We had a peek at the Ogre Kingdoms unit roster in Total War: Warhammer III last week, courtesy of several strategy game YouTubers who got early access to a battle replay. Now developer Creative Assembly has rolled out a more complete list, along with some of the spells and beasts the ogres will be carting into battle when the Total War: Warhammer III release date rolls around early next year.
As we noted before, it’s a surprisingly well-rounded group, considering the ogres are primarily interested in acquiring and eating meat. We’ve met legendary lords Greasus Goldtooth and Skrag the Slaughterer already, but the Ogre Kingdoms have additional characters who can lead armies. These are called tyrants, and they are the largest and fiercest ogres in a tribe, having proven themselves capable of wrestling giants and eating an entire American breakfast.
Slaughtermasters are ogre butchers who can use the magic drawn from the Lore of the Great Maw or the Lore of Beasts. The latest Total War blog post has a selection of spells and abilities in the new Lore of the Great Maw, which includes your standard single-unit armour buffs and hexes as well as a gigantic explosion simply called The Maw, which rips open the very ground itself beneath an enemy’s feet.
The ogres’ gnoblars are goblin-like creatures that are good for little other than acting as meat shields. However, these also come in the trapper variety, which are the first missile infantry the ogres can access.
Ogres themselves come in a nice variety, starting with the basic ogre bull line unit. Like all ogre units, they cause fear and can charge into enemy ranks for bonus damage. Bulls can be recruited to dual-wield weapons, use ironfists, or as monstrous infantry. Ogre ironguts have similar qualities, but have access to the best armour and two-hand weapons their tribes can afford.
Maneaters are ogres who’ve spent some time overseas, and have adopted some of the modes of dress they’ve observed in faraway lands they’ve visited. Maneaters can use ironfists or great weapons like ironguts, but they also can be recruited to carry pistols.
Ogre gorgers are more fragile than their bull counterparts, but they make up for that with vanguard deployment and what passes as stealth for ogres. They have armour piercing, anti-infantry attacks, and cannot be broken, since they’re just that hungry. These can be paired with a pack of sabretusks, the ogres’ ravenous housecats, which also gain vanguard deployment if the ogres have a Hunter in their army.
Ogres are big, but they’re not the biggest things the Ogre Kingdoms can field. The unit roster also includes giants and stonehorns, gigantic living fossils with heads made of rocks that can charge through enemy formations and leave only finely mashed pulp behind. Ogres can ride into battle on mournfangs and rhinoxen, which are both ornery beasts capable of supporting the ogres’ considerable weight. Their front ends tend to be extremely pointy.
As for artillery, the Ogre Kingdoms have a couple of options. There’s the scraplauncher, which is an improvised catapult pulled along by a rhinox that has a surprisingly long range. Then there’s the ironblaster, a cannon that was formerly emplaced on one of the Sky Titans’ castle walls, now lugged along by a straining rhinox and which can blow away just about anything on the field with its few rounds of ammunition.
The Ogre Kingdoms will be available to play as an early adopter bonus for Total War: Warhammer III, or as DLC sold separately after launch.