Guide: Primer for Ogre Kingdoms, Gathering of Might

[Samhain]

Primer for Ogre Kingdoms, Gathering of Might v0.95

I. INTRODUCTION

Ogre Kingdoms, Gathering of Might by Sombre is the most horrifyingly disgusting Dominions3 nation, mod or otherwise, bar none. It is Texas Chainsaw Massacre II with a glandular condition. I never get nightmares, really, never. But, the night after I read through Sombre's descriptions for its units and spells I had some mighty freaky dreams. I absolutely love this mod.

Sombre's active thread listing Ogre Kingdoms as well as his other mods can be found here: http://z7.invisionfree.com/Dom3mods/...p?showtopic=21

The mod itself can be downloaded from this thread in the same forum: http://z7.invisionfree.com/Dom3mods/...owtopic=2&st=0

The following is an overview of the features of the Ogre Kingdoms nation with some bits of advice on ways to play it. As I am still climbing the steep grade of the Dominions3 learning curve myself, consider this a draft submission for peer review. Critiques are welcome and when and where possible will inform rewrites to the original post. As much as possible, I tried to make it useful to even the most novice user.


II. UNITS

A. Recruitable Regulars

Gnoblar Fighter, 3g 1r

Morale 6 size 1 chaff with mountain survival and darkvision 50. Their dirt-cheapness makes them enticing for use as patrollers, but there are better versions. Read on.


Gnoblar Fighters, 12g 4r

The same as above but bundled into a four-pack, it starts out life as a size 3 unit with three dagger attacks per turn and a patrol bonus of 1.

Because it is size 3 it forms a less dense grouping than squads of the single Gnoblar units making area effect attacks against groups of them much less effective. But, best of all, it gets four lives.

Combine this feature with high morale, berserker, or standard bearing units to keep them in line and they will tie up an opponent for quite a while as a meat curtain. Or, put them out front but set to Guard Commander of a commander set near the maximum limit of an opposing missile unit's range to draw enemy fire off your main troops.


Gnoblar Trapper, 5g 1r

For just 2 more gold than the Fighter version you can get stealth, forest survival, and supply bonus 1 added to the standard gnoblar abilities. But, again, they are far more useful in the handy four-pack, for the reasons cited above and more. Keep reading.


Gnoblar Trappers, 20g 5r

This is the multi-pack version of the Gnoblar Trapper. Instead of throwing scrap like the single this size 3 unit with 4 lives throws a net in combat, provides a supply bonus of 5, and has a patrol bonus of 3. Note: the net is lost after the first member of the pack is killed.

Attach 10 of these to one of the N1 Ogre Hunters and sneak them along with a large army to provide supplies on the road. Or, use them as patrollers during peace time in your fortified provinces that get pulled inside when a siege is imminent to keep your gluttonous Ogres fed until you can mobilize some troops to break them out.


Ogre Bull, 25g 13r or 25g 22r

This is your basic, brawling ogre. He comes in two varieties. One is armed with an Ogre Club and the trademark Ogre Smash, a belly bump with a charge bonus. The second is armed with a crude broadsword like weapon called an Ogre Choppa and an Iron Fist. The second version also gets an extra point of Protection and 3 more points of Defense. Recruiting version 2 costs 9 more points of Production.

Without Trollguts and Toothcracker (see the section on battle spells below) he doesn't generally last long enough to justify his cost. But, stack either of those national buffs with Bullgorger and they can go toe to toe with any non-sacred and otherwise unbuffed heavy infantry unit in the game.

But, like all Ogres, he also has a Gluttony score, though just 2 in his case. Also like all Ogre units he gets cold resistance 40, darkvision 30, wasteland and mountain survival, and a pillage bonus.


Deathbelcher, 35g 26r

This is not a unit I have had much success with. While the rapid fire shrapnel from a battery of deathbelchers can clear a line of shield-less infantry rather well they lack the range, accuracy, and total damage delivering potential of a smaller investment of gold in independent archers.


