Trollblood Scrum!!!

The Scrum Cast Ep.23

thegreatblah@trollbloodscrum.com — Wed, 15 May 2013 17:32:00 +0000

Its up and we're on like Donkey Kong http://scrumcast.trollbloodscrum.com/2013/05/the-scrum-cast-ep-23.html

The Scrum Cast Ep.22

thegreatblah@trollbloodscrum.com — Wed, 08 May 2013 14:33:00 +0000

Is up over on our Scrum Cast Page.

http://scrumcast.trollbloodscrum.com/2013/05/the-scrum-cast-ep-22.html

The Scrum Cast Ep.21

thegreatblah@trollbloodscrum.com — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:59:00 +0000

New Musings are up, go check it out over on our Scrum Cast Page.

http://scrumcast.trollbloodscrum.com/2013/04/the-scrum-cast-ep21.html

So You're Starting Trollsbloods, eh? Part One: The Warpack from Blog of David

thegreatblah@trollbloodscrum.com — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 15:36:00 +0000

The Hunters Grim Challenge

thegreatblah@trollbloodscrum.com — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 17:23:00 +0000

With the advent of The Hunters Grim, we are looking for a small handful of people to joing an ongoing study of him and his crew.

The Rules:

We will be starting with a 35 and 50 point list. All of the 35 point list must be included in the 50 point list.
Each item included in the list must be played in a minimum of three games before it can be changed out.
When making Changes to your list you may only Change up to 15 points at a time UNLESS that change is to make room for or to drop the Mountain King then it can be his points cost. This is variable, but the idea is to maintain the general feel of your list as you play games.
Each participant will be required to send in their lists and report their games. That doesn't mean we need battlereports but we want who you played against, what you used, and some of the highlights. We're talking a few lines for each game.
What you get for participating: All particpants will have their progress documented for approximately 20 games, each will receive something for their participation. Some of the rewards are: a package of whelps, eGrissel, Scrum Patches and Dice among others. Participants will also be invited to the Scrum Cast to disucss their success and failure.

Those interested in participating must be committed to playing out at least 20 games and be willing to report what you use, what did well, what you played against and the results.

To join in this study prospective Trollbloods should email TheGreatBlah@trollbloodscrum.com with 'The Hunters Grim Challange <Forum name or name here> in the subject line. With a brief explanation of why you should be included.

Once participants are chose you will be given access to a private forum to discuss your lists, strategies, as well as report games.

The final number of participants will vary but we expect to have 4 to 8 of us.

Bring the pain my Trollblood friends and game on.

A Mountain King Tactica Guide

thegreatblah@trollbloodscrum.com — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 19:35:00 +0000

A Mountain King Tactica Guide
or
"HEY GUYS I HAD THIS GREAT IDEA ABOUT BRUCE"

Our Gargantuan is the Mountain King. The model is awesome and he has a silly nickname which some people hate utterly, but it seems to have stuck. It's because he dies hard and he spawns lots of sequels. Credit to Professor Lust for the notion.

One of the purposes of this thread is to help stop the millions of threads about the Mountain King which are doing some damage to the community. My aim is to approach the topic in a "work-with-what-we've-got" mindset, going on the presumption that the reader has already decided to use this fella - totally ignoring any consideration of his actual quality, whether in isolation or in comparison. There's lots of other threads to have those discussions.

Feel free to correct things if you spot any rules errors. Until they're fleshed out, the segments below will include headings. Please add to these as you may have thought of something I haven't. Also, I'm not going to do a model-by-model/lock-by-lock breakdown for everything in our collections; just presume that if something isn't mentioned, it doesn't have any special synergies with the Mountain King worth pointing out. Take the Champion Hero, for example. He's not going to be mentioned again because how does he effect the Mountain King? Not at all, and vice versa.

Stats & Abilities
or
WHAT BRUCE DO?

Stats:
SPD: as his Fury
STR: three times his Fury
MAT: as his Fury
RAT: as his Fury
DEF: two lower than Mulg's
ARM: one less than his cost
CMD: one more than his Fury
FURY: as Mulg
Threshold: one more than his Fury
Cost: the same as every Gargantuan
Boxes: 14 more than Mulg

Weapons: Bruce has a Big Meaty Fist in each arc with a P+S equal to his ARM. These have Open Fist so he does have access to the full range of Power Attacks. He also has Deathly Roar, a max-range spray with a POW the same as the Bomber's barrels o' doom.

Animus: Amuck, which gives target friendly (not Friendly Faction) warbeast boosted power attacks.

Gargantuan: The Mountain King is a huge-based model and has all the benefits and limitations that includes:

· He must be predeployed

· He has split base arcs

· He gets Gargantuan power attacks including Sweep and Push

· He can't be moved outside his normal move action; so no Overtake, Goad, Hallowed Avenger, etc

· He can choose to shoot while in combat (note that as he doesn't have Weapon Platform or Virtuoso, he can't make both his melee and ranged attacks as his initial attack in the same turn)

· He doesn't get defensive bonuses for being in combat, concealment or cover

· He has built-in pathfinder

Terror: He's pretty scary.

Kill Shot: Once per turn, when he kills a living model in melee, he gets a free shot from his spray. This is the only way he can make melee and ranged attacks in the same turn. There's nothing in his rules which allows him to do it any other way.

Whelp Shedding: He drops his own whelps in base-to-base. These don't need to be paid for, but you need to have the space and the models. You can spawn both free whelps and regular whelps off the same hit as well, because the abilities have different names.

Snacking: As always. OM NOM NOM NOM!

Notice something missing? He doesn't have Regeneration.Stats & Abilities Analysis

Speed-wise, he's on par with the rest of our beasts and innate Pathfinder means he pretty much ignores terrain. On the other hand, his huge base really hurts his maneuverability. Even with the opportunity to trample, there must be enough space for his base at the other end and a savvy opponent will easily position their troops in a way that prevents you from trampling. Unless you're facing something compact and slow like a Karchev brick, you're unlikely to be deciding where the Mountain King goes for much of the game - so deploy him carefully. Ensure that you deploy him carefully, with enough space to move around.

The huge base is both a blessing and a curse; it means he has several more inches of allowance to operate beyond his Warlock's Control Range; it means he's immune to place effects like Telekinesis; it means he can't be knocked down or made Stationary (although he can be Paralysed, so keep an eye out for basilisks); it means he has a huge effective range for things like Surefoot (more on that later!). On the other hand, he can't be moved outside his activation; he needs a LOT of room to Trample; he's easy to engage en masse. Keep these things in mind when considering strategies for the Mountain King.

He's pretty tough, but not as tough as you might think. He compares unfavourably to the Colossals in terms of outright survivability because his defense isn't far from auto-hitting and he has far, far less boxes. His Huge base allows lots of models to get themselves in, so if your opponent surrounds him with weaponmaster infantry, gets a lot of charges in, or sends a fully-loaded warbeast or warjack his way, he's very likely to go down.

There are a few ways to mitigate this, such as buffing his armour and screening him. You can also use strategic whelp-shedding to block charge lanes. The important thing is to prevent him from getting killed in one round, because with his ability to put down heaps of Whelps with complete abandon and Snacking (provided you're looking at living models) you can do quite a lot of healing-up even without Regeneration.

An oft-noted disappointment is his comparatively low MAT. It's on par with the Blitzer and Bomber, which means that he has difficulty hitting DEF higher than 12. Amuck can help with this when he sweeps, but remember that he can't charge & sweep on the same turn. If he gets tied up with high-DEF infantry, you will have difficulty clearing them out; it's likely that he'll spend the rest of the game surrounded by them. If you see the weaponmasters coming for him (BANE THRALLS!), try to manage your tempo so that you can prevent him from getting charged, and steal an opportunity to use a regular move action rather than charge, then pop Amuck + Sweep to chompy-chomp as many of them as you can. This won't happen much. More likely he'll be charged and you'll have to hope you can tank it out to retaliate.

While his MAT is low, his POW is amazing, equal to the POW on Mulg's club. His high FURY means that he can put out stacks of attacks per turn, pummelling heavies and low-DEF infantry into oblivion without too much trouble. It's important to remember that he only gets one initial attack per base arc, so if you're attacking a single target, make sure that you've got them overlapped by both arcs so you can get both fists into them. This being said, he will never have as much single-target damage potential as a pair of buffed Heavy warbeasts. You will need to be creative, and be using him as something more than a direct beatstick, to get your points' worth.

His RAT isn't amazing, but it's on par with our other ranged options. Because Deathly Roar is a spray, it ignores Stealth; it has a good range, and boostable POW 16s are not to be sneezed at. Because he's a Gargantuan, he can use it even if he's locked-down by screening models. Without Virtuoso or Weapon Platform, though, he cannot make both his initial ranged and melee attacks in the same turn, so unless you can take advantage of Kill Shot, you'll be sacrificing your melee attacks to shoot. Consider it though, as it's one of the best ranged attacks we have access to - certainly on par with the Bomber and War Wagon.

