Ogre Blade VS Sword of Strife

[GhoulKing505]

I feel like most people take the Ogre Blade over the Sword of Strife. However I stand by the Sword of Strife 100%. It might be because of the combo I take with it though. I normally run my blender lord in a bk bus with the Razor Standard. That gives him armour piercing. He's already strength 5 so everyone is -3 to their armour save against him. With 7 attacks I find this very effective.

The only place it's not all that effective is with high toughness models; models with T6 or higher especially. Those I use my terrorgheist to deal with or my baby vamp who has normally has a lance.

What I'm wondering here is if anyone else prefers Sword of Strife. If so I'd like to meet you and shake your hand. If you prefer Ogre Blade I'd like to here what you have to say.

I'm kinda hoping this thread turns into a friendly debate over which weapon is better. So what team are you on? Team Strife or Team Ogre? I'll even throw in a Team GW because I know some people prefer that.

 

[Regis Von Carstein]

Hey GhoulKing,

Despite the list I posted, I do prefer the Sword of Strife over Ogre blade in general. However, my usual opponents are Dwarfs, Lizardmen, WoC and HE. Other than the HE, everyone has high toughness or high armor so I take Ogre blade sometimes. GW is cheap but it is wasting that I7.

 

[Banat]

ALternative would be Red Fury, Sword Strife, Potion Strength. Of course that's one use only so save it for the combat it really matters in.

Normally I'll have my Blender with QB as well, meaning I almost always get those rerolls to hit, and for me they will make up the numbers that I would have got in non rerolled attacks with Strife.

 

[GhoulKing505]

I take quickblood too. I normally end up doing between eight and ten wounds after red fury. My main opponent is a Lizardmen player but I still find it really effective; especially against temple guard. I wiped out an entire unit virtually single handedly with the sword of strife, red fury, quickblood, and the razor standard. You hit with basically all of your attacks and then if you get hellish vigour off you are set for life. A really nasty combo indeed.

 

[Seneschal]

I go with the ogre blade because I find myself needing to chew through enemy daemon princes, the occasional steam tank, demigryphs, skull rushers with chaos lord and similar nasties.
I don't go with the strife and potion of strength option because I need to maintain str 7 over multiple rounds.
Having ogre blade means I'm spending 4 ghouls' worth of points for a strength boost and a negative four mod to the enemy's save whereas with sword of strife and razor banner , I'd be spending more than twice that amount while also denying my black knights the ability to take banner of swiftness.
Just my opinion (shrug)

 

[GhoulKing505]

That's what I'm looking for here; people's opinions. I want people to share why they choose what they do.

 

[crafty0ne]

I've foregone Magic Weapons in the list I'm using at the moment. A great Weapon is a fine strength boost and With Quickblood, my Vamp Lord will hit at Initiative with it, and there's not alot outside of Elves that will be going before I7. You do lose the re-rolls, but that can be compensated for with a well timed Van Hels. On my Baby Blenders, I usually take an Additional Hand Weapon which will give the +1 attack, but leave me free to take some other magic items out of there reduced point allowance. They do just fine in combat as well. Last game, My vamps in a skeleton bus chewed through a horde of chaos trolls with no problems in 2 and a half rounds of combat.

As For the two weapons in question though.....I think it depends largely on your Meta. If you find yourself in Seneschal's shoes, going up against lots of High T, High Armor enemies, ogre blade is the way to go. But in my Meta, I face alot of elves with only the occasional high toughness armies, so I might prioritize Sword of Strife If I went back to magic weapons.

 

[PureSphinx]

It depends on the lord for me. Two attacks is pretty good, but usually with a vampire lord I take Ogre Blade because, as was mentioned earlier, Red Fury gives me enough attacks.

On the other hand, if I'm running a Strigoi Ghoul King, I dont even take Strife, I go for all out Bloodshed. The restriction on armor and the redundancy of a ward means I can sure spend a bunch of points on a magic weapon and not care, so +3 attacks on that SGK is brutal with Red Fury, putting out a potential 14 ish wounds.

I also take a vampire with Forbidden Lore - Beasts when I run the ghoul King, and give him Strife. I stick em in a horde of ghouls, throw on Wyssan's and suddenly my ghouls are shreking the ogres, instead of the other way round. Also savage beast is helpful...

So I guess I'm on team Bloodshed because the SGK is my favorite lord, however it just depends on your combos I suppose.

 

[GhoulKing505]

@PureSphinx Have you ever tried adding a wight king bsb toting the razor standard in that unit of ghouls?

If someone hasn't noticed already I absolutely love the razor standard and take it in almost all of my lists. Armour piercing ghouls is too good to pass up for me.

 

[PureSphinx]

@PureSphinx Have you ever tried adding a wight king bsb toting the razor standard in that unit of ghouls?

If someone hasn't noticed already I absolutely love the razor standard and take it in almost all of my lists. Armour piercing ghouls is too good to pass up for me.

I haven't thought about that... It's temping, but I never take a BSB in VC as I think it's a waste of points. For the same price I could get 15 more ghouls for an effective -15 to crumble on that unit instead of the -1 bubble I would get. The poison makes up for lack of armor piercing IMO.

 

[Grok]

Hey ghoulking, hate to sort of spoil the party, but if you have a magic weapon you don't benefit from the razor standard :/. Only mundane weapons benefit from special rules from magical standards.

I prefer the extra strenth, no question. Pretty much every army has at least a few high toughness, high armor save targets to crack. Bonuses to the strength help assure the hits turn to wounds . With red fury and quickblood having the potential to deal a lot of wounds doesn't seem to be an issue, its more so getting through toughness and armor. The extra attacks I feel are very tantilizing, but it wil lstruggle vs 1+ saves, monsters, and tough characters.