Ogre Irongut, 30g 31r

If Ogres raised the occasional poet, there would be many odes to the mighty Ogre Irongut. His armor, before receiving the national buffs, gives a respectable Protection of 17. Besides the nearly ubiquitous Ogre Smash, he wields a length 5 Big Ogre Choppa that, again just factoring in his pre-buffed strength, delivers 24 points of damage per hit. He can not only repel heavy cavalry, he can take one down in a single round of combat.

After recruiting commanders, unless you are starved for resources or need a lot of troops in a hurry, buy as many of these as your resources allow every turn until your blood summons eclipse your need for them.


Gnoblar Scraplauncher, 150g 43r

The same investment in gold will get you as many as 15 independent archers which are much harder to kill, dish out far more damage per turn, and actually have a reasonable chance of hitting their targets. The Scraplauncher is thematic, but not useful in my opinion.


Ogre Pitfighter, 85g 38r

A sacred, berserker +4, protection 20, dual wielding, meat shredder extraordinaire; a pack of these with the right bless working through a line of heavy anything is an awesome sight. Their high cost in both gold and resources, low magic resistance, and the fact that they are capital only make them tough to build a bless strategy upon except in small map blitz games. Fortunately, they aren't the only peg on that hatrack. See the Anoint Mawtribe ritual spell below. In most cases though, you'll just use them when a small force of extremely heavy hitters is more advantageous than a larger number of merely heavy hitters such as Ironguts.


Ogre Maneater, 80g 15r or 80g 16r

Ogre Maneaters trade high resources for high cost to provide a size three unit with good gear. Use them when their morale boosting standard is needed or in desperate circumstances when you have a lot more money than resources. But, don't rely on them too much, their upkeep is tremendous.


B. Recruitable Commanders

Gnoblar Scout, 1g 1r

He's a dirt cheap scout.


Ogre Bruiser, 30 26

This is the basic leadership 40 Ogre commander.


Ogre Tyrant, 70g 45r

He is size 4, with 18 strength, 42 hit points, and ambidextrous 5. Properly outfitted, he can be a capable thug.


Ogre Hunter, 90g 4r

There many uses for this N1 (20% N2) mage. He gets an extra supply bonus of 10 over the normal nature magic bonus, making him a good source of grub on the road. His five harpoons each do an astounding 24 points of damage against size 3 and smaller targets and giant disembowling 38 points of damage to size 4 and larger ones. With Eagle Eyes and his natural precision of 12, this is a devastating weapon. And, the fact that one in five can cast Contact Yhetee Shaman and Haruspex make recruiting a few of these early a high priority. Also of note, he is stealthy.


Ogre Butcher, 110g 5r

This sacred B2H1 mage is the workhorse of just about any Ogre Kingdoms empire. In the early stages they will represent the bulk of your researching points despite their meager research of 2. You will want one in nearly every battle, to cast Bullgorger and/or Bloodgruel. And, when you are ready to begin blood searching in earnest, even without a Sanguine Rod they will average a little better than 4 blood slaves per turn in any province with a population of 5000 or more. That's not bad for less than 4 gold per turn of upkeep.

These guys also have fear +0, 100% poison resistance, and ambidextrous 3 making them a suitable thug chassis.


Ogre Slaughtermaster, 240g 5r

The Slaughtermaster gets 2 more points of research than the Butcher. But, even with a Magic +1 scale that is still 48g per point of research. It is better to use his B3H2 (+1 level of either Earth or Fire) on the march for those national and other blood spells that need it.

They also share the fear, PR, and ambidextrous traits of the Butchers.


Slavegiant, 350g 25r

With 25 strength and three area effect attacks per turn, two of them striking two squares per hit, the amount of damage this monster can dish out to a horde of size 2 units is absolutely ridiculous. Think of him as a mage with 82 hit points that can cast a range 1, low fatigue Magma Eruption without any investment in research.