Ways to take advantage of Kill Shot aren't limited to just punching things and growling at your enemy though; Power Attacks are your friend and with double Open Fists the Mountain King can make them all. If there's constructs or undead in your way, you can Throw, Two-Tanded Throw, Slam or Power Strike (that's the Gargantuans' special standing-still Slam) one of them into a nearby living model. Then, when it dies (because most living models near the Mountain King will not like POW 15+ collateral damage) you can spray whatever you want. Outside of Sweeping or Trampling, the Two-Handed Throw here is the other time you'd think about casting Amuck on the Mountain King himself; the roll to hit the thrown model, and the roll to hit the model you're throwing it at, are boosted (I looked it up!).

Earning his points back is something worth looking at in a more nuanced way when you're thinking about Bruce. The likelihood of him actually killing his points value worth of models during a game is low. This is simply because his cost is crazy-high and he just doesn't have time to destroy half your opponent's army on his own. But he doesn't need to kill his worth in models to earn his points back; he needs to earn his proportion of your win. The Mountain King is a rock in a storm and putting him on the table allows you to really dictate the tone of the game; bank on your opponent exploiting his weaknesses, then use the rest of your army to capitalise on the knowledge that gives you. I'll visit this more in the Tactics section.

Synergies
or
OMG U GUYS THIS FIXES BRUCE!
There are many ways you can use other models in your army to support the Mountain King directly. Here are some ideas. No, I'm not going to list off every model and give it a thumbs up or down for liking the Mountain King. Yes, I expect you to actually read it all :PDamage Animi:
Supplied by Mauler, Pyre Troll, Slag Troll, Rok.
Rage, Flaming Fists and Acidic Touch all buff the Mountain King's damage output. You know how they work, I shouldn't have to explain them. Primal rates a more specific mention on two counts: one, because it buffs MAT, which is great. There's an enormous jump in effectiveness between Bruce's base MAT and MAT 7. Two, because the auto-Frenzy is an even more important consideration that usual. Before you use it, you need to decide "Am I okay with 20 points of my army only getting one boosted attack next turn?" That's a really important question to answer before you even put your list on the table - if it's not worth it, you should think twice about bringing Rok. Survival Buffs:
Supplied by Krielstone, Earthborn Dire Troll, Epic Grissel, Bouncer, Elemental Trolls.
The Krielstone Aura, Elemental Communion (with or without resource to Janissa Stonetide's wall) and Epic Grissel's feat, each represent a potential +2 ARM for the Mountain King. The Krielstone is of course the most reliable and most versatile, also giving a small STR buff when needed. Don't overlook taking the KSB on its own, as the difference between Bruce's base ARM and ARM 21 is a big jump which puts him into the "really hard to kill" category against most things. The same goes for Elemental Communion, although it is dependent on terrain and it is a very expensive package to take the EBDT and Janissa. Epic Grissel's feat grants Unyielding, giving +2 ARM if the Mountain King is engaged. It also grants Hyper-Aggressive, which the Mountain King cannot take advantage of (because it's outside his normal movement action). So you can only gain the benefit of the feat if you're engaged by the end of the round or in melee.

By combining two or more of these buffs, you can get the Mountain King up to some pretty cool levels of tough: ARM 23 is great, and a single turn of ARM 25 is even better. You can use that turn to gain some serious tempo, which I'll go over under Lists & Tactics.

Worth a mention is the Bouncer's abilities (they don't fit anywhere else, really); if you're playing against an opponent who isn't ready for it, or if they have only one threat which can hurt him, you can stick Bump on the Mountain King to ensure that he only gets hit once. The disadvantage of Bump is that it is a must use, not a may use ability, so a savvy opponent can make you waste it. Shield Guard is perhaps more valuable for taking Epic Eiryss' Arcane Interference shot, or soaking a Pistol Wraiths' first shot to prevent them from getting Death Chill off.

Take note that Gunnbjorn's feat has almost zero effect on the Mountain King; he's already immune to knockdown, his high ARM means that blast damage is wasted on him, and he cannot gain Cover because of his huge base.

There aren't many ways to buff the Mountain King's Defense, since any way to grant Concealment or Cover is wasted. Even the few ways we have of directly buffing his Defense aren't going to be useful most of the time: his miserably-low base DEF means that Bullet Dodger and Quicken are not worth it for their defense boost (Quicken might be worth it for the movement boost though).

A quick word about the elemental Animi (Flaming Fists, Acidic Touch, Lightning Fists, Freezer); if you put one on the Mountain King, you just made half to a quarter of your army immune to a type of damage for a Round. Let's all chuckle together at Menoth: ha ha ha!Improved Mobility:
Supplied by Axer, Epic Doomshaper, Prime Grim Angus, Borka Kegslayer, Jarl Skuld.
Rush is great on the Mountain King. He's got native Pathfinder, but the movement buff is a real boon to his poor mobility because you can cast it early in the game to improve your positioning for late game. As outlined above, the Mountain King's huge base means it's not hard for your opponent to box him in as soon as your forces clash; it's a good way to have more options later on. Rush can also be used to extend your Trample range: the extra 2" gives a better chance of being able to fit Bruce's fat butt on the other side of the models engaging him. Epic Doomshaper's Feat can also be relied on to improve maneuverability; the same turn you're charging with everything else is probably the same turn the Mountain King is completely boxed in, after all. Grim Angus has some great mobility buffs in his Cross-Country spell and Bait the Line on his gun, although bear in mind that you'll not get Pathfinder from Cross-Country and you'll not be charging often. Borka's Feat is similar to Epic Doomshaper's in that it can give you a nifty movement boost on a crucial turn, although that's gravy on all the other things it does. Quicken probably isn't worth it for the defense improvement against ranged & magic attacks, but the upkeepable SPD bonus is definitely worth taking a look at: combining it with Rush means you have a really, really fast Mountain King.

Keep in mind when thinking about Mobility that several of our movement shenanigans simply do not work on Bruce, because he can only move during his normal movement action. For example, Goad, Crusher, Hoof It, Hallowed Avenger, Hyper-Aggressive, Bullet-Dodger, Mirage, Pursuit, Tactical Supremacy, Warpath, and Refuge are all pretty much pointless wastes of time if you use them on him.Debuffing Enemy DEF:
Supplied by Knockdown, Prime Grim Angus, Epic Hunters Grim and Prime Grissel Bloodsong
Dropping your opponent's DEF is great. You should do it even more when using the Mountain King, because they let you get your points' worth and his low offensive stats mean each debuff is worth more to him. Prime Grim Angus' Feat, Marked for Death, Mortality and Calamity are your big standouts here.

One of the things we have in abundance is Knockdown. I'm not going to go through the list of Trollbloods which can K-O enemy models because it's enormous. Suffice it to say that the Mountain King does not like to fight fair; your MAT doesn't matter if you're auto-hitting models, so throw it everywhere and exploit it like the bully you are.Aura Effects:
Supplied by Prime Madrak Ironhide, Winter Troll
Because of his huge base, any "models within X inches of this model" effects are better on the Mountain King. Surefoot is always amazing, so putting it on the Mountain King instead of directly on pMadrak is an option to consider. Freezer is an animus of limited utility, but the sheer number of models which the Mountain King can engage means that he's possibly the best target for it we have. I can't in good conscience recommend it, but it's certainly an option.Fury Management:
Supplied by Warlocks, Whelps
I realise it's probably counter-intuitive, but it's worth thinking of Wild Aggression and Guided Fire less as attack buffs than as fury management, because any Warlock can let you boost. It may sound weird, but the Mountain King needs to get as much effectiveness out of his Fury as possible, since each Force has to be spread out over 20 points, rather than over 9-12 points for our Heavies.

Lots of our warlocks have ways to give our beasts free stuff: several of our Feats and Spells give free charges or power attacks. If you're taking the Mountain King, you should be making sure that your Warlock lets him do something for free; whether it's charging, power attacking, or boosting, he really wants one of these in tow to help ensure he's not completely fury-starved. Borka's Feat gets a special mention for giving additional dice on collateral damage as well; nothing else does that.

Whelps are worth a quick mention just to remind you that the Mountain King can spawn two per damaging hit; one in base-to-base for free (there are very few situations where you shouldn't spawn this one) and one within 2" from the pack you paid points for. The bought whelps shouldn't go on the table every time, but it's cool to have them available as an option (say, if your opponent is going to kill lots of your b2b whelps before you can eat them). Otherwise, they work as normal.Screening:
Supplied by lots of stuff
Screening is something we should all know how to do; it's where you put a unit in front of a model in order to help keep them alive. This is a good plan. There's a few extra things to consider when screening the Mountain King though; one of them is that you can also use screens to get him where you want him to go.

Screens of the safety type are there to soak those charges, die, then be out of the way when it's your turn. Fennblades and Kriel Warriors serve this purpose for Bruce like for everyone else, but remember that there is a good chance that one or two of them will be in the way when you want to get Bruce's kill on; fortunately his in-built Reach mitigates this, but he needs to be far forward early or he's not going to be far forward. In surprise consideration for the job are Whelps, because they are craaaazy-cheap and you can eat them afterwards, too. You can also use cleverly-placed Rock Walls from Janissa Stonetide or Gunnbjorn to keep things away from the Mountain King as well (Janissa's wall is more likely to be of the "no room for bases" blocking though).

