The first thing you notice is the smell. A foul odour, carried on the wind. The animals notice it first. Birds scatter and the horses struggle in their reins. Then the bite of frost catches in your throat. Your breath leaps out to greet you, hanging in the air to assure you this is no mere trick of the mind. The third is the noise, the crashing of hooves, the cracking of earth, the roar of the ancient hunters.
Ogors are monstrous. They want to fight and eat their way through the Mortal Realms in an all-you-can eat-buffet of barbarism. To stand in their way is to stand before hulking brutes of single-minded aggression. To face the rampaging path of an Ogor Mawtribe on the battlefield is to be crushed beneath the power of bellowing beasts with only two outcomes… Death or Dinner.
Ogors are nomadic warriors. They travel the Mortal Realms believing they are the living embodiment of the god Gorkamorka’s endless hunger. Their Butchers, meat-mad mages who claim to be guided by the magic of Gorkamorka, lead them on an insatiable path to fresh meat. Once their direction is identified, there is little hope for those on their Mawpath as they tear through the land seeking to sate their appetites.
More fearsome still are the Beastclaw Raiders. Ogors with command over massive hulking beasts, greater in size and stature than even the Ogors themselves. Their bond with their mounts is unbreakable. This allegiance between man and beast has one goal: to outride the Everwinter, an elemental force said to be summoned by the breath of their god. The Beastclaw Raiders are spurred on to hunt and feed, lest they be captured by the storm and frozen within its midst.
While the background of the Ogor Mawtribes is an incredible source of inspiration, I chose to derive my own backstory for my fledgling collection. To add a little variety to my own colour scheme, I chose to base my Ogors in the verdant Realm of Life. Here, the inherent magics within the roots and soil combined with the carcasses of mounts from ancient wars to create the Mossfang Cavalry and Swamphorn that my Ogors favour. Just a simple twist of their backstory allowed me to think outside the box when it came to my colour scheme.. This enabled me to add texture to the flesh of the beasts as if they were still being stitched together. I also chose to add a Mega Gargant to my collection, to add context to their scale.
Ogors are no stranger to fans of the legacy game Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Formerly known as the Ogre Kingdoms, they now enjoy a new lease of life in the Mortal Realms under the moniker of Ogor Mawtribes. Despite their new home, some things never change, Ogors are a low model count army to collect, paint and get ready for the table. The ferocity and dominion of each individual is more than a match for several smaller soldiers from other factions. From the wily and diminutive Skaven to the swarming legions of undead, each Ogor presents a monumental challenge to overcome.
This power and density translates into the tabletop game wonderfully and I found myself drawn to the Ogors for that quality. Ogors represent a brilliant choice for the hobbyist who wants to get an army on the table fast. With large surfaces, they’re forgiving for new painters or those who need that extra bit of help controlling their brush. Tarnished fabrics, towering layers of bulk and crumpled armour lend themselves perfectly to various speed painting methods, such as Citadel’s Contrast Paints, which have seen extensive use across my collection, as well as similar offerings such as Speed Paints from The Army Painter.
Painting Ogors can be a rewarding and varied experience. Their range is cram packed with detail from the hulking frame of their Battleline to the stature of their Stonehorn and Thundertusk mounts, both adorned with a host of trinkets and flim flams they’ve managed to snatch from their prey on their journey across the Mortal Realms. These details can visually enhance your collection, with the benefit that you get to paint little decorations from other armies your Ogors might have met on their conquest. If you’re part of a gaming group, why not chat around and see if some of your fellow hobbyists can share some spare bits from their own army for you to adorn your Ogors with? It’s flavourful and can add that extra sense of personality to your grudge matches against one another.
I’m a fan of accessibility when it comes to tabletop wargaming. It’s an experience like no other to watch two lovingly-painted armies meet across a battlefield of vivid scenery before creating rivalries and tales recounted over years to come, but with so many choices to make and products to decide between, getting there can be a confusing journey. A further strength of collecting Ogor Mawtribes is the Start Collecting Box that you’ll find these miniatures in. Part of a wider range of starter adjacent boxes from Games Workshop, Start Collecting Beastclaw Raiders offers one of the greatest deals in wargaming. At the time of writing, this offers you two Battleline units and one General, which are dense enough in points to ensure you can hit the battlefield and play the smallest size games of Age Of Sigmar right out of the box. This is a virtue in itself and, like countless others, I began my hobby journey into Ogors this way. I cannot recommend it enough.
Similarly, Ogors are a great army for your first events. With a small number of models needed, the barrier to entry for attending incredible Warhammer events is lowered considerably. Furthermore, each Battletome and Warscroll offers a variety of ways to construct your army. It would be remiss of me to not mention that Ogors have very similar stat profiles, making your army a very easy army to learn. So if you’re new to playing games, or you’d like to attend events and you’re concerned about remembering all your rules, Ogors are a great choice to dip your toe into. For any tournament enjoyer, Ogors could be that great second army that you’re looking for. If you’d like to add a little variety to your tournament setup, then an army of twenty or so absolute chonks can be easily readied for battle with minimal painting in the hotel room the night before the tournament.
(Yes, this happens.)
I’m having an absolute blast collecting this army. I decided to choose Ogors first for the change they provided me. In the past I’ve painted a lot of armoured, metal, or cybernetic armies (you remember my Necrons, right?). This, combined with the announcement of Armies on Parade 2022 from Games Workshop, was the perfect storm. I decided to paint something that combined a lot of new textures, flesh, fabric and fur alongside clearly defined goals and deadlines to motivate me to finish the army. I’m going to continue to add to my collection and hopefully enter my first Armies on Parade!
Thank you for reading, I hope this article has shown you that bigger really is better. When it comes to getting an army ready, it’s not about painting less… It’s about painting Maw!
If you want to chat to me, show me your Ogor Mawtribes collection, or see more of my hobby content you can find me over on Twitter @PrinceofBielTan.
Thanks for your writeup, Josh! If you’re interested in telling us about an army you love, some hobby you’ve done, or anything else, email us at thetinyplasticpeople@gmail.com or DM us on Twitter @tinyplasticpals!
