Ogre Starting Rosters Overview
Ogre teams are probably the most unreliable and perhaps frustrating team to play. Since the last write up I did the Snotlings have been rebranded as Gnoblars and had a price drop. There is also now a specialist Ogre Runt Punter instead of one of the Ogres for a tiny bit more money. The rerolls are still really expensive and you still want as many as you can get.
Do you risk starting without an Apothecary or not to save the expensive Ogres? They are strong and tough and Gnoblars can be surprisingly hard to hurt unless the opposition has a lot of Block or Tackle. You also suffer from low agility and no ball handling skills, along with the high price rerolls.
| QTY | Position | Cost | MA | ST | AG | PA | AV | Skills & Traits | Pri | Sec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-16 | Gnoblar | 15k | 5 | 1 | 3+ | 5+ | 6+ | Dodge, Right Stuff, Side Step Stunty, Titchy | A | G |
| 0-1 | Runt Punter | 145k | 5 | 5 | 4+ | 4+ | 10+ | Bone Head, Kick Team Mate, Mighty Blow (+1) Thick Skull | PS | AG |
| 0-5 | Ogre | 140k | 5 | 5 | 4+ | 5+ | 10+ | Bone Head, Mighty Blow (+1), Thick Skull, Throw Team Mate | S | AGP |
| 0-8 | ReRolls | 70k | Apothecary: Yes | |||||||
| Special Rules | Badlands Brawl, Low Cost Linemen, Old World Classic |
Reroll Heavy Ogres
| Quantity | Player / Item | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | Gnoblars | 105k |
| 4 | Ogre Blockers | 560k |
| 4 | Rerolls | 280k |
| 1 | Apothecary | 50k |
| Total | 995k |
The rerolls and Ogres are expensive and both are really valuable. This is cutting it close at only having eleven players when you have such cheap players available to you. However as the reroll cost doubles after the first game and you can fit in an Apothecary to save an Ogre I think it’s a worthwhile trade off. That’s one advantage of the price changes as before you were unable to get the Apothecary in as well as all those rerolls. You can either save up to get the next Ogre or you’ll be able to add more Gnoblars to have some substitutes after the first game. There is an odd 5k left in the bank so you could upgrade one of the Ogres to the Runt Punter if you wanted.
Maximum Ogres
| Quantity | Player / Item | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Gnoblars | 75k |
| 1 | Ogre Runt Punter | 145k |
| 5 | Ogre Blockers | 700k |
| 1 | Rerolls | 70k |
| Total | 990k |
It is technically possible that you can afford all the Ogres from the outset. However this means going down to a single reroll which could end up with you being unable to really do anything in your turns with this mix of players. You also don’t have the Apothecary so could lose one of those really expensive players straight away, of course you could drop the reroll for the Apothecary but even more madness lies that way.
3 Reroll 5 Ogre Team
| Quantity | Player / Item | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Gnoblars | 90k |
| 5 | Ogre Blockers | 700k |
| 3 | Rerolls | 210k |
| Total | 1000k |
If having four Ogres wasn’t enough for you, then you can afford to get five at the start and use up every penny to get three rerolls as well. There is the gamble for losing an Ogre in the first game or two as you don’t have an Apothecary. It’s not that unlikely that you struggle to score which gives you more winnings under the new rules. Coupled with the fact you have no reserve in the bank, I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes two games to get the money for the Apothecary.
Three rerolls gives you a better chance than if you started with one. Again you could swap a reroll to grab the Apothecary but then you need to save up 140k to buy more rerolls. Ogres are fairly tough with their high strength and armour but anything can happen on the blood bowl pitch.
Ogre Starting Rosters Summary
Under the old rules I recommended starting with four Ogres to either maximise the number of rerolls, or to swap a reroll for the Apothecary. With the new price changes you can actually do both if you only take four Ogres at the start, so that’s the way I would lean. It leaves you with the obvious path of just saving up for more Ogres (you’ll just get some Gnoblar journeymen if they get injured).
If you decide to start an Ogre team then you really need to go into it expecting things to continuously fall apart. If that’s something that you don’t think sounds fun, then I would look elsewhere.
The above builds forget about Dedicated Fans – buying 5 almost guarantees enough money to buy an APO at the end of the first game – they don’t count towards TV, so between that and the low cost linemen not counting against TV, it is very likely that you can get the Riotous Rookies inducement, so only having 11 players won’t be an issue.
I don’t really get the obsession with taking an apothecary. There are many reasons why the apo isn’t a priority for Ogres:
1 – the apothecary isn’t as efficient at saving your players as it used to be.
2 – your valuable players are also the toughest ones. You ain’t playing elves.
3 – Death is more unlikely to happen than it previous editions. And do you keep an Ogre with a niggling injury? Yes.
4 – let’s say you pick the 5 ogres, 3 RR start. You’re extremely unlucky and you lose an ogre. Now you have 4 ogres and 3 RR. Not a huge difference with the 4 ogres + apo start… and that’s the worst case scenario. The best case scenario is that you actually have 5 ogres on the pitch, with only the apo and the Punter left to purchase.
5 – Why do people play Ogres? To have fun. Do you have more fun with a fifth ogre or with an apo?
6 – And keep in mind this: what prevents your opponent from taking the advantage and fouling your ogres to death? More Ogres that aren’t bonehead on the pitch. Ogres protect each other. Only 4 Ogres will get beaten by high strength teams way too easily. So that’s the issue with the 4 Ogres build: it creates the need of an apo on its own, to cover the weakness of only having 4 Ogres.
Thanks for your input Zuul, you’ve made a lot of sense and stated your case well.
The Ogre edition of Spike! and the pamphlet that came in the team box price Gnoblars at 20k, but most up-to-date sources online like this one have them at 20k. I can’t find a repricing on the GW website or the FAQ , where are you getting 15k from?
Thanks
They are 15k in the Blood Bowl Second Season Rulebook from 2020.
It sounds like you’re looking at old rules from when the Ogre team was first introduced in 2019. If the cardboard box is the older black / grey one rather than the newer second season boxes it’s likely got old rules in them as well. The new boxes have a blue section at the top and red at the bottom, I’m not sure if they updated the pamphlet that comes in that box though.