The downside is that they have mediocre protection, poor defense, no shield, and only a misc slot for magical gear. This makes keeping them alive tricky to say the least. Perhaps someone else has a workable strategy for overcoming this weakness. But, in my experience your gold is better spent on a Butcher and a few Ironguts or Bulls.

For those who do see a use for him, be aware that he is capital only.


C. Summonable Regulars

Sabretusk

Hit Points: 24
Protection: 5
Morale: 13
Defense: 11

A stealthy, size 3 animal with 2 attacks and a supply bonus of 4.


Gorger

Hit Points: 40
Protection: 9
Morale: 20
Defense: 8

This beast has strength 17 with three attacks, gluttony and mapmove 3, berserker +3, and darkvision 75. They are an excellent compliment to the Ogre's national buffs.


Yhetee

Hit Points: 28
Protection: 9
Morale: 11
Defense: 11

With coldpower 2 and chill aura 5 these are most useful in cold dominions. Magical weapons make this the Ogre's standard counter to ethereal opponents.


D. Summonable Commanders

Henchfiend

Hit Points: 9
Protection: 8
Morale: 9
Defense: 13

Magic:
100% F or D +1
100% F or D +1

These little demons can fly and are stealthy, 100% fire and poison resistant, and have leadership 0. In the early months of the game divert some of your blood slaves to summon some Henchfiends to boost your research. Later, you'll find other uses for them.


Yhetee Shaman

Hit Points: 32
Protection: 9
Morale: 13
Defense: 11

Magic:
N1E1W1
20% E, N, W, or D +1
20% E, N, W, or D +1
20% E, N, W, or D +1
20% E, N, W, or D +1

Yhetee Shaman are a primary source of magical diversity. While in cold dominions in particular they can serve as proper thugs with a few self buffs from the alteration path, I find their primary roles tend to be site searching and forging. Regardless of how you use them, for 11 nature gems, they are a solid bargain.


Mawgut

Hit Points: 80
Protection: 14
Morale: 50
Defense: 8

They get 25% regeneration, wasteland survival, mountain survival, 50% cold resistance, 100% poison resistance, leadership 0, are blind, and sacred.

He is basically a big, walking mouth. Not surprisingly, he has a massive appetite, gluttony 50. He also causes unrest. Creating one costs a Slaughtermaster. I prefer keeping the Slaughtermaster.


Mawfiend

Hit Points: 40
Protection: 13
Morale: 18
Defense: 13

Magic:
F1D1B1
100% F or D +1
100% F or D +1

With fear, 100% poison resistance, and 100% fire resistance this is another decent thug chassis for Ogre Kingdoms. It is not sacred, however. So, with a good bless the other options may prove better. But, it is worth noting that 25% of those summoned have D3, useful for casting Soul Vortex. This is an excellent spell for wading through seas of weak recruits or heavy province defense.

Special thanks to Shikazu for help deciphering the magic paths on the Ogre summons from the dm file.


Facet of the Maw

Magic:
H3

This minor manifestation of the Great Maw starts out life as a Mapmove 3 creature with swamp, forest, and mountain survival. So, It is easy to propagate these around a single lab. But, starting the second turn they plant themselves in the earth (become Mapmove 0). Their purpose is to serve their god as blood sacrificing machines. They even have hand slots for holding Jade Knives. But, their attack and defense skills are both 0 and they auto-beserk in battle. So, don't look to them for help in a fight.


E. Heroes

Skrag the Slaughterer, E1B4H3

He's Size 6 with recuperation, regeneration, fear +3, and a few other niceties such as autosummoning Gorgers in combat. But, he also auto-beserks the first round which can make him risky in tough battles. Likely, you'll want to keep him in a lab anyway for his B4 magic ability.


Groth Onefinger, F3B3H3

Not only is he a good magic asset, he auto-summons a sacred Ogre Bull every turn.


Slavelord Braugh, D3

He has a weapon that casts Enslave Mind when it hits, and each turn he autosummons 5 mindless slaves which become soulless slaves if they are killed. Either form provides a low-upkeep patroller for your bloodslave hunting grounds.