Screens of the snowplow type are used to help him move up the board; these are genuine throw-away choices whose sole job is to take up space to make sure that the Mountain King can fit in your chosen spot on the board. Fennblades' super-speed, board footprint and propensity to die to a stiff breeze make them well-suited to this task, and Burrowers have a role to play (burrowing to make room!) but my tip-of-the-hat goes to Nyss Hunters. With SPD and DEF that we just don't have in-faction, they can hurtle up the board to engage or take the charge, and then get out of the way without much difficulty. Depending on exactly what kind of board situation you're looking at you have several options: if there's a couple of Nyss who are standing where you want Bruce to stand, move them and they'll either not get hit because high DEF or they'll get killed because they have low ARM and no Tough! Either way, they make room; less wastefully, if there is a space in front of the Nyss, you can Trample over them! They're really, really not likely to get hit but if you're uncomfortable with the idea of trampling through our best ranged unit, do it with Borka and put Iron Flesh on them, for a DEF that Bruce can only hit on double-sixes.

Lists & Tactics
or
HOW TO BRUCE?

These are notes for me to turn into actual words later.

Here are some ways for you to use the Mountain King to support your army and make it better as a whole. This section is likely to expand, contract, and wobble side to side for a while. I hope for it to be the biggest, filled with whole-of-list strategies and corner-case tactical plays. I'll be taking suggestions on board of course - there's definitely people out there who've played more Mountain King than me.

High-ARM Skew
Knockdown spam
Big games
Bruce as Support- Whelp shedding, Animus, Garg Power Attacks

The Battle For Mount Bruce:
The Mountain King is an absolute magnet for your opponent's big hitters. Not only is it important for them to ensure that he's not moving (so he can't trample everything) but even if he's locked-down he can still reach out and touch a wide area with Deathly Roar. You should expect enemy weaponmasters, warjacks and warbeasts to dive straight down his throat to hold him still and try to punch him until he stops moving. On the plus side, this means you can use him as a one-man tarpit. Normally, you'd use a screening unit to physically block your opponent's advance and shooting lanes. When using the Mountain King as a substitute, you instead use his threat to draw your opponent's attention away from the rest of your force. Then, you pack the rest of the list with threats and enjoy your wide-open charge lanes!

Lists:

50 points:
Chief Madrak Ironhide
* Troll Axer
* Dire Troll Mauler
* Earthborn Dire Troll
* Mountain King
* Trollkin Runebearer
Krielstone Bearer and 3 Stone Scribes
* Krielstone Stone Scribe Elder
Janissa Stonetide
Troll Whelps

This here is actually a crack-list that I haven't tried. If anyone's got anything better, please let me know.

Bumping anything up to ARM 23 is fun, so this list does that. Set up your Madrak brick like normal, but lead with your face by putting the Mountain King right up front. Try to exploit terrain or use whelps to screen and prevent him from being charged, but you can put a little money on him surviving pretty well with his ARM bumped right up. While Bruce is taking all the heat, Madrak and his buddies Mauler and Earthborn advance up the table in a more stately fashion, then rejoice in the glory that is Crusher on about Round 3 (how convenient that there's a ring of models in the Mountain King's melee range...). When you come to piece trades, prioritise keeping the Mauler over the Earthborn, as once the KSB or Janissa is gone (and a savvy opponent will remove them) you're down to ARM 21, the drop again down to the King's natural ARM isn't as catastrophic as the potential drop in offensive power that comes from losing Rage. Throws love Rage, and with Madrak's Thrown Rathrok attack, you have four things in this list which throw things.Rock Node:

A caster-specific use of the One-Man Tarpit idea is using the Mountian King with Epic Doomshaper to cast a huge-POW Primal Shock. This is a great way to kill things but its potential as a game-winner is severely hampered by the Mountain King's lack of maneuverability. If your opponent is smart enough to lock down the Mountain King (which isn't very hard), they'll be smart enough to keep their caster more than 8' away from him as well. What it does do is make the area around the Mountain King a no-go zone for your opponent's valuable pieces; you can use the potential of the Rock Node to keep your opponent out of a large part of the field, while bringing a fast flanking threat like Mulg or Rok with Refuge and Rush (goading and trampling their way through enemy screens) up the other side of the fight. This way, you can catch your target between a rock and a hard place. This tactic focuses on keeping the Mountain King alive with a defensive buff or two, then making sure that he is too scary for your opponent to ignore while you line up your assassination run.

Lists:

50 points:
Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia
*Pyre Troll
*Troll Axer
*Mountain King
*Mulg the Ancient
*Runeshaper
Krielstone Bearer and 5 Stone Scribes
Krielstone Stone Scribe Elder
Janissa Stonetide
Totem Hunter
This list exemplifies the concept: the Mountain King sits off-centre in the middle of the fighting, hopefully contesting an objective. He gets Wild Aggression because he's going to need it with all the models he'll be engaging. The Krielstone is positioned to cover the King, while Doomshaper hides nearby out of sight behind his wall, a little further up than he might be otherwise confortable - remember, you're extending your control range up the board so that Mulg can reach any casters in the backfield. In the mean time, Mulg is doing his best to reach any casters in the backfield, trampling through screening units and using Goad and Refuge to move up faster. The Axer casts Rush on Mulg directly (since you're waaaay further than 6' from Doomshaper), and is also available to Thresher anything which would stop Mulg from moving. Use the Runeshaper to minifeat on the crucial turn when you need to move Wild Aggression from Bruce to Mulg. The Totem Hunter is there to illustrate that this is an assassination tactic, not an attrition tactic.

35 points:
Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia
*Pyre Troll
*Mountain King
*Mulg the Ancient
*Krielstone Bearer and 3 Stone Scribes
*Krielstone Stone Scribe Elder

This is the only 35 point list I'm putting in, since it's a list I've actually run (3-1, not proud). It doesn't play much different from the 50 point version except there's no real way to protect your Warlock built-in; you need to use terrain and your huge control range to your advantage, and leave as much Fury for transfers on Doomshaper as possible. The idea was to pose the question "can you deal with the Mountain King at this low a points-level?" Turns out, it's about 50-50; Bruce died twice (both times leaving a hilarious ring of whelps).

Other Interesting Things
or
HEY GUYS I JUST WANNA SAY
I really want to make him work: Gargantuans are cool. The Mountain King in particular is cool - the model is amazing and the ability to put that much meat on the table is a seriously tempting proposition. You want to make it work, I want to make it work. Sadly, there are several elements of him which make him a sub-par choice for seriously competitive games. You should be able to pick them out above. That does not, however, mean that he is unplayable. It does not mean you aren't allowed to play him. It does not mean you can't make him work for you. It does mean that there are many people who have played him to death, tears and despair who believe that the points can be better spent on two heavies. This is not the thread for that discussion. This is the thread for people who have decided that they're running him anyway, and want to find ways to get the most bang for their buck.

Yes, someone has thought of it already: One of the most notable things about the Mountain King is his propensity to spawn threads, about as well as he spawns whelps. Since his release, he has sparked more fervent discussion than just about anything I've seen until now. Sadly, most of these threads propose ideas which have been thought of before, and talked to death. As a result, they often devolve somewhat due to what I shall call BRUCE FATIGUE. This is one of the reasons I have created this thread.

Beckman lays it out, here.

He's Really Pretty: Yes. Bruce is a classy lady. Check out the Show off your Mountain King thread for a few examples!

Scrumcast Delay - Boston Tragedy

thegreatblah@trollbloodscrum.com — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 20:10:00 +0000

The Scrum will not be making any posts today including the Scrumcast in light of the Tragedy at the Boston Marathon. Our hearts go out to the victims and their families. I encourage anyone who lives in the area to go and give blood to help out the victims.

- Goris

The Scrum Cast Episode 20

thegreatblah@trollbloodscrum.com — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 16:03:00 +0000

http://scrumcast.trollbloodscrum.com/2013/04/the-scrum-cast-episode-20.html

Yeah, 19 is back in there too.

The Scrum Cast Episode 18

thegreatblah@trollbloodscrum.com — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:11:00 +0000

Our lastest Podcast is up and going, come have a listen while we talk about our favorite new Woodsman The Hunters Grim.

http://scrumcast.trollbloodscrum.com/2013/03/the-scrum-cast-e18.html

The Hunters Grim Strategy Guide

thegreatblah@trollbloodscrum.com — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 22:32:00 +0000

The Hunters Grim Strategy Guide

With the release of Gargantuans we Trollblood players have received some good, some bad, and some ugly. Among our new toys includes one of the very first Warcaster/Warlock units. Where some Hordes faction received a third incarnation of some Warlocks, Trolls got a second version of one of our favorites, The Hunters Grim. The new unit has some interesting things going for it so let’s talk about Grim Angus and his two new assistants Muggs and Krump. Let’s not kid ourselves though, no matter how different, better or worse Grim is in his epic form. There is one improvement that is without question better than his primal version. His new Hat is totally rad.

