I have always been a fan of Ogryn, but when I was collecting Imperial G
uard as a tertiary army (Eldar/Tyranids, Sisters were ahead of them) the individual Ogryn blister was pretty much cost prohibitive. Trading for them, as I was doing to obtain most of my Guard army, was virtually impossible as so few people had them or were willing to let them go. I believe that most other people were of the same opinion – that they were just too expensive for their relative usefulness.
When GW released the new Ogryn/Bullgryn box, things changed. I noticed the second 
hand market had a lot of the older metal Ogryn out there. I was able to piece together a squad of 5 and with some winnings from the 11th Company GT (Best Sports 2014, whoo!) got some of the new bullgryn soon after. I’m still a little torn on my bullgryn loadout, but so far I’m having some good results with them either way.
The Ministorum Priest is a pretty good ‘invisible’ HQ choice. He doesn’t take up a slot, has Independent Character and is all of 25 points. He (or multiples of him) can join a group of bullgryn with shields and with the Emperor Protects war hymn, allow them to reroll their armor or invulnerable saves. My favorite tactic is to use the Brute Shield to get a re-rollable 5++ (Invulnerable) save. Father “Re-roll” saves the day! The synergy they have with bullgryn (and a lot of other units as well) is pretty fantastic.
But what’s this I hear you protesting? Yes, Father Reroll’s Leadership is a mere 7. Rolling for his ability like that is a daunting prospect to say the least. Enter the Adepta Sororitas. The priest in this codex has the same cost, stats and ability but he also has access to the Litanies of Faith. For a mere 15 points his War Hymns auto-pass his Ld roll and grants a re-roll to the bullgryn’s armor or invulnerable saving throw. To me, thats 40 points very well spent. With the new rules for Celestine out now, why wouldn’t you bring she and her favorite clergyman?
The ogryn are an Elite choice, which isn’t a hotly contested Force Organization slot for the Guard/Astra Militarum. I think my dream list actually had me taking a squad of each – ogryn and bullgryn (and halfling snipers for the abhuman trifecta). There’s plenty of room on the list for the big guys. Not so much in a Chimera though, as with ‘Very Bulky’ they take up three times the room of your standard humanoid. Overall they’re a strong, tough unit but delivery is their weak point. I’ve found it best to have them follow your tanks to the front line. Not many melta-rambos are willing to have to go through a bullgryn line to blow up anything.
Join us next time when we see how many angry, hungry ogryn we can fit into a Crusader!