Free Ogryns
So you're looking to start the best gang in the underhive? The biggest and best fighters going (no puny goliath holds a wrench to these boys).
You have come to the right place, it's time to talk about Free Ogryn!
What Makes Us Different?
So why Free Ogryn (yes that's their name, no I won't hear anything else)?
First up, as we all know Ogryn are tanks in the early campaign, with toughness and strength 5 from the get go they can take and deal the pain much better than your average scummer.
Additionally they sport a minimum number of 2 wounds and 2 attacks base allowing them to make up for their usually low numbers (sort of).
Second thing that sets them apart is augmented weapons, and boy are there some beasts in this list, but also some duds (I’m looking at you Heavy Rock Cutter). The down side to these weapons is that they can’t be replaced or removed, no tools of the trade here, but they provide some great modelling opportunities and they feel right. Now I would have liked them to gain a weapon trait of “Augmented” and stop them from being part of the disarm rule but alas I can't find anywhere official that states that.
Augmetic Weapons
So let's look at the list starting with:
• Augmetic fist- The Augmetic fist is ok, with S+1 to make the ogryn hit at S6 you are wounding most gangers on a 2+, with the addition of AP-1 and Damage 2 and Knockback it will got work done for 40 Creds, the only downside is you could get…
• Paired Augmetic fists- Having the augmetic fist with the paired trait just makes it better in every way and for only 30 credits more then the single version to me it's both or neither. Now this will stop you from taking any other weapons on this fighter as, being paired, it counts as unwieldy and so takes up both of your hands and 2 weapon slots. I love this weapon and, as you will see later on, it can produce some insane output.
• Arc welder- Slightly more than the augmetic fist at 50 credits but you definitely get more for your 10 credits, firstly you replace the Knockback with the ever so lovely Blaze trait and then you add an additional pip of strength (for S7!), AP-3 and damage 3! What a time to be alive. Sure you don't get the bonus of paired in any way if you get 2 of these bad boys but for a single weapon you will be killing champions, and if by some miracle you punch them and they survive, there's a good chance they won't be of any use for a long while as they run about trying to put themselves out.
• Heavy rock cutter- Fancy hitting at strength 9 AP-4 and damage 3? Well for 120 credits you can, I guess? Other than the price of this monstrosity it is unwieldy stopping you from gaining an extra attack it just seems like it should have been on the normal close combat weapon list and not the augmented one, there are not many models that require that amount of strength and AP to deal with.
• Heavy rock saw- slightly cheaper then the cutter at 110 credits with less strength, AP and damage, it does give you a +1 to hit and rending which is an improvement to me but for the price of both heavy rock weapons you just won't get them on creation and you cant buy them after you have bought the fighter. If you desperately want either of these two weapons then wait until later on and pop them on a Lobo or Ogryn with frenzon coller and let them rip.
• Las cutter- When I spoke about the HRC hitting at strength 9, high AP and damage 3 as being redundant, I wasn't talking about this weapon. At 60 credits, that's half a Heavy Rock Cutter, it's a steal and it has a couple of HUGE advantages over the other weapons in its class. The Las Cutter loses the HRC’s unwieldy trait so it can be paired with a second weapon, on top of that it also has a versatile range of 2” but with a +1 to hit in the sort range, this can be combined with another weapon and skill to create an amazing combination, just look out for that 6+ ammo save.
• Storm-welder- The only* ranged weapon the Ogryn get access to the Storm-Welder is a risk, 8” short range with a +1 to hit, 16” long range, strength 5 damage 1 but with Rapid fire 3 and shock, it seams reasonable for 75 credits but unfortunately it also comes with the fact that at BEST your Ogryns are hitting on 5+ basic, with short range thats a 4+ but you can aim to make it 3+. Unstable means it is a serious risk as it has a high chance that the only person you injure with this weapon is yourself. I'm not saying don't take it, it's hilarious, it can be paired with a Las-Projector to make it hit on a 2+ with a standard Ogryn and you don't need to roll all 3 of those rapid fire dice so you can reduce the chances of getting an ammo roll.
Finally remember that if you do get an Ammo dice then you have a 50/50 chance of OOAing your fighter and just make sure all friendly fighters are behind you because incase reckless forces you to shoot your own guys.
