Da Bomber: Your Tactical Guide to one of the Best Ranged Units in the Game

Da Bomber: 
Your Tactical Guide to one of the Best Ranged Models in the Game
by GreenJello



In a faction the specializes in blunt force trauma, Da Bomber does it from range, with a wicked gleam in his eye. He is one of, if not the best, ranged heavies in the game. His range is a bit low, but two shots, the ability to boost, and AOE4, POW16 attacks is sure to put the fear of trolls into your opponent. If that isn't enough, he can also get in there and mix it up in melee a bit. Only really puzzling thing about this guy is where he gets the next set of explosive barrels, he's not really wearing a bandoleer here....

The model it self is one of the stand outs in a standout range, just oozing character.

Battlefield Role
The role of the Bomber is to get out there and bomb! He's an excellent answer to a number of questions.

Fennblades Tactica: Or How I Learned to Love the Alpha Strike

Fennblades: 
Or How I Learned to Love the Alpha Strike
by GreenJello 

Fennblades with their unit attachment are one of the best alpha strike units in the game. So good that I often refer to them as Trolls other cavalry unit.



Battlefield Role
Fennblades have a couple of roles in a Trolls army.

Slag Troll Tactica: Your Guide to Spitting Acid For Fun and Profit

Slag Troll Tactica: 
Your Guide to Spitting Acid For Fun and Profit
by GreenJello



Slag Troll is one of our more versatile light warbeasts, with the ability to buff, spit acid, and do some melee. One of our "elemental" light warbeasts, along with the Pyre Troll (fire), Storm Troll (electricity), Swamp Troll (water), his niche is Acid. With his habit of eating metal, he's a real kick in the teeth to factions that like to field a lot of jacks. The model itself is totally badassed, with bits of metal poking through his skin, making oozing wounds that would make a pain giver cringe.

Battlefield Role
As a light warbeast, the Slag provides decent ranged support, a nice buff animus, fury generation, transfers, and some limited combat capabilities. He can be used to weaken models before they're hit with a melee charge. Against anything with construct, he's very nasty in the ranged roll, with the potential to finish things off in melee.

How to build a...House..part Deux!!!( that's 2 )

So who is ready to finish their house? What house you say? What you didnt read it well, here is the first part...

http://www.trollbloodscrum.com/2013/12/table-top-terrain-how-to-make-house.html?m=1 , Go and build then come back here for the rest. I'll wait.

For the rest of you here we go!!!

Step 1. . For the windows, grab a piece of graph paper and draw a 1" x 1" square for the side windows. As for the back window we are going to make it a bay window so we went 1" x 2" rectangle. .

Step 2. Use a pair of scissors to cut out the rectangle and square. I've placed Pendrake with them so you can see the relative size of the door and window

Step 3. Place the door rectangle on the carton and draw around it. Do the same for the windows (one window on each side).

Use a hobby knife to cut the openings on the carton. It helps if the openings are slightly larger, so don't worry about making them perfect.

Step 4. Take some of your popsicle sticks and frame up the windowing glue it down. I made a simple box pattern. You can even stack a couple of sticks together to make a wider window seal  if you want. When the glue dries paint it up with 2to 1 ratio of  brown paint to water so you can see the wood grain of the sticks 

Step 5. The roof!!!

Using a exacto blade I cut 2 pieces of matt board to make the roof. The long side is  4 1/4 "the short side is

2  5/8 ". Glue these to your roof .

Step 6 Because of the Iron  Kingdoms love some slate roofs  we are going to make some out of the remaining cereal box. Cut a 1/2 inch wide strip with a length equal to the roof plus 1 inch. Your going to need a lot of these. ( I cut about 25 out in case of mistakes 

Now  grab your ruler and measure out  1/2 inch marks on you strips with a pencil. Now cut those marks halfway into the strip.

Step 7.  Now staring with the bottom of the roof, you are going to glue  you first strip down, then line up your next strip so the flaps cover the slits of your previous strip. Glue it down. Replete til you reach the top of the roof. Then do the other side ( it doesn't have to be perfect ). You are going to have some over hang on the sides. Trim it off with some scissors.

