27 August 2012

Scrum Dice & Patches

The First round of dice and patches will be going out starting today.  Those of you receiving them will be emailed when they are sent.  If you did order some and don't get an email by Friday please contact thegreatblah@trollbloodscrum.com

Thanks for your support folks.

Sid's Return to School...and Shenanigans!

  I have written up my thoughts on returning to school, and I have made progress on my current project. Those pics are to come soon. Please go read!

23 August 2012

Assassin's Gambit ~ Part II

This is an extension of a previous story that can be found HERE.

The Nyss assassin thought back to his encounter with the Trollkin in the ravine and winced.   His nose still crooked from the encounter, he stretched and rotated his shoulder while practicing his forms.   His arm and shoulder had been set and healed professionally but it still ached.  The Nyss continued through the pain as he had every day for almost a year since that encounter.  His ability to wield his sword seemed to be greater than his former capacity as evidenced by the grace, speed and precision exhibited as he continued through the steps and forms.  If anything his patience and focus had gotten better than before the encounter that had nearly cost him his life, either way the time had come for the Nyss to collect from the one responsible for causing him so much pain.
She scaled the broken wall easily and found a perch nestled in the corner of where the roof tiles ended and a worn stone creature warded the edge of the building.  The stone carving appeared to have once been something marvelous but now stood muted and gray its features long lost to time and weather.  She wrapped her cloak around her and began scanning the courtyard through the scope of her rifle. Even a trained eye she would appear nothing more than a large stone at the base of the statue.  Her boss had sent her to confirm rumors that the one that wanted to kill him was indeed staying in the rundown inn.  Scanning every corner and cranny for signs of movement was boring work and she had to be careful.  The one she looked for was very good at not being seen and word had come to her boss that competing contracts had already lost more than a few of their men that didn’t hide well enough while trying to track the target.  She would be careful though, she was always careful, and though she was instructed not to engage the target if he did find her she was certain she could put a bullet between his eyes long before he had the chance to dispose of her like he had the other contracts scouts.  In the distance she could hear singing and laughter from the pub, only one Troll she knew sang that old Troll drinking song….

20 August 2012

But I Like to Boast: A Guide to the Sons of Bragg by Magonus

When Domination was released, the Sons of Bragg were met with a lot of skepticism. The common complaint was that for the same points you could take a minimum unit of Champions with a total of two more melee attacks, 1-3 points more ARM and the ability to benefit from a Fell Caller and Grissel Bloodsong. All of these points are true, which begs the question: Why take the Sons of Bragg?

The Sons of Bragg fill a completely different role than Champions. Where Champions are able to take a hit themselves then dish one back out, the Sons of Bragg are best avoiding the hit until they can either launch an alpha strike or provide the counter to a hit that a different unit has just suffered. Additionally, Champions want to be bunched together to benefit from Defensive Line. The Sons of Bragg can take advantage of their large command range and still benefit from their fell calls, allowing them to charge from multiple angles and making it difficult to take all three out at once.

With the right buffs, the Sons of Bragg can mow down enemy infantry, wreck light warjacks and warbeasts and cripple heavy warjacks and warbeasts with average dice rolls. Even without external buffs, Fervor can turn the entire unit into an offensive force to be reckoned with.

17 August 2012

Hardcore Results from GenCon

Hardcore at Gencon

1. Chuck Elswick: Menoth
2. Aaron Cooke: Retribution
3. Dylan Atwood: Cryx
4. Jeremy Patterson: Minons
5. Ben Hayse: Skorne

Chuck won doing the army swap challenge from focus and fury, where he literally played someone elses army that he hadn't seen before, and he still won.
Menoth is now 2 for 2 in con events so far.

16 August 2012

The Scrum Cast E.12

Check out our latest on Legion and why they make better Trollbloods players.  HERE

Gencon Spoils and Update Thread

This will be our official Gencon spoiler and information page over the weekend.  Keep checking back here for any information pertainign to model releases, tournament results and other juicy information from Gencon!



MODELS
Impaler, Axer, Bouncer will all have separate plastic kits!
New Pyre troll kit!

TOURNAMENTS
Flanzer is taking gunny to the tournament today and here's the list..
Gunny
Mountain King
Rök
Bomber
Winter
Runebearer
Janissa
Min Stone and Elder

IKRPG


13 August 2012

Playing to Our Strengths: Trolls at Low Points Part 4 Solos and Minions

This weeks installment will be the final chapter in our epic journey of me telling you my opinion.  Really though we have gone over all the other stuff in faction beside solos and minions so that's where we are at now.  So starting off with our fantastic solos, we take a trip down memory lane as I don't have my book on me!


