Wee War: Ogre Hunting Party

v0.3 - Changed Sharp Stuff yet again.
Changes:
changed heroes (0-2 Trappers), 0-2 baiters, 4 exp
added Bam to fighters, and Jeer skill.


I stumbled upon a random entry from Catferret posted years ago... he had been working on a warband that was 95% Gnoblars, but had an Ogre as the head. As I was collecting/writing "small" warbands for the Wee War campaign (WIP), I thought it might be fun to recreate/finish it, based on Catferret's notes.

Criticism is most welcome. Parts are adapted from the Maneater warband: I hope none of the original authors object.


OGRE HUNTING PARTY
By Dave “StyrofoamKing” Joria and Catferret
Based on the Ogre Maneater Warband by Border Town Burning Team and the Ogre Warband by Azmodan

SPECIAL RULES
Greenskins: Unlike Goblins, Gnoblars do not tend to work closely with Orcs. However, for all intents and purposes, they count as 'Greenskins'. They do not suffer Animosity, but suffer the rule known as 'Bicker' (see below.)

Bicker: At the start of your turn, at the end of the Recovery phase, roll 1D6 for each Gnoblar henchmen that is not in combat: on a roll of 1, it does nothing but issue insults at the nearest Gnoblar. It may not move, shoot, or cast magic this turn. Once a Gnoblar henchmen gains "That Lad's Got Talent", he loses the rule for Bicker, having put such childish games behind him.

Ideas Above Their Station: If the Ogre Hunter is killed, the Gnoblar with the highest leadership takes over as leader (or, if tied, the Gnoblar with the highest experience takes over). A replacement Ogre Hunter may be purchased, in which case he becomes the new leader.
Distasteful Company: Most hired swords will refuse to work for the Ogres or Gnoblars, as they know that they are just as likely to eat them as fight with them. Ogre Hunter warbands may only hire the following hired swords: Ogre Bodyguard, Ogre Slaver, Hobgoblin Scout, Gnoblar Botcher and Ninja Gnoblar. (Reminder: in a Wee War setting, you’re only allowed 1 Large model per warband.)

Choice of warriors
An Ogre warband must include a minimum of three models. You have 500 gold crowns which you can use to recruit and equip your warband. The maximum number of warriors in the warband is 20.
Ogre Hunter: Each Ogre warband must have one Ogre Hunter – no more, no less!
Trappers: Your warband may include up to two Trappers.
Sabre-Bait: Your warband may include two Sabre-Bait.
Gnoblar Fighters: Your warband may include any number of Fighters.
Gnoblar Flingers: Your warband may include up to seven Flingers.
Sabretusks: Your warband may include up to two Sabretusks if it includes a Hunter.

Starting experience
A Ogre Hunter starts with 20 Experience.
Trappers start with 8 experience
Sabre-baits start with 4 Experience.
Henchmen start with 0 Experience.
Characteristic increase
Characteristics for warriors may not be increased beyond the maximum limits shown on the following profile.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
Ogre 6 6 4 5 5 5 4 5 9
Gnoblar 4 5 6 3 4 3 6 4 7

OGRE EQUIPMENT LIST
Cleaver (counts as axe)......................................5 gc
Ogre club......................................................... 10 gc
Sword............................................................... 10 gc
Spear................................................................ 10 gc
Double-handed weapon ................................. 15 gc
Hand-to-hand Combat Weapons
Cleaver (counts as Axe) 5 gc
Ogre Club 10gc
Sword 10gc
Spear 10gc
Double-handed weapon 15gc

Missile Weapons
Harpoon Crossbow 50gc

Armor
Light Armor 20gc
Helmet 10gc

GNOBLAR EQUIPMENT LIST
Hand-to-hand Combat Weapons
Dagger 1st free/2gc
Club 3gc
Cleaver (counts as Axe) 5 gc
Sword 10gc
Spear 10gc
Double-handed weapon 15gc