Now at the apex glue two popsicle sticks down to frame the top of the roof. If you want you can add a chimney or a weather vane.

Step 8 paint the roof how ever you want I did mine in a slate blue ...as for the two sticks a 2 to 1 ratio of brown paint to water again 

I hope you enjoyed this article 

The more you make the easier it gets 

Enjoy the build!

  Hollow Echo

 

Impaler Troll Tactica: Your Guide to Chucking Spears

Impaler Troll Tactica: 
Your Guide to Chucking Spears!
by GreenJello



Pitching enormous spears with bone-crushing force, impalers are the living ballistae of the trolls. Each carries a quiver of massive wood-and-iron projectiles bearing only the most basic resemblance to the puny twigs smaller races call spears. These savage implements obliterate men and knock even the greatest beasts off their feet.

Battlefield Role
The Impaler is one of our more popular lights, which it's low points cost, decent light abilities, and support for our ranged game. This is in addition to it's abilities as a light warbeast to provide fury, transfers, and beat stuff up.

Runebearer Tactica: Carrying the Stones of Success!

Runebearer Tactica:
Carrying the Stones of Success!
by GreenJello



The Runebearer solo, also known as Trollzes because of his resemblance to Moses with the 10 commandments, is a support piece that makes our normally fury starved casters operate more efficiently.

Battlefield Role
He's a support solo for your caster. Once per game he can cast a spell.

Janissa Stonetide: Or Rockwall on a Stick!

Janissa Stonetide: 
Or Rockwall on a Stick!
by GreenJello



Janissa is probably one of our most useful solos, practically an auto include in a number of troll lists by virtue of her Wall of Stone ability. However, she's a lot more versatile than just a wall on a stick.

Battlefield Role
She's primarily a support solo with some interesting combat applications.

Stone Scribe Chronicler Tactica: Epic Stories... of DEATH!

Stone Scribe Chronicler: 
Epic Stories... of DEATH!
by GreenJello 

Okay, so he can't really kill stuff by telling stories, unlike the guy at your local watering hole, who can put people into coma's of boredom, but he can inspire his fell Trolls to great heights by recounting epic stories of their history.



Battlefield Role
The Stone Scribe Chronicler's (SSC) role is of a support model for our excellent infantry.

“Dude looks like a Lady” - Mabrothrax on eGrissel vs pMadrak

eGrissel & Armour Spam Discussion continued:

So we all know (or should at least) that armour stacking is generally something Trollbloods can do well and do often. The key components are usually the Kriel Stone and the Earthborn and Janissa combo.

With the Warders being a mighty ARM 17/19 (Battle Driven) they get to the key ARM 21 under the Stone’s aura. As has been discussed before here and elsewhere ARM 21 is difficult to deal with, significantly more so than ARM 17 – 20.

What makes Warders so significant in this is that they are cheap, and we can start to build a spam* list.

These are the options for that magical ARM 21 (when within the Kriel Stone’s aura)

Warders

Mulg

Bouncer

Mountain King

War Wagon

Depending on circumstance and the use of Janissa’s Wall with the Earthborn you can have an ARM 20/22 EBDT, or give any of the above an additional +2 ARM. For the purpose of this discussion I’m going to assume that like in my own lists (going by character restrictions) Janissa is elsewhere and the EBDT therefore becomes a less desirable piece.

My pMadrak list:

This is what I have used with varying degrees of success. Whilst it hasn't gotten as many victories as I would have liked, it has conceded few models, stood up to a number of severe thrashings, and weathered many storms giving people a real headache.

The issue I have above all others is the speed of the Warders. I know all the naysayers bemoaned the meagre SPD 4 and will point and say ‘told you so’, but I would in return utter ‘tish’ and ‘fipsy’.

One unit of SPD 4 Warders is manageable. Two units at SPD 4 is the problem. It hurts, frankly.

As I said at the end of my last post I was seriously considering swapping pMadrak for eGrissel… so, let’s get on with it then.