The 3rd thing that sets the Ogryn apart from the pack is they are not allowed ranged weapons (ignoring the Storm-Welder) even the Corpse Grinder Cults allow their Juves to carry guns but unfortunately the Ogryns biggest strength, their strength, is also a massive weakness. Guns built for the puny inhabitants of the Underhive cant handle the raw beef of the Ogryn hand and fall apart like cheap toys in their massive hands, but fret not because one thing does work at range… Grenades!
Now not all Ogryns can carry grenades on creation, Lobos for some reason have to gain them off the trading post but every Ogryn has a natural advantage using the boom rocks, and no i'm not talking about their shocking Ballistic Skill. Grenades go off your fighter's strength, at a native S5 a Blasting charge is suddenly going 10” away before scattering and an Incendiary Charge is going 15”! Now this does have a down side, with the new rules that have come out grenades aiming at a point on the floor rather then at a fighter incur a -2 to hit and with the poor BS (5+ for leader and chaps. 6+ for the rest) you are going to scatter, but that is why I choose the largest templates I can. I won't go over all the grenade options they can take but just know on creation your champions and leader can take incendiary charges which are amazing and you should have at least one in your list straight off the bat to give you some ranged power, also more blaze is more better.
Lastly Ogryn have some very useful abilities inbuilt, now the Over and Underboss’ get access to muscle and brawn skills as primary with the Overboss also getting access to leadership their standard skills for close combat are alright but they are also the only models in your gang that can benefit from skills as you can't make Ogryns specialists and the Lobos can’t benefit from group activations either but the Ogryn are good for assisting, thanks to their “Loyal” ability they get +2 not +1 when assisting in combat and they also get Headbutt, which was lacklustre in its previous incarnation but great since the update, now you get Headbutt (Free): Pick an enemy fighter engaged by, and in base contact with, this fighter and roll two D6. If either result is equal to or higher than their Toughness, they suffer a hit with a Strength equal to this fighter’s +2, resolved at Damage 2. However, if both dice score lower than the enemy fighter’s Toughness, this fighter instead suffers a hit equal to their own Strength, resolved at Damage 1.
Lobos are the winner here however if you are wanting chaff to screen your stronger models because they get “Lobotomized”, which means they can’t be pinned or made to go prone and that is just amazing.
Starting List
Now we have gone through what makes Ogryn special lets now go over what I think is the best place to start when building an Ogryn list for a campaign.
The temptation to run a reduced number of Lads and tool them up is definitely strong but resist my large friends because I have tried that too many times and activation economy just means you will be out maneuvered and out gunned way too quickly. Instead try this on for size; 1 Overboss, 2 Underboss’, 4 Lobo Slaves and (thanks to the changes in the new core book) a Scabber (more on them later). This gives you a strong start with 17 wounds at toughness 5, you may not even get out numbered depending on the scenario.
Overboss - Now I love giving my Overboss paired augmetic fists, because he gets more attacks then the rest of the gang (3), so you are now doing 8 attacks on the charge (6 for paired +1 for 2 weapons +1 for charging) at strength 6, ap -1 and damage 2 with knockback and that is scary strong, especially in the early campaign, add furnace plates for a 5+ save from the front and 6+ everywhere else and you are sat at 220 credits. Now as for skills you could go offensive, and with its profile it's tempting, but I think that the biggest thing that will stop the pain train is bottle tests. I recommend Iron will to keep them around.
Underboss 1 - Las cutter, it's a strength 9 damage 2 Ap -3 weapon with 2” versatile and a +1 to hit in B2B, enough said. I also like to put incendiary Charges** on this fighter to deal with any threats that can’t be dealt with in melee easily (fighters on top of buildings for example), you can also give them a cheap melee weapon, like and axe or spudjacker, for the extra attack and as a backup in case you run out of ammo but for the first couple of games it's not necessary, just nice. Again we will add Furnace Plates for a cheap save and the skill I love on this fighter is Naaargah!, this allows for another combination I will go over later on, total credits 215.
Underboss 2 - Arc Welder and Incendiary Charges, this guy is your arsonist and will love nothing more than spreading chaos. Strength +2 from the Arc will bring your attacks up to strength 7 but with the addition of Bull charge you gain knockback and another extra strength on the charge making them punch at strength 8, AP-3, damage 3 with blaze and knockback. If it aint dead after that it doesn't matter, it will be running round on fire while you go hunt bigger targets.
