Trollblood Scrum!!!

Updated 07 July 2014  ~  See The Visual Companion by Celedor


The question on the Trollblood forums that is the most common is where to start and what to begin with when starting a Trollblood force.
There are many good choices in the Trollblood arsenal to choose from and picking the ones to begin with can be difficult. The first stop for any Trollblood player should be the Warpack; the Warpack has a few good things going for it. First of all it has some of the most solid Light Warbeasts available. Secondly is has a caster that helps showcase the way Trolls play and helps you begin to learn when and where to apply buffs. Finally, the cost is good, for what you get the cost is unbeatable.

Hey everybody! Here's my contribution to our growing troll tactica. Keep in mind I'm writing this pretty much off the top of my head, so it's going to be pretty basic, at least at first. Everybody else is organizing these things by stats, attacks, casters and whatnot, and I'll make an effort to do the same, but be kind in your judgements. Feel free to add to it.

Mulg Smash: Your Step-by-Step Guide to the King of Trolls

Mulg is the lord of all Dire Trolls, the Omega Troll if there ever was one. He is the biggest, the
baddest, and the strongest of them all, and has the stats to back it up. In melee, he'll destroy
anything that falls within the shadow of his club, and the testicles of lesser warbeasts have been
known to retract reflexively at the sight of him. He is a walking mountain, unleashing an
avalanche of power at the command of warlocks whose whims he heeds out of affection and
brotherly understanding, not servitude.

To kick off our newest Series, Awesome Armies, Goris has given us a write up on Borka and the successes, strategies, strengths and weaknesses with the army he has chosen to go with it.  


Now, I am a huge fan of the eDoomy beast trifecta. However, that being such a popular list of late, I decided during nightfall to branch out and try our lower fury Melee centric casters. So I tailored a Borka list that has been working very well for me and provides a good number of troops, a few beasts and some great speed.

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I came in 8th out of 8 in the finals, so take any experiences I give with a grain of salt. I’m just some dude who got lucky enough to qualify.

So here is my shortlist of my new favorites in MKII. Yeah there are some other good and awesome things, Borka and Fenn Blades I'm looking at you two.

rMadrak - I have always loved him and his surefoot defense buffing goodness. Add in some Carnage and Snap fire and good gravy he is better than usual.

Grim Angus - A feat that is to die for, this Troll controls the battlefield better than he ever did in MKI. Now with the ability to grant hunter, a gun that will blow your shorts off, and a netgun that will make you wish you didn't get too close this Troll is the complete package for scenario play.

This post was copied from Sevall at the PP forums HERE, his reference to posting should be done on the PP forums.

Post your thoughts based from in game experiences here. Lets make a nice repository of informed comments. There is a place for theorymachine, but with all the emotions we should really have a place dedicated to actual gaming knowledge.

Played two games with the following 50 point list.

Borka
Keggy
EBDT
Slag
10 Fennblades
10 Bushwhackers
5 Champs
6 Kriels + UA
Fellcaller
Chronicler