STATS

Core Stats - Hunters Grim Core statline boasts only one minor change from his original incarnation. Hit RAT was increased by 1. While this may seem a minor change this puts Grim alone at the top of anything in the Trollblood Army in regards to Ranged Attack score and makes Gunnbjorn wonder if a big ole rocket is worth the increased difficulty in hitting his targets. Even without an increase in Defense or Armor Grim remains the highest Defense caster in Trolls, and that particular stat is right below the best defensive stat in the game in regards to Warlocks and Warcasters.

Base Abilities

Grim keeps tough and pathfinder for which we are grateful. His Weapon is still magical, which makes Pistol Wraiths cry a little. And takedown is still on his melee attack… which is… useful, sort of, since you know, I stab with it ever.

Additional Abilities - Another big change in Grim’s base stats and attacks is on his gun ‘Headhunter’ It is still one of the most powerful Guns in the game, even though we still all wish it was weaponmaster like a certain Cygnar caster we all know. It lost ‘Bait The line’ which allowed +2” of movement for our beasts charging what he damaged with it. Now he has ‘Blood Lure’, which is, well different. Blood Lure allows beasts in his battlegroup to charge what he has hit with headhunter for free.

Pay attention to the differences here.
It used to be: Damage with headhunter, get +2” of movement when charging with his beasts. Now it is: Hit with headhunter, charge for free with his beasts.

The change is subtle but quite different.

Two things you will notice are quite absent in this new version are ‘True Sight’ and the ‘Snare Gun’ Do not worry though, they aren’t lost per say, just shuffled.

Spell List – Grim’s new spell list is quite a bit different and changes his playstyle significantly from his primal version. I think the only spell I will truly miss from the old Grim is Cross-Country, but I guess I do have a Fel Caller, and Grim still helps with that to some degree.

Mage Sight – This relatively cheap spell allows Grim to drop a 5” AOE in his CTRL. Model’s in Grim’s Battlegroup ignore forests and cloud effects for Line of Sight and they ignore stealth when attacking it. This spell is the make up spell for losing Cross-Country and True Sight. The Earthborn likes it a lot because he still has pathfinder. Other than Him, the Bomber and Blitzer and really any of our ranged guys probably like it more than our non-pathfinder beasts. It helps with pesky clouds and annoying forests and Grim himself can get some mileage out of it if necessary to take out hard targets or take potshots at an enemy caster.

Mirage – This handy spell is a bit pricey but it works on models/units not just his battlegroup. It Grants Apparition which allows said models to be place 2” from their location during the CTRL phase. There is a lot of potential with Mirage helping our units out in very positive ways. Fenn Blades for example can use Vengeance and get free attacks, then Apparate to reset or create charge lanes for when they activate. Mirage is handy for disengaging when you don’t want to be in melee or getting an extra couple inches of movement and reposition before activating. This spell will be useful for getting into position with a lot of model’s and units.

Mortality – This new spell is quite an upgrade from marked for death and smells sweeter than Calamity at a cost of course. Like Calamity it reduces enemy/units Def and Arm if it hits. Unlike Calamity it is not an upkeep, has a better range, and oh yeah it also prevents healing. Got a unit of something tough plaguing you… like Boomhowler, Banes or anything that likes to heal, Mortality is your answer and it is a good one. Trollbloods layered buffing is second only to Protectorate and Mortality layers it on for hitting and damage with whatever you want to use to attack with it. This spell makes Grim himself very dangerous at Range Making him an effective RAT 10 POW 15 at range versus a Mortailtied target.

Pursuit – An old standby spell in some Warmachine armies it can be useful for creeping up on a model/unit moving in on Grim or for getting in position on a jam unit.

Say it with me folks ‘Mortality’ the other spells are nice, but Mortality is where it’s at.

Feat – Grim’s new feat is quite a bit different than his old feat. Now Friendly Faction model’s gain Mark the Target and their ranged weapons get Snipe so long as they are in Grim’s CTRL. For reference Mark the Target gives other friendly faction models +2 to hit with ranged attack rolls when a friendly model is within 5” of the enemy target, and snipe is +4” to RNG.

Combined with Mortality things like our lowly Pyg Bushwakers turn into RAT 8 POW 12 RNG 18 little devils. Bomber’s can get to RAT 9 POW 18 RNG 12 without aiming. It is good folks, and applied correctly can and will end games. You can even make a relatively all melee list and the benefit to Grim himself is nearly worth the cost.

Oh Wait, it’s a unit. I bet that’s why Grim has less Warbeast Points.

Muggs & Krump - remember, they’re a part of Grim’s unit, but they aren’t warlocks, they don’t get his fury to boost but they do have to activate in the same turn as Grim.

Core Stats- For Pygmy Trolls these two guys are gods among insects. Their RAT is a good as Gunnbjorn’s, which for a Pyg is truly amazing. They’re as fast as Grim and their defense is better than Doomshaper’s… barely, but their armor is low (not as low as most humans) but still low enough that AOE’s and ElectroLeaps can be dangerous.

Base Abilities -Like Grim they both have Pathfinder, and Tough and they boast a few wounds as well. Since they are Pygs and Grim is a Trollkin some interactions won’t quite work (like the new sorcerer for example) so pay attention to it.

Additional Abilities - Both of them also have takedown… which is, uh, really nice I suppose I mean POW 8 non-boostable melee attacks really need takedown right?

Those are all nice, but the following is the reason why we love them so much.

Muggs – Grim’s snare gun is missing from his card because he gave it to Muggs. This is a double-edged sword. The good news is we can now use both Grim’s guns in the same turn. The bad news… you can’t boost to his with the snare gun anymore. Mugg’s real utility comes in his ability Granted:Reform – yep you read that right, he lets his unit advance up to 3” AFTER they take their activations as long as he says alive. Still think you are ever going to use the net gun? Okay you will, but only when something gets up close to or threatens Grim, helping keep him alive when it gets hairy.

Krump – Krump has a low RNG how POW gun, which is nice for the same reason why you would ever use the Snare Gun on Muggs… okay there are times when you are going to go for the assassination and will use him aggressively. Like Muggs, Krump has a couple of abilities that are really going to make it difficult for things to get up in Grim’s grill and stab him to death. Trapper(*) Action – basically he drops a 5” AOE in base contact with himself, enemies ending or entering the AOE suffer a POW 10 and get knocked down if it damages them. Useful for avoiding anything stabbing Grim with ARM 16 or less and less reliable against higher armor, but workable. Finally Krump gives the unit Granted: Cicular Vision – Yup they don’t care where they’re looking while Krump is alive because they see all around them with a 360deg front arc.

Tier List - Okay, it's a topic for another time. Go look at it, I'm thinking most will like Ambushing Scouts.

Synopsis – Honestly making lists for this new unit for me has been tough because he can make so many things work well. It’s tempting to bring a bunch of ranged and there is something to be said for a battlegroup that includes Bomber’s, Blitzer’s, Impalers etc. Personally I think I’ll stick with Rok and two Earthborns and use Grim’s feat for himself, and Mortality and Mage sight to help deliver bad guys. In the world of the Trollblood Toolbox the Hunter’s Grim have enough about them that you can bring literally anything and he can help them in some way. His battlegroup and army for that matter are tons more mobile than they appear and can get themselves out of sticky situations if necessary.

Where Grim2 is going to shine though is going to be in the fact that he will be able to apply pressue to enemy casters from a long looonnnngg ways away. With Apparation and Snipe for example Grim himself can shoot 25” away from himself. That means if your opponent doesn’t protect their caster you can hit them reliably with very little help from your army. If they don’t hide well enough even our low RNG caster assassinating Bomber can threaten from 21” away with some work and 19” away with very little work. All hitting harder and more accurately than they do in most any other Trollblood army.

Be excited for The Hunters Grim folks, his playstyle and what he brings to Trollblood armies is quite a bit different and probably quite a bit better than most of us realize.

Intermountain Cup Photo Dump Part I

thegreatblah@trollbloodscrum.com — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 13:47:00 +0000

The Scrum Cast Ep. 17

thegreatblah@trollbloodscrum.com — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 14:29:00 +0000

Our Gargantuan review is up and ready for your enjoyment
http://scrumcast.trollbloodscrum.com/2013/03/the-scrum-cast-ep17.html

Go have a listen and tell us what you think.

Advanced Deployment by the Numbers

thegreatblah@trollbloodscrum.com — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 17:00:00 +0000

This game is rather Mathy and a lot can be derived simply from knowing a few numbers. I got to thinking about this as I have been using burrowers heavily in tournaments lately and knowing how far forward I can safely move before burrowing turn 2 is very important. So, with a few visual aids, we can see how we can effectively place our advanced deployment.

The Easy Stuff
There are only a few hard and fast numbers in this equation for people to know. Having these committed to memory is important as they will help you effortlessly out position most opponents because you have the numbers on your side.

Board length: 48"
Mid Field: 24"
Normal Deployment: 7/10"
Advanced Deployment: 13/16"

The Maths and Stuff
Now tier lists and other factors can change these but that is something you will need to account for list to list.
So, we have the important number here. Say you are going first. You start your AD right at the 13" mark as represented by the handy dandy image posted below. You potential run range is far. Moving you up to just beyond mid field with your front line. (13 + 12 = 25") Doing this however puts you within shooting range of not only AD units but regularly deployed units like Long Gunners who are more then happy to take shots at the little murder machines heading toward them.