Lobos - All the lobos I will take in this list are without any equipment, no weapons, armour, nothing. Coined as the “TOiaT Naked Lobo” they are still hitting twice ( 2 attacks coming in clutch and 3 on the charge) on a 4+ at strength 5 so you are wounding on 3+ as well. In the early campaign you don't need to splash out on weapons and, as they can’t be pinned, people are going to start thinking about how to deal with them. The easy answer being flame weapons, if you can force your opponent to go towards flame then you buy hazmat suits and ruin their day as you run through a wall of flames and small arms fire like a fox in the hen house while your champions lob their own flames over their heads (or at them if they get surrounded) before jumping into the frey themselves while the template weapons are engaged.
The last thing in our list is the Scabber.
Possibly the best outlaw hanger on for the Ogryn, this Del Boy wanna be keeps your trips to the TP looking a bit more reasonable. Being able to reduce a single item by 20 credits and allowing a trading action in its own right with a +1 you are more reliably getting those trade actions for equipment you need to sustain your campaign strength.
Now we are left with 40 credits left over from this build, oh look that's exactly the amount we need to buy Haz suits for all out Lobos, funny that isn’t it?
Campaign Progression
Ok so we have spoken about where to start, but as Buffy sang, “Where do we go from here?”
Equipment
Ogryn benefits from equipment just like every gang, but with their limited options in weapons they need it more than most (another reason that Scabber is so useful), we are a melee gang with movement 4/5" so finding a way to reliably getting our fighters into combat is essential and for that there are a couple of options.
Grapnel Launcher - For 25 credits you can make any Ogryn cosplay attack on titan, and boy is it worth it. Grapnel (Double): The fighter can move up to 12" in a straight line, in any direction. This move can take them to a different level, as long as they do not move through any terrain. This means we gain at least an extra 2” movement per turn and also allow us to bypass the use of stairs and ladders, just be careful being close to the edge and maybe consider buying a Grav Chute.
Falsehood - Ranged threats coming in at your champions and leader can mess up your plans quickly, as good as lobos are, it's your hierarchy that gets the work done, so we need to keep them safe. This is where the falsehood comes in, at 40 credits it can be a little pricey to put on everyone but on your key pieces it gives you 2 turns to get into position. The only downside is how powerful they can be, please don't spam this you will run out of friends quickly.
Holochromatic Field - It is definitely not for the strapped for cash ‘Gryn, running at 100 credits, but it will be worth its weight in gold. The Holo’ Field forces ranged shots against the user at -2 to hit, in addition anyone trying to attack them in melee will be -1 to hit. There is some debate on whether this works in combination with the Falsehood but if it does then that's one hell of a boost in the later campaign.
Wasteland Bike - If you are in the wastes, or your arbitrator allows you to take them in hive, then the Bike is superb. Ogryn are slow and their general lack of range can really make them target practice for your shooty gangs, and If you get shot off you can weather the damage thanks to the natively high toughness, and also Lobos can't be pinned making them perfect for the bike. The down side? Our initiative isn't great, not terrible but something to consider.
There is an argument to be made for the grapnel launcher being able to be used with the bike as it doesn't affect movement; it can potentially create a biker that can move in SM boards.
Servo Harness - The Servo Harness is great for adding that extra strength and toughness to a champ or your leader. I took a partial on my leader for sump con and he was hitting on strength 8 or higher all weekend and it was glorious. The downside is obviously the reduced movement and initiative for the partial harness but Ogryn get them as part of their house list for a 30 credit discount so it becomes a much more valid choice.
Drugs!
In the underhive we do love to enhance performance, and what's wrong with taking a page out of Lance Armstrong's book and chemically boosting, just remember if you take more than one at once then you have to roll and make sure your heart doesn't explode.
Stimm Slugg Sash - SSS is a go to for most Ogryn Gangs, being part of the house list makes is easy to get hold of and 25 credits to boost your movement, strength and toughness by 2 for a turn can make that important charge on the enemy leader just that bit more viable, just remember there is a chance your heart will explode so don't roll 1s in the end phase afterwards.
