WHFB: Ogre Kingdom Review Part 3

Magic Items

Alright folks, this is the last of the nuts and bolts reviews before I start on unit analysis.  Keeping with the trend of the newer books, there aren't many items in here, and they will probably be overpriced.  Let's see how right I am or not...

Thundermace - 85pts - Great Weapon.  You may trade in all your attacks for a Thundercrush attack.  If you hit, place a small template in front of your dude on the enemy unit.  Everyone takes a Str3 hit and the dude under the hole take a str9 d3 multiple wound hit.

No way.  For 85 points, it should auto-hit.  Part of what you pay for in a Lord level fighty character is higher initiative and attacks.  This gives those away.  Just no.

Siege-breaker- 85 pts - Great Weapon.  You roll to his against your enemy's initiative rather than Weapon Skill, can't be parried.  Can also trade in your attack for a mega attack against a building.

More crap.  I wouldn't spend 85 points for an item that can only be useful in one scenario and only actually helps you hit dudes from 1/3rd of the armies.  Pass.

Gnoblar Thiefstone - 45pts Talisman - MR2.   Roll on a chart and get a random magic item from the BRB.  If another character in the game has it, you steal it.

OMG garbage.  Look at the list of items.  How many of them are worth more than 45pts?  Right.  So why do I want this?  For Magic Resistance?  You mean the special rule that hasn't been useful once in any game of 8th I've played yet?  Sad.

Greedy Fist - 40pts Talisman - +1 Strength, 6+ ward.  Any saves the ward makes against magic weapons turns the weapon mundane.  Any wizard hit by an Ogre wearing it loses a spell and a wizard level.

On the surface, it isn't terrible.  The wizard hitting part is the selling point.  Except, if an Ogre character is hitting a wizard, the wizard should be dying, not losing levels and spells.  Have to pass.

Gutmaw - Magic Heavy Armor 45pts.  Causes Terror.  For each wound you do in a challenge, you heal one.

Forget the healing factor, it will never matter.  Would you pay 45pts for Terror?  When you already cause Fear?  I don't see this as being something I'd pay for unless Terror did something better, or you could lower enemy leadership.

Grut's Sickle - 50pts Arcane Item - You can inflict an unsaveable wound on your unit to get +2 to cast for the remainder of the magic phase.  At the end of the turn, roll 2d6, on a snake eyes, the unit kills the bearer.

Wait a second.  This is a powerful item!  In an 8th Edition book?!  The +2 to cast makes your Level 4 a real beast in the magic phase.  You probably don't want to use it every turn, but on turn when you don't roll many casting dice, you can ensure that key spells still get off.  I'm shocked, I would consider taking this on my Slaughtmaster quite often.  It compares very similarly to the DE Sac Dagger.  This item also allows you to skimp points by not going to L4.  This can be useful since Ogre Characters are expensive and in low point games you can struggle to get all the tools you need.

Hell Heart - 50pts Arcane Item - One use only.  At the start of the magic phase you can make every enemy wizard within d6 x 5" roll a miscast.  Get an extra dispell dice for every wizard affected.

A pretty powerful effect, actually... if everyone played fair army lists.  Unless the wizard has a way to stop miscasts, like Teclics or Cupped Hands, this can be game breaking.  Unfortunately, those are the only two wizards you should be especially afraid of.  I'm not sold on an anti-wizard item that doesn't affect Teclis or Slann, sorry.

Rune Maw - 60pts Magical Standard - On a 2+, any spell targeting the unit is redirected.  If no valid targets are available, the spell fizzles.

Total shit.  Guess what?  This doesn't say enemy spells.  So the great Maw magic that grants Stubborn, +1T, Regen?  Yeah, your best unit can't be affected by them.  What a joke.

Dragonhide Banner - 50pts Magic Standard - On a turn the unit charges, re-roll all to-hits, to-wounds, and saving throws of 1.  Also, the unit gets an Always Strikes Last Str 3 Breath Weapon.

This is actually pretty good.  I'm not sure I could ever see having the extra points lying around to take it, but if you do it's good, as all Space Wolf players can attest to.  But wait.  You have to successfully charge.  If an Ogre unit powerful enough to take a 50pt banners gets the charge off on someone, are you really going to lose?  I sure hope not.  So what category does this go into?  The sad 'win-more' items.  You pay 50 points to win combats you were already going to win by a larger margin.  Pass.

-Summary-

7 shiny craps and one winner.  Par for the 8th Edition course.  The Hellheart will be upgraded to 'good' when High Elves and Lizards get new books that take away their avoid miscast abilities.

-Bonus BRB Item Section-

So I thought I should detail which Basic Rule Book items are worthwhile for an Ogre Army.  Here goes...

Sword of Swift Slaying - Ogre characters have high strength and decent initiative.  So for 25 points you get to strike first and re-roll hits.  Sign me up.

Sword of Striking - For 10 points your characters hit most people on a 2+.  This is good, because you hit hard, and you have lot's of attacks already.

Trickster's Helm - Don't laugh.  When you're T5, sometimes 6, and have regen, making people re-roll their successful wounds is pretty great.  Not to mention, an extra pip of armor save is good.

Dragonhelm - Hell fucking yes.  An extra armor save, plus a 2+ ward against fire (strong when you have regen, don't forget) for 10 points.  All day.

Rampager's Standard - So vital to an Ogre force.  Re-roll charge distances?  In an army whose success is based entirely off getting the charge?  Yes, all day.

Banner of Swiftness - Cheaper cousin of the Rampagers.  I'd probably bring both.  An extra pip of movement is huge for Ogres, and for 15 points?  All day.

Other Trickster's Shard - Very good.  Most people won't get armor against you, so making their ward saves less reliable is useful.

Iron Curse Icon - Also very useful.  Big Ogre units will draw a non-trivial amount of shooting from warmachines.