Bringin' The Cheese, If You Please

After much pondering, a few consultations, and more than a little time spent on Army Builder, I have come to the following conclusion: Ogres are where it's at. After rooting through my box of unassembled models, I came across two more Kroothounds and a pair of cavalry bases. Thus began my decescent into cheesedom.

I began rolling dice to see what damage could be inflicted by my Ironguts if they were maxed out (two Sabretusks , a Butcher, and a maxed-out unit of Ironguts), and I must say, it's quite impressive. Assuming the 'Guts don't take too much of of a pounding on their way in (and they probably will...) I should be able to get fifteen ogres worth of attacks against any target foolish enough to take my charge. Did I mention that the charge will probably happen on turn 2? Well it will. You'd better get to blasting some Ogres off the board.

Of course, despite having quite a bit of close sombat punch, there remains an issue. Two actually. Both are linked to the same selection of models.

Do I take the Butcher for increased survivability (his lore attribute allows him to regrow lost wounds) or do I go with the offensive juggernaut that is the Firebelly? The Butcher carries the Fencers Blades, which bring his Weapon Skill up so high that many rank and file enemies (short of elite High Elves or Chaos Warriors) will need to roll 5s to hit him. He's also Toughness 5, allowing him to shrug off all but the most impressive hits. The downside? Despite his four attacks (albeit hitting pretty much everything on 3s) he's only Strength 4. I know, he's not there to kick butt and take names, but at least he could (as the army gneral) contribute to the slaughter a little. He's there to augment an already obscenely poverful unit, which will make it a juggernaught of destruction. His spells can be a bit overkilly.

...But then I have a saying, "Overkill is still dead".

Wrong Firebelly, but this one's cuter.

The Firebelly really maximizes what this army wants to do- massacre stuff. Spells like Fireball and Burning Head are always useful, and on Ironguts the Flaming Sword of Rhun is fantastic to the point of hilarity. "Okay, I hit you. With the +1 modifier I wound you automatically, so start pulling minis". Fulminating Flame Cage is a great denial spell- anyone who wants to take a Strength 4 hit on every last model in his unit is welcome to. Anyone who wants to stay put to avoid the effect can do so as well. Everything else in the lore? awesome as well. Plus it stops Regeneration. Now, however, we come to the awesome part; the dude has a breath weapon! That's right, 2d6 flaming hits on demand (once a game) to swing that all important combat your way. He just can't grow back wounds...

Why is the wound regaining such a big deal? "Blood And Glory". This scenario adds together points based on how many banners you have, plus your general counting as two banners. When your number of banners remaining reaches the size of the game divided by 1,000 (so in this case 1), the game ends and you lose. That means, with the single banner in my army, all it takes is the assassination of my General to end the game. I guess that pretty much leaves my hands tied with using the Butcher.

I did need to add six more Ironguts to my "gutstar", and so that meant buying one box of Ironguts and throwing in a pair of "unit fillers". For those who may not know, unit fillers are pieces of scenery added into a unit to bulk it out in place of adding more models. Mine are rocks on 40mm bases. Well, they're a bit more than rocks, they're covered in Ogre gear and have Gnoblars impersonating Ironguts standing proudly atop them, but they're much cheaper than buying a whole other box of Ironguts for two more minis, and they look way better than proxying a couple of Bull Ogres in their place.

For those who may care, here's what's going to stomp in faces tomorrow night:

HERO
Butcher, level 2 wizard, Lore of the Great Maw, the Fencer's Blades, the Dragonbane Gem, and the Ironcurse Icon (180 points)

CORE
17 Ironguts, full command, and the Standard of Discipline (776 pts.)

SPECIAL
Sabretusk (21 pts)
Sabretusk (21 pts)

TOTAL
998/1,000 points

Three units (barely) causes this one to make the cut, and the two "junk drops" (the Sabretusks) will help me to see where the opposing army is going to deploy. This list will either win big (and I mean really big) or it will get slaughtered. That's my kind of gamble. I'll pretty much know if I'm going to win the tournament based on how my army performs, as I'm likely to be the only player there with a fully painted army. (even if it is only to marginal standards, I shouldn't get dinged there), and I consider myself to be a fairly good sportsman (unless my opponent is being... less than honorable).

Now, should I wear my Etna shirt, or should it be the "rules lawyer" shirt?

Questions, questions.