Lho Sticks - for 5 credits I would argue this is a must take on your leader, hell chuck them on your lobos instead and spread the cool across the board for 20 credits total. All Ogryn intelligence is bad, like really bad, but that actually allows this to work. Any friendly fighter with an Intelligence characteristic of 8+ or worse (that's everyone) may use this fighter’s Cool characteristic instead of their own if they are within 6" and line of sight of this fighter. Its not a huge boost when your lobos are already at 5+ cool, the Underboss’ are at 7+ and the Ogryn are at 8+ but for 5 credits its well worth it because if you have an intelligence of 8 or less then smoking is cool. Pop a pack on every Lobo you take and your entire gang can be cool as a cucumber.
Frenzon - Now I would take this in coller form whenever possible because for 10 Creds more it doesn't disappear at the end of each battle. Frenzon is just mad, the fighter under the influence of Frenzon gains the Nerves of Steel, True Grit, Unstoppable and Berserk skills, however, all their weapons count as having the Reckless trait. Keep this fighter slightly away from your allies and watch him murder everyone in your way. The downside of having to move to the nearest enemy at all times can be mitigated with smart moving, reckless it's fine as long as you have enough attacks and no friends are about to accidentally take a dosed up ogryn to the face.
Slaught - Give a lobo with a 2 handed hammer and slaught and all of a sudden for game you have a (relatively) cheap body hitting with 3 attacks on a 2+ at strength 6, damage 3 each hit. The downside is that you have to push a toughness test to avoid addiction but native toughness 5 mitigates this by quite a bit. Just remember that a 6 is always a fail, regardless of your toughness.
Icrotic Slime - A Characteristic check for their Movement, Strength, Toughness, I8nitiative, Attacks and Cool and for each check that is passed, improve that characteristic by D3. well why the feth not! Strength, toughness will have a high chance of success and why not supercharge a model? Its not like your intelligence, leadership and willpower will matter if it hits a 10, pop it on lobo and nothing changes really. Just don't roll double 1’s at the end of the battle or it will eat what's left of your brain.
Wild Snake - Want to make your cool better? Drink Booze! If you let your Ogryn drink they just become the coolest models going, the down side? -2 to ranged attacks… when you hit on 6’s anyway, why not scatter away? Also if you have flesh wounds then you recover them every time you drink giving you some more survivability (As if we need it). Remember however there is a good chance that you run out and have to buy another (1/3rd chance in fact) so its more for the show off then a legitimate strategy.
Second Best - The sponsors of this guide, they are “Just as good if not better as their more expensive competitor” have they gone? Good. Second best has some of the upsides of Wild snake but isn't as efficient, mostly after 2 tokens you struggle to stay standing and after 3 you don't get to control your models movement at all, add to that that it has a 50/50 chance of being empty every time you drink some I would save the booze for after the fight.
Armour
Armour is the key to staying alive out there, furnace plates and your native toughness will keep you going for a while but if you start coming across higher strength weapons you will need that contingency plan. In the house list for your leader and champs you only get the choice of furnace plates or light carapace. Don't bother with carapace, for 30 credits you can get the same save with under armour and furnace plates at a 50 credits discount.
As things get along you might want to add an ablative overlay as well to keep you barreling towards the enemy but if you include any of the equipment we have already talked about it might not be necessary.
Now I haven't spoken about the standard Ogryn much and the main reason for it is Lobos can't be pinned and so tend to be better for screening your strong leader and Champions for 20 credits less, but with the changes to Headbutt they are no slouch in combat. I would be tempted to buy one of these during the campaign with augmetic fists so you can pile up the attacks and the extra hits from headbutt, but honestly you could do the same with another underboss for an additional 20 credits so it's more of a narrative choice then a functional one.
Hangers on
So I have spoken about the Scabber being the smart choice on creation to help with the Ogryns economy but what other options do we have to pick from? Well the list isn’t exhaustive, being outlaws they are restricted and unfortunately that locks them out of the rogue doc which is often the go to for most gangs early on but what is there?
Agitator - Depending on your campaign and arbitrator the Agitator is not a bad pick. Besides being able to gain extra rep for your gang they have a useful feature “Roll twice and choose a result when recruiting free fighters (typically from a Resource).” This means that you have a much higher chance of gaining an extra fighter for free which is a massive boon for us as the cheapest body we have is 70 credits. Now depending on the arbitrator you are likely to need double 6’s to gain this, now you have twice the chance.