So from your enemies perspective, they think you will be bombing down the field trying to get to their ranged stuff to shut them down so they certainly want to try and remove as much of that threat as you they can. So, giving an example of unbuffed Long Gunners who have a range 14. They move 6 and shot having a 20" total threat. 10 + 6 + 14 = 30) Oh crap, you just run right up into their effective threat range. That's bad. However, knowing what their ranges are You know you can safely run just shy of the 18" mark. Which is a meager 5" in move. This may not sound like a win here but it also means they don't get shot turn 1 ad you get to burrow and have them up the board next turn. These numbers are also important because at those ranged you know that your Fennblades can safely run 1 or 2 guys into that zone of shooting to bait a Vengeance move of of your opponent who has perceived them as a threat. (7 + 12 = 19") So you know you need to run the rest of your Fenns just behind that 18" mark on the board.

Now this is just an extreme example and makes things seem a little more dire then normal However when you look at other shooting options from Jacks and Beasts you start to have a little more wiggle room. But the power of numbers is going to save you so many dudes once you get into the habit of doing the simple calculations in your head.

This goes beyond just the first turn. If you have the where with all to remember how far your opponents have moved and things like that it ca be much easier to judge distances once the game goes on. Referencing your own measurements in battle is another easy way to help yourself. Lastly measuring your control area is the easiest way to give yourself the advantage. This may seem second nature to seasoned players but for new guys or even when learning a new faction, teaching yourself these thigns can be a huge help.

I hope you enjoyed this latest article. Leave comments below or on the forums and as always direct message me if you have questions, comments or Dhunia forbid, criticism.

Gargantuan Troll Spoilers

thegreatblah@trollbloodscrum.com — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 19:25:00 +0000

New Light Warbeast

Night Troll

Night troll 4 pts
mat 5 defense 12 arm 15
Beguile
within 5 warrior models must advance directly towards
eyeless sight
stealth
man eater
pow 12 claws auto paralysis

Fennblade Kithkar 2pts
+1 Mat +1 Arm
unyielding
8 damage
commander
hard

righteous vengeance

Reach
2 x pow 13

My Brothers, It Begins...

thegreatblah@trollbloodscrum.com — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 00:35:00 +0000

Lock and Load event registration is upon us and the time has come to get back on the tuffalo and get our models painted. I personally have 49pts worth of Warlocks, Warbeasts and Infantry soaking in simple green prepping for paint. I've decided to go back and strip everything I painted for Lock and Load 2 Years ago. So once again brothers, we PAINT!

I'll be posting my progress here on the blog as things move along and I invite anyone who wants to participate to send me your photos of progress made and show the world what we Trolls are made of. Literally, let's show them how good we paint. Send your pictures to Goris@trollbloodscrum.com and every week I will post pictures of what you guys have completed along side my own. Without further ado, here's what I have done so far...

Lock and Load List Building

thegreatblah@trollbloodscrum.com — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 21:38:00 +0000

I think it's safe to say now is the time to really start fine tuning your Masters Lists. So as an open conversation about addressing certain elements of the meta I will post and tune my lists here with Feedback from the community and play testing. So here is what I am working with, with a little explanation on my thinking for it's list design.

List 1: Make the Mountain King Work

Trollbloods
50+6 points, 22 models

Grissel Bloodsong, Marshal of the Kriels +6 points
* Earthborn Dire Troll 10 points
* Mountain King 20 points
* Troll Impaler 5 points

Feralgeist 1 point
Janissa Stonetide 3 points
4 Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes 3 points
* Stone Scribe Elder 1 point
2x Troll Whelps 2 points each
Trollkin War Wagon 9 points

This list was adapted from a list developed by Hatred a while back and it has been doing good work for me since. It has a simple gimmick with the feat and relies on the Mountain King being armor 23 all game and 25 on the feat turn. The reason I feel it works well, and Hatred and I have discussed this quite a bit is because the list elements mitigate the Mountain King's shortcomings through it's Knock Down. This list originally came with a thumper but I removed it as I had a hard time positioning it to be effective during the important turns of the game. The War Wagon provides key infantry clear and can be just as hard to kill at arm 25 making this list VERY hard to remove from scenario. Rounding it out is Grissel who has serious assassination potential. The moment your opponent over extends their caster to try and remove the Mountain King, be ready to capitalize on it with 3 boosted damage shots from her.

I take this list against anything with no access to pathfinder or debuffing. So defiantly not against Cryx match ups or against some Cygnar. Things like Ayanna and Holt are tell tale signs that your opponent will want to drop their armor busting list against you. As soon as they see the king in your lists you can expect a counter pick. This has happened with good regularity in tournaments for me so it's something to keep in mind. Lastly, with good positioning this list can make it a nightmare to win on scenario because ti can't be moved and without access to reach you can easily limit what can get on to the Mountain King who is there to face tank for your army.

List 2 Calandra Shoots Your Face Off

Trollbloods
50+5 points, 27 models

Calandra Truthsayer, Oracle of the Glimmerwood +5 points
* 2x Dire Troll Bomber 10 points each
* 2x Troll Impaler 5 points each
* Runebearer 2 points

Feralgeist 1 point
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew 1 point
Troll Whelps 2 points
10 Trollkin Fennblades 8 points
* Fennblade Officer & Drummer 2 points
Trollkin War Wagon 9 points

The intent of this list should be immediately apparent via t he title as well as it's competition. I am going to destroy infantry at range and attrition the shit out of my opponent. I have a good melee screen that can do decent damage especially under the feat, I have potent ranged options that become very accurate and damaging, and lastly I have access to re-rolls that can really help with the low Mat/Rat of some models in my army. Also, with tools like befuddle, force blow and star crossed this list can attrition rather well.

In testing this list performed well for it's intended purpose but struggled slightly to break under outside of feat turn. This however was minor as targeted zone clear is something this list can do well because of the inherent strength of Bombers. So, obviously the picks you want are against lists with combined arms or little armor. So, no Colossals or Jack spam for this list. It fairs well in attrition as well with the Wagon holding zones keeping things occupied. This is probably the most match up dependent list of the 3 and requires intricate play to work against a back match up.

List 3: Opperation Deliver Weapon Masters
Trollbloods

50+5 points, 22 models

Madrak Ironhide, World Ender +5 points
* Pyre Troll 5 points
* Troll Impaler 5 points
* Runebearer 2 points

Fell Caller Hero 3 points
Horthol, Long Rider Hero 5 points
4 Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes 3 points
* Stone Scribe Elder 1 point
Sons of Bragg 6 points
3 Trollkin Champions 6 points
* Skaldi Bonehammer 3 points
3 Trollkin Long Riders 7 points
Trollkin War Wagon 9 points

So, in the RFP event I ran this list without the stone trying to trim the fat so I revised the list a bit to add it back in because the armor was really hurting me when I was fighting Colossals. So, with the main idea for this list to being, "Kill All The Colossals" it was in need of tweaking. With the stone I stand a better chance of the Champs getting to the lines a little healthier. It also gave me cheap infantry for Grim Salvation fodder late game rather then picking off 8 wound models. Everything in this list can crack armor and it brings the beef needed to survive the trip across the table. It's Scenario presence is pretty good as well with Madrak himself being super hard to remove along side Tough, high armor targets.

So as stated above this list has a specific purpose, which is to crack armor. It will do quite well at that and doesn't hurt my character restrictions too badly. I feel like it can play a strong attrition battle as well. I'd match this against a number of lists as I feel very comfortable with how eMadrak plays.

So, there you have ti folks. It's not set in stone but it's good to get the ball rolling on ideas for what to bring ad how to bring it! Leave comments below or on the forums. Feel free to contact me directly with questions or ideas too.

New Troll, Light?

thegreatblah@trollbloodscrum.com — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 16:36:00 +0000

The speculation on the internet has begun, and lets be honest, many a Trollblood player has low expectations courtesy of Bruce (aka The Mountain King). Some of the speculation might be spot on, and a random uncomfirmed internet source has this guy labeled a "Night Troll".

From the unconfirmed information, and a fair amount of prodding, here is our speculated stats for this nasty looking Light Trollblood Warbeast.

Night Troll

Trollblood Light Warbeast

Since he has two open fists I'm going to put him somwhere in line with our other elemental warbeasts.

Lets Say, MAT 5, POW 12, Two Open Fists.

Also in line with them we're probably looking at DEF12, ARM 15 or 16.

Not unexpected, if his stats land somewhere in there any Trollblood player should be fine with it.

Now Time for the more speculated portions of what he will have.

Rumor is that because he is a Troll of the Night he will have straight Stealth. Which would be pretty awesome AND the first all out stealth model in the TB army.

Another Big Point of Speculation is that because he has big nifty looking claws he will have paralysis. Paralysis reduced the DEF of a model and prevents running. Good, but since his MAT is the same as all our other stuff not optimal. Though I can see it coming in handy from time to time.