III. MAGIC

A. Battle Spells

Blood0

Braingobbler, B3H2

A 7+ area of effect Panic with a fatigue cost of 40.


Bloodgruel, B2H1

An area of effect 15 Elemental Fortitude with a fatigue cost of 35.


Bullgorger, B2H1

An area of effect 20 Strength of Giants with a fatigue cost of 60.


Trollguts, B3H2

An area of effect 8 Regeneration with a fatigue cost of 90.


Toothcracker, B3H2

An area of effect 5 Marble Warriors with a fatigue cost of 90.


B. Ritual Spells

Conj0

Call Sabretusks, N1

Five nature gems net 6 Sabretusks.


Conj2

Contact Yhetee Shaman, N2

Eleven nature gems are used to summon 1 Yhetee Shaman.


Call Yhetee Pair, N1

Four nature gems net, you guessed it, 2 Yhetee.


Blood0

Bind Henchfiend, B3F1

Sixteen bloodslaves are sacrificed to summon a Henchfiend.


Blood2

Open the Maw, B3E1

Ten bloodslaves are sacrificed to summon a Facet of the Maw.


Bind Gorgers, B3F1

Seven bloodslaves are sacrificed to summon 2 Gorgers.


Blood3

Become as Mawflesh, B3H2

The caster sacrifices 12 bloodslaves to self transform into a Mawgut.


Annoint Mawtribe, B3H2

Forty bloodslaves are sacrificed to summon a Mawtribe, 20 sacred Ogre bulls.


Blood4

Gorger Pitfeast, B3H2

Forty six bloodslaves are sacrificed to summon 12 Gorgers.


Blood5

Contact Mawfiend, B5F1

Thirty six bloodslaves are sacrificed to summon a Mawfiend.

[Samhain]

IV. STRATEGY

Ogre Kingdoms is not, however much it may superficially resemble Hinnom, a power nation. While it has a very respectable early game, by mid game its shortcomings can be fairly crippling if not prepared for well in advance. And, its end game doubly so.


A. Pretender Theory

Pretender design strategies will generally be based on the size and composition of the map, game settings, and the opposing nations. There are a few good principles to keep in mind though.

The most critical path missing from the available summonable or recruitable national mages is astral. And,the low magic resistance of Ogres only increases its necessity. So, unless the game is expected to be resolved before your opponents' spells can make this flaw fatal, include at least a few levels of astral.

As you don't get recruitable site searchers, you will be hamstrung early without a mobile pretender with paths in the gem types you are after. Otherwise, 4 or more levels in nature and/or earth offer useful blesses for your Butchers and Slaughtermasters while also ensuring depth in those essential paths. Death is also nice as death summons tend to synergize well with Ogre summons, like Yhetee which have cold auras and mapmove 3 or Gorgers which have darkvision 75 and, likewise, mapmove 3. Blood is the least needed path, but a point of blood on a rainbow mage can be very useful in broadening the available range of blood summons.

As a blood nation Ogre Kingdoms plays well with turmoil/luck. You tend to move more provinces over to blood production and do so earlier than with other blood nations. And, you have the tools to push your dominion into your neighbors where your candles will become turmoil/misfortune for them. But, if you plan to delay your move into blood hunting a bit, order will net you more gold with which can build you more castles which in turn provide more places to recruit Butchers and Ironguts. So, choose what works best for the strategy you plan to deploy and don't forget that there are five options between turmoil 3 and order 3. Personally, I don't take more than 1 level of misfortune and even then only when using order 3.

Ogres can make good use of production. If you are playing a bless strategy with Pitfighters, planning to build many forts quickly, or content with Bulls then sloth is even acceptable. I often like recruiting lots of Ironguts the first 12 turns and will pay for a bit of production to do so when I can.