Heretek - Want to give your paired augmetic fists power or blaze? Well now you can with the Heretek! Just remember that you pick at the end of the game after you buy them for the next game after that so there is a chance that whichever model you picked may just not turn up which is less than ideal.
Proxy - With the changes to Capture this might be more useful to gain credits but the options this hanger on can offer by opening up law abiding alliances (even if its only for a short while) can make for more interesting campaigns, and 25 credits is easily recouped.
Cadaver Merchant - I may as well include this model as it's the only one left but honestly unless you are playing Uprising campaign I don't see much of a reason to bring them, I'm not keen on buying something that requires your expensive models to be killed to be useful.
Brutes
So what does a gang that's made entirely out of brutes other gangs can hire need? MORE BRUTES!
There are a few choices you can pick from and with the lack of variety in the Ogryn range, the brute can change your gang massively, giving them better and more interesting themes to work with and keeping them different and less cookie cutter.
Awakened Ogryn - My favourite on this list, not because it's necessarily the best but because it adds something to the gang that the Ogryn shouldn't really have access to, wyrd powers. At 220 credits in another gang this is pricey, for us Dad Bods it's the price for a champion. Now with a Willpower of 8+ you are as likely to fail as succeed initially but being able to protect your big lads from enemy psychers is invaluable.
As for a build you start with the Headbutt skill and a wyrd power of your choice from a list of 6 (if you are using universal powers I recommend looking at them instead) which we will get into later on, firstly let's look at load out.
As standard you get a 2 augmetic fists, not paired fists unfortunately, but you can replace one or both for a spud jacker and retrieve 20 credits each. This is a good idea to do once, the output on the Awakened Ogryn is great but it might be worth to drop one fist for the jacker and use the 20 credits to get furnace plates for the 5+ save, will it be helpful later on in a campaign? No. Will it occasionally come in clutch? Yes? Maybe? But still better than nothing. Next option on creation is 30 credits for another wyrd power. If you find yourself flush with credits when you hire this Brute then I would definitely do this so you have options (there are 2 powers I would definitely like to have on creation if I could justify the cost).
Now we get to the thing that's actually useful, the list of powers.
Iron arm (Basic, Continuous) - A 5+ invulnerable save in melee, not terrible but ogryn tend to smash most things they get into combat with. Now if you are fighting against Corpse Grinder Cults I would rate this higher, having 2 attempts at a 5+ save (furnace plates and this) is going to be amazing against a gang that you probably can't charge. And because it's continuous once you have cast it you only need a 6+ to continue the power.
Body of flame (Basic, Continuous)- Immune to Blaze and Melta on its own is worth the credits, as they are 2 of the 3 best ways to deal with Ogryn, but you also get the additional bonus of setting everyone (that includes your own guys) that finishes their activation within 1” of brainy boy takes a blaze test. This is one of the 2 powers that I would take without hesitation.
Weapon Jynx (Simple) - The other power I would take every time, force a enemy within 18” to make an ammo roll for one of their weapons (its not 100% but I would say of your choice). I would like to point out that it says within 18”, not a model you can see within 18”, meaning you can do this through walls and potentially without fear of them shooting you first. With it being a simple action you have 2 chances to make that bolt gun or heavy weapon out of ammo for a while.
Overcharge (Basic, Continuous - Make a ranged weapon you are equipped with +2 strength and +1 damage in return for giving it unstable. Now… I want you to read that again and tell me which weapon that's referring to…-1000 DKP and may the Emperor have mercy on your soul.
Crush (basic) - Manifest your power then target a piece of scatter terrain or enemy fighter within 12” you can see, then roll a hit roll, if you hit then the object is destroyed or the fighter makes a save roll. If the save isn't made then roll an injury dice. This requires a will power check of 8+, then a ranged attack at 5+ for them to get a save? Not great in my opinion.
Terrify (Double) - Choose a single enemy fighter that is both within 18" and line of sight of this fighter. That fighter must immediately take a Nerve test with a -3 modifier applied to the roll or become subject to the Broken condition. This is worth a look in if you get enough exp and already have the other 2 powers worth having.
