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TrollbloodScrum is all about the Trollblood faction from the game Hordes from Privateer Press.  Here at the scrum we are dedicated to the furtherance of complete domination of the Iron Kingdoms at the hands of the Kith and Kriel and any who ally with them.  Come on in and take a look, there should be something here for every Troll player from the hardcore to the casual or from the painter to the modeler.

~Authors ~
TheGreatBlah a.k.a. theummhmmguy
Age: 32
Having been an avid TCG gamer for my whole adult life as well as a recovering MMORPG addict I first found Warmachine and Hordes a little over three years ago when visiting my friend and local shop owner at Phoenix Games and Comics in Logan, UT.  That particular night he was playtesting a Circle army and asked if I wanted to help him.  Having the inability to refrain from competition, especially that which is surrounded by statistics and probability,  I grabbed some figs (dunno what other box he had opened) and played for a few hours.  That night I walked out with Trollbloods, largely due to the Dire Troll Blitzer sculpt, of which I had in my possession along with the Battlebox.  My addiction was born and my hobby days are largely spent playing, painting, discussing, theorycrafting, and general application of axe to mouth. 

Goris
Age: 28
Location: Poulsbo, WA
Years playing Warmahordes: 3
The number of you that care: 0

I’d like to start this little bio off by saying; I was the guy who thought this stuff was super
nerdy when my friends were playing Warhammer 40k and Mechwarrior. Yes, I was that
guy.

So, what lead me to play with army men you ask? Well, let me tell you a little story…
Back in 1998 I started playing a little game called Fallout 2. Some of you may have
heard of it. This simple act transformed me from super jock dude to giant geek nearly
over night. PC gaming pretty well and consumed my entire High School career and still
holds a good portion of my free time today, but that simple step I believe is ultimately
what led me here. Also, the name “Goris” is actually a reference to that game. Does
anyone know from where?

At any rate, after being badgered continuously by my friends playing Warmahordes I
finally caved. I was told to pick the army I liked visually before ever even looking at
rules for them. That decision landed me in an obsession I’ve been enjoying for 3 years
now. I have nearly everything in the army and I enjoy every aspect of the hobby. I love
this game and I doubt there’s much that would make me stop playing.

In addition to all that I am also an avid Beer enthusiast. So living in the northwest I am
truly spoiled by the microbrew movement here. I am also a father to a 6 year old little
girl who will remain unnamed and she just recently expressed an interest in a Circle
army. Clearly I haven’t been teaching her well enough.

Well that’s my story folks. I’ll be at Lock n Load and perhaps PAX, so come say hi!

Saerko 

What is there to say? I live in Philadelphia, PA, but have lived on both coasts and a lot of places in between. I got into miniature wargaming because I didn't like the direction Real-Time Strategy games were moving and wanted to get more social. As a consequence of entering miniatures purely for the game part of the equation, I've never been jazzed about the modeling aspect and don't find that part of the hobby appealing, but I do get into the narrative around the factions I play and might write about the fluff in the future. My bread and butter is tactics and list-building, and that's mostly what you'll see on the Scrum.

My approach to play is usually to try and do something unexpected that my opponent doesn't already have a good plan for; that is, I ask a man to "step outside" and hit him with a chair as soon as he turns his back to walk out the door. When I'm not playing Warmachine/Hordes I'm either working, running, or spending time with my wife and cats.

Oh yeah, and the name Saerko doesn't actually mean anything. I picked it because my name was already taken on Battle.net back in ye olden times and I wasn't about to get into that whole Ben159856 business. Originally I wanted it to be Sarkis, but it turns out that there was some historical figure with that name and everyone had already snapped it up. Damn you internet, damn you to hell.

 Sephiroths_Khador
Age 24
I play in the same LGS as TheGreatBlah, and he beats me on a regular basis. I play Khador, and only Khador.  I aint one of those people who betrays the Motherland to play with the dogs that oppose Khador.  Well maybe that was a bit dramatic, but yeah I bleed red paint. Khador and thats it.
Thats really all there is to know about me.
SK


SlapHappySid
age: 23

  What better way to introduce myself is to establish my geek-credibility. What has ultimately brought me to the wonderful and exciting world of table-top gaming? I started with video games, and more specifically Warcraft 2. I was so heavily into this game I wanted more and delved into other Real Time Strategy games. I didn't get my first start into table-top gaming until I was twelve. My parents were adamant that I should not get into games like warhammer, but I ignored their advice and started anyway. Not only did I start Warhammer, but I drew my brother and dad into it as well, and they both had a blast! I played warhammer 40k for 10 years and I have been painting models for longer. I was not great at first, but eventually I learned from others who have been painting for most of their lives. I am always eager to learn something new to paint models in new ways.

