Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Ogre Kingdoms

This is the general tactics page on how to play Ogre Kingdoms in Total War: WARHAMMER. On the 4th of November, they were confirmed to be a pre-order DLC, and although we still don't have much info, at least we know that all those rumours were true all along.

Why Play Ogre Kingdoms?

• You like doomstacking with monsters anyway so why not play a faction that is 95% monsters?
• You love the satisfaction of seeing a unit's health drop heavily from the impact of a massive charge.
• Because you are the one person on the planet who has asked themselves "What if the Mongols were a bunch of big fat dudes with prehistoric animals and magic chefs backing them up?"
• Because you love meat. In fact, you are likely eating a pork chop wrapped in bacon as you read this.
• You relate to their body image a little too much.

Pros

• THICC: The vast majority of your troops are going to be composed of monsters and large units. If you only play this game to build up large monster stacks to take over the world with, this is the race for you.
• High Charge: Given your rules on the tabletop you will likely be one of the most devastating armies off the charge. If the ogres are done justice a lot of armies are going to evaporate once you make contact.
• Quality: Stat wise, expect Ogres to be one of the scariest armies in terms of pure stats. Few other factions will be able to compare to you pound for pound.
• Armor? What's that?: Everything you have pierces armour. No amount of armour is going to protect your enemies from a 4-meter tall hulk of flesh that swings a hammer the size of a small building.
• Monsters: Monsters, monsters and more monsters, you are the primo monster faction with only 2 (unless otherwise) infantry units that aren’t monsters. One way or another you will have little trouble winning the monster mash.

Cons

• Lack of Numbers: Your units have a super low model count, and while the mercenaries are currently cheap, we can assume standard Ogres will want a bit more pay. Even a single casualty in a unit of anything other than Gnoblars will hurt a lot more than what other factions will suffer.
• Anti Large/Charge Defense: Given how reliant you are on size and charge, factions that have plentiful anti large and charge defence might be a massive pain in your giant, 2-ton ass (grins in Dwarf.) Ogre charge does help with Charge Defense somewhat, though you will still be losing a good chunk of your damage.
• One Trick Pony: Yeah, charging around with a bunch of thicc bois is really all you could do. You're wasting your massive charge bonus if you play defence and while you do have some good ranged units and a probably quite decent set of artillery/chariots they will likely be expensive. A lot of factions can figure out how to plan around you.
• Armor? What's that?: I mean, to be fair it's probably hard for them to find armour in their size, but it does mean armour values for Ogres seem to be on the low side. Combine this with their massive hitboxes and archers can have a field day fighting them.
• DLC?: On launch, the Ogres missed out on Yhetees and Thundertusks. It remains to be seen if these will be added as FLC units later or will be added as DLC.

Universal Traits

• Ogre Charge: If an ogre unit charges a braced unit with charge defence, they will only lose half of their charge bonus. This is very important for a faction that is so reliant on getting the charge for their damage it's nice that they have a way to not get completely cockblocked because the enemy is just standing still. That said most opponents, even the AI usually don't just sit there and let you charge them and even if they do you're probably better of circumnavigating their frontline and going for their skirmishers in the rear. So while not the most practical trait in the game it's still nice for the Ogres to have.

Lords

Legendary Lords

• Greasus Goldtooth: Overtyrant of all ogres, in his beautiful and shockingly obese glory. Sadly seems to not be constantly carried by gnoblars throwing gold in his path, and instead is carried by a cart
• Skrag The Slaughterer: Your legendary caster lord, but now he's a ogre that brings ruin to the Great Maw's enemies through gut magic.

Generic Lords

• Tyrant: Standard melee lord. Should be an absolute beatstick in combat.

• Slaughtermaster: Generic caster lord, supporting the ogres through Gastromancy.

Generic Heroes

• Butcher:
• Firebelly: A caster hero, cooking the army's next meal during battle with the lore of fire.
• Hunter:

Units

Infantry

• Gnoblar Fighters: Your chaff unit. Surprisingly tankier than you would think, having the same statline as Goblins. However, that lack of shield really hurts them in the long run. Use them as even more fragile goblins to absorb charges, tarpit units for a small while, and to plug gaps whilst your chungus boys get into position.
• Gnoblar Trappers: Gnoblars, but they have stalk, vanguard deployment, and have ranged attack. Also come with the ability to slow down enemies in an area around them, making them surprisingly good support skirmishers.