Mutated Ogryn - Fancy an Ogryn that has been drinking sump water too long? Want to convert some mad stuff on your ogryns? This is the choice for you.
Coming in at a base of 210 credits you have a model with standard Ogryn stats but you gain some interesting things from the start. Let's look at the skills, you start with true grit from the ferocity tree as well as an additional random skill from either Ferocity or Savagery. Now Ferocity is great but Savagery, oh baby that's what I would pick hands down, every time. Imagine an Ogryn with some tasty weapons gaining 1” of movement every time you cause an unsaved wound? Yes please.
As we are talking skills, on top of the 2 you start with you get access to brawn as primary which is… fine(?) But Ferocity and Combat as secondaries is nothing to sniff at.
now let's look at the weapon choices, the mutated ogryn starts with 2 open fists, now I want to start this with it says 2 open fists, meaning you get your additional attack for having 2 weapons. Now the open fist is S user and damage 1 but it also gets a pip of AP at AP-1 and knockback which is not bad at all.
For an additional 20 credits per you can upgrade to (what I think to be) the quintessential weapon for the mutated Ogryn, the Horrific Appendage. This can look like anything you want it to, whether it's the claw, like the official model, or tentacles or anything else your deranged mind can come up with it is strength user, damage 2 with AP-1, pulverise and rending and you have a serious combatant. The last weapon on the list will cost you 30 credits to upgrade but its a power maul, I was going to say something clever but it's a power maul. S+2, damage 1, AP-1 and power. Its good but its not as fun as the Horrific Appendage to me.
The last piece of equipment you can take is Furnace plates, combine this with their Toughness 5 and True Grit (which let's you drop an injury dice or, in the case of D1 weapons, roll 2 and take the best) you can have a very survivable and scary beast on the table.
I would run this model with one open hand and a Horrific Appendage and furnace plates for 245 credits and pick Savagery for the extra skill.
Scrap Code Corrupted Ambot - The Scrap Code Ambot is unfortunately not quite as good as the standard Ambot in my opinion but it definitely has its place, so let's have a look first at its skills.
Berserker and Nerves of Steel are great starting skill, Berserker giving you an extra attack on the charge and Nerves of Steel letting you ignoring pinning on a cool check (6+) and access to Ferocity as primary, brawn and combat as secondaries. But its the specific rules for the model that gives the Scrap Code Ambot its flavour. Machine Madness causes the ScrapBot to gain the insane condition if it rolls a 1 on a d6 after seriously injuring or OOAing a model and also gives the ScrapBots attacks the reckless trait, this could put a lot of people off because of how unpredictable it is but to me it's very Necromunda and incredibly fun to play.
So what does the Scrap Code Ambot have equipment wise? Well for its basic 220 credits it only has a 4" move but does get light carapace armour (cheeky 4+ save on a T5 model) and 2 Tunneling Claws. Now to the Tunneling Claws, hitting at S5, damage 2 and AP-1 with the Melta trait for its melee profile and S6 Damage 2 AP-2 on a 5+ ammo with Scarce and Sidearm for its ranged profile with 4” short range and 8” long range, the output is potentially insane!
But that's not all, if you are flush with credits you could add some options like Armour Spikes, if any fighter moves within an inch of the ScrapBot they take an automatic S1 Damage 1 hit without AP. I'm not sure this is great but it's something at 15 credits. Next you could increase the armour value, but reduce the already slow movement, with Heavy Carapace for the low price of 55 credits its worth thinking about if you buy this model later on in a campaign and everyone has gone mad with high AP weapons. Finally for a massive 90 credits each you can buy your ScrapBot upgraded Claws in the form of Grav-Fists (great name).
Grav-Fists melee profile is Strength User, damage 2 and AP-1 with Pulverise and Blast 3” which is interesting, the ranged profile is 6”/12” with a +1 in short range (at a basic 5+ BS gives you half a chance to hit), damage 2 AP-1 and 5+ ammo it also has concussion and Gravaton Pulse. This seams a bit overkill for most things and although decent I think can be kept for the Wastes.