  So how did I end up playing Warmahordes? I was having a hard time with warhammer, and I was looking for something new and exciting I haven't tried. I went to my local game store and was introduced to Warmachine. At first I was not sure what faction I wanted to play, so I decided to try most of them out, and see which one I liked most. Eventually I was drawn to Khador, and I have been happy with my army since. 

  Recently, I have been wanting to do a Hordes army, and I got Legion for reasons I cannot explain. It was one of those "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" kind of moments. Then I saw trolls, and was drawn to them. My friend, TheGreatBlah, asked me to paint a couple of his models before Lock n' Load. So I did, and I loved how they turned out. They were such a blast to paint, and I decided that I would start a Trollbloods army. At Lock n' Load, I got my hands on a extreme sculpt of the mauler. I will soon post photos of them on the blog, and tell the great adventure of how I assembled and painted him. That ladies and gentleman, is how I, SlapHappySid, have come to the gaming world. I'll see you all on the forums and the blog.

Skywise
Age: 35
Location: Utah
Faction: None. I'm a Mercenary dammit!

I started down the dark road of gaming during my high school years playing AD&D in my friends basement.  From there we played virtually every popular RPG on the market, such as Shadowrun, Earthdawn, Millenium's End, and Star Wars. I started down the even darker road of Table Top Miniature games when I was introduced to Warhammer and Warhammer 40K in college. From there, I became an avid player of Warhammer 40K, Battletech, Bloodbowl, and various other miniature games. Gaming for me has been a great experience, and I have gained a small army of friends through all of my gaming years.

12 years ago I was diagnosed with the dreaded c-word (cancer).  This trying time in my life was spent in hospitals under going several treatments. Besides the support of family and friends, one of the things that helped me through this was miniature painting. I painted 2500+ of Iron Warrior Chaos Marines during my stay in the hospital, and painting was one of the things that would help me cope with the long hospital stays. I even had my story and pictures published in a GW White Dwarf Magazine, (I forgot the issue #. I may post it in the future when I remember).  I am now cancer free, and living a happy life at home with my wife, 3 dogs, and one miserable cat.

I quit playing GW games over five years ago after becoming jaded with the games, and not liking the direction GW was heading.  When my friends picked up Warmachine, I resisted at first. That was until my friends bought me Phinneus Shae and a Mariner Warjack for my Birthday and it was all down hill from there. I have been an avid Merc and part time Legion player ever since. 

After Lock N' Load 2011, I was asked by Thegreatblah and Goris to contribute to the blog.  So here I am. Hope you enjoy my Merc Tactica posts as well as my painting posts.

Skywise 

Druids n Stuff
Name: Druidsandstuff (same as on our favorite forums)
Age: 21
Location: Utah
Factions: Circle, Trollbloods, Legion, Protectorate

I have been playing Hordes since October of 2008. I started with Circle and those conniving druids held my full attention for 2 full years. Then I got the itch for something different. I wholeheartedly dove into Trollbloods last November and they scratched that itch for about four months before I was blighted and joined the Legion of Everblight. Soon after my blighting I heard the call of Menoth and decided that I needed a Warmachine faction.

For those of you keeping a tally that means I play the factions of the three major gods in the IK; The Devourer, Dhunia, and Menoth. In my fourth faction they are trying to kill gods while Thagrosh is quickly ascending to godhood. This probably says something about me but I'm not sure what.

The reason I started to play Hordes was because I had always wanted to play a miniature game. At the time the only game I knew of was Warhammer, but was hesitant to get into it because the community was absolutely terrible. Then the LGS owner Paul told me about Hordes and Warmachine, showed me some of the models, and lent me Primal so I could read up on the rules. I was hooked from the first. It was a clear system with understandable rules, and more importantly an amazing story. I am a huge fan of the background and details in books, the story arc in the Hordes books is right up my alley.


Grimsnik
Hey there folks. I'm Grimsnik and I just started writing for Trollblood Scrum.
Just a quick intro-
Age: 35
Location: Logan, Utah

I've been gaming for about 20 years. I started out roleplaying with friends. When I started college, I was introduced with miniature table top games with Warhammer 40k. Since then, I've played several miniature games. Around 2005, I picked up a Cryx starter while in Denver at a con. Since then I've picked up a good amount of Cryx, Circle and Mercs with a bit of Menoth, Cygnar,
Trolls and Minions. In 2010, I was accepted into the press gang for Privateer Press.

El Beasto
Hey, this is Jeff. You may know me by my forum name, worldsdeadliestcomposer. You may also know me as El Beasto, The Cap'n, or some other name. In any case, I am now a contributor to the blog dedicated to those angry Scottish trolls that everyone seems to love. For those of you who don't know me, Legion is my primary faction, and I also play Skorne, Circle and Minions. According to Dallas I am also a modeling expert and like your mom, so these are the areas/factions I will be taking the perspective of in my posts.

