This article was written for a previous version of the Blood Bowl rules and has some outdated information in it. You might still find it contains some useful information.
There is now an an updated Blood Bowl 2020 Second Season Ogre Starting Rosters article.
Ogre Starting Roster Overview:
Ogre teams only have two player types to choose from and one of those is really cheap and other is somewhat expensive. Coupled in with the fact that rerolls double in cost after team creation these are your main considerations when it comes to deciding how to start an Ogre team.
Snotlings while very cheap are very fragile, because of this it may be wise to start with more than eleven players like most teams will. You have a far higher chance of starting with less players past the opening drive than any likely opposing team you are facing.
The team also doesn’t start with any of the core starting skills beyond Dodge on the Snotlings and none of your players can get general skills on a normal skill increase. This can make the team rather dependant on rerolls as well, skimping on them to start with won’t make things easier for you.
Ogres themselves really form the core of the team and it may look desirable to start with as many as possible. Doing that though may leave you short on either players or rerolls, perhaps even both! It is possible to start with the full compliment of six Ogres, though after you get five Snotlings as well to get the minimum eleven players, you don’t even have enough money left for a single reroll! An Ogre team isn’t one you would like to play without rerolls and a more balanced approach is probably your best chance of success.
Reroll Heavy TV1000 Ogre Starting Roster:
| Quantity | Player / Item | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | Snotlings | 160k |
| 4 | Ogres | 560k |
| 4 | Rerolls | 280k |
| Total | 1 Million |
This is quite a well balanced way to start out an Ogre team. You have four Ogres (which is about all you can reasonably afford without short changing elsewhere) for a reasonable core to the team. Eight Snotlings gives you just the one substitute to start with but it does then allow you to start with four of the expensive Ogre rerolls. This could hamper you in the short term but as Snotlings are so cheap it should be easier to fill out the roster with players than it would to save you for another reroll. You can get seven new Snotlings for the price of one reroll after team creation, though hopefully you won’t be going through them that fast!
Future purchases would be getting an Apothecary first like nearly every other team, losing an Ogre would be a big suck on your funds. After that I would get some Snotlings to have some more reserves and then look to saving up for the other Ogres. You could ignore your bench and just save up right away for the Ogres though you may struggle with numbers until you get that money together. If you can make use of Mercenaries and Star Players from Inducements then saving for the Ogres may be the better option.
Apothecary TV1000 Ogre Starting Roster:
| Quantity | Player / Item | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Snotlings | 180k |
| 4 | Ogres | 560k |
| 3 | Rerolls | 210k |
| 1 | Apothecary | 50k |
| Total | 1 Million |
A slight variation on the above build is to drop one of the rerolls for an extra Snotling and an Apothecary. Having thirteen players could make a big difference, even if it is just another Snotling on the pitch. An Apothecary can also sometimes gives you an extra player if they save one from injury. Typically though you will only ever use them on Ogre injuries as Snotlings are so cheap to replace anyway. Losing an Ogre though could be a bit set back due to their cost and also they can be slow to develop. Losing a developed Ogre would be especially tough on the team. Sacrificing a reroll to start without though can put you back on the economic side as that fourth reroll costs as much as an Ogre does now.
It is a bit trickier to decide what to spend the money on this way as when you get 140k you could get another Ogre or a fourth reroll. I would think that getting the Ogre is probably the better option so they can start developing as soon as possible. An extra Ogre on the pitch will also probably help more than the reroll as well. Also if you have inducement money then an extra team training reroll for the match is much cheaper than hiring a Mercenary Ogre.
TV1000 Ogre Starting Roster Summary:
I think either of the above starting rosters give your Ogre team the best chance of success. Starting with less Ogres is making life on the pitch very hard for you if you are fielding even more Snotlings. You could conceivably push up to five Ogres and with six Snotlings you can only afford two rerolls (with 40k left which could get you a couple of extra Snotlings). I think that playing with only two rerolls for an Ogre team though can lead to a lot of early turnovers and make the team really frustrating.
nah. 6 ogres go from there with what you can afford. Otherwise what’s the fun?
But then my Ogre team is named: Not Want Ball!
So there!
After playing some games with an ogre team, I have to admit that Your reroll-heavy starting roster is probably the best of options. I coincidentally started with the other option You suggested, but in the long run getting that Apothecary is really much easier than the 4th reroll, which also tends to be more useful with a team made mostly of Bone-Heads.
I started with 5 Ogres, 8 Snotlings and 2 Rerolls. It has gone very well for my and I just had my first game with the sixth Ogre, and I have only lost one Snotling. 70k toward my next reroll, already have my doc, though I haven’t had to use it yet. Not worth using on a snotling.
Getting the extra Ogre has had a major effect on what my opponents have been able to do. It has really caused more trouble, even though I have to be careful with rerolls.
I almost never spend a reroll on bonehead unless it is game winning move that is very likely to happen even without a reroll. You have other Ogres to cover holes, and I try and use snots to screen for any boneheaded Ogres. I have had the turns where 3 Ogres go bonehead, but I was always able to recover due to the remaining Ogres being 5 strength and snots being able to dodge into anywhere and screen gaps.
I think the team really hums when you have the Ogres as just by existing they force your opponent to end up using their rerolls, whether it is dodging away, risky one die blocks or what have you.
I think the first option is the best, with apothecary and 5th ogre as the next purchases, replacing snots as you go, I never go above 8 snots though, reserves are great if you need them, but as long as you’ve got your 5 ogres, you can get away with as few as 3 or 4 snotlings on the pitch. I’m not sure about a the sixth ogre though. An extra Bonehead to contend with, and I’m not sure I want to put a skilless ogre into a league well into it’s second season. Thoughts?
