Ogres vs Tomb Kings

First Game vs the new Tomb King

Last night i had the chance to finally face the new Tomb King for the first time (and the army as a whole for the 3rd time). My opponent was on his first game with the Tomb King, so i wouldnt really say he was 100% sure of what he was doing, but he's a true veteran of Warhammer Fantasy, and a good general, so i knew it wouldnt be a walk in the park, or at least i expected it to be.

My list ;
Unkillable Tyrant ; WS7, T6, Reroll to wound him,
Slaughtermaster ; Crown of Command carrier.
BSB ; WS6, 3+ Armor, 4+ Wardsave
Bruiser ; WS6, T6, 4+ Armor
Butcher ; Dispel Scroll Carrier
10 Bulls with Full Command (3 frontage)
9 Ironguts with Full Command and Runemaw (also 3 frontage)
9 Trappers
25 Gnoblar Warrior
2 Scraplauncher
2 Gorger


His list ;
Mage lvl4
Lord with the Golden Mask that cause terror and forbidden BSB and Inspiring presence within 6"
a Herald to take the wound of the Lord
Mage lvl2 with the anti-RiP item, was Light, with WS10 I10 spell, and banishment.
Casket
30 Skeleton with Shortbow
50 Skeleton
20 Grave Guard with Halbert
4 Chariot
6 Necropolis Knights
1 Necrosphynx

The Scenario was meeting engagement, and i got to deploy first. Of course, my Slaughter Master, one of my Scraplauncher and my Gnoblar Warrior decide to stay back in reserve, forcing my deployment to stay near the end of the table so my army can move at once.

From left to right my deployment was as follow ;
Bulls with BSB, SM and Tyrant
1 Scraplauncher (the 2nd would join behind him on 1st turn)
Ironguts with Butcher
Gnoblar Warrior (joined from reserve, roughly 10" away, which is very important to note).


From left to right his deployment was as follow ;
Necrosphynx
Skeleton with Shortbow and lvl2
Skeleton with lvl4
Grave Guard with Lord and Herald.
Casket
Chariot
Necropolis Knights

I get to deploy my Gnoblar Trapper right behind his Casket and Chariot (but sadly, his casket is protected by his chariot and a building, so i couldnt charge nor shoot at it.


Turn 1

With the Shortbow in front of my horde, i decide to play conservative, and let him move toward me. So nothing move, except those that didnt deploy with the rest.
In Magic phase, my opponent was counting greatly on his boundspell, so he let most of my spell go. I manage to do 2 wounds to the Necrosphynx with bonecruncher, and add +1 toughness on my Bulls, and Regen. In Shooting phase, both my Scraplauncher hit the spot on his Skeleton, killing over 25 of them.

On his turn, he move forward, moving his necrosphynx to side charge my Bull horde whenever i move toward his army, and his Necropolis Knights toward the other side of my army, readying for a charge on my poor gnoblar. his chariot turn around to shoot at my Gnoblar Trapper. In his magic phase, he cast the casket of soul on my Ironguts, i let it pass, and throw it back at my Gnoblar. They lose 2 (would you believe that? 7 on 3d6), and everything else is too far to be targetted. In his shooting, his Skeleton do 2 wounds to my Bull Horde (thanks to +1 Toughness), and the Chariot kill..... 1 Gnoblar Trapper!.

Turn 2

One Gorger come into play, right behind his Archer and the restof my army move toward his army, just enough to be too far away from him to charge, but far enough to attempt a stupid charge on my turn (that's my favourite tactic). In Magic phase, i dont do much, except add +1 Strenght to my Bull (he always let it pass, as i suck at passing a strenght test). In shooting, i see that the shortbow are now more than an annoyance, and shoot at them with my Scraplauncher, killing 10.

On his turn, he charge my Gnoblar Warrior with his Knights, killing just enough of them to remove my steadfast. He also charge my Gnoblar Trapper with his chariot, finishing them for good. Both unit did what they were supposed to ; force him into taking them into consideration, spending ressources to take them down. His magic phase was gonna be huge. 9 dice vs 5. But he fail to cast with his lvl4 on his first spell, and in the end do nothing at all.

