Age of Sigmar: How to Run a Hungry, Hungry Mawtribe
Here are three possible ways to bring your big HUNGRY boyes to bear on the table, and how I think those lists might run.
Ogors have had their updated battletome out for a bit now, and several generals have already brought them to to bear against unwitting snac-I mean, enemies. With the combination of Gutbusters and Beastclaws under one chubby umbrella, several new combos have arisen to bring the hungry hungry hitmen of the Great Maw to bear.
Gutbuster Feast
The tried and true boys of the old world, Gutbusters bring a lot of punch to the table, even without bringing lots of models. They are all decently tough, pack a mean number of attacks, and with their Might Makes Right ability, they can camp objectives for days. Taking a unit of Leadbelchers and sitting their cannons on a key point will almost guarantee that you keep that point until game’s end, since a standard unit of 4 is the equivalent of 8 models and they get d6 shots instead of d3 if they don’t move. Even your standard Glutton boys are a solid wall of muscle, and can not only dish out a scary number of hits (each model is capable of doing 6 wounds on its own), but can dodge missiles with their Lookout Gnoblar or return wounds onto their attackers with their Ironfists. The best part though is that with the addition of a Slaughtermaster or Butcher, not only can you cast devastating spells or heal your boys, but you make the Ironguts battleline. Granted a Tyrant can do this as well, and they bring a lot of hurt to the table on their own, but the ability to heal your ogres and keep the fighting longer is a huge draw.
The best avenue for this is to pick the Bloodgullet tribe, which as I mentioned in a previous article gives you all manner of sweet upgrades for your Butchers and Slaughtermasters, and then take either the Goremand or Butcher’s Band battalion. Both clock in at 140 points before unit selection, and both have the same unit requirements, with the exception that one is led by a Butcher (Butcher’s Band) and one by a Slaughtermaster (Goremand). The Band allows you to heal 1 wound allocated to EACH friendly unit from the battalion wholly within 12” of the Butcher at the beginning of your hero phase. Combined with the Splatter-Cleaver healing d3 wounds to the same units whenever the Butcher deals damage, that means that your Ogres could potentially be healing 4 wounds a turn (the Butcher included). The Goremand, on the other hand, allows you to dip into your Great Cauldron a second time each hero phase, and considering the nasty things you can pull out of one of those, you’ll want to make sure you do this every turn. You are taking a risk, of course, that you will pull out Bad Meat twice, but the chance to pull off two of the other snazzy tricks, or even the same snazzy trick twice, is certainly worth the risk. Combine all this with the fact that your Ogors do damage on the charge, and a Gutbuster squad will be ruling both the combat and shooting phase while your opponent starts to question if your allegiance might actually be Death.
Beastclaw Raiding Party
If you thought Gutbusters were low model count, then may I introduce the monster hordes of the Beastclaw Raiders. But don’t let that fool you; these guys can get stuck in the thick of combat very quickly and once there, they’re going to rip the enemy a new ice hole. Their whole deal is getting to combat, hitting hard when they get there, and making the enemy suffer the longer the fight lasts with the Grasp of the Everwinter ability. With this ability, at the start of each hero phase, you roll a d6 for each enemy within 3” of one or more Beastclaw units, and if you roll equal to or below the current turn number, that unit suffers d3 mortal wounds. Since all your models are exceptionally quick, even by Ogor standards, and mostly extremely tough (Yhetees and Frost Sabres being the exception) you’ll likely be within that range early, and probably won’t leave there until your chosen target is good and deceased.
Of note also is that Beastclaws have access to prayers through their Huskard on Thundertusk, and they all do amazing things like raining down a storm of ice shards, rocketing your units into combat, or even returning slain Yhetee models to the battlefield! Your general can ride either a Stonehorn or Thundertusk into battle, but for my money a Frostlord on Stonehorn is the way to go. Bring a Huskard or two to back him up with prayers of course, but a Frostlord charging across the field on an angry rock bull, especially one with the Belligerent Charger mount trait, will decimate the enemy line and likely saw through standard battleline units in a single turn. As tempting as it is to run a full army of Monsters, Mournfang Packs are incredibly versatile and powerful options, and to that end, consider looking into the Thunderbellies Mawtribe. All of their Mournfangs wholly within 12” of a table edge can charge even if they ran in the previous movement phase, so you can set up devastating flank charges. Also look into the Jorlbad battalion, which allows your units from the battalion to make a free move of d6” during your first hero phase, or the Eurlbad, which give them Impact hits. But if monsters really are your bag, Boulderhead is the way to go, as it allows ALL your monster heroes to take mount traits instead of just 1, and you can spend a command point to ignore the effects of damage on your heroes for one phase.
Frozen Dinner
Of course, the great beauty of the new Ogor book is that you can use all of these things together for maximum damage. While none of the Mawtribes listed in the book really offer any benefits for taking both, the potential power gained from combining them is still pretty great and a benefit in and of itself. Need something backing up your fast monster line? Take an Ironblaster or three and soften up those stomp targets. Gluttons getting focused down by long range fire? Bring an Icebrow and some Frost Sabres or a pack of Mournfangs to hunt down errant warmachines. And there are of course the Ogors that don’t fit either of the tribes and are just coming along for fun. The Firebellies bring with them the Lore of the Sun-Eater, an aptly named fire-based magic that allows them to focus down enemies with a flaming tornado, mask his fellows behind a cloud of ash, or trap your enemy’s favorite runner units in a cage of fire. They are a great footslogging addition to a fast army or just an extra set of cast and unbind rolls for a Butcher squad. The Maneaters, on the other hand, bring their knowledge from traveling and eating the world to bear with a host of special rules that can be tailored to whoever you happen to be fighting. Striders is a standout for me, as it allows them to run and still charge, but all of the abilities are great, and each one lends itself to a specific style of play. If you like to run it, it’s likely the Maneaters can do it.
How do you run your Ogors?