Sump Beast - Where to begin, the Sump Beast has so many options you could run a different version every game in a campaign and still have options left to try, at only 200 credits as well. So let's look first at the things that are true to all the different variants, the skills, the Sump Beast has 3 skills on creation, which is superb. Unstoppable, Fearsome and True Grit are 3 fantastic skills that boost the survivability of the Sump Beast so much and on top of that they have acess to Cunning as primary and Ferocity as secondary, did someone say infiltrating Sump Beast? Now let's look at the Sump Beasts special rules, Underhive Monster is a wonderfully thematic rule that states, of any model (friend or foe) that's been seriously injured within 6” of the beast, on its activation you need to take an Intelligence test (not great) or charge/CdG double action onto that model and must always CdG rather then consolidate. I love this rule, it can be a double edged blade but it's always funny.
Next let's see the 3 different profiles you can pick from, profile 1 has 5” movement 3+ WS, Strength and Toughness 5, 3 wounds and attacks with a 4+ initiative and decent mental stats this is the profile I would personally pick. Profile 2 is also 5” movement but has a 4+ WS, Strength 4, toughness 5 but with 4 wounds, 2 attacks and worse mental stats, it seams like this profile looses a lot for that extra wound. Profile 3 is 4” movement, 3+ WS, Strength 5, toughness 4, 4 wounds and only 2 wounds with incredible 4+ cool, I would still say profile 1 is the best.
Now for the optional upgrades, the Sump Beast starts life with a Ferocious Jaw which is Strength user, damage 1 with AP-1 and Rending, you could add on top of this however;
Crushing Claws, s+3(!) Damage 2 and Ap-1 with knockback is spicy but is 70 credits for the privilege.
Lashing tail, 6” versatile strength user, damage 1, AP-1 is not the strongest but by god worth the look in, and it has impale so you cpuld potentiallyhit multiple targets. 6” versatile is just mad, and 50 credits for that much threat range is definitely worth considering.
Multiple legs, 20 credits to give your beast an extra 2” of movement and the Clamber skill? With the right profile your moving 7” minimum per turn, auto include in my opinion.
Prehensile Toungue, 2” versatile Strength user, damage 1 isn't amazing but it does have drag, for 60 credits I think there are better options.
Scaly Hide, 40 credits for a 4+ armour save, that's cheap carapace. Definitely the upgrade I'd want to get if I had the credits left over.
Venomous Bite, changes the Ferocious Jaws profile to loose its Strength but gain the Toxin trait, handy against models with multiple wounds for 35 credits.
Now my favorite version of the Sump Beast is profile 1, with multiple legs, scaly hides and lashing tail or Crushing Claws, this however does come out between 310 and 330 credits, just going to show how quickly the upgrades add up.
Warp Horror - Often people think that only Chaos gangs can take the Warp Horror, that is not the case, it's is actually available to all outlaw gangs, this means that even though GW won't let us have Chaos corrupted Ogryn Gangs, we can make them anyway, at least flavour wise anyway.
Now then, let's take a quick look at the skills and special rules. The Horror starts with Nerves of Steel which is always welcome on a melee character, and the usual skull sets, Ferocity as primary, Brawn and Conbat for secondaries, it also gets 3 interesting special rules; terrifying, warp denizen and undulating skin.
Terrifying, if any model wants to make a fight or shoot action against the Horror they would have to make a Willpower check and if they fail they loose their whole activation. Beautiful rule that not only helps keepnthe Horror alive but also becomes a problem your opponent has to figure out and allowing the rest of your gang time to get into combat.
Warp Denizen, the double edged blade, this is one of those rules that could put people off bringing the model but is actually super thematic and should encourage instead. In the end phase of each round roll 2d6, if you roll equal to or less than the current round number the Warp Horror just… leaves… but it ignores all lasting injury results outside of memorable death (66) making it incredibly survivable.
Undulating Skin, just the name of this is very evocative but it also is another survivability buff, decreasing all incoming damage by 1 to a minimum of 1.
Now the Horror is equipped with 2 Horrific Appendages which you may have seen I'm quite fond of, but you can also upgrade the Sump Horror, and not only at creation, unlike most brutes you can upgrade the Horror as you go through the campaign which is amazing.
Undulating Skin, have spoken about undulating skin, it costs 40 credits, but is well worth the cost asap.
Massive Tentacles, 50 credits for 4” versatile S+1, damage 1 and no AP with Entangle. Not bad addition as you go through a campaign.