Solos:

Fell Caller Hero -
This is the lynch pin of Troll synergy.  I think there is no more important piece in our army.  It does so much for 3 points that it's almost an auto include.  The only time you don't want him is when you are running beast heavy and you have already included him.  You'll definitely start wanting/seeing him in list of 25pts of greater, but almost never in 15pt lists.

Horthol, Long Rider Hero -
The definition of Bad Ass has his picture in the entry.  Horthol is awesome, but he's 5pts of beat stick that you likely won't see unless you are bringing Long Riders which you likely won't be doing below 35pts.  He's good, but not good enough to be brought alone in smaller point games.

Janissa Stonetide -
I asked her out once but she said my chin wasn't large enough.  But in all seriousness she and the Fell Caller are probably sneaking around behind my back.  So, really though, she's one of the best solos in the game for obvious reasons.  Bring her whenever you can fit the points.  The utility she bring to EVERY WARLOCK is amazing.  I would say if it's not a MM/TC format even bring her at 15pts.

Stone Scribe Chronicler -
Pretty solid for 2 points and if you can fit him in great, if not, don't sweat it.  He provides some situational buffs that have good synergy with a few spells and abilities.  I almost never consider him over a pack of whelps or the slew of sweet minion solos that cost 2.  Take ti or leave it, it's not terrible but not great either in lower point games.

Troll Whelps! -
Whelps are awesome and even more awesome when you have beasts on the table.  So give it a 50/50.  Good in the beast heavy formats and not so much in the infantry side.  Bring them when you play eDoomy and the like.

Trollkin Champion Hero -
Yet another beast stick the helps out Champions, which you don't see often.  He's not bad at 3 pts but in smaller games I find the utility solos beast him out for a slot because he's very one dimensional.

Trollkin Skinner -
Ha..hahaha...hahahaha....  Ok, I'm done.  I don't think he's as terrible as the community says, but he's not that great either.  I wouldn't use him over our utility solos ever.

Minions

This section is going to be quite long so go get yourself a beer and some popcorn or something because we can take like every f'ing Minion model under the sun with quite a few options.  I think I will break it down list style so it can be a little more concise.

Units - 
I have a little bit of faction bias here because under nearly every circumstance I feel like in faction choices work better because of the way we buff our army.  So take what you read here as you will, but know there is a fair bit of experience behind it.

Worth it:
Bog Trog Ambushers - Pretty sweet, a little pricey but a decent way to take your opponent by surprise.
Farrow Bone Grinders - They have their place in a few lists like Calandra so there are a 50/50.
Farrow Slaughterhousers - Some Trolls have seen good use with them and I think they are ok at 35pts.
Gatormen Posse - Arguably better then Champs, a really decent option.  I like them at 35, but not below.
Boomhowlers - SWEET...in family reunion.  Not a fan otherwise. Too costly in lower point games.
Nyss - Best ranged unit in Trolls but pricey.  You could use them in 35pts or higher.
Swamp Gobbers - Pretty good for 1 point.  You'll see them when you don't have the points for Janissa

Not Worth it:
Dannon Blyth and Bull - Solid Meh, not worth their points IMO and there are better solo options for us.

Farrow Brigands - They aren't great.  They aren't even great in minion pacts.  Leave them home.
Farrow Razorback Crew - Artillery kind of suck.  So do these guys.

Solos - 
Worth it:
Alten Ashley - He's sweet for 2 point, plain and simple, brings the pain on beasts and hunts solos well.
Feralgeist - A good one point filler.  Contesting or controlling zones with a 1pt incorp model is solid.
Gatorman Withcdoctor - All signs point to good, but until I test him out, it's hard to say...
Saxon Orrick - Good solo hunter, nice pathfinder ability all for 2 points.
Totem Hunter - Great flanker, accurate, and has good damage.  Also stealth.

Not Worth it:
Croak Hunter - Really only great in pairs and at 4pts they start to edge themselves out of lists.

Gudrun - 3 points for a beast stick that is sort of hard to remove.  Not a fan.
Lanyssa Ryssyl - She seems like she's good, but she dies.  Also her anit-Legion abilities are a trap.
Thrullg - Kind of Meh when you don't have a good way to protect him.
Pendrake - He's pretty good on his own, but honestly we don't need help hitting beasts.

10 August 2012

RAGE HOWLER - Re-intro and 2 Tone Priming


I would like to start out with an apology to those who contribute to this blog and those who read the blog on a regular basis.  It has been far too long since I have contributed to Trollbloodscrum, and though life does tend to get in the way sometimes, I still feel bad for my lack of contributions and hope to make up for it in the future with semi-regular blog posts.