Animus is rumored to be something Akin to Menoth's Gaze. I'm sure they will call it something different if that it what it is. This could be great... it could be meh, just depends on if it is Range:SELF or Range:6.

AND finally for the wisful thinking portion of this speculative excercise. He is a Night Troll for crying out loud, he should be able to see in the dark very well, I'm crossing my fingers for Eyeless Sight.

Also with Paralysis claws and Menoth's gaze something that allows him to charge for free like Maneater or something like it.

SO to Recap, here is what this Trollblood player thinks the Night Troll will be.

Night Troll

Trollblood Light Warbeast

SPD	STR	MAT	RAT	DEF	ARM	Fury
5	8	5	3	12	15	3

Stealth

Paralysis

Eyeless Sight

Maneater

Animus - "Insert Name Here" Warrior Model's w/in 5" must advance directly towards this model.

PC 4

Some will like him, some won't. The Particulars in this case will probably matter a lot. If he isn't good then call me when you want to rage quit and sell your trollblood models. I've been looking for extras anyway.

How Do You Specialists?: Trolls and Sideboards

thegreatblah@trollbloodscrum.com — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 18:41:00 +0000

Specialists is an interesting rule that has become sort of Taboo in the eyes of players lately. Some feel like it really hurts the normal list building process by allowing your opponent to hard counter you if they choose just by switching their side board. I feel like Trolls have a few valid options for specialists and I will go over basic list building principles involving specialists.

To figure out what our valid options are for Specialists we must first identify what our week spots in list building are. This is usually pretty self explanatory but let's go through the motions.

The Ranged Game
Our options for solid shooting are very limited. Our troop options in this field are poor and we often need to bring minions to shore up this weakness. We have solid Ranged Warlocks but they don't support our troops so much as they do our ranged beasts.

Debuffing Hurts Us A Lot
This is one of the biggest problems in our faction. With only one warlock with Purification or a way to remove debuffs, it makes it very difficult sometimes when facing Cryx and Menoth.

Single Wound Infantry Suffer in a Colossal Meta
We've know this for a while but our single wound infantry, as awesome as it is, suffers a lot in the current meta where it can be very hard for it to get across the board or even effect a Colossal/Gargantuan once it gets there.

Viable Models(Or at least what I feel can be viable...)
Pyre and Impaler
These guys are quite the 10pt package. They can bring a sweet AOE, a great immunity and a slam that can really change the game. If you have the fury management to swap these guys out, it can be very solid.

Slag Troll and Storm Troll
These 2 are much more corner case to the point of almost not making this list. Yes they do have some good counter play, but are not as generally useful as the 2 list above them. That said, the Storm Troll has done a lot of good work for me killing off infantry and the electro-leap animus is pretty decent.

Earthborn Dire Troll
Sometimes having an extra heavy hitter is important and when switching in sideboards I will like having self sufficient option that your list doesn't need to be tailored to at all. I also feel like the utility that the Earthborn can bring a list is very valuable if you don't already have one in your list. (I feel like he might be the only other heavy beast outside of a Mauler I would put as specialists simply because our other options often need support to fill their role.)

Dire Troll Mauler
He falls into the same heavy hitter category as the Earthborn but brings a sweet buff with him. As his main purpose in most lists is to be a buff bot and a late game piece he's not hurt by not being supported early and mid game like our other heavies. This big problem here is being a point shy and only having 2 options for additional models to bring in, i.e. Gobbers and Feralgeist.

Sons of Bragg
So, your infantry clear list needs a little more oomph? Yeah, we have an app....never mind. We have the SoB's. Very self sufficient, damaging, hearty, and well damaging. If you feel like you what to bring some more pain in a list that might have trouble with it, these guys are a great option. Don't forget that super accurate spray. Swap out a bomber for these guys a fell caller and feralgeist and viola, your ranged heavy list just turned into a combined arms with some serious output.

Scattergunners
These guys fall into an interesting spot for our ranged options and should really only be an option when you are facing infantry spam and their unique brand of range can solve that problem. You could even bring the min unit and swap in a solo if you really need.

Nyss Hunters
Despite them being character restricted they are still perhaps one of our best ranged options for specialists. They fit perfectly into the point allotment and are both potent at range and in melee. If you are running melee heavy or have a beast you want to swap out consider these guys as a premium option.

Bog Troggs
The often forgotten little buggers seem like a decent option for armies that are fast and trying to outflank you or in scenarios were you can really take advantage of someone trying to camp a zone and who might be exposed. More then anything the persistent threat and psychological effect is probably the most profound thing they bring. They bring the hidden threat that can sometimes really swing a game in your favor. They feel like a decent option for us.

Thrullg
This guy might see some more play as we go on, as we struggle really hard with armies that debuff us. If you can keep him safe you can assure that crippling grasp doesn't completely ruin your day. I wouldn't use him for his other abilities though. That's just trying to get him killed...

What Doesn't Work IMHO...
Bombers and Blitzers
If you don't already have a dedicated Impaler in your list these guys are simply not a great option. Their threat range is small and their contributions will be unreliable at best. It was the same problem we were having with reinforcements and having either beast there.

Bushwhackers, Thumpers, Burrowers, and Sluggers
It was discussed above that our ranged options well....suck. These options seem decent and honestly they might work, but they are very expensive for what they do poorly...outside of burrowers of coarse, but that will come later. A thumper is a walking KD which can be nice but it's performance has been much maligned for some time now and with better range options in Nyss why bring them. Also since you probably only have one list in need of a ranged support swap you likely won't want to bring subpar stuff when you have better options. As for Burrowers they serve one purpose...total annihilation of a Warjack or Warbeast without getting removed on the way up the board. If you want this in your list...just bring it, no need to be tricksy.

Solos
I don't think I would load my specialists up with solos but, that doesn't mean you can have them in addition to a unit or light warbeast or something. They are a decent option but I wouldn't just bring nothing but solos in this instance.

Opportunity costs and benefits

thegreatblah@trollbloodscrum.com — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 21:00:00 +0000

Something that does not get mentioned too often but is implied a lot here on the boards is the concepts of 'opportunity cost and benefits' . We discuss is a lot but it is not often given a name. When theorycrafting it is very easy to use the hard numbers, abilities, spells, etc. that we see on the cards of our beloved models and compare them to the other given items on the other models' cards; "This fellow does what this fellow does only this one has more armor and this one has more defense.". This is a natural and right aspect of the conception and construction of any wargame force. We as players decide how we want our particular force to function and we weigh the pros and cons of each figure relative to our primary idea. High armor, high defense, fragile-but-potent, etc. are all examples of lists that most experienced wargamers have seen and likely played, in these cases leaning toward skew lists that make your opponent answer their riddle; 'How do you deal with all of this thick Khadorian armor?' or something similar. Other lists are balanced, often containing a decent ranged game, some melee punch, solo hunters, etc. and these lists tend to be answer lists. They offer their players answers to as many possible questions as their opponents' lists can ask; "You have stealth and here is my answer. Over here is my answer to your infantry. My caster has Purification to answer your debuffs.".

When crafting our lists we have a tendency to only weigh what we can see on the cards, discounting what is either not readily apparent or not easily quantified. A great example of this is our requisite faction ability; Tough. It should not be relied on or counted on but rest assured that your opponents most likely hate it. Tough is an ability that is not easily weighed or measured yet when you pull out your trolls, Slaughterhausers, or what have you then you can say with confidence that it will impact the game. You may never realize its impact or be able to isolate it and demonstrate it but for the most part Tough affects the game just about every time; this unknowable coolness is the opportunity benefit. Trolls pay for Toughness in their points yet we cannot say for sure exactly what we have paid thus Tough has an opportunity cost; some tiny percentage of the points that are in our army could have gone to a more concrete idea such as a beast with one more point of armor, one more point of speed, etc. Additionally you must weigh the possibility that Tough will hose your plan and not just your opponent's. I have been caught by my own Tough checks on many an occasion which is another opportunity cost.

Another cost/benefit that Trollbloods get is their medium bases. We pay for those in the costs of our models, no doubt, but we also reap a definitive benefit. Having untrampleable infantry is a fantastic defense that is hard to assign a points cost to. I imagine that many of you have used Mulg to trample over five small bases, snack on four of them, goad from the fifth, then smack the living crap out of some poor sap warnoun before snacking on him just out of spite. Mulg kicks arse that way. Now consider that every time you put down your lovely medium-based Trollbloods you are giving your opponent the proverbial finger when it comes to trampling your little men which is not a bad benefit. The flip side of that is that our infantry take up a lot of space; the cost. This particular example could probably be stretched out and analyzed a ton but I think I will leave it at that.