You get two free levels of cold, so of course you are going to take them. Other than the hit to your income, 3 levels will generally hurt others more than you. It again depends on your strategy. If you aren't pushing dominion aggressively, your blood summons won't mind as they will tend to be on the periphery of your empire where Heat/Cold is affected by your neighbors. And, at home, any Yhetees you have in or near the lab will love it.

Always take growth to compensate for the population loss due to blood hunting and to provide more grub for your Ogres. How many levels you take depends on how much blood hunting you will do, how big your armies need to be inside your dominion, and how much you can afford.

Magic is also a must. Magic of 1 or more makes the Butcher your most efficient researcher in terms of research points for the amount of gold at 36.66 gold per research point to recruit. Drain 2 or lower on the other hand makes him a horrendous 110 gold per 1 research point to recruit. No matter how modest your research goals, a point or three in magic will get you there much quicker and/or allow you more freedom to send your Butchers and other mages out to support your armies or to hunt for blood slaves.

Unfortunately, as of version 0.9 Ogre Kingdoms have neither national pretender options nor access to any non-default chassis. You'll just have to make due with the basics. In the next section are a list of the more successful design strategies I've come up with.


B. Pretender Practice

Imprisoned Cyclops, E9, Dom8, T3C2G3L3M3

Imprisoned Titan, A5E4N4, Dom9, T3C2G3L3M3

These two pretenders are just variations of the same strategy, one particularly well suited for playing Ogre Kingdoms in small, fast games. It encourages rapid expansion by giving Pitfighters and holy blood mage commanders a decent bless. The long-term battle plan though is dominion push. With temples at 100 gold apiece and Facets of the Maw offering easy access to H3 blood sacrificers, kill by dominion is a piece of cake for Ogres. Dom kill is also a nice method for fighting water nations as it provides an alternate path to victory than sending your Ogres under the waves or spending gems on amphibious summons.

Magic 3 helps compensate for the loss of your pretender for three years. Just drop the labs you intend to use for summoning the Facets of the Maw on provinces with recruitable independent mages. With +2 research, even tribal shamans are great researchers for the price.

This strategy should be soaked in blood and not just for blood sacrifices. Since what little gold you can scrape from the population is used for building labs and temples and recruiting Ogre and independent mages, divert some of those slaves to your labs for the Anoint Mawtribe spell. They are a good bargain regardless, but particularly with an E9 or decent E/N bless.


Awake Enchantress, A3S4E4B1, Dom5, T1P1C3G2L3M1

This pretender design provides access to air magic for the excellent gear and battlefield spells that path provides. It also includes the nearly essential path of astral. The 2 points of reinvigoration and 1 point of magic resistance provided by this bless will be appreciated by your Butchers and Slaughtermasters. By taking a point of blood, Storm Demons and Horrors are much more accessible.


Dormant Enchantress, A1E9S4N4B1, Dom4, T3S1C2G2L3M1

If you like the Enchantress above but really feel you need a stronger bless, for instance if Ogre blood mages wading into battle will be done for reasons beyond mere stop-gap measures, then this design even has the Titan and Cyclops beat in that category and does so with a 1 year rather than 3 year wait. Dom4 may not be a good choice for a dominion killing machine, but those same dominion pushing resources can also be used to compensate for a weak one. And, you get the added advantage of not needing to empower an Ogre Hunter or tribal shaman to B1 for forging Jade Knives.


Awake Crone, W2S4D3N5B1, Dom4, 02C2G2M1

This is my favorite pretender design for Ogre Kingdoms, in part because I just like picturing this little old lady ruling over her empire of bloodthirsty Ogres. Though, it takes a bit of time to mature.

Nature gems, as I said earlier, are critical to a successful Ogre strategy. This design provides site searching for them as soon as expansion starts and the ability to cast Mother Oak without having to research construction to level 4 for a Thistle Mace. Once at conjuration 6, she can also summon Lamia Queens and Spectres to help diversify your magic paths. Naiad Warriors, Awaken Dark Vines, and Bind Ice Devil are all also within reach with a few boosters.