EvilFuzzyDoom
I'm an Australian, so you can expect the occasional curse-word & odd spellings, to go along with my upside-down view of the universe.

Age: 24
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Factions: Trollbloods, Khador

I'm a long-term wargamer, having played Warhammer 40,000 since 1997 and dabbling in Warhammer Fantasy or historical wargames once in a while. I've not been playing WarmaHordes all that long, just since early 2011; a few of my friends had begun playing and talked about it regularly and I would regularly get that feeling where you think you should understand what's being said but don't. It was like everybody was talking Dutch or something; very close, but not quite the same when you listen to the actual words.

So, one month of browsing the Privateer Press website later, I picked up Trollbloods. To be honest my first choice was almost Khador but we had an unwritten policy of not doubling-up on other friends' army choices. This ruled out Cygnar, Khador, Menoth & Cryx so I started looking at Hordes. Legion looked like Tyranids bred with play-doh, so that was out. Skorne was tempting but I once collected Khornate Space Marines and I don't think I could name a paint scheme I've had more trouble with than red and brass. A few models from the Circle range grabbed my eye but the rest I actively disliked. Trollbloods initially didn't strike me as fantastic, but at some point I realised I could field Obelix, trench machinegunners and Scottish samurai in the same list and that this was the best thing ever (I did eventually pick up some Khador, though).

My group meets in and runs League games out of a venue affectionately nicknamed "The Church" which is actually an excellent geeky share-house with a large living area and reverse cycle air conditioning.

Joe De Jesus

Hello Fellow Trollbloods!

It's an honor to have been invited to contribute to the Scrum.

First off, an introduction!

Name: Joedj
Age: 40 somethin', father of 3 whelps.
Location: Olympia, WA

Faction: Trollbloods first and foremost! (though I have a smattering of all except 'gators...)

Favorite gaming venue: Olympic Cards and Comics,
Lacey, Washington




I started gaming with the original Battletech, my brother and I cussing as the Battlemaster or Archer would miss repeatedly. Detours into MTG, Mage Knight, Mechwarrior, D&D minis, WOW cards, and 40k, finally brought me to Privateer Press games. The Warmachine/Hordes system has been my favorite, in models, depth of tactics, and game mechanics.

Started with Trollbloods shortly after their release, the DTM had me at "Hello". Mark I was a lesson in humility for my Trollbloods play, but it hardened my resolve, and the miraculous wins kept me very enthusiatic. I now own all Trollbloods models except the Skinner, I even have two Winter Trolls. Mark II Trollbloods play is a blast and I remain, even after dabbling in many factions, a stalwart Trollbloods models and tactics fan.

I'm an avid modeller, decent painter, and encouraging Pressganger. I expect to contribute articles/commentaries on Trollbloods, general modeling, and anti-every-other-faction tactics.

See you at Lock and Load 2012!

Frank

Hmm, lets see... how to start?..

Err.. My name's Frank and I have a Trollblood addiction, currently I am making little to no attempt to work on this problem, I only come to these meetings because of a court order.

Right anyway, I wanted to give a little background on how this whole mess got started. I blame my dad. I was visiting for the new year holidays about a year or so ago. He had been playing a new game so I went with him on his game night to watch some games. After looking at some models and seeing a game I was hooked. I will admit I was drawn to some were wolf goodness at first, but I like to over-think things so I figured I would mull it over and look at everything then choose. After some internet reading I was digging the bloods, we picked up a deck and I proxied some battle box games against him. I quickly learned that our battle box sucked and after getting smashed a time or two by his Cryx so I switched it up to Grim Angus 15 pt games, the rest is a boring tale of multiple loses and an ever increasing investment in pewter.


I am a tactician at heart, I enjoy pulling together a plan when my back is against the wall. Playing Warmahordes and trolls in particular has provided me with many opportunities to watch those plans fail miserably. This has forced me to adopt some strategy which turns out to be almost as fun as tactics. Since tactics are so situational in this game it is my hope that through some incoherent articles I can help some poor soul out there learn some different strategies he or she can employ to challenge their friends and gaming buddies.

First order of business will be cleaning up some of my strategies that already live here on the scrum. I will attempt to break down the walls of text and abstract some things out into their own articles. So many times when I was starting I turned to the scrum for tactics, strategies, list building advice, and much more (Sid's Shenanigans are awesome!). I hope others will do the same and I hope my tacticas and strategies will help them in their Warmahordes journey.

Well just text is pretty boring, next time I promise some pictures..

Until then,

-nosrek