Madrak - Snap Fire excellent. Feat wording is all arse-about-face and busyfied - Overtake could be an Advantage and text eliminated for more better clarity. Scroll still not as stupid good as I remember it being. Battering Ram looks like it could be fun (lots of effects like that, with pushes and places and moves you abouts, which I like even if it's not very good. It's just funny.).
eMadrak - Snap Fire excellent. Feat still a curious beast that I see much potential in, but also many ways to mess up. Killing Ground is very nice. I like the look of him but he's definitely more complex than the original.
Hoarluk - Banishing Ward change excellent, exactly what I was hoping for. Stranglehold looks interesting but necessitates playing him closer to the front than I'd like. Nothing I'm madly excited about but I'd play him.eHoarluk - Whoa there feat turn. Interesting arc-node-esque mechanic in Primal Shock and interesting capacity to withdraw himself from danger with Refuge (shame it's not on the other one, but I suppose that's the point). I like that his melee potential has been concentrated on the Epic version, makes more sense that way. Wild Aggression woo yay. Cunning little beast.
Grissel - Who needs a hand cannon? Critical Smite looks like fun (again, it doesn't have to be good, but look at the model - it fits!). Damn it, I tore up my Rift marker. Still my preference in warlock, I think, with both Madraks and Grim both making a very strong case.
Grim - Feat turn whoa. Return Fire on an Impaler looks like fun. Wish he worked better with Minions, would love to do a list with him and a bunch of Farrow and Gatormens based on his mercenary days. Do ze goggles do enough? I'll have to check the Legion rules.
Borka - Better, but I've always been indifferent towards Borka. Wind Wall and Iron Flesh give him an interesting dynamic, and I like that the Keg Bearer serves some worthwhile purpose again (though Top Off needs proofreading, it's rambly and there are bits missing, much like this post).
Calandra - Still good, don't care, never liked her. Sorry folks. She and Borka are the kind of Trolllblood model I can't bring myself to own.
Pyre - fun, no longer competing with the Mauler for animus effect, nice cheap AOE, like it a lot.
Slag - Word of God proof that Fire > Corrosion, would like +2 to damage rolls on all Cryx attacks with Corrosion to maintain parity. (I'M JOKING.) Seriously, this troll hates Cryx. That's fine, I hate it too. Fugly model. Needs resculpt before purchase. Potentially useful for 'jack battering though.
Axer - targeting limitation on Rush makes me sad. Rush still clearer than it used to be though (I played it wrong from Primal's release up until, ooh, late 2007?). Still solid. Wouldn't want two now.
Bouncer - WANT. Shield Guard nice. Bump nice. Chain weapon situational but nice.
Impaler - targeting freedom on Far Strike makes me happy. Still good. Take two all the time? Maybe not.
Winter - nice touch on the animus. Not sure I'd need it with all the Bumps and Smites and stuff about but it could be useful, 'specially since I fight Khador a lot (Immunity = good). Still like the non-elementals more.
Blitzer - GUNFIGHTER! Whee! Repulsion another one of those effects I really like, and is now actually effective. Virtuoso potentially hilarious. Someone remind me, do you forfeit all your initial attacks to make a power attack? You do, don't you? Pity. Throw + Strafe = good times. Curse you, balance.
Mauler - like Seether on steroids. Not as exciting, to me, as the Blitzer; much much better model though, and as good a utility beast as always.
Earthborn - tough as old boots but Elemental Communion a bit situational for my tastes. Would rather have either of the other Dires.
Mulg - expensive and slow. Would rather have lights. Colour me indifferent.
Kriel Warriors - not totally awful, but almost totally outclassed by Fennblades. CMA not as good as Reach in faction that throws +2 to melee attack rolls around like it's going out of fashion. Caber still nice but needs Fortune to qualify for 'awesome'. UA is counterintuitive, extending formation space for a unit that likes to clump (CMA, Take Up). Could help with engaging multiple targets, I suppose, but could Fennblades do the same thing better, and do I have the patience to work out that many formation issues? Steady not bad, admittedly, but not worth it on this unit and certainly not when Fell Callers are about.
Krielstone Bearer - still not an anchor. This alone makes me interested in Trollbloods again. Glad to see it's maintained its competitive costing niche, stops Elder being a must-take, but would love Elder in ranged lists.
Thumper - there, are the Khador players happy now? Still hitting reliably, still good, still competitively costed.
Champions - still not a must-take, but appealing with increased utility (three semi-solos? would work well with Borka, knocking down on the first hit and finishing off on the second), capacity to spread out and flexible sizes. Like them now, rather than feeling bound to them.
Fennblades - good, they're more expensive than Kriels. They are still better than Kriels - more aggressive and Vengeance + Reach = Good. Reach makes me happy about working more mileage out of Madrak and Grissel's extra attacks.
Long Riders - Three seem good, five seem too many. Might need Fortune to work those criticals and ensure knockdowns, otherwise need Horthol to really shine (Bull Rush risks slamming things too far to capitalise effectively), but I play Cryx, I'm used to cavalry coming with a patch solo to work with more than one 'caster. What would I do with them, without him? Not sure.
Runeshapers - why must they be stupid comedy hand models? I like them but I cannot purchase, for lo! they look shoddy. Tremor on the charge, followed up with a buffed hit from the axe? One Tremors, others bludgeon target? I like these guys. Curse their stupid hands.
Scattergunners - nice figures but colour me distinctly underwhelmed about their rules. Not bad, but in same bracket as Fennblades so outshone horribly. Needs more UA with Granted: Something Interesting.
Burrowers - BLARG. I understand that they can't have the Helldiver's invulnra-Burrow, but they're too fussy in their implementation for me to bother with. Trolls is for not complicated time.
Bushwhackers - proof that sometimes you can do something interesting without unit-specific rules, much as Scattergunners are proof that sometimes you can't. Fun and flexible ranged option. Would like.
Fell Caller Hero - well, that's one way of making the Champion Hero feel less inadequate. Opening up Hero as a designated type? Very good, potentially a bit too good for that all-important 3 point bracket?
Chronicler - henceforth to be known as the Fennblade UA. VERY good. Now works the way I thought he did all along.
Champion Hero - still not convinced he does as much good as the Fell Caller, might still be the dud of the bracket, but he's not bad. Did you buy ten Champions in Mark One? Rejoice, then, for an interesting list is still accessible to you.
Whelps - do more to enable alternative playstyles than anything but the changes to the Krielstone Bearer. Practically a must-take - it remains only to choose how many.
Horthol - if fielding Long Riders and not Hoarluk, must-take: makes Critical Knockdown and Bull Rush worth bothering with. Interesting denial capacity with Stagger and Line Breaker, but ultimately you take him for the Long Riders. He and Darragh should form a support solo support group.

Conclusion - Overall, happy. Long Riders still represent significant investment, especially given must-field patch solo. Disappointed in Scattergunners and Burrowers. Praying for Blitzer and Runeshaper resculpts - they are good but their models represent Trends I Do Not Like and cannot bring myself to encourage with purchases. Skorne will have much work to do to persuade me that getting into them's a better call; Trollbloods excite me and make me clap my hands and bounce like a schoolgirl in a way that Skorne simply haven't, to date.