Warpfire Breath, 90 credits is quite a bit but you gain a template flamer with a 4+ ammo. With the Ogryns lack of ranged attacks its a decent choice and again being able to pay for it after creation makes it very worth doing when you have some spare credits.
This Brute could really be central to a chaos ogryn themed gang and I love it.
Combos
Combo time, as with most gangs, it’s not individual things that make for a strong gang, but combinations of things. With that in mind here are some of my favourites.
Business ‘Gryn
With our Scabber we get a discount of 20 credits on a single item per cycle due to its savvy trader skill, you also get help in finding rare equipment. If you can find the Uphive Remnants (with the ST skill you get it for 30 credits) you could give one of your fighters Fixer early on giving you between 30 and 50 credits on top of anything you make in your games each cycle to boost your gang (and I recommend taking advantage of this skill whenever you can). If you get this early enough you can stay ahead of the curve in the campaign, if you dont bait your opponents into flame weapons you could get one after the first game luck depending, and it stacks if you ever roll high rare rolls afterwards.
Pair this with the Mnemonic Inload Spike (100 creds down to 80 with ST) for a random savant skill on a underboss that can can miss a game, you have a 50/50 chance to get another skill that helps with your economy, or another ⅓ chance of Munitioneer to re roll those grenade ammo checks or Medicae to keep your big lads in the fight.
The only skill thats a flop here is Ballistics Expert, unfortunately aiming isn't something Ogryn really need to do when its going to scatter anyway and it requires an intelligence test, which is laughable.
Spider truck
So we have spoken about Grapnel Launchers and how useful they are but there's more that can be done, if we combined it with the Naaargah! skill and a las cutter and you can move the 12”, including up and down, stay within 2” of a target Naaargah! then do a fight action because of the versatile trait, just be careful to not fall off the edge.
God Puncher
This is a HEAVY investment and also a bit on the mental side but if you want to ruin friendships and/or punch god in the face you could employ this combo, get your leader with paired Augmetic Fists, Frenzon, servo harness and Stimm Slug Stash and for a turn you will be doing 9 (3 base *2 for 8 +1 duel+1 charge +1 for berserk) attacks at strength 10 ap-1 damage 2 each, now if we were to add a Heretek for 40 credits and some rep you could add power into the mix. A very pricey and ultimately overkill fighter but fun all the same and if you add slaught to this mix and you are now doing 11 attacks on the charge and hitting on 2+,just remember that you will have to roll a mixed chems check, mixing 2 chems means that if you roll a 2 his heart explodes. I took this to Sump Con 3 on my leader and it slapped HARD. Admittedly there were some skills added to increase it further but I will only divulge that war crime on request.
Bang and the vehicle is gone
Vehicles are a problem to remove at the best of times and although the god puncher can kill most things they are slow and only one person.
If you use concussion grenades you can reduce the vehicles handling by 2 each time, then you chuck Flash on it to force the handling check and that bugger is likely to roll into the dirt, concussion grenades and flash being 15 credits makes it worth picking up on a few lobos if you are in the wastes.
When Ogryns fly!
So this is definitely one up for argument but…
Grapnel launcher + Grav Chute + Bike = Death from above!
Basically get high with the GL then using the grav chute and the bike you can charge down 8+d3 inches without worrying about falling damage.
The rules as written say the bike can’t climb nor can it have anything that affects its movement characteristics BUT that's not what Grapnel Launcher does, it allows you to make a grapnel (double) action to move 12” in any direction, so nothing about them being able to GL up the side and then use the bike to move 16” once you get there. Again only in the wastes unless your arbitrator is super cool and you will need to ask them first just to make sure.
Final Thoughts
It's no secret that I love this gang, are they the strongest? Not really, they are tanky sure and they can hit like a truck in melee but they lack the versatility of other gangs (which comes from only having grenades as a ranged option) but they are so much fun to use, fairly simple to pick up and play and have so much character.
Fin
So hopefully that helps you run our favourite big lads in your campaigns, if there is anything else you want to know or any tricks and tips you think should be added please get in touch and I will add them in after some play testing.
Thank you for reading,
3_Ogryns_in_a_Trenchcoat.
*Other than Grenades that is.
** Some people are not keen on blaze as it can take away player agency, so try not to spam them. If your group is against blaze then you can substitute for Blasting charges although you lose some range and gain stopping power.