A much broader example of what I am trying to illustrate is in something as basic and simple as our caster selection. Each time we pick up a caster we pay a very large opportunity cost and, hopefully, gain a large benefit. By simply selecting Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia I am paying a large cost in a lack of infantry support but gaining a large chunk of beast support in return. This does not have an points associated with it yet it undeniably carries a certain cost/benefit ratio. These concepts are at the core of many of the good debates that you run into on these forums. One person says that unit A is thebest in stuation B, but this person over here insists that it should be unit C instead of A. The truth is that both can be the best and in many instances the one that you use is the one whose opportunities you are best able to take advantage of. Neutralyze (of Legion fame and I think a top-table competitive player) has said many times that you should play the warlock that you feel most comfortable with and not the one that is commonly thought of as the best and, even though I am a casual player, I could not agree more. By playing a certain caster a lot you learn by instinct that caster's mechanics and interactions, what they can handle, what they cannot, and how you should use them in any given situation. Underlying all of that is this oftentimes vague concept of opportunity costs and benefits.

This little blurb is geared toward the newer players. I was feeling introspective after my Warmachine today and thought that maybe I would post this. If anyone has something they would like to add or sees something that could use polish please speak up. If it is too intangible to be of use then let it fall into the pages of history.
Later!

Mirivor

SR2013 Troll 3 List Essentials

thegreatblah@trollbloodscrum.com — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 17:46:00 +0000

So, with Tournament Season approaching I think it's time to take a look at the basics of what we as Trolls really want in a 3 list format. With this article I want to address the basics. So getting an idea of what we as a faction want to to by either answering the enemy or asking the questions!

Not every list has a Colossal in it!
I know that this needs to be addressed because right now I feel like there's a bomb scare like every list you will hit in a tournament will have a Colossal or Gargantuan in it. Or, that it will be the Bart, Galleon bullshit we know is out there. Obviously this can change with your Meta, but I think Trolls need to really stop being so scared of what will be across the table from us. When you stop worrying about this it will really loosen up your list building ideas and start thinking strait.

So What Are Our Options?
Right now I feel like Trolls are going to do well in a few areas. The new scenarios favor our factions in a number of ways.

- The Jam
We have a really fast hard to remove faction and that can really favor us in scenario if we can beat on our opponents to scenario zones and start scoring early. Expect Warlocks like Jarl and Grissel to really be strong in this sense, Grissel most notably. Grissel's tool set is so strong in SR2013 that it's hard to deny that you will see her. Hoof it can get her first wave of tar pit up the board and a early feat no Turn 2 can completely clog the zone with the rest of her infantry. Or you feat turn 3 to lock down and spells or retaliation if you are having to grind out the game more then Jam it up.

The reason the Jam works so well in SR2013 is because of the way we can dominate our friendly zones with our Warlocks and start scoring points early. An early lead in Scenario scoring can be huge. Also with our tough infantry we can easily contest zones long after our opponent, especially if we are there first. But, don't discount the ability to score a point a turn starting on the bottom of turn 3.

- Colossal Removal
Yeah, you knew it was coming. You knew you needed to have an answer for this. Even if you don't you need to have a way to end the game before a Stormwall shoots you off the table or at least something similar. I have seen talk about extreme flanking maneuvers to get around Colossal bases and get to Warcasters. And I think this idea has merit, but I also think you need to commit to that strategy as hard as you do to killing a colossal. Which would mean a specific caster or list design. I'm still not certain your flanking whatever won't just die on the way in but I think this idea needs exploring so I wanted to bring it up.

As to simply destroying it I am starting to really lean towards a more standard list build from times past. I think this is because I need to get shot off the table really bad before I actually see this not being a viable list building tactic. Anyway, the more standard beast bricks can get the job done. Doomy does it from downtown but has this problem with death and ranged fire so there's that. I think that delivering a supported beast and one or 2 other things is really all we need to do as Trolls don't have a problem with damage. Family Reunion can be an option because it has all the goodies in it but I am not certain that is has the legs for every colossal match up. It also has big time problems with certain Cryx match ups simply because of the Caster selection. In conclusion, take your pick, we have ways to deal damage. Build your list around surviving the approach.

- High Defense Infantry Spam is Still a Thing
^^ This. Have a plan for this. AOE's. Slamming your own shit. AOE's. Something. AOE's..... Anyway, this isn't something we have historically had a huge problem with because we have things like Long Riders and Impalers to use. More then just high def infantry, you need to have some sort of plan for eButcher Doomeraver spam because that shit is balls and will walk all over yours if you don't have some sort of plan. The first Warlock that really comes to mind for me s grim here. He solves a lot of problems in high def and the Butcher scenario. He slows the advance of infantry, lowers their defense and ca buy you a turn while making your army more accurate and positioning them to give you a fighting chance. Also squishy casters beware. Other options are Calandra ranged lists for good ranged and blast damage. Flavor it how you want but having some AOE's and a way to deal with this sort of thing is important.

- Dark Horse
Or, Skew Lists as they are called can really catch people off guard. This goes back to the way Trolls ask questions and we see if our opponent has an answer. It's not a terrible idea by any means but the list better have a specific purpose, scenario, or match up you are trying to exploit or it will fall flat on it's face. There's no real way to suggest what to do with this because let's be honest, it might not work.

So, these are the basics I feel are important to understand when you begin to make lists for an SR2013 event. Feel free to comment or PM me if you have any questions or ideas you would like to ask. Good ideas might make their way onto the next Article or Scrumcast!

The Faces of Trollblood Scrum, sort of

thegreatblah@trollbloodscrum.com — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 00:11:00 +0000

Short one for you all, but as some of you may realize TheGreatBlah like his Rocksong clan for his IKRPG games and we just started up a new one. The game itself isn't the real important part of all of this. Nope. It's the faces of the people. And so I bring you the faces of Rocksong as provided by the wonders of Google Hangout! Enjoy the scary images of favorite troll authors as we are indeed a classy classy bunch! So Cheerio old Goats! Why I believe that some Dire Wolves may be sneaking up on us old chap!

From Left to Right: TheGreatBlah, SergeantBus, Kilbrj, Hatred(who obviously has no physical form)

Mechanik's Heaven: A Day Off

thegreatblah@trollbloodscrum.com — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 19:42:00 +0000

With shattered jack's in tow the Mechanik's returned home. Two of their friends were twisted piles of junk, another moved with slow, sporadic movement, obviously badly damaged. The third, Arkadi, was completely undamaged, not even a scratch upon the Laborjack's frame.

And lo, did the warriors return, disheartened by the damage they had taken, but they had indeed driven off the Skorne threat, though perhaps the Skorne merely retreated. Regardless, they had work to do as the repairs on their Jack's were going to be enormous, luckily though they hadn't actually completely destroyed any of the pieces, so repair was possible.

It was with this in mind that the group gathered around, their leader, Finnegan, looked at all of them, tired, worn and disheveled. "We'll take a rest and then get started on the repairs, but the evenings are your own assuming we don't get called out again. We all need a rest from this twenty-four hours a day danger. Also the repairs are significant enough that somebody needs to head round to the guard captain's office and pick up our pay. I suspect he's got it closed down for now so we'll get it later."

They all got a good rest that evening and on the morning the sounds of repairs could be heard. Lucky and Taltos were in dire need of some repairs so it was to get those two back up and running that the crew started on them. But with four mechaniks the work on the two jacks went quickly. Disassembled, each mechanik took a major system in hand and began the repairs, sorting out the oddities of the damage and repairing what they could. Taking advantage of their contacts to get parts brought in on credit for now, they managed within that days worth of work to get the majority of the repairs completed so that they now had four jacks, damaged admittedly, but still four working jacks. Late that afternoon, while Finnegan kept working on some finicky pieces, he sent out the others to get their pay and to enjoy the rest of the day at the bar. So it was that Andrew, Dmitriy and Emma head out to the Broken Anvil to enjoy a hard earned rest.

The Anvil wasn't terribly full today. A strange fur clad human sat with a trollkin drinking some and chatting in a foreign language. One of the Rhulic folk sat at the bar, tended by a Nyss, the two chatting quietly as well as the bartender served him a fine ale. Two others, each sitting by themselves also were in the Anvil, a resting ogrun laborer and a mysterious Iosan woman.

Dmitriy decided he felt like getting lucky this evening and immediately headed over to hit on the Iosan, his opening line was pretty weak but not enough to scare her off. Andrew, with nothing better to do joined Dmitriy, all of Dmitriy's attempts at making it clear he was on the prowl rolling right over the oblivious warcaster.

Emma on the other hand headed straight to the bar, ordering a drink and starting up a conversation with the Rhulic trader, who's name she learned was Paul. He was a merchant in the town and very disturbed by the rumors he was hearing as he had a load of material to move north shortly and the military couldn't provide any kind of escort. This piqued Emma's interest and she chatted up the merchant trying to discover what he had heard about the danger to the city, in particular what he had heard about the 'mercenaries defending the city'.

After the last few days of hard labor, the Mechanik's take a day off for a drink and some entertainment!

Meanwhile on the other side of the bar Andrew's warcaster armor had apparently caught the interest of the elf chick who nodded to Dmitriy's lines, while moving closer and closer to Andrew. The seduction took a turn when she clearly started ignoring Dmitriy and literally took a seat on Andrew's lap to ask him about how he had survived the brutal massacre of all the rest of the warcasters and jack marshals in town. For andrew this was the first time he apparently thought about the fact that the attacking Iosans had been targeting warcasters specifically. Apparently not so quick on the uptake, but he also decided that this one was clearly different and he wasn't going to stop this seduction.