I think You should get all six Ogres eventually, four for caging (Guard, Stand Firm, Grab for ultra secure and unmovable cage that dominates the sidelines), one for blitzing and killing opposition players (Juggernaut, Piling On, Block/Frenzy on double, maybe Break Tackle) and one for special tasks as TTM, passing and emergency ball-carrying, when all the Snotlings have ‘accidents’ (+AG, Break Tackle, Strong Arm, maybe Pass on double).
The builds are of course arguable, but I think getting all six Ogres is a must, as an Ogre moving five out of six times (assuming You never re-roll Bone-head) is still more useful on the pitch than a Snotling.
I’d go with…
8 Snotts..160
3 Ogres…420
4 RRs…..280
1 Apo……50
Grand total of 910.
I’ve only ever tried playing Ogres once and only to about a TV of 1800, but I would sure hate starting with 3 RRs or no Appo, and rather then having extra snots I would prefer being on my way for a fourth Ogre, with any luck I got him from the first match, but the likly event is that I will have him lined up when starting the third match.
And, the 90k inducements is nice to use for 2 extra snott-Mercs (that you choce to buy to start with).
So in short, I would rather lose one or two matches due to having less ogres (not like I am going to win that much matches anyway 😛 ), and gain hte extra 70k gold from buy the RR from start rather then the ogre.
I used to play the 4 ogres 4 re-rolls build but recently have started running 6 ogres, 5 snots, 1 apoc, and no re-rolls. It sounds really stupid, that’s what I thought but I’m having a lot of success with it, so hear me out.
Ultimately I think it teaches you to be a better player as you learn better risk management, you learn to accept bone-head and not depend on re-rolls.
I find I can get my first re-roll after 3 games. Again for me the big thing is you don’t get outnumbered, as ogres count for more, you save money as you use journeyman and you skill up your ogres faster and have more chance of getting MVP. And added bonus is you will be causing more injuries on the teams you face giving them set backs which helps you keep up.
I play Ogres quite alot and I think the article is spot on. The two builds described above are the best- they are so good that you might even win with them! But of the two, the first is better, with an eye to buying an apothecary ASAP.
The Ogre team functions very well with four ogres. Five is better, six is frightening, but four is all you need to win. But ogres are more reliant on rerolls than any team besides vampires, in my opinion. Therefore, you need four while most teams need three and elves require two. You can ill afford your ball carrier to suffer a bonehead at any stage in the game. Neither can you suffer a both down result on an ogre without block in your opening attack.
If you are just starting in an on-going developed league you could get away with a zero re-roll build as long as every other team out TV’s you by a good chunk. From that point on you just put all your cash towards RR’s and use journey snots until you get to an acceptable RR total. It’s risky, but it could work.
What about 2 Ogres, 1 Re-roll, 11 Snotlings, and you get to hire Morg ‘n Torg every match!
…or you could just play halflings.
Man two ogres and hire morg every match… I would rather take brick farth and grotty every match you have an ag4 goblin and can be thrown on a 2+ by the ogre quarter back and he’s a reliable ball carrier and still leave room for the chainsaw or bomber or scraper sore head… Morg is very over priced for what he can do and you wanna get skills on ya ogres to make them better, hiring stars will not do this… I think the brink farth is a better winning formula… The only saving grace on morg is he’s got no BH and block however he needs support too he cannot do it on his own…
Zero rerolls every time for me. Ogres are the key to long term development so I want them all straight away so I can start getting SPP on them straight away. 6 ogres is a tough wall to get around so you shouldnt have too many problems protecting the ball and your precious snots.
I say do the 4 ogres 3 rerolls and apoth and the rest snots and then I just play with that team until I get to 800k in the treasury that way you have plenty of money to buy the remaining two ogres and rerolls… That’s the way to go… As you hit 1800 TV there are claw teams that munch ogres for lunch… The reason you do it this way is because you will always have enough money to replace ogres and snots as some games you will not have the full 6 ogres anyway as injures do take place…also it keeps you from hitting the 1750 bracket cause after that the money does not come in as quick as the spiraling expenses kick in so that’s how I development my team in a league…
I played the version of this list that was ‘re-roll’ heavy. It was the best choice in my opinion. Given it was my first game with the ogres; I made a few mistakes. But the re-rolls help with the Bone Head skill. I had one ogre miss six out of eight plays because of Bone Head. I would have lost more plays if not for them. I lost, but I had fun.
I rarely reroll bonehead. Unless it is going to result in disaster. If that is what you are using it for, opt for another ogre. It gives you 8 extra attempts to roll bonehead every half. Much more useful.
Now, In my first game as Ogres I took the 4 ogre and rerolls strat . ..
Of course my first opponent was Halfling who Immediately quit apon seeing my ogres, so I got some money and was shunted off to the next game: A game against Chaos. Now this was my first game- and I often play goblins, or An elf team- so being able to smack a chaos warrior around was nice.
Overall- I lost, but the entire chaos team save for 2 chaos warriors and a beastman had been KO’ed by the last round. Overall I see great potential as a bashing team, and I do think that they would contend well low TV, but in the end at those higher TV you have to deal with things like troll slayers and Werewolves- or minotaurs with claws . Your a basher team with a clear disadvantage against most other bashers save for perhaps standard undead or some of the frailer teams. I mean, Mighty blow is one good way to get the field clean. And I do agree, your Grublings are vital to winning- I often use the toss and dash strategy as goblins- and I’ve won several games by utilizing those rerolls, over all early game bonehead is an issue- but once you clear out enough of your opponents players to safely have an ogre Blitz then you are golden.