on a bonebreaker, in a unit of rat ogres with a master bred, and packmasters. The only tricky thing was, there were 4 different levels of initiative... I was rolling the warlords attacks, then the master bred then the rogres and packmasters, then bonebreaker, all before the poor lizards got a return. Hilarious but really quite time consuming :D
Tournemant results to date:
vs Vampire Counts: 1 victory
vs Dwarves: 1 victory
vs Daemons: 1 Draw
vs Brettonians: 1 draw, 1 loss
vs Skaven: 1 victory
vs Lizardmen: 1 victory
vs Dark Elves: 1 loss
vs High Elves: 1 loss
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reddogfish77
Grey Seer
if all your guys were attacking first... why not just roll for all at once? lol.

also its not hard to kill 15 white lions when you have 30 odd S5 attacks or better going there way.
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chiaroscuros
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Warlord
Let me start out by saying that I love the Rat Ogres, I have lovingly converted 6 of them from the IoB set to all look unique and even magnetized them.

BUT...

There are better option in the book. Much better...

They are a glass hammer and if your opponent wants to, he can easily nerf them. If you take a large enough unit to withstand a little shooting (say 6 of them), they are a big point sink and a tempting target for shooting.

If you take a tiny unit of 2 (ideally in multiples), then you minimize the cost of each unit but they don't have enough umph to do much in combat unless you get a flank change (which is not easy).

If you throw a bunch more points at them (like a bonebreaker), they are still just as fragile and you have even more of your points in one basket. But on a positive note, the rat ogres are a pricy shield for the bonebreaker and you don't need many of them to get across the board. Still, it is expensive and other armies can do it much better than we can. Instead, I would focus on doing things Skaven do best (magic, shooting, slave hordes)

Instead of 6 rat ogres, I would recommend getting plague monks or a HPA or slaves with a boosted warlord on warlitter... they all have staying power.

I wish it wasn't true, but...

Now if they had a save of some kind... or were cheaper...

p.s. everyone has a story where their opponent ignored the Rat Ogres and they singlehandedly won the game. But this mistake only happens once. :)

p.p.s. you only get a look out sir if your character is the same troop type as the unit he is in. Bonebreakers are monstrous, so no lookout sir saves since Rat Ogres are monstrous infantry. Warlitters are infantry, so no lookout sir saves either.
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Bobtailmaneater
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Grey Seer
Chiaroscuros, I think this sums it up nicely. I have long advocated for being able to buy upgrades for Rat Ogres, like 2-handed weapons or light armor, and at one point I think GW was going to give this a try, but they opted for boosting Skyre instead of Moulder and we ended up with a lot of SAD armies and ratling gun spam.

Given the lack of LoS roll, I tend to use my Bonebreaker with the Charmed Shield and
Talisman of Preservation. After that, give the Warlord the best magic sword you can afford, or if points are a problem, simply give him an extra hand weapon, tail weapon and poisoned attacks and send him after RnF.

Rat Ogres are a glass hammer and should only be used when you don't care that much about winning or losing and just want to see what you can get away with. Use them when you have an a-bomb and furnace on the table and you might get lucky and not have them shot up like swiss cheese before you get to use them.
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Bobtail's links:

*My Sculpting and Converting Blog on UE

*My Article on the Skaven Runic Alphabet
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