Blighted Ogrun Warspears

The blight has twisted the minds as well as the flesh of these ogrun, addicting them to the joy of bloodlust. If their enemies are not killed outright from the impact of their spears, the tremendous lengths of wood dangling from the creatures’ vitals can trip them up long enough for the blighted ogrun to close and finish the job.

On the battlefield warspear chieftains direct their forces against the most dangerous of their enemies, offering every kill as a sacrament to the dragon. They incite their warspears to violence and lead them into the fray. Even the most rugged terrain poses no obstacle to these frenzied warriors. Rising to the position of chieftain among the warspears requires an ogrun to be possessed of strength and viciousness remarkable even among a race of brutal warriors who prize viciousness in slaughter.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Everyone
  • Template:Assault
  • Template:Tough
  • Template:Set Defense

• Chieftain only
  • Template:Officer
  • Template:Granted (Template:Prey-alt)
  • Template:Tactics (Template:Relentless Charge-alt)

Weapons

Thrown Spear
File:Gun icon.jpg		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW
		8			1			Template:-			13
Template:Thrown
War Spear
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		2				4				13

Theme Forces

• Template:Primal Terrors. They gain Vengeance in this theme.

Thoughts on Blighted Ogrun Warspears

File:WarspearChieftain.jpg

Command Attachment

Blighted Ogrun Warspears in a nutshell

On their own Blighted Ogrun Warspears are a very mediocre unit; slow, inaccurate, short ranged for a ranged unit, not terribly hard hitting, and not terribly tough with an Assault attack that isn't all that. And that's pretty pricey for their cost. This is why they are almost never seen without two pieces of support; the first is the Chieftain who hands out Prey making them a significant threat to some of the enemy and the second is the Primal Terrors theme which, grants them Vengeance to improve their threat range and damage output, and make idle pot shots aimed at them a lot more of a dodgy proposition.

Like their brothers in arms, the Blighted Ogrun Warmongers, Warspears look like they can take a few hits, but these looks are deceiving - their defensive stats and only 5 boxes won't keep them alive against even mediocre guns. Against enemy charging models Set Defense lets them fare a little better, as long as those models are relying entirely on the charge to take Warpears out.

Thoughts on adding the CA

If you’re taking these guys, you want to take the Chieftain unless you really need those extra 5 points. They are able to get little work done without Prey and are dreadfully slow through rough terrain without Relentless Charge. Seriously, take the CA if you want to run Warspears.

Combos & Synergies

Beyond the Chieftan, Warspears play well with a few other faction models.

• The Warmonger War Chief is their veteran leader, and with MAT 6 and RAT 5 against non-Prey targets they really want that +1.
• The Blightbringer is a reliable way to boost all Warspear damage, thanks to the Thrown rule. Most guns need rely on ARM debuffs or ranged specific damage buffs, but with Thrown, anyone who buffs strength really bring up the Warspears' game. The Blightbringer has the added benefit of boosting their ARM to help keep more of them alive while going up the board with thier average/low speed.
• Thagrosh1 can sort of make an all Ogrun army work, but you have to build for it specifically. With a pair of Warspears plus CA (preferably with a Blightbringer backing them up), Thagrosh can field a somewhat tanky army if he bricks up. Warmongers and Warspears reach ARM20 in the BB's and Thagrosh's auras.
  • If you build an Ogrun Mountain, consider the Warmonger War Chief. His Veteran Leader affects Thagrosh as well as the Warspears, so you get to double dip on this buff. If positioned well, Warspears reach MAT9/RAT8 against their Prey targets.
  • Like the Blightbringer, Thagrosh's STR upkeep plays well with the Thrown rule on their Assault attack. With Draconic Blessing, Prey, and BB aura, Warspears hit an impressive P+S19. Draconic Blessing also makes Warspears immune to fire, so it's safe to shoot your own units to place Blight Breath perfectly.
  • Fog of War and BB's ARM aura combine to make Warspears much safer on the advance at DEF14/ARM18 - just make sure it's off when it's time for your Ogrun to Assault.
• Kallus1 can make Incubi from Warspears on his feat turn, something that's not normally possible if they're fielded normally. Thanks to the difference in base sizes, the spawned Incubi can be placed anywhere in the original Warspear base, sometimes letting the new Incubi be out of melee from whatever just killed the Ogrun before it.
  • Ignite and Dark Guidance only help Warspears with their melee attacks.
  • Unyielding can stack with the Blightbringer similar to when fielded with Thagrosh1, and the Blightbringer plays well with Kallus as well.
• Kryssa's feat works on Warspears' Assault as it is a STR buff. Tactical Supremacy can help them get up the field to their Prey quicker, or they can be kept safer with Ashen Veil.
• Warspears have a very fun and potentially powerful interaction with Lylyth2's feat. Their Assault order does not differentiate between ranged and melee weapons, meaning on feat turn you can choose to charge using the thrown spear, instead of the melee spear. They will still get the Assault shot, a Gunfighter thrown shot, and still allows them to take their bonus feat attack. Choosing the melee spear prevents the feat attack, as they lack Dual Shot.
  • All of the spear attacks are affected by Pin Cushion if it's on their target.
  • Combine with a Blightbringer for all the same reasons discussed above. As an added bonus, he can put his large AOE shot down twice on feat turn, giving the Warspears more flexible landing zones for the buff.
• Fury from Fyanna2 is pretty potent on Warspears, though she may prefer a more nimble army. They're not awful targets for Iron Flesh, and she can stack the Blightbringer too if you opt for a slower Fyanna list.
• Bethayne, Pride of Everblight turns Warspears into debuff machines with Dissolve or can crank their damage up even higher than normal with Transmutation. Bear in mind Dissolve works on both melee and ranged attacks.
• Everyone loves hitting harder and more accurate with Incite from Vayl1, and it double dips with Warspears since it helps ranged and melee accuracy/damage the same.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• A little pricey for what they do, especially since the Warchief is required and inflates their cost by 33%.
• Tissue paper defenses.
• Slow by faction standards.
• Prey can sometimes be a fiddly mechanic - choosing the right target takes practice, and some opponents can play around it by deliberately keeping them out of range.

Tips & Tricks

• You can still get your Assault shot even if you fail your charge. Especially useful if your Prey target is trying to hang back.
• Prey is reassigned immediately if the current target dies. This can happen during the middle of the Warspears' activation, so use this to your advantage when you can.
• You want to prey valuable targets and melee targets; if you prey a solo or even a light warbeast or warjack then the enemy is going to just keep it back out of range and neuter the warspears. And this goes double for ranged targets.

Other

Trivia

• Unit released in Hordes: Metamorphosis (2007)
• CA released in Hordes: Gargantuans (2013)