It's midseason here in Phoenix Games Homebrew League and we have some good looking standouts at the moment.


Menoth Jon has, as always had solid performances.  Those stinking flamers just wont die.  I coun't him as the sleeper in this League as he has consistently been near the top.  That and his second unit of Bastions are hitting the table.

KhadorAdam was a late comer in the League and has had a slow start.  He is looking to boost his wins and his ego by teaming up with McCryx in next weeks Teams Game.

The rest of us will have to beat some face next week in the teams game and claw our way back ahead of our leaders.

This post can also be found HERE at the Privateer Press Forums.

I’ve been expounding a bit recently on the difference between thinking like a player and thinking like a designer. I thought I’d just do one big post where I explain my thoughts, hopefully to encourage some of the same thoughts in you, or at the very least a bit on introspection on how you playtest and feedback during this fieldtest. If you don’t think I am qualified to give my thoughts (I am not a game designer, nor have been trained in anything beyond conventional graphic design.) please feel to ignore this post or feel free to read and refute my points.

This largely relates to posts where people complain about abilities and models that are not overpowered from a power perspective, but instead function strangely, counter intuitively, or with unpredicatable power levels.

Definition of terms
So that we are all on the same page, here is how I define some commonly used terms.
Design Space – The ability to add new models to the game without greatly expanding the number of rules that a player must known in order to play the game at a functional level. New rules open up design space at the cost of increased complexity. It is assumed that there is an upper level of complexity that a player base will accept before it starts hurting the game.
Overpowered – A model that is more powerful than a significant majority of similar models.
Unfun – A model that reduces either players desire to play the game.
Broken – A model that is either significantly overpowered or unfun.
Please note, neither term includes the term ‘unbeatable’. Nothing is truly unbeatable, so it is a bad way to define or desribe the above terms.

Greater Tenents of Design

0. Fun is a factor
This is the zeroth rule, the underlying rule above and beyond all else. The game must be fun, or it is a failure, or a job. Abilities that reduce fun must be balanced in some way, or removed entirely. This balancing factor allows for underpowered models and abilities to be balanced by the fact that they are a great deal of fun. This is a concept that does not apply as much to high levels of the game, but must be present to make a game broadly successful.

1. Adjust models to an even level
Models must be balanced against the majority of other models in the game. That is to say, if MAT 6 is average across all melee models, then MAT 7 is good, and needs some sort of penalty when compared to the average model (increased cost, lack of ranged ability, lack of defense, lack of power etc.). If there is no apparent penalty, then the model is better than average, and can lead to power issues. This ‘baseline level’ can be used to help determine if a model possesses too many advantages for its cost or its disadvantages.

2. Balance new models to existing fair models
This is the most important thing that there is. In every game system there are some mistakes, some overpowered models that are clearly identified as such. Currently, many people think Kreoss1 is an example of such. These models cannot be used to gauge the power level of new models. The goal of design should be to limit these overpowered models, so that in time they may be errata’d to a level more in tune with the rest of the models of that type. If you own an original copy of Prime, or played during that time, you will remember Sorcha, and her dominating ability to windrush multiple times and use her feat without LOS. If we were to have designed the game around that power level, the game would quickly devolve into second turn kills where the main way to win a game was to go first. Instead, the designers tried to balance the game around the average caster, and errata’d Sorcha when the opportunity arose.

3. Limited use cannot be a large balancing factor
A model that is useless 80% of the time and overpowered 20% of the time is broken from a design perspective. Some abilities are only useful in particular instances. Vendetta, for instance, triggers only vs Blighted Models. Banefire works only against undead. Disruption works only vs Warjacks, Equilibrium only vs Hordes. The fact that these abilities are not useful at all times, or even in all games does not allow them to be much more powerful than universally useful abilities. When those abilities finally become useful, as in the case of distruption, they must be balanced, or the game quickly becomes unfun. A good example that no longer exists was Precursor Knights in their old form. They were extremely effective vs Cryx, with no real balancing factor vs other factions. Vs other factions, they are fine, vs Cryx they are a bit much. Thus, they are a bit much from a design perspective. A good example of this in the current environment is immunities to non-friendly elements. Cygnar’s widespread immunity to lightning is okay, because it allows the army to ignore some forms of friendly fire. The assault commandoes immunity to fire and corrosion is a balance issue because it is either useless or very good depending on the opponent. Thus, it is very good, and must be balanced by other weaknesses. Another example of this is Drago. Drago’s bond with either Vlad is powerful enough that he must be costed to Vlad, or else be undercosted when used with Vlad. This means that used with any caster other than Vlad, Drago is overcosted for what he provides on the table. This is the only correct way to design with limited use abilities, and its and example of just how undersirable they can be to a player base and the ability to sell and use models.