I want a speed buff, and whilst prime Grissel and Jarl offer very solid options, I want to go for Epic Grissel. Her spell Dash gives all my warriors a simple and effective speed bonus. Beyond this, her feat obviously adds to the ARM spam theme (as well as giving a small speed bonus in the form of an out-of-activation move).

The less obvious thing is her low spell count. I’m not going to be making hard choices on how to spend her Fury, and as such will have plenty to keep the Kriel Stone as full as possible. Add in some decent defensive stats and a nice gun with interesting effects and I’m certain the Marshall of the Kriels is the lady for me.

Looking back over the list, the double Warders, Mulg, max Stone + UA and twin Bouncers are staying. I like them and how they work; they are the ARM 21 core.

Rok is an often overlooked beast. I really like the way he complements the other beasts with his Primal animus, which also covers the lack of buffs available in eGrissel’s spell list. For the time being he’s staying in the list, but I might in the future experiment with a War Wagon.

The last model in the list is the Runebearer. In the pMadrak list he was there to mini-feat first turn and cast Sure Foot, allowing Madrak to set up the Kriel Stone, and then obviously help by reducing the cost of Carnage. With eGrissel, I don’t have an expensive upkeep spell to set up and she has one more point of Fury… Dash will almost certainly be cast most if not all turns, but I’m not convinced that I need the Runebearer. I know, 2 points to save one fury per turn, maybe two. My gut says I don’t need him.

If I took out the Runebearer, what would I replace him with? A Kithkar? Triggering Righteous Vengeance should by virtue of the list be a rare occurrence, and without Fennblades to buff he seems a little wasted. I don’t think the Chronicler does much here either.

Two Sorcerers strikes me as an interesting option, each adjunct to a unit of Warders. They can remove those upkeeps that threaten my boys, and with two lots of Windwall (removing Pathfinder) in play, eGrissel’s Inhospitable Ground could cripple an opponent on a vital turn. The list lacks magical weapons as well, which they provide. Could be fun to try out. Sadly there’s still no sign of the Sorcerer model on the PP release schedule which means the earliest we’ll see him is currently March 2014. Boo.

So those are my thoughts. I will put them on the table and play with them in due course and get back to you. If anyone has any ideas or experience with similar lists and playstyle, please comment!

Till then, keep rolling Tough, and remember to #SpreadTheHatred

*Spam vs Skew.

Skew is a well-known concept – take one (or a few) thing in your force and buff one of its abilities through the roof, whereas spamming is taking an excess of something to the point of it being impossible to deal with. 

Table top terrain - how to make a.... House part 1

Howdy folks, Hollow Echo here. 

 I decided to do a series of articles on how to  make some terrain for the table top .  So who is ready to get  our hobby side on and build us a house..or a tavern... Ok so they sell tons of products in these cartons. Its a half-gallon  mine was dragon fruit/mango juice box. You can buy them anywhere and they all the same size. That's why they're perfect for a build like this. You can cheat and build two house put them together and now you got a long house . Or repeat with a Pint carton and make a out house ...

 Here is a list of the items you will need.

1.A half- gallon container 

2.Small Popsicle sticks 

3.Paint browns and blacks 

4.A cereal box ( or 2 ) 

5.Glue ( craft or wood) 

6.White or textured spray paint

7.Graph paper 

8.A figure ( for size ) 

9.A pair of scissors 

10.A ruler 

11.A pencil 

12. A old but goodie paint brush 

Step 1. We need to remove the bottom of the carton. Hold the carton down with one hand, lay a pencil on the table and draw around the bottom.Use a hobby knife and ruler to cut off the bottom of the carton.

Step 2. Now measure up from the bottom 3" on each side. Measure up in the middle 4 1/2" (be sure it's precisely the middle). Draw lines to form the roof peak. Draw a peak on the opposite side of the carton as well.

Step 3. Cut out the carton using a hobby knife and a ruler. 

 

Step 4: Most cartons have a waxy coated outside. You can paint on it, but the paint will scrape off. I suggest you spray paint the outside white. Spray paint sticks much better.