Hand-to-hand Combat Weapons
Sharp Stuff 1st free/2gc
Slings (Flingers Only) 2gc

Armor
Light Armor 20gc
Shield 5gc
Helmet 10gc

Miscellaneous
Rope & Hook 5gc

SKILLS
Ogre Hunter: Combat, Strength, Special
Trappers: Combat, Shooting, Speed, Special
Sabre-Bait: Combat, Speed, Special

1 Ogre Hunter
145 gold crowns to hire
A retinue of Maneaters is Ogre Huntered by a brutish mercenary driven by his lust to gather wealth, experience and exotic wargear. He maintains order in his company by issuing threats and bribes or using violence.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
6 4 3 4 4 3 3 2 8
Weapons/Armour: A Ogre Hunter may be equipped with weapons and armour chosen from the Ogres equipment list. Unlike other models Ogres don't have free daggers, even though they might carry one reserved for eating, the most sacred activity in their life. Ogres never fight with daggers in close combat.
SPECIAL RULES
Leader: Any warrior within 6“ of the Ogre Hunter may use his Leadership when taking Ld tests.
Huuuuge: Ogres are big, massive and frightening creatures. All ogre models cause fear. All ogres are Large targets. Ogres also ignore all alone tests. An ogre can never have Ithilmar or Gromril or heavy amour - they don't make it in such sizes! All ogres have a warband rating of 20.
All too Easy: It is nothing unusual for an ogre to slap a man. He does that all too often and doesn't learn much new from that. All Ogres receive half the experience points for taking a man-sized models (like on 20 or 25mm bases) Out Of Action. They still receive the full experience point for taking a mounted model or a monster Out Of Action. Also ogre henchmen and heroes apart from the runts receive half the experience point for surviving the battle, unless they got Out Of Action during that battle. Then they receive normal points for that.
Don't Fight with Eating Knives: Ogres don't use daggers for fighting, just for eating. They don't carry them on the battlefield. If forced to, by loosing a weapon or don’t carrying any weapon, they will fight unarmed. But since their physical strength the -1S penalty does not apply, but the +1 enemy amour save still does. They may make more than one unarmed attack, depending on their Attacks value. Note that you cannot combine this unarmed attack with another weapon, so it doesn't count as an additional attack like the dagger would. It can only be made if the ogre doesn't have any other weapons at his disposal.
Scrabblin’ for Scraps: An Ogre Hunter is far too preoccupied with Hunting to worry about pretty stones- that’s a Gnoblar’s job! Ogre Hunters do not add an exploration dice to your Exploration dice pool. They may search for Rare items as normal.
Central Figure: The gnoblars flock around the Ogre Hunter, and take strength from his presence. If he is taken out of action during a game, the warband is automatically at Rout level, regardless of the number of casualties.

0-2 Trappers – 30 gc
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
4 2 4 2 3 1 3 1 6
Weapons/Armour: Weapons and armor chosen from the Gnoblar equipment list.
SPECIAL RULES
Veteran Tracker: A trapper starts with ONE of the following Special Skills: Infiltration, Set Traps, Netter, or Scent Hound. You must choose this skill upon the hero’s purchase. See the Special Skills rules for details.

0-2 Sabre-Baiter – 20 gc
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
4 2 3 2 3 1 3 1 5
Weapons/Armour: Weapons and armor chosen from the Gnoblar equipment list.
SPECIAL RULES
Bait: Whenever an enemy model declares a charge against a Sabre-baiter, he may immediately move 1D6” in the opposite direction of the charger. This may cause him to move outside of the charger’s charge range, in which case, the charge failed. You may only use this ability once per turn, and only if the Baiter isn’t knocked down, stunned, or in hand to hand combat.

HENCHMEN
0+ Gnoblar Fighters -15gc
The best fighters in the whole mass of Gnoblars... which, of course, is a relative term.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
4 2 3 2 3 1 3 1 5
Weapons/Armour: Weapons and armor chosen from the Gnoblar equipment list.
Special Rules: Bicker (see above)
Bam BAM! - A Flinger armed with a club may wield it one handed (as normal), or two handed. If wielded in two hands, the Gnoblar gains +1 strength, as if wielding a halberd. It still has the concussion skill. While wielding it two handed, he may not use an additional weapon, a shield, or a buckler. He still receives +1 save from shields against shooting.

