Ogres and Slow witted

Hello everyone.

I'm currently taking part in a Mordheim campaign and I'm running an Ogre Maneater warband using the BTB rules. We're currently in turn 4, myself and the organiser are wondering how the Ogres can become any serious threat to anyone because of the Slow Witted rule.

We're wondering what is the mechanical reason for this 1/2 xp gain is. Considering that 3 games in, there are warbands over 100 points higher than the Ogres and are significantly better than them in almost every way. In the end, I guess I'm asking whether this warband was intended to be used in any sort of campaign, and why the incredibly harsh slow witted rule?

Thanks

Don't Blame the rules for a players poor gaming.

I've never played with or against the maneaters but the rule is probably there because the ogres are so far ahead of anyone else in pure statistics. Compare a mercenary captain with the ogre captain; if both of them gained an advance after 4 experience and they roll +1T (for example) the effect will be much more powerful on the ogre since it'll already be on top of 3 wounds and T4. Ogres needing twice as much exp to advance means that other warbands get the chance to catch up.

Welcome to the forum.

All the ogre players seem to have become inarticulate. However perhaps these threads may help--

https://boringmordheimforum.forumieren.com/t7987-ogres-and-slow-witted?highlight=ogres+experience

https://boringmordheimforum.forumieren.com/t7437-slow-witted-ostlander-ogres?highlight=ogres+experience

https://boringmordheimforum.forumieren.com/t878-starting-ogre-advice-and-slow-witted-rule?highlight=ogre+MANEATERS

My advanced search also turned up a bunch of threads using the ogre Maneaters key words and searching rules and gameplay only. Hope that helps.

Why was the slow-witted special rule created for them? Because look at their max profile

Ogre    M 6 WS 6 BS 5  S 5  T 5  W 5 I 6 A 5 Ld 9

Their starting stats

Ogre Captain M 6 WS 4 BS 3  S 4   T 4   W 3  I 3   A 2  Ld 8

Ogre Half-Grown M 6  WS 3  BS 2  S 4  T 4  W 2  I 2  A 2  Ld 7

The lowest amount of starting attacks their models have is 2. The lowest wound value is 2. The bulls/guides also have 3 wounds. Having more than 1 wound to start is a big deal, and when your entire warband is made of powerhouses, things get serious. They can potentially get more wounds and attacks than a Vampire can. When all of your heroes have this potential; it's extremely powerful. If they weren't slow-witted, they would dominate all campaigns they play in with ease. They even start with 6 movement... Just as fast as Skaven, highest in the game besides four legged creatures.

Try to post a battle report with picks of each of your turns and your reasoning for moving/charging/shooting there, maybe we could help you work on strategy.

Just wondering, since you are significantly lower in rating and it's an easy to miss rule - did you make sure to count each 'large' model (which is all Ogres sans Halfgrowns and Youngbloods) as being worth 20 towards the warband rating?

Per the base rulebook, every large model contributes 20 to the warband rating, not the 5 a normal-sized model counts. If you missed that rule, it may account for the big difference in rating.

That said, I would not put too much stock into warband rating for any warband. It's a very rough indicator of a warband's power level, plus you get the underdog bonuses if you are far enough behind in rating. Underdog bonus XP can help alleviate some of the pain of the Slow-Witted rule.