When dry, paint the whole thing a cream or off white color. If you intend to make a whole village, you might buy a can of off white or textured spray paint.

Step 5:

 To make the door, take another group of Popsicle sticks and line them up . We'll only be using 5  to make the door. Glue them  to piece of mate board. let them dry then cut them to fit. Paint the door the same as the rest of the wood. For the rivets or nails I used a push pin. I clipped the head off and glued into place.

Step 6: Grab your brown paint, paint the corners of the house. This will help hide the gaps between the corner beams.

Glue the popsicles shown onto the outside of the house. The ones around the door and at the bottom will need to be cut to size. The ones at the top will need to be cut at an angle so the roof will fit.

 

Well that's a good stopping point next time we will finish the roof and work on the windows.. 

Have fun!

Hollow Echo

  

   

Whelps Tactica: Or How Snacks On Legs Can Help You Win!

Whelps Tactica: 
Or How Snacks On Legs Can Help You Win!
by GreenJello 



Whelps are the annoying little buggers than spawn when a Dire Troll gets hit and loses a limb or something smaller. Due to their regenerative power, the severed part takes on a life of it's own.

Battlefield Role
Whelps can fill a surprising number of roles in the battlefield. At 5 for 2 points, it's quite a deal for an army that usually has a low model count.

Scrumcast Episode 33 ½

Dust off yer MP3 players folks The Scrumcast is back ahead of Schedule with a extra special episode featuring a few of our new authors.  We talk shop with Britts, Aussies and one crack pot. Come take a listen and revel in the glory that is grand hyperbole!

Episode 33 

Yours Is No Disgrace (LTC Fail post)

Mabrothrax's LTC Fail.

Excuses

Well, first let’s get the shameful news out of the way… the team I played for came last of 12. Both my team mates lost all 4 of their games and I only won one. Overall I placed 28^th of 36, which isn’t amazing either. Actually, one of our team members got the day of the tournament wrong and missed the first round, it was all downhill from there.

There is no substitute for a good night’s sleep. Going into a long day of full on playing whilst exhausted and cranky is not the best way to do things. Be prepared!

I did thoroughly enjoy the day and had some great games and came away with some new ideas and more experience, so it wasn’t all that bad…

Round 1 pMadrak vs Cygnar (Siege Trial by Fired theme list tier 4)

Major Markus ‘Seige’ Brisbane

Triumph

Ironclad

Squire

Journeyman Warcaster

Hunter

Journeyman Warcaster

Charger

Captain Arlan Strangeways

Arcane Tempest Gun Mages

Arcane Tempest Officer

10 Long Gunners

4 Field Mechaniks

The scenario was Close Quarters.

I didn’t know this new theme force, and the three trenches setup in close proximity (touching) my opponent’s flag was a blatant move to entice me to his corner.

Being the first game, being tired and rushed to get to the venue and slightly disorientated had me making seriously stupid mistakes. I set up one unit of warders to go for his flag and challenge siege, but with a handy piece of rough terrain in the way… and on the second turn I didn’t actually move pMadrak into contact with my own flag and failed to score. Yeah, that bad.

To be frank, once I’d given away the missed CP it was over. I somehow let a journeyman warcaster survive to contest as well. I lost the game 5-2.

On the plus side the ARM 21 brick was virtually unkillable and it took my opponent forever to take down one unit of Warders, and even with Siege’s feat he still had a hard time inflicting any damage.

Round 2 pMadrak vs Cryx (pSkarre)

Pirate Queen Skarre

Deathjack

Skarlock

10 Bane Thralls

Bane Thrall Officer & Standard

10 Mechanathralls

10 Mechanathralls

Necrosurgeon + Stitch Thralls

Necrosurgeon + Stitch Thralls

10 Blood Witches

Blood Hag

Warwitch Siren

Warwitch Siren

Satyxis Raider Captain

3 Scrap Thralls

Saxon Orrik

Scenario: Into the Breach

Cryx are a pain, but they don’t scare me all that much. To be honest I expected to be able to attrition this one like a charm, all it would take is using a combination of Madrak’s feat and the careful use of the bump animus to grab a juicy 2CP in the zone. At least, that was the plan.