4. Unpredictability cannot be a large balancing factor
This relates largely to the above tenant, but instead relies upon unpredictable events like rolling a 1 on a D6, or a 4 or less on 2D6. An overblown example is a gun with the critical effect ‘remove target model from play’. This ability is simply too good to be balanced merely by the fact that it is a critical effect. I would go so far as to say that even a very high points cost would not balance a model with this gun, because it can potentially end the game every turn it is brought to bear. A true to the game example is the Mage Hunter Assassin. Decapitate and Weaponsmaster combine to form a melee attack that can remove almost any model from the game when rolled well. Most melee weapons in the game cannot do this. Combined with the low points cost and the difficulty in stopping the attack, this ability to kill almost anything is not adequately balanced, even by its own rarity. This applies to weaknesses as well. The Berzerker is a good example of an unpredictable downside that, even though relatively rare, reduces the models effectiveness tremendously. Flip that, and it becomes clear that rare beneficial effects also tremendously add to a models value.

Rule 3 and 4 Addendum
Rule 3 means that limited use abilities are generally undersireable unless relatively weak. They may, however, be elegantly used when paired. A model that gains weaponsmaster vs constructs and undead, and +2 to attack rolls against living models, has abilities usefull against all models in the game. This is far easier to balance, and is much less of an issue than a model that only possessed one of the above rules. This is one of the main reasons that models with Grevious Wounds have been gaining Arcane Assassin, so that they have an equal power level against all opponents.

5. Rules must function logically
Rules must be primarily utilized in logical ways. Offensive spells or attack abilities must be best utilized against enemies. Buffing effects must be best utilized on friendlies. When the best use for an offensive ability is against your own models, something ha failed somewhere in the design. An example of this is Equilibirum. It is almost never used against enemy targets, counter to its designation as an offensive spell. As such, its use is not intuitive, and it could be changed so that it either functions correctly as an offensive spell, or is instead changed to a friendly spell allowing for its current function. You can see that privateer has partially embraced this logic, from the changes to how sould tokens work, to removal of some abilities like Are You Going to Eat That that functioned best when sacrificing your own models.

6. Rules should not be unpredictable
Rules that state that a model gains an unknown rule cannot be adequately costed for power level. This includes abilities like Mirror Magic or Replication that grant unknown spells to certain casters. The spells they gain access to have not been playtested for the factions or casters that they will be used with, so the power level cannot be judged. This can lead to unknown and potentially broken situations. These particular abilities tend to function like denial abilities against good players, and as such would function in a measurable manner if they were replaced with denial abilities.

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I have been playing Hordes now for around 2-3 years, sticking mainly with Trollbloods the vast majority of the time.

With the finalization of the MKII rules eminent and the fact that MKI will most likely never ever be played in our LGS again it is time to retire my MKI numbers and start up some MKII stats. The MKII stats will be more inclusive, there will be a column just for me but I will be collecting stats from around ten other Troll players as well. It is sad to step away from this being a personal thing, but in the future the blog will be better for all the Troll players not just me. It appears the broken imbalances will be erased in MKII, but for now we will have to wait and see.

So here they are in all their glory... the numbers!

The first set of numbers is my overall win/loss percentages with each Troll Caster since the first day I picked up the Troll battlebox. In the first months of playing, my poor Trolls almost never ever won, unless you count 8 tough rolls in a row against rKaya on my third or fourth game when my Impaler then moved in and one shot her. Since that time the numbers have been better putting most my averages at almost 70% win. Here is the list.

Army	W	L	D	PCT
Cygnar	19	8	0	70.370
Cryx	10	19	0	34.483
Khador	14	3	0	82.353
Protectorate of Menoth	13	3	0	81.250
Mercenaries	3	0	0	100.000
Skorne	15	9	1	60.000
Trollbloods	6	1	0	85.714
Circle of Orboros	9	5	0	64.286
Legion of Everblight	14	4	0	77.778
Warmachine	60	33	0	64.516
Hordes	44	19	1	68.750
Totals	101	51	1	66.013
	STRK		W7

As you can see I struggled against Cryx ALOT, but there at the end my winning streak of 7 was the second longest streak of my MKI career, then best streak I had was with Grissel, Horthol and Longriders with 11 in a row.

The next set of numbers I started collecting was killing blows. This stat was to keep track of which one of my models ended up with the caster kill. I started collecting them about the time of the release of the Hero and you don't caster kill every win so the numbers are smaller. Here are my results.
Warcaster/Warlock Killing Blows (top 10)

* Trollkin Hero - 10
* Earthborn Dire Troll - 9
* Borka Kegslayer - 7
* Grim Angus - 6
* Troll Impaler - 5
* Trollkin Champions - 4
* Madrak Ironhide - 4
* Grissel Bloodsong - 3
* Dire Troll Mauler - 3
* Mulg The Ancient - 2

As you can see, the Hero took some names. His MKI incarnation was downright brutal the turn after I sacrificed a few Champs to get the Hero into position. My Earthborn also seemed to always get a caster dead or get him close enough for a few Champs or Grim to pick it off afterword. MKII has killed the Heroes assassination capabilities making him more of an infantry killer but the Earthborn and nowadays probably Mulg will gladly fill those shoes.

