30 May 2011

The Gauntlet--Gunnbjorn at 35

If you haven't seen my previous installment in The Gauntlet, I'd read it now so you have a little background, because I'm building on what I put there. Our lovable Trollblood Scrum overlord theummhmmguy/thegreatblah (I call him TUHG) is going to try and crush the Borka list championed by Goris at the first (and hopefully not only) Lock and Load with his own Gunnbjorn army. Bakaryu and I were tapped to provide analysis and insight into what this battle might look like, and this is my spin.

The Gauntlet--Gunnbjorn Corner

When I heard that theummhmmguy/thegreatblah (hereafter known as TUHG) had Gunnbjorn picked as his warlock of choice, I was pretty excited. TUHG has a great selection of ranged warbeasts which play to Gunnbjorn's strengths, including his 13 Pyre Trolls.

That excitement was tempered by the fact that he decided to pick Borka for Goris. The problem isn't that I think they're horribly mismatched warlocks as far as overall viability--in fact, Gunnbjorn probably has an advantage in a field with all comers. The issue is that against each other, Borka has a host of tools that hard-counter Gunnbjorn's offensive toolset. Spells like Wind Wall and Iron Flesh are the bane of a shooty army, and the man himself has highly effective defenses. Should Goris decide to take a Krielstone along for the ride, there may be trouble brewing.

27 May 2011

Homebrew ~ Horthol, Long Rider Lord

Horthol, Long Rider LordSpd: 7
Str: 9
Mat: 8
Rat: 4
Def: 14
Arm:19
Cmd: 10
Fury: 5
Beast Points: +6
18 Boxes

WeaponsBison’s Might
Pow 7
P+S 15
Reach
Magical Weapon
Critical Smite - On a critical hit, this model can slam the model hit instead of rolling damage normally. The model hit is slammed
d6˝ directly away from this model and suffers a damage roll with POW equal to this modelʼs STR plus the POW of this weapon.
The POW of collateral damage is equal to this modelʼs STR.

Thunder
Mount
Pow 15
Critical Knockdown

Steady

Bull Rush

Long Rider Lord – When determining distance to friendly Long Riders for any spells, effects, or feats from this model double the total possible distance being measured. Long Rider Units become FA: 2

Elite Cadre Long Riders(same as written)

Follow Up

Line Breaker
FeatModel/Units starting their activations in this model’s control area gain Pathfinder, +2spd, may Charge, Slam or Trample for free. Large Based models effected by the feat become Calvary Models and gain the Calvary Charge Rule and may make Impact Attacks. Medium and Small Based models may make a Light Calvary move at the end of their activation.

Spells

Carnage 3
Friendly Faction models gain +2 to melee attack rolls against enemy models in this modelʼs control area. Carnage lasts for one
turn.

Killing Ground 2
Friendly Faction models beginning a charge in this modelʼs control area gain Pathfinder ICON. Warbeasts in this modelʼs
battlegroup beginning their activations in this modelʼs control area can charge or make slam power attacks against enemy
models without being forced. Killing Ground lasts for one turn.

Defender’s Ward 2
Target friendly Faction model/unit gains +2 DEF and ARM.

25 May 2011

Quick and Dirty Painting - Lock n Load Prep

Hello again my fellow trolls and welcome back to QnD.  Unfortunately due to my Hardcore Prep for Lock n Load I won't be bringing you a painting guide this week.  However, I do have a few goodies for you with some updated techniques and detail.  From what I have learned on these next models you will get an extra special installement once my painting is complete.

So, I bring you the Dire Troll Bomber and Horthol, Long Rider Hero.



22 May 2011

Calandra Tier 4 vs Lord Tyrant Hexeris

It was always simple for her to understand and hard to explain.  Calandra could always feel the ebb and flow of the forces around her and manipulate them to some small degree.  Short glimpses into the future allowed her to alter them in her favor, which she seemed to be doing quite a lot of lately.  Of all the warlocks Calandra seemed to always be 'at home' no matter where she was, comfortable in nearly every circumstance.  Even with the big Dire Trolls that seemed to so unnerve some of the other Warlocks, she seemed at natural ease with them.  As she had seen, Grim had sent to her a pair of Earthborns that he had spent considerable amounts of time with training.  Meeting Cannonball and Grapeshot for the first time she was immediately impressed with the intelligence their eyes showed and that impression was only strengthened as their minds connected.   As their minds connected she got another brief glimpse into the future and saw something horrible.  These two astonishing Trolls were going to torn apart by Skorne Titans...