0-7 Flingers - 20gc
Flingers are the Gnoblars who are either too incompetent to wave their sharp sticks in the air without letting go of them, or are smart enough to know that the Fighters always die first.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
4 2 3 2 3 1 3 1 5

Weapons/Armour: Weapons and armor chosen from the Gnoblar equipment list.
SPECIAL RULES
Bicker: (see above)

0-2 Sabretusks
125 gold crowns to hire
Sabretusks are agile, giant felines with tusks jutting from their lower jaw. It is common for a young hunter to keep a Sabretusk or two around to help sniff out his next meal.
M WS BS S T W I A Ld
8 4 0 4 4 2 4 3 4
Weapons/Armour: Tusks and primal ferocity!
SPECIAL RULES
Trained: In the event that no Ogre Hunter is included in the warband due to a death or an injury, the Sabretusks cannot be used until the Ogre Hunter is replaced. They must be caged and left at the camp until a new one is hired, or until a hero learns the “Sabre Trainer” skill.
Feral Instinct: Even a Hunter has difficulty controlling such feral beasts. At the beginning of the Ogres turn the Sabretusk must pass a Leadership test. If the test is failed, the opponent may move the Sabretusk this turn. An uncontrolled Sabretusk may charge models from his own warband! The Sabretusk may test using the Leader’s Leadership.
Fear: Sabretusks are huge feline predators and thus cause fear.

Ogre Club
10 gold crowns Availability: Common (Ogres only)
Ogre clubs are crudely fashioned with bindings, spikes, and studs, and the craftsmanship and size of the club an Ogre wields is an indication of his status. An Ogre wielding a simple log is generally seen as desperate or extremely poor while wandering ones are known to wield almost anything of suitable size such as street lamps, salvaged artillery or pieces of architecture. These clubs are normally used for knocking out food so that it can be dragged back to the cave without losing much blood, but are also perfect for breaking enemies defence in a fight. An Ogre trusts his club and will eat it only in the direst of circumstances. R
ange: Close Combat; Strength: As user; Special Rules: Concussion, Crushing attack
SPECIAL RULES
Concussion: Ogre clubs are excellent to use for striking enemies senseless. When using an Ogre club, a roll of 2-4 is treated as stunned when rolling for Injuries.
Crushing Attack: Ogre clubs may be wielded with impressive strength imposing –1 to enemy armour saves. Also the Strength of the attack is considered one higher for parry attempts by the defender, so a S3 model may not parry attacks by a S5 Ogre wielding the club. Crushing Attack only applies if the Ogre uses the club with both hands.
harpoon crossbow
50 gold crowns Availability: Rare 10 (Ogres only)
Little more than a crude crossbow hybrid, scaled up for the sake of a titanic marksman.
Range: 30"; Strength: 5; Special Rules: Move or fire, Prepare shot

Sharp Stuff
1st Free/Second 2gc - Gnoblars Only
Range: 8" Strength: 2, Special Rules: Thrown Weapon, Fire Twice, Stuff Thrower
Special Rules:
Thrown Weapon: Gnoblars throwing Sharp Stuff suffer no penalty for moving and shooting, nor for throwing over half range.
Fire twice: A slinger may fire twice in the shooting phase if he does not move in the movement phase. If the model fires twice then each shot is at -1 to hit.
Stuff Fighter: If the hero has the Shooting skill 'Knife Fighter', a Gnoblar is allowed to throw three pieces of scrap instead of the normal two. Also, he may move and shoot multiple shots, as well as ignores the -1 to hit for multiple shots. He may not throw three pieces of "stuff" and three knives in the same turn. A hero may not use Knife Fighter and Quickshot at the same time.