My last stat was the caster win stats, mainly because I wanted to see how my goto casters did AND because I can't help myself.

Caster	W	L	D	PCT
Borka Kegslayer	9	2	0	81.81
Calandra Truthsayer	6	5	0	54.55
Grim Angus	29	12	0	70.73
Grissel Bloodsong	19	7	0	73.08
Hoarluk Doomshaper	1	4	0	20.00
Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia	3	5	1	33.33
Madrak Ironhide	26	10	0	72.22
Madrak Ironhide, World Ender	5	2	0	71.43

While Borka owns the best percentage, by and large my favorite two casters to play were rMadrak and Grim. These two presented each end of the spectrum for Troll playstyle in MKI and were usually the best options to keep my opponents on their toes. If they planned for a Brick they had to hope they didn't see Grim. Grissel needs mention as I won a lot with her and she and Borka are my only two first place tourney finishes.

The new numbers should be bigger, better and more inclusive. Some won't be on the blog for a bit, but they will get there. We will have what was there before, but this time we will include not only each caster's win percentage, but their percentages against each faction.

On a side note I am looking for a way to setup on online form where those giving me numbers can input them on their own instead of sending them to me, then I can just open the inputs and update the blog. If anyone has that expertise they are willing to lend it would be fantastic.

Also I would like to welcome a few new authors to the Scrum. The ever popular and insightful Sevwall is a very experienced Troll player and is quite active on the PP forums. Kaptain Von is a newer Troll player than spends much of his time on the dark side of the game over in Cryx land and will provide an excellent point of view about Trolls. I have always thought Cryx to be the army that is most like Trolls, though many will say it is Menoth or Khador. And finally Josh Gardner a.k.a General Nemo from the PP forums, he has typically been what I would refer to as 'The Voice of Reason' on the forums. I am still looking for a couple more to contribute here if anyone wants a place to post Troll musings AND announce upcoming events in their local LGS.

So the poll results have been in for a while.  According to the 24 that voted, the best arcnode in the game is Thorn with nine votes.  Second place belongs to the Revenger and Deathripper and third is owned by the Phoenix.

Being a numbers guy, using the MKII pdf all the Warmachine arc-nodes stats were put on a spreadsheet so I could rank them.  My criteria was simple, offense was unimportant to me as I wanted to analyze only their effectiveness as an arcnode.  So I ran the numbers under three different base attack numbers and ranked them according to their ability to take a hit and still be able to function as a node.  Again I did not take into account any offensive abilities only defensive, and I did not take into account that the node can't be used in melee.  After I did that I compared to point cost to arc-node survivability to see which one was the best for its points. Here is what I found.

1 ~ Pheonix ~ Rebribution
2 ~ Lancer ~ Cygnar
2 ~ Revenger ~Protectorate
4 ~ Chimera ~ Retribution
5 ~ Deathripper ~ Cryx
5 ~ Nightwretch ~ Cryx
7 ~ Thorn ~ Cygnar
8 ~ Renegade ~ Magnus Mercs
9 ~ Blessing of Vengeance ~ Protectorate
10 ~ Defiler ~ Cryx
11 ~ Guardian ~ Protectorate

What it boiled down to was whether or not the arc-node could stand to take much of hit and/or stay out of harms way.

Take a good hard look at the Phoenix folks, its a monster, due to its force field you can't take out the node with one well placed hit... just not gonna happen so you'd better have a couple attacks ready to finish the job or it will finish you and then get channeled through again.

In the percentages the Phoenix only barely, and I mean barely beat the Lancer.  While Thorn is essentially the same, when you factor in point cost, if your just looking for a node there is no comparison.  Cheap and maneuverable the Lancer plays its role as a node quite well, along with Set defense and quite good armor with its shield.

Other nodes of note, and Many Cryxians would agree their nodes are not the best.  They are far from the worst however.  Unless of course you look at the Defailer!  Seriously though, out of all the factions Cryx is still most likely to bring them just for the node over anyone else which makes their middle of the road place in the line make them Cry.  Out of all of the nodes they are among the hardest to hit and the cheapest to field but if you do hit one, its lights out.  The only reason the Defiler is so low on the list is becuase of the cost.  I ran one sheet putting the Ripper at 3 instead of four and I can see why Privateer Press didn't do it.  But that is a flaw in thier new point system more than anything else.

Bottom of the Barrel as far as nodes are concerned, yup Protectorate's own Guardian.  The Blessing of Vengeance was quite low too, but lets face it, the BOV has some serious offense to offer any Menoth player.  The Guardian on the other hand with its high cost isn't really a good choice if your bringing him for the node.  Protectorate players would probably be better off bringing the Revenger for a taste of a good arcnode.  But if you like the Guardian, like the BOV, the node is more of a perk and not the reason you bring them.

For a numbers guy this one was fun do to, someday I will figure out a way to factor in offense of the jack along with the usefulness of the node but its a bigger fish than I have time to fry.