Dmitriy, being a bit more perceptive than his warcaster partner, could tell when he wasn't wanted and so he decided to start drinking with the Ogrun laborer, striking up a conversation consisting of Dmitriy's questions and one word answers from his Ogrun drinking buddy. Who mostly was willing to listen to it since Dmitriy was buying the rounds.

Emma, by this point had finished her conversation with Paul, who decided to head back to his shop, after securing a promise from Emma to think about protecting his caravan at some point when he asked. He promised her in return full access to his stock of jack parts at cost, no markup guaranteed. Bereft of her drinking buddy Emma migrated on over to the trollkin and human who apparently didn't speak any languages in common with Emma but alcohol has it's own language and it was only a short time before Emma and the Barbarian started up a drinking contest. A match that at first seemed utterly ridiculous, after all Emma was nearly half the size of the barbarian but she held her own in this match like a champion and 8 massive mugs in the battle was neck and neck with both contestants clearly feeling their drink. This final drink though caused all of the previous alcohol to finally catch up to Emma, clearly from a lack of beer nuts, as her companion, barely sober, put his glass down, while Emma just kept going backwards, out like a light before she even hit the floor.

The impressive display of prowess though had put the crew in a good mood and even the Ogrun was apparently impressed with her nearly drinking the burly human under the table, and so he was perfectly fine with scooping up the unconscious woman at the behest of her companion Dmitriy. The three of them, Dmitriy, the ogrun and Emma returned to the shop, leaving Andrew to his fate. A fate that got even more interesting when the lady in question invited him back to her place for the evening, an offer he decided not to refuse. Common sense was not strong with this one, as not even his friends knew where he had left to this time.

Back at the shop Finnegan noted the return of some of his companions and nodding to Dmitriy he frowned, "Where's the pay from the captain?" And the look of surprise on Dmitriy's face told Finnegan all he needed to know. None of the group had remembered that they had to pick up their pay, so the next day they would have to go out after it. Emma was put to bed to sleep off the drink while Finnegan and the Ogrun spoke quietly about the possibility of permanent work, after all with the crew out it would be good to have additional help, and so they hired on Allan Ogrun'son to watch the shop and provide help with the work on the jacks.

Fade to black, with a satisfied air of somebody who has enjoyed his evening completely and robustly, Andrew awakened the next morning to the sounds of his companion departing early. He had barely opened his eyes before hearing some words in his ears spoken softly, "Thank you for the evening. Though you should be careful who you go home with. My sisters would not have killed you kindly." The humor and mild bite to them left him puzzled but fully awake and he had but a moment to notice as he companion of the previous evening left through the door leaving him alone in the room.

Andrew dressed quickly heading back to the shop where he found that Dmitriy and Emma were just getting ready to leave for the Captain's to pick up their pay. Finnegan and Allan were going to get some more work done on the repairs, as well as work on some new gear for both Arkadi and Finnegan himself(craft). So the three of them set off to pick up their pay.

Arriving at the guard's barracks they first had to deal with a surly guard who didn't want them disturbing the Captain. An attempt at intimidation by Emma failed miserably, as did an attempt by Dmitriy to convince the guard otherwise. Only the commanding presence of Andrew in his warcaster armor seemed to have some influence and the straightening back of the guard was all they needed to bully past him with Andrew congratulating him on his improved posture and attitude.

Arriving at the Captain's office the three of them knocked, received permission to enter and proceeded to have a similar conversation to the one with the guards. The Captain was happy to pay them, but noted that since they only had 2 fully working jacks he should only pay them half the normal amount. Again attempts at negotiation by Dmitriy and intimidation by Emma failed to make any impression on the dwarven Captain who seemed almost amused at their antics, but Andrew's call to his patriotism, his foresight and the fact that their fees were really not that significant compared to keeping this major city safe. Those commanding words, inspiring just really hit the nerves of the captain. His spine straightened, his head tilted back as though looking off into the distance and he nodded at the salient points describing his military brilliance, his tactical acumen, his strategic insight. He nodded and congratulated them on seeing through his little subterfuge, clearly they too had the understanding to defend the city. So he turned over the back due payments to the crew which departed there in high spirits, having secured their contractual pay.

And so they spent the next couple of days finalizing repairs, moving Taltos and Lucky's cortex's on over to newly repaired Talon bodies, and finishing up a few crafting projects of their own. It was with this new equipment and outlook that they awoke a week later to a knock at the door where Paul and the guard Captain stood waiting for them, a new job was clearly on the plate.

Next time, A Trip to Corvis.

Umbra and Trolls

thegreatblah@trollbloodscrum.com — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 00:07:00 +0000

So haven't seen any of the other folks post something about the new League information, Umbra, so I figured I might through together some of my thoughts as a really raw, really dumb new player to Warmahordes.

I'm only going to pay attention to the Trollblood piece, the Emaciated Dire Troll Mauler. In large part comparing it to the basic Dire Troll Mauler, and my thoughts on it, which in some ways are really almost questions as I haven't made up my mind yet.

So numbers first, the Emaciated is pretty much a Dire Troll with two key differences, Fury(4 instead of the 5 of the base Dire Troll Mauler) and cost, (8 instead of 9) so at first glance this seems like it might not be a bad deal. While the lost of fury makes it a little harder to really put the hammer down, the 1 point difference for a 1 point cost reduction seems pretty good to me. I often don't use the full fury until I get into that absolute crush the foe. But I see a problem related to the second piece of this heavy warbeast.

Powers. So the Emaciated replaces the Snacking with Devour which is a strictly better version of Snacking, healing 3+d3 instead of the d3 of the base power. But the Emaciated loses Regeneration completely, and instead gains Starving, which causes it to deal d3 damage to itself every activation(at the start of its activation). This loss of regeneration combined with the Starving makes me wonder if I'm going to be dealing with a model that is going to be pretty badly beat up before it even gets into a fight. The low speed of trolls, combined with this damage to the troll(which has 28 health to begin with) feels like it could be a big issue. Especially against certain armies. The necessity of devouring being a living model means I'm looking at the potential for not being able to keep them healed up in the face of constructs or undead. And since it requires an attack to box the model you can't simply use whelps to heal up the troll.

And that's the extent of the changes with this model. I have to say I was rather disappointed myself in the differences in this model, hoping for something a little bit more.. interesting. I see the Emaciated Dire Troll Mauler to be an interesting trade off but the lower fury, combined with the need to use him to box living models to keep him alive, makes me wonder if I would want to use him over a straight up Mauler. In those cases though where 1 point makes a difference I can definitely see swapping him in, in order to pick up some other unit, but in general the extra fury, and lack of damage to himself makes me believe that I might be better off going with the normal mauler..

But then I think about it. On average, if I can manage to box 1 model a turn how does it work out. Well, interestingly enough we have 'math' to help us here. If you can box 1 model per turn, with both creatures, and assume you use that extra fury for a regeneration what you actually get is a model that costs 1 point less and on average heals 1 point less per turn. The d3 on the Starving cancels the d3 on devouring leave basically a flat 3 point heal on devouring. With the normal mauler a snacking + regeneration averages 4 points. Now 1 army point for 1 less healing doesn't seem that bad and if I can box 2 models per turn the healing on the Emaciated mauler is now an average of 7(5 per devouring) while the normal mauler is only averaging 6. So for that 1 point less I've actually increased my healing.

Overall I suspect that the change is actually a pretty good one and I'm definitely considering swapping the emaciated in(if only I could figure out how to do it on specialist lists but sadly the point value of the maulers themselves is too large to manage and still take advantage of that 1 point difference to get a 2 point solo up to a 3) for a couple of games. In many games I definitely see the Emaciated's ability forcing my opponent to focus fire on him, if only to ensure he doesn't get a big round of devouring in, healing up all the way. And that gives me an opening to get him through. If he manages to survive such a round of attacks as well, a big round of devouring, possibly even against some of my own(whelps) means I can heal some big damage(5 devours averages more than the Emaciated has in hitpoints) and add some serious survivability to the Emaciated.

So while I could have wanted a creature a little more unique than we got, I actually think the Emaciated may indeed be a pretty good deal against most armies and gives us something that is very much lacking in the current Trollblood Army, an 8 point heavy. Come March I will hopefully let folks know how the Emaciated works out!

The Scrum Cast E.16

thegreatblah@trollbloodscrum.com — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 19:02:00 +0000

Come hear our newest Ramblings over at The Scrum Cast.

http://scrumcast.trollbloodscrum.com/2013/02/trollbloodscrum-cast-e16.html

Painting Competition Winners!

thegreatblah@trollbloodscrum.com — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 22:04:00 +0000

Sorry for the delay folks I know I have been keeping the winners hanging for months now. Just insert whatever lame excuse you want in here and we can get on with the Winners!

First Place: Anthony Winter!
With his Beautiful Mountain King and whelps! Also that poor Angelius...

Second Place: Kevin Bashford

With his rowdy Borka and Drinking Crew and his theme aptly named "Celebration Gone Wrong"!

Honorable Mention: Svirfneblin

With his amazing Tartan work on his Kriel Stone unit.