What's the most effective monster in Mordheim

I'm looking at trolls, minotaurs, Kroxigors, and ogres. What do you guys think is the most effective? Trolls seem to have the advantage that you can carelessly march them out without worrying due to regen and not dying, but seem to suffer from upkeep and stupidity. Minotaurs and Krox are nice because you can equip them how you want. Ogres seem the weakest but benefit with leveling up if you take them as mercs.

my list would be the following, in order of preference:

1. Troll: Theres alot to be said for never having to worry about buying another one unless you get really, really low on cash. His stats are solid, and he can ignore armor on the off chance you run into someone with a ridiculous armor save. Once again, he's mostly #1 because of the immortality.

2. Minotaur: While its stat line isn't quite as impressive as the Rat Ogres, he can gain experience, arm himself how he wants, and isn't stupid. Also after you have a 50% chance of him ending up with 6 attacks after he kills someone.

3. Krox: Once again, its stats aren't quite as good as a Rat Ogre, but he comes with a good weapon, has a 4+ save, and isn't stupid

4. Rat Ogre: He actually has the best stat line out of all of them, but his options are slim, doesn't have any special rules that really sets him apart, and good luck passing ANY leadership tests if you don't keep him within 6" of your leader. Still, he's a better buy straight out of the gate than a...

5. Ogre: Not really awful or anything, but hes at the bottom on virtue of being a hired sword instead of a regular member, and starting with the weakest stat line. It is nice that he's around half the cost of any of the above 4, at least for the first 6 games or so.

I would put the ogre at 5 out of the gate, but going up to #1 if he is in a Ostlander warband and becomes a hero. A hero ogre with weapons, armour, equipment, and skills is pretty formidable.

I was under the impression that Minos don't gain xp either.

"Animal: A Minotaur is far more bestial than its Beastmen brethren and although it may gain experience it may never become a Hero."

oooo, the Ostlander Ogre, forgot all about him. That can be a mean, mean beast.

Ahhh ok. That's what I was confusing the Mino with. Thanks for the clarification. Now I'm not sure which beast I'd rank.

The minotaur used to be able to get skills. When it first came out it gained xp, but if you rolled TLGT then instead of becoming a hero you could pick a skill for it from Combat, Strength, or Beastman. This was in the same edition that allowed beastmen a skill that would let them dual-wield DHWs in each hand (before it was replaced with Shaggy Hide later). Unsurprisingly, this skill was nerfed, but I think it was a shame they stopped the minotaur from getting skills.

@whiskeytango: Nice list and i totally agree to your ranking,
but some are missing.

i would rank them as follows:

6 gigantic spider ( forrest goblins, nemesis crownd): like rat ogre, less attacks higher price but poisonous attacks
7. trained bear ( kislevites): stupid without handler only 2W, but lowprice tag
8. sabretoth tigers (BtB Maneater): useless monster, fail ld check and it will eat up your own people ( controlled by opponent)

I am sure i also forgot one or more choices.

One problem with the troll is that it really gives the opposition a lot of incentive to waste your Big Boss.

i suppose, but going boss hunting is a sound strategy against any orc warband, with or without a troll

I just remembered one more choice:

Chaos Spawn (BtB marauders):very strong because of many attacks, resilent, bad movement rules, therefore avoidable. It is difficult to put the spawn in the list. I think it is stronger than the rat ogre therfore i would rank it at nr 4.

"i suppose, but going boss hunting is a sound strategy against any orc warband, with or without a troll"

True. Indeed going boss hunting against any warband is a good plan. But it is critical against an orc warband with a troll - you take out the Big Boss, and you take out the BB and the troll, basically.

And then there are those few times when the troll actually passes it's own stupidity test and you get to see the look on your opponent's face

Yes, I suppose it could happen...