Monsterous Infantry

• Ogres: Your "standard" infantry, they come in the usual monstrous infantry size and a tremendous charge bonus to batter the enemy with. They will cause fear and come with siege attacker to help get past those city walls so you don't have to wait out in a siege. They come in two variants, a Generalist mace variant and a dual weapon anti-infantry variant.

• Ironguts:

• Maneaters: The well-travelled mercenaries of your army, they are far more flexible than your standard unit of ogres. They come in both a pistol and a great weapon variant, the pistol for helping them pepper the enemy before the battle itself is joined and the great weapon for increased charge and a bonus vs large. They also come with Immune to Psych so don't expect to see these guys running away any time soon.

• Leadbelchers:

Beast & Monsters

• Sabretusks:
• Gorgers: Come in groups of eight, unbreakable and vanguard deployment. Use them as you would Mournguls, sneaky flankers to rip apart tasty and tender backlines.
• Slavegiant: Your normal giant unit, except this time cajoled and beaten into battle by the very people who destroyed their race rather than bribed with booze. Sometimes the Ogres are the absolute worst.
• Stonehorn:

Monster Cavalry

• Mournfang Cavalry: One of the most powerful cavalry units from the tabletop game. And at least their mercenary counterparts don't disappoint. Their statline is scary, they have about the same mass as a carnosaur and their lack of armour actually works in their favour too, since the things enemies would normally roll out to counter monstrous cavalry usually have lower base damage, making them even beefier than they already appear on paper. They don't have Ogre Charge for some reason, but their speed and heavy mass will usually make up for it. Comes with an ironfist variant besides standard.
• Crushers: Rhinox cavalry. I know. We’re surprised they’ve shown up too. Essentially acting as an even better version of Mournfangs, they come in two variants, standard and great weapons.

Artillery

• Gnoblar Scraplauncher: A single entity catapult, with surprising speed and charge stats. When they run out of ammo, using them as a chariot may not be out of the question.
• Ironblaster:
• Stonehorn Harpoon Launcher:

Multiplayer Strategies

You are THE monster faction of the trilogy. You have a grand total of 2 normal infantry units, neither of which is going to carry the day for you, and a bunch of big fat boys in all manners of flavours. You are going to be a scary force on the charge and have some of the scariest units in the entire game. Mournfangs make elite cav from other factions cry and they're your lowest tier cavalry unit. Of course, your reliance on monsters comes with an obvious weakness as you will struggle against... well, pretty much anyone who can bring a decent amount of Anti-Large to the field. You may also struggle since your army tends to be predictable, and I imagine veterans will learn how to counter you fast. Still, if you want to grab a monster horde to feast on your enemies this is the race for you. Here's how to win glory for The Maw:

• Beastmen:

• Bretonnia:

• Warriors of Chaos:

• Dark Elves:

• Dwarfs:

• Empire:

• Grand Cathay:

• Greenskins:

• High Elves:

• Khorne:

• Kislev:

• Lizardmen:

• Norsca:

• Nurgle:

• Ogre Kingdoms:

• Skaven:

• Slaanesh:

• Tomb Kings:

• Tzeentch:

• Vampire Coast:

• Vampire Counts:

• Wood Elves:

Campaign Strategies

Total War: Warhammer Tactics Articles
General Tactics	Tactics Magic Banner Immortal Empires
Total War: Warhammer	The Empire Dwarfs Greenskins Vampire Counts Bretonnia Warriors of Chaos Beastmen Wood Elves Norsca
Total War: Warhammer 2	High Elves Dark Elves Lizardmen Skaven Tomb Kings Vampire Coast
Total War: Warhammer 3	Kislev Khorne Tzeentch Nurgle Slaanesh Grand Cathay Ogre Kingdoms Daemons of Chaos Chaos Dwarfs