Just my thoughts.

 

[PureSphinx]

I've read the entire rulebook (minus shooting lol) and I haven't seen anywhere that magic weapons can't be used in conjunction with banners. However I don't have the book atm so could you tell me where it says that so I can check when I get off work?

 

[GhoulKing505]

As far as I'm aware only the poisoned attacks special rule is taken away by a magic weapon. Could you please give me a page number as to where it is written that magic weapons don't benefit from magic standards? I've looked and can't find one. I looked at the armour piercing special rule, the rules for magic weapons, as well as the rules for magic standards. There is nothing there to support that I can't get armour piercing with a magic weapon.

 

[Eternal Salvation]

I've always run the +2 A, though recently, after facing a frost pheonix that I couldnt tie up with ethereals, and reading about some other nasties out there, I've decided it might be nice to have another option to deal with sustained combats where S7 is needed (and one round of lances from knights won't cut it). Also since I run a blender in with knights, for a lot of combats, the two extra attacks might be worth the extra strength

 

[Regis Von Carstein]

Phoenix is really tough to deal with for me too. I asked about some advice on this and I was told "Charge it with your BK bus" or "hit it with GG with GW" I am always puzzled at such advice. The point is the phoenix will always pick its fights. It is next to impossible to charge a phoenix with BKs.

I think one way to deal with it is terrogheist (or even banshee). A banshee, while not relaible, is a deterent as I notcied my opponent will try to steer clear of the banshee with his montsers.

To be honest I really like having the sword of anti-heroes. Against one hero, it is like a mix of the two swords. AGainst 2 it will be like having both!!!!!

 

[Eternal Salvation]

Hey Regis,

I totally see your point about that advice. I may try your banshee deterrent idea, or else the TG in this role.

The sword of anti-heros? I don't think I'd ever given it a second look! What an interesting idea! The thing is that it won't work as well on lone high toughness/AS characters like Chaos or dwarves, which seems to be where I find I need the most help, and it won't help at all on high toughness monsters like the frost pheonix.

 

[Regis Von Carstein]

You are right, the sword is a gamble. But when you see that death star with 3 heroes coming towards you, you just smile on the inside, knowing what 8A at S8 with QB and RF will do to them.

But yes, against monsters it is another matter. I find the banshee is not really good at killing anything but as long as she is in the vicinity, monsters stay away.

 

[Seneschal]

Regis, try a hell steed vampire flying out of a black knight unit to deal with frosties.

 

[HugoMac]

Of this two options, i´ll always take ogre blade. The actual meta, where EVERYONE has high toughness/armour things, makes it almost mandatory. And red fury (re-rolling to hit, of course: via quickblood or van hel´s) gives enough attacks to decimate the enemy.

But what i am using now, with great succeed, is the old two-handed weapon. I don´t mind attacking last with a lord like:

Two-handed
Glittering Scales
Talisman of Preservation
The other trickster shard
Red Fury

Simple but extremely effective blender, even against high elves and their Dragon Banner,


By the way, frostheart phoenix has two solutions with our book: screams and crypt horrors. Nothing to say about the first, and the vigorexic ghouls can take care even easily of a frozen bird: with their high toughness and reg, they will suffer very few wounds (the phoenix only has 4 attacks); they are monstrous infantry, so no thunderstomp; and finally, poison just ignores the -1 strength thing.

Try to charge it with them (or just "offer the combat" ), cast a dance, and frosty is virtually dead.

 

[PureSphinx]

What is the actual meta? I play against a lot of Skaven, orcs, elves, and empire, as well as other undead. The only high toughness/armor is a few empire Knights and the Warriors of Chaos player for the most part. In fact it seems to me like there are just less heavily armored troops than not.

 

[Regis Von Carstein]

Seneschal, The Hell Steed "trick" sounds like a good idea. What would your kitout look like?

Ogre Blade, T of pers, dragon helm, RF, QB?

2+/4++ seems good enough for protection I think.

Or Maybe switch T of pers with T of Endur and take other shard?

 

[Seneschal]

OB, 4++, Shard, RF, QB, heavy armor, shield, barded nm.
I've considered switching in the Iron Curse Icon when facing big gunlines.

 

[Rizzo]

My Vampire Lord combat build:
Heavy Armor, Shield(shooting may happen and it's cheap), Great Weapon
Talisman of Preservation, Trickster's Helm
Aura of Dark Majesty, Beguile, Red Fury

My opponents HATE it.
Take a Fear test at -1
Take a LD test at -4 or reroll all successful hits
Reroll ALL successful to wounds
4+/4++ save if they get through

 

[Eternal Salvation]

The thing that I like the most about taking a magic weapon, is that you usually get rerolls with QB! I want that dependability when I rack up the CR on a ranked unit.

 

[Banat]

My Vampire Lord combat build:
Heavy Armor, Shield(shooting may happen and it's cheap), Great Weapon
Talisman of Preservation, Trickster's Helm
Aura of Dark Majesty, Beguile, Red Fury

My opponents HATE it.
Take a Fear test at -1
Take a LD test at -4 or reroll all successful hits
Reroll ALL successful to wounds
4+/4++ save if they get through

i do really like this build, you can bet fairly safety that he's going to stay alive along enough to deliver his own str7 hits.

The only issue is not maximizing those with asf rolls but if you get vanhels off on him then you should very laughing/ cackling manically through a throat full of blood!