PP forums discussion can be found HERE.  For a lengthy spreadsheet pm me on the forums.

My thoughts on each model as it is now in MKII, with potential Feedback possibilities if the model fails to live up to my expectations. I will try to evaluate all models as if it were the only rules they ever had, unless I am suggesting feedback, in which case I reserve the right to draw on old rules. I will revisit this later on.

Models I have not played with are left blank

Models rated 1 to 5.
1 = Total Junk
2 = Underpowered
3 = Balanced
4 = Overpowered
5 = Broken

Mauler – 3
Perfect. Expensive, but with a killer animus and capable of trashing most heavies in a turn, especially if he gets his own animus thrown on him. Great stats. Good chain attack. Pretty close to perfect, ina balanced way

Possible Feedback: None

Blizter – 3
Another model that I feel is fine. I will say that I think its high time they standardized all of our heavies at 5 fury, but I would really hate it if his points increased, so I’m fine with 4. The ability to charge and boost is extremely good, especially since instead of riling he can just boost shots at people and hope for a hit. And if he hits, a boosted 13 can really put some hurting on, well, anything. Two handed throwing a model (maybe your own) followed up by a boosted 13’s and 0-2 additional unboosted 13’s is a pretty cool and efficient way to end a game. Again, he suffers for his cool ranged junk with reduced, but still effective, melee potential.

Potential Feedback: Make his animus push people 3”, to standardize it with ‘bump’ and affect people with reach. That, or make it cost 1.

Eathrborn – 3
We have some pretty balanced heavies. At the cost of 1 point, he trades the reliability of the Mauler’s animus for the ability to steal the POW of opponents weapons. This will easily get him to P+S 17 or higher against most heavies, so unbuffed he exceeds the Mauler, minus the chain attack. He is also a pathfinder, and has a great animus, which he gets inbuilt. He is incredibly versatile, and well worth the extra point over the mauler while being a completely different type of model. A wonderful way to create diversity in a faction

Possible Feedback: None.

Mulg – 3 (Flawed)
Mulg is an interesting model. He has the distinction of being one of the few models almost guaranteed to kill [I]anything[/I] in his melee range, almost more so than a buffed Mauler. Reach is incredible, as is his MAT and the P+S on his weapons. The main problem comes with his SPD, which is very slow at 4, and AYGTET (Are You Going To Eat That) makes up for it in a way that is quite possibly broken. You see, AYGTET is a nifty cornercase thing, and its hard to trigger it yourself because tough will screw you up a decent amount of the time. In come the whelps. With poor DEF and no tough, they easily trigger AYGTET. So, Mulg moves 4”, and starts charging around corners 16”, which is a problem.

So remove it, and give him snacking, right? Well, no, because then he is lackluster. Sure, he kills things, but he costs a ton, isn’t too much more survivable than a Mauler, and has an animus that is possibly the worst in the game.

So he is a 3, because overall he is both underpowered and overpowered, like two huge weights on a balance beam, and as such sort of balances out. But he could be tweaked to be a balanced model

Possible Feedback: Remove AYGTET for snacking. Increase SPD by 1. Change Runebreaker animus to be a 3” ‘disenchant’ that causes Enemy Animi and Enemy Upkeeps within 3” of the caster of the animus to immediately expire. He gets a bit better overall, gets a real animus that is worth paying heavy points for, and loses the insane threat range while still retaining a threat advantage over normal trolls.

Axer – 4
Okay, reach thresher on a MAT 6 beast with POW 15 is a touch over the top. Just a tiny, tiny touch. The real problem is Befuddle, because in combination with an Axer, you can arrange units in semicircles and get an axer a backstrike thresher at MAT 8 ignoring shieldwall. Pop the feat and you cannot miss DEF 14 or less with this tactic. Add a Mauler animus and there is hardly a unit you will not completely remove from the table.

But enough about that. The axer by himself is almost fine. Its not the beast so much as the animus that really puts him into ‘always take’ territory. But that’s just because it’s an animus that fits us so well, its not really a broken animus. So he is fine. Mostly. Boy this one rambled.

Possible Feedback: Reduce POW of the axe by 1. He is less effective at killing heavies, but not much else.

Bouncer – 3
Its funny. He hasn’t done much in my games, but his reassuring presence makes me fear range much less. Personally, I’ve stopped taking him so much, because I’ve been facing more melee lists that ranged lists. But in a tournament I might take one to help guard my caster. Bump is a slightly underpowered animus because most opponents can position around it, but its acceptable. He hits well enough for a light. Another all around good beast.

Possible Feedback: Increase POW of shield by 1. Tiny tweak to make him a bit more palatable.

Pyre – 3
Well, I’m less happy giving this guy a 3, but his animus is okay, he automatically sets people on fire in melee and at range, and he hits well enough in melee, especially if you buff him. Solid. Just Solid.

Possible Feedback: +1 RAT. I see no reason why it would overpower him, and since these beasts are supposed to be at the least all arounders, an incredibly low RAT is very painful. You will get used to this feedback.

