Stat LineSTR: Bouncer
MAT: Impaler
RAT: Calandra
DEF: Typical Light
ARM: Imapler
CMD: Impaler
Fury: Typical Light
Threshold: Winter Troll
Cost: 5pts; one less than the Slag
Immunity Fire: This is nothing to scoff at. With the large amounts of fire in the game, he really increases his survivability by leaps and bounds with this alone.
Nothing overly impressive on his statline, he’s very similar to the other elementals and he shares many of his stats with the Impaler (who I find to be one of his best friends, but more on that later).
Arson-al (haha “Arson,” get it?....nevermind)
Spew Fire:
Range: 8
ROF: 1
AoE: 3”
POW: 12
Spew Fire is simply an infantry wrecking ball. Sure, POW 12 isn’t exactly Bomber standards, but it comes with the Fire Continuous effect, which makes it an excellent tool. Did i mention it’s AoE 3? Yea, cause that rocks! Most infantry that don’t get killed by the initial attack, will die to the POW 12 next go around. Paired with Far Strike from the Impaler, and the Pyre troll is clearing swathes of troops from a respectable distance.
2x P+S 12 Open Fists
Not much else to say about how nice this is to have. Put his animus on himself and he’s swinging 2 open fist PoW 14’s with Crit Fire....a very underrated combination from my experiences. He can simply wreck most lights he finds himself in melee against.
Fuel-box (getting tired of the puns yet?)
Animus: Flaming Fists
Target friendly Faction model gains +2 melee damage rolls, and immunity fire AND its weapons gain Crit Fire. Lasts for 1 round.
Dear aunt susie, this animus reeks of win. The fact that you can put it on any model makes it incredibly versatile, but it provides an AMAZING buff to any melee beatstick (plus the image of a charging beast with fiery hands coming to lay the beatdown on anything is awesome.) In addition, it provides fire immunity. I said it once, but ill reiterate: With the large amounts of fire in the game, this instantly increases the survivability of the target of the animus significantly (depending on your opponent). Since its so versatile, it can complement any melee model well, but i want to specifically talk about the Pyre Troll and his dear friend the Earthborn Dire Troll.
I won’t get into too much detail on the EBDT because our good friend Goris provided the troll community with a fantastic write-up on him, found here: http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?30192-Earthborn-Dire-Troll-AKA-Cannonball-2
The earthborn dire troll swings 2 P+S 15 openfists, which is extremely deceptive because of adaptation. Make those base fists pow 17 with crit fire, and he’s easily wrecking beasts, warlocks, innocent bystanders, absent-minded proffessors and....well, you get it.
Moving on to his abilities
It Burns!
I won’t go into extensive detail on this ability, because quite frankly it’s pretty self explanatory: If you hit the pyre troll, and it survives, guess what buddy? You’re on fire and will be taking a pow 12 your next turn.
On that note, let’s talk about the fire continuous effect for a second. That pow 12 is nothing to laugh at. I’ve killed casters, heavies, lights, solos, infantry....literally everything at one point or another just from the damage on that continuous effect. It really shines against infantry, but any additional damage you can put on a key piece your opponent has is just fantastic.
Regeneration
No surprises here. Wonderful troll beast ability, again providing more survivability to your Pyre Troll.
Really, a lot of versatility with this guy as you can see. Ill go a little deeper into good combo’s and tactics later on in this guide.
Really, a lot of versatility with this guy as you can see. Ill go a little deeper into good combo’s and tactics later on in this guide.
Warbeasts:
I’m not going to go through every single warbeast here, but i will certainly point out a couple notable combos.
Earthborn Dire Troll:
(Really, insert any beatstick, read: mauler, mulg) and you will get good results)
The Pyre troll makes this guy a monster, and i personally think he is the best heavy beast complement to bring with the pyre troll. Find yourself some rough terrain, and maybe an axer or Grim, and you’re charging this beatstick 10-14 inches at unsuspecting casters.
Impaler:
Another great Combo with the pyre troll. Farstrike + Spew Fire means you’re dropping your AoE on packs of models form 12” away. Simply hot! (pun intended on that one)
Axer:
Reach+Thresher+Flaming Fists. I don’t know what else to say on this one. If you’re unsure about this combo take out your Merriem-Webster and look up “Face-Wreckage.” What? That’s not a word? See if “gullible” is in there too, i heard on the news they took it out recently.
Matchsticks (alright, that one was terrible and isn’t even close to “tactics”)
A couple good uses of the Pyre troll were mentioned in the beast portion, but ill continue here.
Bombs Away!
This is like Bomber-Lite here, half the calories of a Bomber, with all the fiery fun. Tag team the pyre troll with the impaler’s animus,and launch fire into enemy infantry. You will be amazed at how effectively this guy kills tarpits. Please go try it, ill wait here.
This works really well if you can advance him up the table and get into range of the enemy caster. Usually the caster has one or 2 support models around him and lighting him on fire is always fun.
The FLAMING Cruise Missile!
See Goris’ write up on the Cruise missile, and insert Flaming Fists onto the Earthborn. The plus 2 to melee damage and crit fire is amazing. Lots of frail casters like to carry around high POW weapons. The earthborn eats these guys for breakfast. Seriously....it’s almost unfair.
Scorched Earth!
Step 1: Flaming Fists on the Axer
Step 2: Reach Thresher
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Everything is dead, pick up your trophy/coin/monetary compensation. HAHA you thought i was going to say “Profit.” Sorry, I like to distance myself from stale jokes and puns.
Pesticide
Tired of pesky tarpits swarming your heavies? Are your ranged models being locked in combat? Well, with the Pyre Troll say no more to headaches and say hello to Baddie-B-Gone! To apply, simply place the Pyre Trolls animus on the swarmed friendly model, and simply rain fire down all around him! Just like that problem areas are relieved and your models are left unscathed thanks to Fire Immunity. In just moments your lanes will look like they just came back hot off the press! If the problem persists, simply wait for your opponent's maintenance phase and watch those models burn before your eyes thanks to the hard working cleaning agent, Fire Continuous Effect! It's the original set-it-and-forget-it!
Warlocks :
Grim Angus:
My personal favorite warlock, and (probably not surprising) my favorite lock to run the pyre troll with. If you want a good taste of the different play-styles, i think a 15pt game with grim allows you to do this the best.
Sample lists:
Grim Angus (6)
--EBDT (10)
--Axer (6)
-- Pyre Troll (5)
This list is a really FAST, MOBILE in your face Tooth and Claw list. This setup will showcase the abilities of the Pyre in melee combat. Put his Animus on the EBDT, and then set the axer and pyre on whatever else is left alive. Grims bait the line and cross country shoots your flaming beasties from surprising distances.
The second 15 point list really showcases the pyre's range capabilities
Grim Angus (6)
--EBDT (10)
--Impaler (5)
--Pyre Troll (5)
ok, so its only 14, but feel free to throw gobbers in the mix. Anyways, far-striking the pyre troll can be exceptionally effective as i previously described, and yet again, give your beatstick his animus for some good old-fashioned win
Conclusion:Again, the Pyre troll has been one of my favorite beasts since I started playing warmachine and hordes. When i finally became a troll player, i bought Torch (not the jack) before i even owned a warlock. (speaking of which ill add a warlock synergy section in the future....but my computer has been acting up and I'm scared ill lose all of this if i don’t post it quick haha)
Thanks for reading, i hope i inspired more people to try this guy out, or maybe some people shelved him recently and will pull him back out. all suggestions welcome!
GO BURN SOME ****!....on the table top of course
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