Scales may take some tweaking to fit your particular situation and gaming style but the goal in this case is to take advantage of a delayed shift to a blood economy to pursue conjuration and alteration by earning a bit more gold.

Just don't think of her as a battle mage, except in the most dire of circumstances. Keep her behind the lines site searching and performing other magical duties. Leave the heroics to her big, hungry boys and naughty summoned pets.


TACTICS

A. Earlygame

The centerpiece of most Ogre expansion armies in the early game is a band of Ogre Bulls or Ironguts packed around a Slaughtermaster set to hold and attack while the mage buffs them with Bullgorger, Trollguts, or whatever is most appropriate to the situation. When facing a small number of hard hitters, use Trollguts. For protection against large numbers of weaker opponents or masses of archers, Toothcracker tends to be a better bet.

Twelve Ironguts or about 20 Ogre Bulls with the right buff will handle most level 5 independent armies. The latter in particular may need some Gnoblars or independent infantry with shields to form an arrow/cavalry screen however.

As soon as possible, start recruiting independent archers and crossbowmen to target enemy archers and to dish out damage while your Ogres are receiving their buffs. But, with a mapmove of 2 and both wasteland and mountain survival standard I rarely find independent heavy cavalry worth the expense.


B. Midgame

Hopefully, during the early game you were targeting your research to provide you with the spells that best improve your chances against the types of threats you will most likely face. Your success in the midgame will be determined by how well you can synergize your magical and conventional assets.

For Ogre Kingdoms, packs of Ironguts and Bulls enhanced with the Ogre national blood magic buffs will likely continue to provide the bulk of your force. But, here are some ideas on how to capitalize on what is typically a major resource for Ogres by this stage of the game, Henchfiends.

Since they fly and are stealthy, it is easy to hold your Henchfiends in reserve until they are needed then deploying only those types that are appropriate to opponents you face.

The F2 variety has access to a lot of great Evocation spells, especially after casting Phoenix Power, for killing off masses of weak troops. If instead you see yourself facing bands of thugs or giants who don't have good (18+) magic resistance, research alteration and neuter that threat with Blindness.

Also nice for countering small numbers of powerful opponents is the Corpse Candle spell available to the F1D1 casters at Conj5. And, the D2 Henchfiends can provide the universally useful skellispam via Raise Skeletons. If possible provide them with Skull Staves to reduce their fatigue.

To target enemy researches and other non-thug commanders, equip a henchfiend with a black heart to make a flying, fire-proof, summonable assassin. Total cost without a Dwarven Hammer or blood site is just 26 blood slaves and two turns of blood mage time. Use the F2 variety against commanders without fire protection. Or, give him a Heartfinder Sword and Black Steel Tower Shield to give him some melee punch.

Of course, Ogres have many other options at this stage. One is to create a Sabbath with a group of Butchers mastered by a Slaughtermaster to make melee powerhouse. With the E1 variety you can try Summon Earth Power and Invulnerability. With the F1 Slaughtermasters, Phoenix Power and Fire Shield will give them a good boost. Of course, don't forget the Ogre standard blood buffs.


C. Endgame

The final phase of most Dominions3 games involves heavy use of geared up super combatants. Typically, a successful strategy still makes use of regulars, they are just of a better variety than what most nations can recruit. By this phase, an Ogre Kingdom nation should be fielding some combination of the unholy trinity of blood summoned troops; Demon Knights, Devils, and Storm Demons.

For bagging your opponents' super combatants Research Blood 9 and bring out your F1 Slaughtermasters (or Mawfiends wielding Blood Thorns). Infernal Prison is an excellent means to remove an enemy unit that otherwise seems invulnerable to every weapon in your arsenal.