OGRE HUNTING PARTY SPECIAL SKILLS
Ogres and Gnoblars may choose to use the following skill list instead of the standard skill lists. They may not use skills that are exclusive to the race of the other (ex. A Gnoblar can’t learn an “Ogre Only” skill.)

crude belch
Ogres and Gnoblars eat almost anything. Consequences are to be expected from those inconsiderate enough to consume a rich meal before battle. A Hero with this 'condition' may unleash his noxious fumes on all enemies engaged in close combat. Those that do not pass a Ld test suffer a –1 ‘to hit’ modifier for the turn. The Hero must wait until a new enemy engages him in combat before he relieves himself again.

Scent Hound
The Ogre or Gnoblar has the keen nose of an expert tracker. The hero spots Hidden enemies from two times as far away as other warriors (ie, twice his Initiative value in inches).

maneater
Ogre Hunters shun the companies of others, but they do travel far and wide, observing other the customs and skills of other cultures from afar . This Ogre may immediately learn one skill from the Shooting or Academic skill lists. This skill may be taken only once. Ogres only.

bull charge
Ogres learn to use their vast bulk in a charge, trampling the enemy to the ground. When charging, an Ogre with this skill may attempt a single attack with a +1 ‘to hit’ modifier rather than making his normal attacks. If successful the enemy model is automatically knocked down. Ogres only.

bellowing roar
An Ogre leader expects challenges to his authority. One of the best ways to suppress a mutineer in the ranks is to give his ear drums a good pounding. This skill may only be taken by the warband leader, allowing him to re-roll the first failed Rout test. Ogres only.

Set Traps
Trappers are expert trackers and hunters and these skills can be put to great use in the ruins of Mordheim. A Trapper may set a trap if he spends a turn doing nothing else (he may not set traps if he's just recovered from being Knocked Down). Place a marker in base contact with the Trapper. When a model, friend or foe, moves within 2" of the marker he risks setting off the trap:
roll a D6. On a score of 3+ he has triggered the trap and suffers a S4 hit (note that the Trapper won't trigger his own traps). If the trap did not wound the model, the injured model has multiple wounds, or it didn't trigger, the 'victim' may finish his move- However, if the model was knocked Down or Stunned, place him 2" from the marker. Regardless whether the trap was triggered or not, the marker is removed. A trap will not be sprung while the trapper who laid it is within 2" (meaning, it can only be triggered if the trapper moves 2" or more away, or is taken out of action.) Trapper only.

Infiltration
A Gnoblar with this skill is always placed on the battlefield after the opposing warband and can be placed anywhere on the table as long as it is out of sight of the opposing warband and more than 12" away from any enemy model. If both players have models which infiltrate, roll a D6 for each, and the lowest roll sets up first. Gnoblar only.

Netter
Each game, the hero starts with 3 Nets. These may not be sold, traded, or given to another warrior- if not used during the game, they assumed to be stashed away or fallen apart. The next game, the hero will start with 3 nets, without penalty or cost. Trapper only.

Sabre Trainer
If you hero who learned this skill is present in a game, you may now field Sabretusks, even if you don’t have an Ogre Hunter in your warband. Gnoblar only.

Jeer
Once per turn, instead of shooting or casting spells, a Sabre-baiter that is not in combat may attempt to jeer any enemy model within 15" that he can see. The target immediately takes a Leadership test- if passed, nothing happens. If failed, the target may only target missiles against the Baiter during his next shooting phase- he must either shoot at the baiter or choose to decline from. If casting a spell or a prayer, if the spell has a target, he must target the baiter if the baiter is within spell range. Sabre-baiters only.

Changed Sharp stuff so it matches the other gnoblar list.

4 Games into playtesting.
Game Breakdown:
Games 1-3: vs.Starting Lizardmen. Even match.
Game 4: 3 player match against Possessed and Witch Hunters. Due to the fact that I got to the Lost Prince first, it was basically 2 against 1. As you can imagine, I got my butt handed to me.

Warband's not quite balanced yet, but I'm more pleased than not. Few observations:

- I love the "Central Figure" rule. I lost the Ogre pretty early on game 4, and went from being cool and in control to taking rout checks with Ld 6. I literally shared in the panic of the Gnoblars, and that's exactly what I want to evoke- a moment when the player and the warband feel an emotional connection.

