Ogres

[Brick Bungalow]

 

New ogre team. Got me thinking about ogres.

I've not played an ogre team but I have a few thoughts about how I would play them:

*Ogres need rerolls. Two minimum. Use very sparingly. Mostly for bonehead-on-the-blitz. 

*Do you need to move? If you haven't yet failed a bonehead and haven't moved you have a secure tackle zone on a strength five player during the next turn. If you can get the job standing still, stand still. 

*Don't cluster. Usually. You will have guard-spam as quick or quicker than other strength teams if you want it. You want your big guys in a screen controlling the center with one covering the back field. 

*Throw team mate. You need it. For scoring and also as a second blitz. For cage breaking it will normally precede the regular blitz. 

*Starting with side step is pretty awesome... assuming you don't get removed from the field. Even when prone the runts can effectively block a gap and preserve the screen.  

*Frequent chances at triple block dice mean good odds on crowd surfs. Multiple big guys allow you to surf a whole cage if your opponent puts it near the sideline. 

*Run the ball with an Ogre. (mostly) Unless you plan to throw team mate. The runt is just too vulnerable. As well as being no faster. 

*Surround a loose ball as best you can before attempting a pickup. On your possession make sure lanes are blocked off since your odds of dropping it are good. 

*You need to inflict casualties. They are your primary source for SPP's. Your team sucks at covering the field without a numerical advantage. Role play. 

*Ogre skills in rough order of priority: Normal-Break Tackle, Juggernaut, Stand Firm, Guard (mostly to foil dauntless players) Double: Block, Dodge, Sure Hands

*Runt skills in rough order of priority: Normal- Sprint, Sure Feet. Double: Dirty Player, Fend, Block, Kick Off Return

*Once you get a few break tackles the strategy opens up dramatically. You can now break cages and pass through opposing screens with relative ease. 

 

[Weav]

Thanks for posting, Ry. Good content here.

@kb10r won Golden Tentacle 2019 with Ogres, I’d love to get his opinion.

[kb10r]

As the current highest ranked NAF Ogre coach in the United States of America! I will declare what is the only way to play ogres.

Do the stuff Brick says.

Except:

I never throw a runt, unless I am going for a desperate 1 turner. If they have a cage, you only have a 25% chance of hitting a dude and you still have to avoid bone-head and fumbles. yuck. I try and keep the ogres based for sweet sweet 3 die blocks, so I would rather move one to the cage. But maybe the threat of the runt-bomb is enough? I should throw some just to keep the opponent honest. Which means 1 Ogre with strong arm.

The nega-trait of titchy is SO BAD, we only get away with it because people don't know it. Titchy models don't cause a -1 to dodge through their tackle zone. They can badly screen, but they can't aid a cage very well.

The only normal skill on a runt is diving tackle, change my mind. Then they can at least get in the way. And with side-step, they can do a job. They will die. I expect them to die. I will carry 5 induced runts if I have to.

If you have runts on the pitch at the end of a game, they were wasted runts. They should foul every turn. Every runt caught by the ref is a runt that can't die. Runts foul in packs, you should be able to foul at +5 every time. My target is to get the armor roll to a 5+. The ROI of a runt foul is so great, it is mandatory. It also threatens the opponent and they try and group up for protection, which is what you want for a big Ogre scrum.

While spreading out ogres is smart against dumb dodgy teams, you want to get into a big scrum in the middle of the board, where your 6 ogres trap 8-10 of their models and force them into a punching match. As their models get removed by fist and foul, you can watch their soul slowly leave their body. Nobody expects only having 5 models on the pitch and still being fouled. 

They are going to score. You can't stop them. But they can stop themselves. If they avoid leaving positional players alone, to avoid the gang foul; if they avoid break aways because break tackle will catch them; if they roll lots of dice and FINALLY roll a 1; THEN you can win. Your win rate is directly proportional to the number of 1's they roll.

I carry the ball with an Ogre, unless I HAVE to hand off to a runt to score or do shenanigans. You want the TV on Ogres, not runts, and most people don't want to block uphill.

The first normal skills on two Ogres is Break tackle. You will normally never use it, but just because you have it, your opponent has to change their game play. They have to waste more models in screens, or maybe mark Ogres to try and keep them in place. Then Guard for the 3 Die blocks. A double is block.

If any of the opponents models have strip ball... go and kill it.

Ogre star players suck. We have a chainsaw for more punch... and expensive ogres. If Bertha didn't have bone-head ( most stars have their nega-trait removed ) it would be a good deal.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, kb10r said:

As the current highest ranked NAF Ogre coach in the United States of America!

Good at coaching Ogres? Sorry, something about that makes me laugh. I know you are talking about being the best player for a faction, but I'm picturing you yelling at Ogres and your success being teaching them simple commands like "stop" and "go."

[savion47]

1 hour ago, paxmiles said:

Good at coaching Ogres? Sorry, something about that makes me laugh. I know you are talking about being the best player for a faction, but I'm picturing you yelling at Ogres and your success being teaching them simple commands like "stop" and "go."

As someone who has dabbled in playing Ogres I have at times yelled at my models to "go." They tend to ignore me though.

[Ish]

As long as you’ve trained them not to eat the ball, you’re still doing pretty good.