You know how in some games you feel totally disconnected from your opponent? He played his force, I played mine and the interaction was minimal. Skarre ran for the flag and grabbed an early CP, I sat in the zone and went about slowly trying to clear it. Things were going well until Skarre’s feat turn where I lost a decent chunk of my force and went from being outnumbered to overwhelmed. Ther was no way I was getting any CPs from the zone now. However, Skarre had moved from the flag to the centre of the table and was in clear range for Madrak to step up and have a go. Being 1-0 down and with very little chance to win on control I went for the assassination.

Madrak charged Skarre with 5 fury and failed to hit with all his attacks. He was then brutally murdered in return.

Balls.

Round 3 Calandra vs Skorne (pMorghul)

Master Tormentor Morghoul

Basilisk Krea

Cyclops Brute

Bronzeback Titan

Molik Karn

Tiberion

Titan Gladiator

6 Paingiver Beast Handlers

6 Paingiver Beast Handlers

Extoler Soulward

Scenario: Supply and Demand

 Now this was a fun game. I’ve played Lewis before where he used a 35 point version of the same list and was comfortable in knowing my opponent and his army. Admittedly the Calandra list might not have been the best choice here, but I didn’t want to be locked in for the fourth round.

Early on the Runeshapers took out my opponent’s objective scoring me an early 1 CP. The rest of the game saw the ‘piece trade’ happen smoothly with each of us throwing beasts at each other, but in the long run his heavies out lasted my lights, and the bronzeback (just) managed to one round the Mountain King., also, early on the Runeshapers and the Storm Troll put some serious hurt on Morghul himself dropping him to two health.

Despite Star Crossed being up my opponent slowly wore me down and I couldn’t quite capitalize on the 1 CP lead or Morghul being practically dead. Then he managed to destroy my objective making it 1-1. Soon after Dice Down was called and I lost on the third Tie breaker as he had more points in the zone.

Round 4 pMadrak vs Legion of Everblight (pVayl)

Vayl, Disciple of Everblight

Succubus

Seraph

Scythean

Naga Nightlurker

Typhon

Gatorman Witch Doctor

6 Blight Nyss Hex Hunters

10 Blighted Nyss Legionnaires

Captian Farilor & Standard

Spawning Vessel and 6 Acolytes

Scenario Chemical Reaction

I know full well what Vayl and her list is all about and knew basically it would be a grind, which it was. Despite all his beasts and spells and broken abilities I slowly weathered the losses of Mulg and Rok whilst Warders and Bouncers surrounded Vayl (and Typhon) and eventually splatted her.

Not much else to say here really. I won a game, at last.

Overall thoughts.

I played badly. There’s no getting around it, I needed more sleep and time to relax beforehand. I had one of those epic dice fails in the Cryx match, and mishandled a turn in the Skorne match that probably cost me the game.

The pMadrak list is amazingly hard to deal with, it just soaks up so much damage. Despite this, I found it hard to capitalise on my opponent’s frustration and the Speed 4 Warders desperately wanted a buff. pMadrak works perfectly well in the list and with his feat on a crucial turn can work wonders, however, I am seriously considering keeping the list as is but swapping pMadrak for eGrissel…

This is an early stage ‘test it in my head’ thing.

The pros of eGrissel:

·         One more point of Fury

·         Dash (SPD +1) for the Warders

·         Fell Blast adds some ranged threat, but not much

·         Feat takes the ARM 21 spam idea and turns it up to 11 (well, 23) for one turn

The Cons:

·         Slightly less tough than pMadrak considering lack of Sure foot etc

·         Without Crusher or Carnage there’s no melee support going on

·         Feat is a bit ‘meh’

·         Erm… I don’t have her model yet?