- Slings are amazing. If this warband has any chance to be competitive, it's slings, slings, slings. With ws2, s2, they're worthless in combat- but if they're within charge range, you might get lucky and chuck one down their throats. It's their best and only chance of making a S3 hit without a Strength upgrade.

-The BS4 on the trappers is really good... I don't suspect that's it's too good for the MODEL, but perhaps it should be 0-2 trappers and 0-2 baiters. Not sure on that.

-Speaking of which, the 1D6 run on the baiters isn't wowing me. Maybe he can instead make a special "flee" move. "Running Scared: If a Baiter starts his turn within 8" of an opponent, he may choose to make a Flee move. He will run 2D6" in the opposite direction of his opposing warrior (if there are multiple enemy warriors within 8", you may pick which enemy you are running away from). This counts as a Flee move. At the start of your next turn, the Baiter will automatically pass his Rally test (but only Rally Tests caused by 'Running Scared' flights.)" Or, perhaps, merge the two together and let the baiter make a Flee response to being charged at.

-The Sabretusk is frickin' powerful, but a constent source of unease. It's like having a Possessed that takes a Leadership test each turn, or he turns on you. The only way to keep him in control is to keep him within 6" of my leader- and because I want to make sure that the tusk doesn't eat my leader, I keep a henchman "buffer" between the two, to intercept any rampaging tigers. This "bufferer" means that the total move of the ogre and tusk (normally a 12" or 16" inch run) is reduced to about 9 or 10". If he had went beserk on me last game, he would also have been in prime range to eat the Lost Prince under my control. I enjoyed playing with in, and thought it was worth the money, but considering he died last game, I'm not entirely sure I want to buy another. I thought SQUIGS are bad... these guys are terrifying!

BIG PROBLEM- gnoblars are essentially goblins with -1S, but for the same cost. I was hoping the "Sharp Stuff" would make up for it, but compared to Slings, sharp stuff is worthless. So I'm left with a dilemna: how to make the cost equal the worth?

Flingers: ditching the 'stuff thrower' ability, dropping the price to 15gc. Their access to slings makes them well worth taking, and probably worth the 15gc. (To compare: they can sling just as well as Verminkin, but at -5gc each.) If I WERE to give them a special ability, it'd probably be a "snapshot" ability, like the crossbow pistol. If an enemy charging a flinger started his turn within 8", the flinger may throw a "sharp stuff" before combat at -2 to hit, like a crossbow pistol. (It'd let them use the sharp stuff finally, and help compensate for their terrible combat strength.)

Gnoblar Fighters: These guys are a real problem. They have the same stats as the flingers, and are weaker than gobbos (who are the same price). How to make them worth taking? (The warband has NO combat strength outside the of the ogre and tusks, so if that can be improved, all the better.
-Increase WS to 3. Seems out of character slightly, but would help them a wee bit. To keep them in "character", maybe make them WS3, BS2. This would not make them worth 15, but it'd help close the combat gap slightly.
-Insignificant: count as 1/2 towards rout check. Would not help the combat gap, but would justify their role slightly better... they are the lowest of the low, who get torn about like tissues.
-Loyal: Give them a Leadership boost of some sort. Maybe they can use the Leader's Ld anywhere on the board. Seems out of character for these guys, but would give them a bit more oomph.
-Speed skill: Give them either "Jump Up" or "Lightning Reflexes". The former would make them worthless at HURTING opponents in combat, but less likely to be taken out- thus, their role is to keep the enemy occupied and tie up their fiercest fighters. Lightning Reflexes is slightly more offensive, giving them one last chance to outmaneuver their opponent and attack first. It'd be unlikely that they'd do any damage, but on a rare roll of 6, they can floor an opponent and keep themseves from getting hurt.

Thoughts?

