A few months back I picked up a new faction, Khador, which means trolls have been left in the bag for quite some time now. This has been my first venture into a new faction (I don't count my early venture into Cryx since I only bought a battle box) and it has been a real eye opener. Since playing Khador I have had a growing worry that my Trolls just could not compare to my Khador army.
After playing Khador for a month or two I started playing some pick up games with the Trolls and had a really hard time building a list. Infantry, beasts, solos, I began doubting each piece in the army even our warlock choices. I decided I would need to go back to basics once again and try to re-learn how trolls play. So I deleted all of my old lists in iBodger and turned to the forces of Trollbloods book.
I found myself staring at pGrissel's theme force and I had a thought, Fell Callers are amazing 2 point combat solo's. So I began building some lists based on this theory and am very pleased with what I came up with. After playing the 25pt and 35pt versions I knew I was on the right track to understanding my Trolls in a new and possibly better way.
Grissel Bloogsong, Fell Caller +5
* 2x Pyre Troll 5 points each
Alten Ashley, Monster Hunter 2 points
2x Fell Caller Hero 2 points each
10 Kriel Warriors 6 points
* 2 Caber Thrower 2 points
* UA 2 points
4 Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes 3 points
* UA 1 point
So I ran this list relying on the caber delivery system with 3 kriel warriors per caber on escort duty, 3 Kriel warriors had the pleasure of being the front runners (jam duty), the leader piper and standard hung central and back as per normal CDS.
In the 25 point version of this list fell callers run on the flanks securing objectives and being annoying. They are extremely good at this and the 14" threat on their spray is pretty great, and at 2 points they are truly a super solo with the ability to fell call themselves. This was the first time I ran two fell callers and the first time I used them in this way. Solos are awesome for scoring points.
Everyone has a use for a long range accurate gun, Alten is a blessing in many games. I had never used him in a troll army until now. In Khador these sniper like models are extremely handy and in trolls Alten is a god among trolls, the bush whackers aspire to one day have more than half his rat....
KSB does what they are want to do, buff and contest objectives. For some reason Khador made me think more about my order of activation. Perhaps I was to comfortable with my routine with trolls and after a certain point I began slacking on order of activation. With Grissel now I have learned to play my spacing better and allow my KSB to activate before Grisell ensuring that I have the maximum aura up. This also goes a long way in helping make that +1 strength buff useful.
Double pyre trolls (poor mans bomber) are actually surprisingly effective. Great for taking out high def infantry and removing jamming models. A combination of the animus and the ksb elder can create effective un-jamming without hurting your own models outside of a possible pow 6 blast damage roll. The real reason I am playing two pyre's though is 2 cheap animus/fury batteries. I have always used my light's as animus batteries, but after experiencing warjacks and playing without a heavy I am somewhat amazed at the damage potential these light war beasts have. You often hear people say trolls have great light's and I think I can finally fully agree.
Grissel, I played her like a war caster. Some of you readers may be familiar with my Parting the Red Sea strategy, if so you know in the past I played Grissel extremely aggressive. In my recent games I have used her as a support piece. Her duties include buffing via animus if needed, topping off the ksb, and giving a fell call out. On her feat turn I will charge forward but other than that she is behind the wall of meat that is trolls.
The 25 point list is fairly strong and pretty fun, however 35 points is the standard in my meta and we are quickly moving to 50 points. At 35 points I once again re-assessed the army and looking at the faction without my normal bias I was able to come up with what I feel is an extremely effective scenario machine.
Blood Of Bragg T2 35 points
Grissel Bloogsong, Fell Caller +5
* 2x Pyre Troll 5 points each
2x Fell Caller Hero 2 points each
6 Kriel Warriors 4 points
* 3 Caber Thrower 3 points
6 Kriel Warriors 4 points
* 3 Caber Thrower 3 points
4 Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes 3 points
* UA 1 point
10 Pyg Bushwackers 8 points
So that's a lot of KW's ya got there, guess what my reinforcements are...
6 Kriel Warriors 4 points
* 3 Caber Throwers 3 points
While playing this list I learned 18 kriel warriors is pretty difficult to deal with, 27 can provoke nerd rage. Using the caber delivery system you can make it very difficult to remove those 6 caber throwers. Lack of steady isn't a major issue with two fell callers around. Breaking the KW unit down into 2 small units is something I would not have thought of in the past (I originally did it to make T2), but its a great idea because you get 3 more cabers and your 3 fell callers always have a job to do.
Bushwhackers often times get the cold shoulder but lets compare them to alten ashley in terms of accurate firepower. For 8 points you could have four mobile rat 8 shots a turn. With bushwhackers if you aim and double up on CRA's you get 5 rat 8 shots and Grissel can give them hoof it which allows them to still be mobile. In these terms the 8 points of bushwhackers doesn't seem horrible in my eyes, as long as I don't think about widow makers. I have always been a fan of the whackers though, they have great utility and I will continue to use them with Grim Angus and pGrissel.
If you still can't stomach the bushwhackers, try a full unit of burrowers and Alten Ashley. I ran one game like this and enjoyed it, however I feel whackers add a layer to trolls that we normally lack, long range fire power.
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