For those who don't know me, I am Skywise here and on the PP forums.  My original intro on Trollbloodscrum and be found here.  I still consider myself a Merc player, though I dabble a little in Legion, Cygnar, and Cryx, the Mercs are where my heart is.  Though I don't play Trolls (yet), I feel a kinship with the faction due to the amount of Trollblood Mercs that find there way into my lists.  Boomhowler makes it into about 75% of my Merc lists and Dannon & Bull show up more than is healthy.  I plan on contributing more on tactics, focusing mostly on Mercs and Legion (both for and against).

I also bring 20 years of miniature modeling and painting experience to the table.  Where I don't consider myself a pro or a competition painter,  I am very adept at putting nice, fully painted figures to the table top in a relatively short time.  I also tend to do a lot of basing, converting, and terrain making.  All of these will be sharing in future blog posts.  Anyways, enough babble, time to get along to an actual article: Two tone Priming!

Two Tone Priming

My latest painting/modeling tip is called to tone priming.  It is a highlighting technique using different shades of primer. For more tips on priming, I have an old post that can be found here. 

1 - Prime your figure using a darker color.  If you prefer to paint over black primer, then prime your figure black.  If you prefer to paint over white primer, then prime your figure a light or medium gray.  For Bosun Grogspar, I chose black:



2-  Spraying from a high, downward angle, use a lighter shade of primer to simulate natural lighting.  For black primer, use a dark or medium gray.  If you primed gray, use a light gray or white.  For Bosun Grogspar, I used a medium gray:


It is hard to see in the above picture, but there is still a good amount of black on the underside of the model. And now for a top view:



3- The two tone primed figure will help add some natural highlights to your figure.  One very important tip to remember when painting this figure is to thin down your paints.  If you fail to do this, the highlights from the two tone priming may not show through.

Next blog post I fill finish painting Bosun Grogspar to show off how priming this way effects the finished model.  Until next time.

Paint and model like you got a pair,
Skywise

For more updates and other gaming nonsense, follow me on Twitter @Skywise76

08 August 2012

Lemons and Aid: Trollkin Scouts



Let's face it: when it comes to infantry, Trollblood units tend to fall into two categories.   There's infantry that's taken extremely frequently (Fennblades, Pygmy Burrowers, Champions), there's infantry that's taken extremely infrequently (Pygmy Bushwackers, Trollkin Sluggers), and there's very little in the middle (Kriel Warriors, Scattergunners, situational pieces like Runeshapers or Longriders).

Today I'd like to talk about one of not-oft used pieces: Trollkin Scouts.


06 August 2012

We Want YOU...to be the next member of the Scrumcast

You heard me right, we are trying to expand our stable of Scrumcast Hosts.  And I want you to be the next member.  Below I have included an audio application.  We want potential members to send us auditions essentially to be the next member of our podcast.  Exceptional applications will be contacted for Skype calls and more screening before we make our Final choice.

*Requirements for application

 Your schedule MUST be fairly open. Scheduling is the number one issue we have atm, so be available.

MUST have a love and passion for all things Trolls, even the Skinner... OK maybe not the Skinner.

No overseas applications.  Sorry guys.  It's hard enough to wrangle Bakaryu into casts.

Must have stable internet connection and decent Microphone. Better quality is a plus.

Must also write consistent articles for The Scrum in addition to recording.

You must be entertaining to listen to.  Non negotiable...

So without further ado...

All applicants must send in a recording of their answers to the following questions.  Recordings should be no longer then 1 minute and you are encouraged to use all of the allotted time.  Please be as animated or crazy as you wish and try to avoid dead air.  All questions must be answered.

What are are your real and forum names?

Who is your favorite character from the Troll or Hordes Fluff?

If you had to play one warlock in our stable exclusively for one year, which one would it be?

What is your favorite color?

How much do you like Goris' beard?

If you had to have a Troll Warlock on your underwear, which would it be?

And finally why do you think we should make you our next member of the Scrumcast?

Please send all applications to Goris@Trollbloodscrum.com by August 20th 2012.






01 August 2012

Possible Web Comic for The Scrum

So, I have been kicking the idea around for a while now of doing a weekly web comic for The Scrum.  It would be about 3 Trolls and some ancillary characters who take real world situations and jokes and apply them to the Trolls' world in the Iron Kingdoms.  The Trolls would be loosely based on myself, TheGreatBlah, and Bakaryu.  So, I would love some feedback on whether or not this is something you guys would read or even care about.  I have enclosed my first facial sketches of our comical Trolls.