For the Fighters what about reducing their cost to 12 or so? There is precedent for non-multiples of 5 in the Boatswain. Or giving the Fighters a free Club at start as part of their hiring cost? Club, Dagger and Sharp Stuff for 15 gc is not bad, even on a Gnoblar.

Also you could make a special Gnoblar Club or Hurty Stik or something that allows the S2 Gnoblars a little more umph. Maybe Fighters can use their Club in two hands to boost it to S3. But only up to S3. So if they go up to S3 through advances it is just a normal club.

My suggestion to try out would be the Free Club for Fighters and the S3 special rule for clubs only.

Maybe not a free item... but I really I do like the "Bam" ability... it basically lets the Fighter use a Club as a Halberd.

A weak goblin with a concussing halberd for 18gc sound like a pretty good deal.

Have the warband up to about 160 rating, and they are a BLAST to play. I've slowly been building the swarm. When I lost one of my trappers, I thought I'd test out the 0-2 trappers, 0-2 sabrebaiters. I don't think the BS4 trappers are broken, but 2 of them seem a lot fairer than 3.

I am not disappointed. The second baiter lured in two people into false charges, and the waves of flinger henchmen means I have tons of Sling shots each turn. The Fighters haven't had much of a chance in combat, but the S3 in battle is fair trade for lack of sling.

Few new things:
Baiters; making them Combat & Speed rather than Shooting speed. With promoted flingers, there will be a LOT of fire power, I doubt they need 2 more heroes. The baiters become, (for lack of a better choice), the hth heroes for the band. (To my shock, a frenzied Baiter [S2, W2, A1) with a halberd took out 2 flagellants... hooray high rolling!)

Added the Jeer skill. The ogre takes a lot of fire, it makes sense that the baiter can learn to draw it too.

Set traps: clarified how it works (I hope.) Now it can't trigger if the person who set it is within 2" (which means that he can't set it off, but it also won't work unless he moves off of it, or is taken off the board.)

Sabretusks: I know I took the rules verbatim from the maneater warband, but I feel they might be TOO wild. Some possible changes:
~Have to charge NEAREST model (or nearest friendly), rather than controlled by opponent
~Stupidity (plain and simple)
~Doesn't test for wildness when he's in combat... he's too busy rending and tearing to rebel (meaning it's a worthwhile strategy to just CHARGE him into the foe.)

Would that make them too strong?

First of i really like this warband!

a few things I'm not to fond off is their ability to gather wyrdstone, why can't the hunter search for it ? If the hunter can't look for wyrdstone make some gnoblars who roll two dice and chose or gnoblars with the +1/-1 to the exploration roll.

Regarding the sabretusk for fluff and power i would rule them as this:

They take an ld test if failed they charge nearest model (except for the hunter).

I like the baiter but i think the "flee distance should be longer maybe 2d6?

Redgarding fighters i think that making them 10 pts would make sense, make them cheap and plenty.

Have you considered adding a rhinox mount as at thing for the hunter ? There's already rules i border town.

Cheers Hejle

First off: Welcome to the board!

Second: Glad you like!

Exploration: When it comes to ogre heroes, every warband has some sort of financial restriction. -15 gc, counts as 2-3 people for selling wyrdstone, etc. So, the smart thing to me was to make it more of a passive thing- rather that the ogre making you money and then costing you money, he simply doesn't grant you exploration dice. This means that the most you can get is 5 dice. However, in the chance you lose your Ogre hero, you can always get 6 exploration dice as normal.

Sabretusk: Well, I borrowed them straight from the Border Town Burning rules. Not entirely sure I'm happy the way they're written.

Baiters - their ability doesn't work most of the time, but it does at times. I had it fail 4 games in a row, and then it worked 3 times in the following game, luring 3 enemies into terrible spots.

Fighters: They're not as good as Goblins, but the BamBam ability makes them almost as good. Also, the Sharp Stuff gives them a give weapon that's almost as good as a Sling (2gc worth). I generally think that any experience learning model should be at least 15gc each. Call me crazy. (Although, the snotling band I co-wrote broke that rule)

Rhinox: He shows up in the Gnoblar Horde warband.