Regarding the Calandra Theme list, I wish I’d had the balls to put it on the table at least one more time. Funnily enough I found the Warders in the list (in this game and others before) to be somewhat out of place. They are amazingly good, but here… well I found myself wishing I had more Runeshapers and another Storm Troll for some electro leap stuff. That’s a straight swap that I’m going to try out. It has some obvious benefits: another point of fury in the Kriel Stone to start with, more ranged threat, more coverage for Janissa’s Force Lock ability, more electro leaps…

I know I’m losing hard as nails weapon masters, but sometimes you have to go with your gut.

So there you have it. I’ll be trying the alternate Calandra list at my local club soon, and perhaps the eGrissel/pMadrak swap soon. Time to really get these lists to work in preparation for Smogcon in Feb 2014!

Keep rolling tough!

Never Surrender! For Kith and Kriel!

I like to believe I am decent at this game, not great, but I don't suck. However I do feel I have the bad habit of giving up before the battle is really over. Often I find that my games start with attrition in favour of my opponents. They alpha strike hard and remove pieces of my list I'd thought would be sticking around longer, which is silly, because this game is about trading models for either attrition, scenario, or position. It would be wrong to expect I wouldn't lose models.

My disdain for losing models can then put me in a salt induced nosedive where sometimes I give up prematurely. I don't stop playing, but my heart is obviously no longer put into the game. This is bad and is something I am working to identify and overcome. I am not the only player I have seen do this, and from experience a salty player can sometimes make the game less fun to play. I don't want to be that player, especially when I'm giving up before the game is even over. 

Trolls for all their weaknesses is not an easy faction to remove from the table. Even from a terrible scenario or attrition position a well played troll army can fight its way back. Trolls have a large number of models and effects that can work to bring on a come back. 

For one we have tough, and as much as I hate this rule it does aid trolls in attrition. Every time I roll that die its a gamble, and I hate that. I know that sounds weird coming from a guy playing a game driven by dice, but I don't feel the dice as much as I do when I'm rolling a tough check. The whole game can ride of a tough check on a simple 1 in 3 chance. I realise logically all games probably hinge on a similar fraction or statistic, but I don't find it nearly as transparent as when I'm rolling tough for Madrak or Grissel. Tough irritates me to no end, it can make and break the game, and I hate that the whole faction is balanced around it. I try to ignore it, but when its a core mechanic of your faction and you spend a large portion of the game rolling tough checks, it can be hard. 

In trolls we have some really great attrition feats, especially those belonging to p and eMadrak. Both have feats that can completely change the board state and both can do it with very little models. It always amazes me how much work so few models can do during these feats. pMadrak's feat should have been called Pacman, as that is pretty much how your models behave as they cut through your opponents army like Indiana Jones does through a jungle. pMadrak and Mulg alone can decimate a whole army during feat turn, and god forbid that the opponent leave a trail of breadcrumbs to their caster. I have yet to live that dream. 

I personally am a fan of eMadrak and am always amazed at the work he himself can get done. His feat is ball busting amazing, and combined with Rathrok's Awakening and Tide of Death Madrak can become Death incarnate. I love watching him eat an entire unit of Iron Fang Pikeman. It shocks me every time I pop his feat and watch the enemy army disappear. A few Fennblades here, a two warders there and maybe a little Blood Fury for seasoning and you have yourself a game changing feat. One of the reasons I love playing eMadrak is that whenever I start to feel tilted I just have to pop feat, and more often then not I feel a lot better.

One of my favourite things in this game are Warlocks and Warcasters that are hard to kill and I hate squishy casters that I have to worry about dying to stiff breeze, and man oh man is Trollbloods the right faction for me. Borka and the Madraks must be in the top 5 for Most Survivable Warcaster/Warlocks, and even warlocks like Doomie and Calandra are more durable then most, even with their old man stats. The krielstone alone provides more then most other factions do. Its a +2 ARM buff and can get rid of and prevent status effects, like continuous fire, which has a nasty habit of killing warlocks and warcasters. So when you take that with warlocks like the Madraks and Borka then your really having a party. Here take a look at how bullshit these guys really are:

