Druchii.net

Hey guys, I'm new to the boards and am also new to playing the Druchii as well. Before the Druchii I commanded an Orcs and Goblins army for quite a while.

Anyhow, last night I played a 1250 pt game against the Ogre Kingdoms. I didn't survive very long sadly.

What tactics and strategies do you guys use when facing Ogres or Dwarfs or anything else with high strength and toughess? Are there any units that are "must haves" against them?

I basically used a unit of warriors w/ spears (20), a unit of warriors with xbows (10), a unit of executioners (15), 2 RBT's, a Cold One Chariot, 5 Dark Riders w/ Xbows, 6 Shades, a noble and a scroll caddy. (and again, I freely admit I have no idea what I'm doing so feel free to tear that to pieces.)

You didn't have too bad of a list, but the important thing to consider is that you pretty much never want to let your opponent get a charge on you with any of those units. Setting up traps, fleeing charges or using your units as redirectors and combo charging units is how you win with the druchii. You have a good amount of shooting, and should focus that on the most threatening units. Ogres got down pretty quickly to both RxB and RBTs.

The thing I expirienced while fighting OK was that magic is the best way how to get them 6 feet under. Execs are rather useless, RBT, RxB and stuff that usually saves you seems to have the same effect as trying to shoot one with a gun full of blinds...

So as decker_cky already mentionend: play "catch me if you can" with them- life's a game.

Yea executioners main strength is wasted against ogres so other than that it looks like a solid list, maybe some witchelves for those poisoned attacks lol.

Well if you get the charge you are going to win. Well not always but it sure helps. I got off all charges against my OK opponent. I had some trouble when he rolled snakes eyes on his break test though. Otherwise I kind of owned him. Got away with a Massacre.

Use DR's to march block or to bait'n'flee and just shoot them, they got low AS, and offcourse magic will get them.
Witches (gotta love the poison) and chariots (with a noble) rock too!

cheers.

got me thinking.... Mengil's Manflayers will be your best friends (at least untill the new armybook comes out!)

For the ogres, shooting is a great option, as is magic. Lots of magic missiles and lots of small arms fire will generally wear them down due to their low numbers and weak armour. Your chariot should also be able to do wonders against them, so long as you avoid anythign S7 (which you should be able to do).

Against dwarfs, it will really depend on the army you're up against. If its a turtling gun line, as many dwarf armies are, then you can either take your chances and rush forward or hang back and simply use your RBTs against his cannons and hope for the best. Against something more balanced, I tend to like to go for the more vulnerable missile units and war machines first before outmaneuvering the dwarf blocks and trying to get flank charges and combined charges in.

In both cases though, you want to concentrate what magic missiles you have and what regular missiles you have before going in to finish the units off with your harder hitters.

Ranged weapons are really good against Ogres, Corsairs and Warriors getting charged by Maneaters is not such a great idea!

After my last game against OK all I had left was my 2 Sorceresses, 5 DR's with RXB and 2 Bolt Throwers which by themselves removed a Maneater, A unit of Iron Guts, two units of Bulls and a unit of Leadbelchers while all combat orientated parts of my army were completely crushed.

Shooting can really tear chunks out of Ogres, mainly because even though they are toughness 4 they have little to no armour. Just be wary of any gorgers as they can be a real pain and are more than a match for war mahcine crew and can even nail missile units. Most Ogre armies play MSU so field units of about 3 - 4 Ogres, if you can cause 3 wounds, then its a panic test. Also, the loss of 1 Ogre can really hurt a unit as they lack static combat Res so need all the hitting power they can to break through. Robbing them of one Ogres attacks by killing him can seriously give you the upper hand.

Due to the lack of armour Ogres are also very vulnerable to poison so I would heavily advise taking a unit of Witch Elves. If you have a six wide frontage and you get the charge that means you can get off 19 poisoned attacks if you have a champ (20 with the rune of khaine).So you stand a good chance of dropping one whole Ogre before you even roll to wound. Also, the fact that they are Immune to psychology means they will never fail that crucial fear test.

Take plenty of Dark Riders. One of Ogres main strengths is their speed, if you take things that can outmanoeuver them then they are at a disadvantage. Also, they tend to be great at moving in a straight line but struggle if you get on their flanks or behind them. Hitting them in a flank is a great idea because even if your rolls are terrible only 1 Ogre can attack, as opposed to 3 or 4.

Magic can be good but be wary of characters in units as they can take some great anti-magic items.

If he takes leadbelchers, be very wary of them as one round of shooting can annihilate a whole fast cavalry unit (trust me - ive seen it happen ). So try to eliminate them before then can shoot.

Chariots might be good, they can charge further than Ogres and the impact hits could be very devestating. Again, there is no chance that they will fail that crucial fear test. (they may fail their stupidity test instead mind)

If he takes a scraplauncher, you can bait it as it has to take a LD test or charge a viable target. A good plan is to use shades (or any fast unit) to bait it into a wood, because it is a chariot, it can often damage itself as it charges headlong into the terrain.

Remeber Gnoblar trappers - they are scouts. Even though they aren't very good, if they appear near to your bolt thrower then can really annoy you early on - but some careful deployment will prevent this.

Harpies low leadership means they will rarely be fighting Ogres but they can charge any annoying gnoblar trappers, march block or even be used to lure away a gorger - as they have to charge a unit if they can.

Dont rely on being able to take a charge with a large unit of spearmen - even head on. Ogres hit like an tank and its frightening how much damage they can do - especially if he has any combat characters in the unit or they have been boosted by Gut Magic.

Overall advice - take witch elves, out manoeuver him, charge him - dont ever let him charge you, shooting works wonders - take out leadbelchers early on. Hope this helps and good luck next time!

Hope this helps

Thanks everyone for the great responses. I think that my biggest problem coming from Orcs and Goblins was that I was still in that O&G mindset. I flat out forgot about the impact hits and he got off two successful charges that were quite destructive. Then once we were in H2H combat it was pretty much over.

I have been reading a lot about the MSU/MSE tactics over the last day or so here and they are something I am going to try and test out this weekend for sure.

Great advice from everyone. There is a great community here.