Turn 3

First was a charge of my Bulls against his Shortbow, i needed 10, but failed. Good thing is that my Gorger got into close combat with them, keeping them for shooting for the rest of the game. Then that's where the game changer happened. He had placed his unit of Grave Guard as an easy target (just 12" from my Ironguts, with chariot ready for a side charge). Instead, i decide to go for his Skeleton + lvl4, 15" away from my Ironguts. Needing 9, i roll.... 9!. I could saw that this was definately not what he had in plan, and he knew his Skeleton would be quickly dead from my IG. In magic phase, i dont do much, except adding another Strenght to my Bulls, and a +1 Toughness on my Ironguts. In the shooting phase, i take 10 Grave Guard down, as they are the last target left i can shoot at. In close, i obviously win both combat, against the shortbow by 2-3 (i would slowly grind them down until the end of the game), and against the lvl4, i kill 12 of them with Bull Charge, my attacks, and the stomp, killing everything once crumble is done except his Mage. I reform to face his unit of graveguard (i was affraid of a coin-to-coin charge that would have hurt ... alot).

On His turn, he attempt 2 charge that fails against my Ironguts; his Necro Knights and his Necrosphynx, giving my Ironguts one last round to live. Nothing really worth nothing, except that he lost his lvl4 to combat resolution, and start to crumble (crumbling is a big word, as he lost a whole 2 wounds in the next 3 rounds, thanks to his ld10). He still manage to use yet another bound spell, namely his banner to regain models (bringing his Grave guard back to 25)

Turn 4

I charge his Graveguard, knowing that my IG dont have much time left before they go down from all the incoming charge. My bulls then move around some terrain to get ready for a counter charge in turn 5, or for a charge from his Necro Knights, if he has the guts to do so. I easily win the combat against his Graveguard, taking down 15 of them with combat resolution. He had a little over a full rank left at this time, but the Ironguts demise was upon them.....


His turn, he attempte his 2 charge agains, both reaching their target (oh oh). ASL is not kind when you get charged by something that does 20+ attacks (Knights). Good news, is that once they were done, my IG were dead, and his knights turned to look at my Bulls.

Turn 5

I charge his Knights with my Bulls and 1 Scraplauncher. At this point, he had 5 Knights left at full health. Before my hero were done hitting (thanks to Cathayan Longsword for thet +1 Initiative), only 2 were left to fight back. That's when the pleasure of having a 3 man front rank really came into play. He had 3 choice ;
My tyrant ; hitting on 4s, wounding on 6s (and you have to reroll those 6).
My champion ( a whoopy 3 wounds total possible)
My Bruiser ; hitting on 4s, wounding on 6s.
So, he did a whole 2 wounds, i finished his unit with my bulls. And overrun just short of his graveguard depleted unit.

His turn, with only the Necrosphynx and his Grave Guard unit left (and for the latter, too close to run away from my charge), he decide to give my unit one last run, and charge with his graveguard, getting pretty much the same result as his Knights ; dead.

To finish the game, he decided to give his Necrosphynx a chance to prove he's good, and send him after my bulls unit... well, it wasnt pretty. Before he even got a chance to hit, he was torn to piece by my BSB and General.


Bottomline is ; i love Ogres. Sure it would be fun to have a new book, but right now, our magic is so strong (you either have a magic phase, or spend some of those PD dispelling the spell that went through in previous phase) and easy to cast, that its rarely a bad magic phase for the Ogres, even when you roll 2+1 (like i did.... 3 times that game).

A few thing i noticed ;

1- NecroSphynx's demise will be tons of low Strenght attacks. Since even S6 requires 6s to wound, better off just keeping your high Strenght attack for something else.

2- Necro Knights are brutes. if they get to hit first, there's good chance whats in front of them wont have much attack in return.

3- Their Magic is on par with what the 8th is about ; a very few spell going through.

4- Their boundspell are great. The Casket and Enkhil's Kanopi can really turn a game around, so its important to live with the idea they'll get a few spell through, and keeping dice for those 2 items, unless you're 100% sure he's not fielding them.

5- Golden Death Mask of Kharnut is just.... wow. No BSB and no Inspiring presence 6" around the bearer, that can really turn a game around.

It's a fun army to play against, and its really on par imho with the Orcs and Goblins ; lots of interesting stuff, but nothing unbeatable.