Borka

• Stumbling Drunk - Borka's companion the Keg Carrier can give him the rule stumbling drunk, which prevents him from being knocked down, and if he is hit by an attack he stumbles away three inches in a direction determined by a deviation template.
• Unyielding - gains +2 ARM if engaged in combat
• Iron Flesh - +3 DEF, but -1 SPD, this isn't for early game, but for when you know he is going to be attacked, so he doesn't need to move far
• Wind Wall - Borka protects himself and any model completely within three inches of him from non-magical shooting, but protected models can also not shoot

Borka is incredibly hard to kill. With all these rule in effect and the in the Krielstone's aura Borka is ARM 21, DEF 17, may walk out of combat if you do mange to hit him, and can't be shot, except by magical guns. With all that he also has 3 fury to fall back on. This guy might be the harder model in the game to kill.

pMadrak

• Scroll of Grindar's Perserverence - once per game before the damage has been rolled Madrak can negate the roll's outcome
• Talisman of Subdual - beasts can not charge Madrak
• Sure Foot - a spell that provides +2 DEF and steady to models within 3" of the model who the spell is cast on

Not quite as hardy as Borka, but has some solid defensive abilities. A once per game damage negation is pretty handy, and immunity to beast charges is pretty nice, and sure foot is a spell so good it can be the focus of a list build. 

eMadrak

• Grim Salvation - if Madrak takes damage a friendly trollkin model within an inch of him is removed from play and Madrak suffers neither the damage or effects triggering on damage, however this rule is mandatory

In an eMadrak list each infantry model is an extra transfer and it may seem that using models as wounds may seem like a bad attrition choice, just remember all the work he alone can do and the effectiveness of his feat. eMadrak only needs a few choice warrior models and a few beasts to get work done. This rule can be extremely frustrating opponents to work around. Their is a rule people in my meta live by and that is "Don't try and kill Madrak".

With warlocks this hard to kill as this and with the ability to do work themselves really need to stop getting discouraged when attritition starts to go poorly. Even if most of my infantry is dead, my opponent still has to deal with my crazy hard to kill warlock, and hope they don't lose too many models trying. It isn't uncommon for them to commit their caster out of necessity, but fail to make the kill and then losing their own warlock/warcaster to a toughed Madrak or Borka.

I love models like Champions and Warders that are very hard to remove from the table and while they may seem out numbered, in a prolonged match, they can often out attrition most other infantry. Enemy models are like waves hitting ineffectually against the shore, except the shore has blunt instruments with which it beats the waves back into submission. This however can be slow and when I'm salty I sometimes don't realise that losing 3 Warders is acceptable, because his unit of 12 is going to break before my 5, its just going to take awhile. The trick is to remain calm, because what I am often told after a game is just how frustrating the same situation is for the opponent, and objectively they probably have more reason to be angry, since attrition will eventually favour me as a troll player. The trick is to be patient.

When I look at units like the Warders and Fennblades who actually receive benefits and buffs from being attacked, I start to see that this is how the faction is designed. This seems to indicate that trolls are designed to be on the receiving end of an alpha strike, rather then alpha striking ourselves. We are built to absorb the hit and strike back from a disadvantaged position. Thats why often during the early game when it looks like we are losing, however it is late game where we really shine. When both of us are on our last legs, troll models are just that much more durable and will probably outlast most opponents.

Trolls are the anvil upon which the hammer strikes, and that hammer will keep striking until it breaks. As trollblood players I think I have to learn to receive a lot of punishment before I can really see hope of victory. This means I have to be psychologically prepared to be on the losing end of attrition for most of the game. If I can manage to keep a cool head and an open mind, I will often start to see all the options left open to me and making moves towards that oh-so satisfying comeback. This isn't only true for trolls, if you do play another faction don't lose your head if your game is going bad, every faction is built with some way to come back from a few bad turns, you just need to stay cool and look for it. This is a problem I do struggle with sometimes, but I am working to fix that. For those of you out their who find they have the same trouble I hope this helps, but I feel the best way to overcome this is to accept it, and to just play through it. If we come up the other side we will all be stronger players for it.

If you guys have any questions, comments, or suggestions throw me an email here, drop a comment below or pm on the forums, otherwise have a good week and may all your dice roll tough.