Slag- 2
Possible Feedback: +1 RAT. I see no reason why it would overpower him, and since these beasts are supposed to be at the least all arounders, an incredibly low RAT is very painful. He is also not quite as nice as an Axer. The extra STR does not do much for him over his cheaper bretheren. That said, his animus is the same as the Pyre, so if you are expecting heavier targets, take him, and if not, take the Pyre.

Possible Feedback: +1 RAT, +1 ARM. If he is going to be a 6, lets make sure he earns it.

Winter – 2
Again, lackluster. Not bad, just meh. Really, for a ranged beast, this guy really has trouble hitting broads and barns and whatnot. The inbuilt stationary effect is quite good at preventing jacks, beasts and casters from targeting the Winter troll. Luckily for them, his bad DEF and ARM make it easy to whittle him down at range enough that a single charge attack will waste him. He just needs a little tweek to be okay.

Possible Feedback: +1 RAT, -1 point. I see no reason why it would overpower him, and since these beasts are supposed to be at the least all arounders, an incredibly low RAT is very painful. Why is this guy 6 when the winter is 5? Is auto-stationary really all that much better than auto-fire? One kills infantry, one stops models. Seems almost a wash for me, especially after playing him a few times. He drops just as fast as a Pyre. He should cost the same amount.

The Animus Conundrum – 2
So, the Slag and the Pyre have the same damn animus. The difference between crit fire and crit corrosion is so unnoticeable and meaningless that is only bears mentioning so that I can summarily dismiss it.

I get two beasts with the same animus. Both the Brute and the Protector have Safeguard. But they are in different factions. In a game where animus are important and influence what beasts you take (See: Axer) having two similar beasts (all arounders) with the same animus is so very strange. Why exactly would you take the Pyre and the Slag in the same list? If you do, why should you be punished for it by being deprived of another animus? If the animus is so critical that you double up, you damn well double up, or take Bone Grinders so that you have a backup.

One of them needs to lose the animus. Ironically enough, I think Acidic Touch works better on the Slag than Flaming fists work on the Pyre. So I’m thinking the Pyre should lose his animus for something else,

What should it be? Well, I’m not lucky enough to be a designer (yet… hire me!) so its not really in my prevue to create an entire new animus. But if the Slag is anti-heavy, and so is his animus, then it makes sense to give the Pyre an anti-troop animus. I like the idea of giving “It Burns” out as an animus. But again, I am not a designer.

Tommorrow…. Maybe nothing! But maybe Units.

My thoughts on each model as it is now in MKII, with a list of potential Feedback possibilities if the model fails to live up to my expectations. I will try to evaluate all models as if it were the only rules they ever had, unless I am suggesting feedback, in which case I reserve the right to draw on old rules. I will revisit this later on.

Models I have not played with are left out.

Models rated 1 to 5.
1 = Total Junk
2 = Underpowered
3 = Balanced
4 = Overpowered
5 = Broken


Madrak - 3
Seems quite acceptable. Surefoot is a spectacular defensive spell, and as an upkeep it allows him to send people off under its effects without having to recast it every turn. Stonefall is a poor offensive spell, but really his axe is all he needs to affect things at range.

I am undecided if he needs any changes. I feel like he needs reach, but that may just be wishful thinking. I’m going to say he is probably fine as is.

pHoarluk - 2
Wow, he has really turned into a true denial caster. Purification is a nice ability, especially since it can remove animi now, and there are some nice defensive animi out there. Past that, he seems nice if a little underwhelming. He works well with beasts via Goad, but his offensive potential is very limited, and Death Sentence and Stranglehold are very short ranged for him. One major problem is that he needs to recast his upkeeps when he Purifys, and that he is often out of easy range to recast his spells. So range is a problem, and he is a tad underpowered…..

Possible feedback: Something as simple as a bond that turns a beast into a channeller seems reasonable. It lets him effect the battle without putting himself at too much personal risk. Since his repetoire of offensive spells is limited, this should not swing him over into the ‘too good’ range.

Borka – 2
Borka is a weird one. Obviously Mosh Pit is hugely powerful. He gets an extra fury each turn through the keg carrie. Yet he seems… lacking. Boring maybe. Bum Rush is very hard to pull off, since it is much, much more limited that Counter Charge in that you have to move in a straight line. Cooler may as well be blank for all you will cast it. Yet he isn’t really bad in any way. Just slightly lacking. He seems to be geared towards beasts, yet has such little capability to run them.

Possible Feedback. Forget the pseudo Fury 6 from Keggy, just make him a 6. It helps him run the beasts than his feat and his spell list want. Keggy would lose Top up, and gain nothing in return. This keeps it as a small buff. Keggy would then have a sigular, but important purpose.

eMadrak - 3
Played with him a few times. He seems alright, just fine really. He is one of the two casters who seem to make Mulg a bit over the top. But Warpath is otherwise cool, he threatens nicely in melee with his big axe and even a possible Vortex of Destruction. The feat still rocks.