Hexeris truly was fascinated by the physiology of the Trollkin and their cousins.  He took nearly every opportunity to study them through mortithurgy.  An opportunity he would soon be exploiting if his facts were correct.  He looked over at Molik Karn who just smiled wickedly, Karn knew his opportunity to test his mettle against the giant Dire Trolls was soon at hand.  Karn had of course forseen the opportunity earlier that day which had prompted Hexeris to send out scouts, one of which was on his table this very moment to ensure his words were truth.  His sacrifice would bring great knowledge to Hexeris and Skorne should they be able to capture the large female Troll Warlock supposedly leading this band.

19 May 2011

The Gauntlet has been tossed

Lock and Load is going to big.  It's going to be glorious.  The action will be fast and furious.  The beer will be flowing and the Kilts will be fashionable.

Among all the things that will be happening at L&L one of these events will be momentous.  Goris and I (theummhmmguy) will be meeting for the first time face to face.

It is apparent that the best way to commemorate this meeting is for a truly epic battle of Kith and Kriel.

I'm calling you out Goris.  My Rocky Mountain Trolls are itching to test the Mettle of the West Coast Trolls.

My proposal is simple. You choose my caster and I'll choose yours, for 35 or 50 points of axe to mouth, we will have to work out the rest with the help of our readers.  Loser buys winner a Drink or a Caber Tosser.  That and of course our battle will be well documented here at The Scrum to enable the winner as much bragging rights as possible.


Saerko and Bakaryu you aren't off the hook.  You two are next...

18 May 2011

Bakaryu

Here at The Scrum we have enjoyed the recent expansion of the site and its author's.  The main goal here is to have more voices with more perspective to further expand the abilities of all Trollblood players. Our mission is the same, to assist our fellow Trolls in our collective effort to dominate all other factions.  We don't do this the way other factions do, Trolls have style... and beer.  In our efforts to bring you the best information we can we have enlisted a West Coast Troll and an East Coast Troll to go along with the ramblings of the Angry old Mountain Troll.  This is not enough, The Scrum is still missing representation of everything that is Trollblood from a few different regions.  One those regions is the great Trolls from across the ocean, a Troll from the old world. That Troll is Bakaryu as he is known on the Privateer Press forums.   Since he has come aboard we decided it was time to subject him to public ridicule... or acceptance from the rest of you.  Here he is in all his glory;

Tell us a little bit about youself and your gaming habits?

17 May 2011

The Tuffalo Shuffle

Full Tactica for Trollkin Longriders can be found HERE

Toughalow Shuffle

Since there has been renewed interest in this tactic I figured I would go more in depth about how it will work.


This tactic is wonderfully simple. Take a Long Rider and run him in front fo a group or single target you wish to be knocked down or simply killed. Take a second long rider in the unit and Slam the first long rider over whatever it was you wanted dead. Simply effective and with a great threat range. Apply this liberally to casters or anything you want dead. You may lose your long riders under exceptional damage rolls, but mostly likely the collateral damage from your Long Rider has likely killed whatever it just bowled over.

Now to illustrate this with a clever picture!


So, the jist of how this works. The leader gives the Bull Rush order. Numbers 1 and 2 Run or Charge under the order. Numbers 3 and 4 after those impacts or run have been resolved move like the rest of the unit. Resolve the Long Riders who impacted before the slams. Once those 2 have finished revolve 3 and 4's slams to kill even more WG in the process. This is highly simplified obviously, but that's basically how it works. There may be a discrepancy on when the slam happens since you choose who in the unit activates when, but it makes sense to me.

14 May 2011

Quick and Dirty Painting - Long Riders

Quick and Dirty Painting – Long Riders
Welcome back folks! Do I have exciting things to show you. I have finally finished my Long Riders! You voted on it and you got it. Below I will detail all the new things I learned and try to explain how to reproduce these techniques in a very expedient manner.
My Long Riders had begun their painting odyssey worked on by someone else so they have some primer and paint on them that I would eventually go over. As you can see they were in quite a state of disrepair. This would turn out to be my most challenging project yet. These Long Riders have a theme as well. As they have been tested in battle so many times their riders cover the horns and tail in the blood of their enemies. A true sign of prestige for my favorite unit in the Trollblood army. I hope you enjoy the write up!


11 May 2011

Dire Troll Mauler: Extreme Caution!

After many years of being a die hard Troll Player, the time finally came down for me to make an acquisition that should have been made years ago. Due to a small lull in Trollblood releases and my inability to refrain from owning at least one of everything in the Trollblood model line (usually two or three) it became clear to me that it was time to lay down the cash and pickup the Dire Troll Mauler Extreme Sculpt.

After ordering the model the realization hit that my painting skills were not up to snuff to do justice to such an awesome model.  This is where War Painter Studio comes in.  Having perused his blog for quite some time now and seeing all the fantastic paint jobs he has done, not to mention the large quantity of Privateer Press models that he has done told me that he was the man for the job. Oh boy, what a job he did.