Fighting on your behalf will almost certainly be a number of blood royals; Ice Devils, Arch Devils, and Heliophoguses. But, don't overlook Vampire Lords, summoned via the Curse of Blood ritual. Mawfiends can summon them with boosters if you don't have the means otherwise. Vampire Lords have 0 encumbrence, 10% regeneration, 100% cold resistance, 100% poison resistance, and stealth. What's more, they fly and have 3 levels of death magic, the latter which allows them to cast Soul Vortex, perhaps the best thug spell in the game. Unlike the royals, you don't have to worry about another player summoning them first. And, to top it off, they are immortal.


D. Province Defense

Ogre Kingdoms province defense is literally in a class all by itself. Don't hesitate to set all of your provinces at moderately high levels, from 10 to 15, to protect against most random events and the weaker raiding spells, such as Arouse Hunger or Call of the Wild. And, keep some gold in reserve to crank up your PD in the path of an invading army or, in the later game, to hold key provinces taken by one of your super combatant raiders. For maximum effect, bolster the defense with a few mages set to cast buffs or other complimentary battlefield spells.

[TheConway]

FYI your mod link is to a version no longer updated. While it is currently up to date, it will no longer be so if Sombre adds more to the mod. If you want to get the up to date version of any Sombre mods then you need to go here: http://z7.invisionfree.com/Dom3mods/...owtopic=2&st=0

Other than that, this seems like a decent guide. However, you missed a couple things:

Slave giants love having toothcracker & trollguts on them. It makes them extremely tough. Try combining that with a girdle of might for more damage and some reinvig. The same thing applies to Mawguts. Keep in mind that the primary mawgut attack is an aoe swallow that literally eats whole squares of units. Add boots of quickness for even more lulz.

Scales wise, I think you are right that this is definitely a turmoil nation. Ogres don't have any high end recruitable mages, have stupidly cheap temples, and their forts aren't very expensive either. I wouldn't underestimate the possibility of drain though. With your dying dom, you can set up a henchfiend factory outside it, or better yet, in an enemy's magic dom. This brings me to another point: there is very little reason if you're not involved in a heavy midgame war to not set up a bunch of henchfiend summoners in a province that happens to have magic dom and have it be your main research province.

Beyond the early turns, there really isn't any reason to recruit butchers. Slaughtermasters are better mages and better bloodhunters, and not really that much more expensive.

Another build you can add to your pretender section is the N9 awake dragon. The bless is actually quite good for your mawtribes that will be the bulk of your armies, and the dragon makes early expansion a breeze, as well as giving you that early mother oak, and later GoH if you really want to mess with people.

[Samhain]

Thanks, TheConway. I updated the link to the one you provided.

I had not tried a Girdle of Might with a Slavegiant. I have tried Toothcracker and Trollguts combined buffs, however. Actually, my major issue was that my Slaughtermaster tended to cast them on units other than my Slavegiants, dooming them to die long before they earned their keep. Perhaps the AI favors quantity over either quality or proximity in deciding what areas to cast magical buffs into. Regardless, a dozen Ogre Ironguts cost about the same, don't have this issue, and are hard to kill with or without the help.

As for use of the magic scale of an opponent's dominion to allow me to take drain. I have to say that I tried it once and it really backfired, souring me to the concept. In this case, it was Tomb Kings, whose scales were otherwise toxic to me making the strategy far more costly than I would have liked. And, when I was attacked on the opposite end of my empire, it hindered my ability to react. Still, if any nation could make that work Ogre Kingdom's should be able to. And, drain helps compensate for the Ogre's generally weak magic resistance. So, it is worth mentioning. Thanks.

And, unfortunately, I can't edit my second post above, but I do like your idea of the awake N9 Green Dragon. So, here is my take on it:

Awake Green Dragon, N9, Dom8, T3S3C3G3L2M1

The goal with this pretender design is making the best of a good thing, the Annoint Mawtribe spell. Unlike the two pretenders above, there will be few resources available for Pitfighter recruitment. But, the awake dragon will provide more than adequate early expansion. And, soon enough summoning 40+ sacred Bulls a turn should be no problem. But, like the two imprisoned pretenders above, this design makes good use of the dominion pushing tools in Ogre Kingdoms.