Possible Feedback: He wouldn’t be broken with reach. If pMadrak gets it, eMadrak would too.

eHoarluk - 3
What can I say? He is fun now, he has a cool but not crazy spell list. Wild aggression is a huge buff, but Warmachine shows how balanced it is. Refuge is simply cool. The only real issue is the feat. If you do not have a turn where you can charge (as happens in games vs fast opponents or opponents with shutdown feats) you do not have a feat…..

Possible feedback: The feat should grant +3” of movement regardless of whether you charge or not. Aside from that it seems fine.

Calandra – 4
We run into a problem here. Calandra is fine. She really is. Not overpowered. But Befuddle is. It is the answer to every problem you can face on the field. Unit? Turn them around to give you backstrikes and prevent them from charging. Or just clump them and send an axer or a scattergunner to wipe them out in a single attack. A possible 20” threat on the spell (Rush + Bonegrinders.. its even further if you charge) is just a little too much for this crazy spell.

The rest of it is fine. Her new feat was a stroke of genius,

Posssible Feedback: Befuddle at RNG 10 is too much. Make it RNG 8 again.



That was the easy part. Tommorrow….. Warbeasts!

By Josh Gardner (PG_General Nemo)


As a Trollblood player and frequent reader of the Privateer Press Trollblood Discussion Forum, I am used to hearing complaints about my beloved faction. I hear anything from “We are too slow!” to “We don’t have fury management!” and I must say that I am disappointed not in my faction, but the doomsayers who yell outright fallacies and conjectural falsehoods about our brothers in blue, and I am here to dispel these illusions.

First, we address the “issue” of fury management. I will lay this out clearly for my readers, and they may not like what I have to say, but it is my view on the subject: There is no such problem with Trollbloods. A lack of a unit like Paingiver Beast Handlers or a solo like the Forsaken does not at all put at as at a disadvantage. The first argument I will hear after stating this is that we have too many low Fury warlocks for our high Fury warbeasts. My answer is “So what?” Just because your Dire Troll Mauler has 5 Fury, it does not mean you must force all of it, and if you do, it is because you really need to hurt something. Chances are, thanks to that high Fury warbeast, that its target is dead. If he is likely to frenzy, it is the responsibility of the player to compensate by either making sure that when it frenzies it attacks an enemy model, or that the warlock, low Fury or high, has as much room for that Fury as possible. If the warlock can’t hold it all despite its best efforts, he or she should prepare for the worst case scenario and do both. I have no sympathy for those who have a problem doing this, because it is in their power to prevent it. You made a simple math error? Fine. I do that too. You gave all your warbeasts way too much Fury for your chosen warlock to handle responsibly? Then you should expect them to frenzy.

Immediately, the next argument will follow: “Why should I have to try so hard to keep my beasts from frenzying when all other factions have a way to deal with this?” Well, Circle lacks the ability to manipulate Fury and Threshold outside of specific warlocks, so that leaves only Legion and Skorne who have a consistent way of dealing with high Fury loads. The answer to the aforementioned question, however, is that we pay for having the most five Fury heavy warbeasts of any faction in Hordes. We have The Dire Troll Mauler, The Earthborn Dire Troll and Mulg the Ancient, all of which are frequent fliers in Trollblood lists. Skorne has only one five Fury warbeast: The Titan Bronzeback (I exclude Molik Karn in this for sake of consistency), and it is arguably less common in Skorne lists, in MK I or II. Circle has no five Fury warbeasts, and neither does Legion. So, we have an even simpler answer to this question of ours: Because it is how we are built as a faction. We pay a frenzy tax on our warbeasts, and it is a fair one in my opinion.

More boosted attacks always equal more dead enemy models, especially with the speed (Rush, Barroom Blitz, Scroll of Grimmr, Goad, Warpath, etc.), power (Rage, Acidic Touch, Fists of Flame, Stone Strength, Charge of the Trolls, etc.), and accuracy (Carnage, Charge of the Trolls, Wild Aggression, Fate Blessed, Good Omens, Barroom Blitz, etc.) that our warbeasts can bring to the table, along with a litany of free slam, charge and knock down effects. Our heavies are deadly, very, very deadly, and potentially frenzying after going all out is definitely not a problem when all these are factored in.

Do not get me wrong, though, there are problems with Trollbloods, but Fury management is not one of them. What the Trollblood community as whole needs to do is throw aside what they wish they could have in their models, throw away what they miss about the models they have purchased, painted and played since the release of Hordes, and take a step back. Look at Hordes MK II, regardless of your faction, and judge it as though you were seeing it for the first time. Instead of complaining about how the Field Test is not living up to their expectations, play the damn game, fellow Trollkin. It will be difficult, it will be tough, but that is what defines our faction! Play games, give clear, reasoned feedback, and most of all have fun!

Hello, for those of you who don't know me, I'm Sevwall over at the Privateer Forums. I tend to write big long articles about casters, and slightly shorter (but still long) articles about the rest of the models in the faction. I will be contributing Material here for the foreseeable future.

I'm not positive, but I may also post a big long compilation of the Feedback that I send in at some point, so that may be the next you hear from me. Talk to you later.