The Scrum Cast.

Here at the Scrum we strive to bring you all things excellent with Trollbloods... heck we even try to bring you tasty tidbits from all Hordes and Warmachine.  In our pursuit of this goal we have provided you all with the glory of listening to some of us ramble on about the goings on in the Trollblood universe.  We bring you the first, and hopefully not last, ScrumCast!!  Hang on to your kilts, tie down your Axes, keep your hands, feet and tentacles inside the cart at all times and enjoy the ride.

In this Feature packed Pocast we have for you:

- A super special Guest!
- Introductions for all our contributors
- News Pertaining to Troll Releases
- Domination and Wrath Discussion
- Lock n Load Reflections
- Warlock Spotlight by Mike Davies
- Masters Tournament Format Discussion

(Note Audio streams from both ears, if you have one ear you will only hear some of us... TrollbloodScrum, quietly discriminating against headphone listeners who only use one ear since 608 AR)

Episode 1 
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Stay Tuned for More All Scrum Podcasting.

Mangled Metal/Tooth & Claw 15 pts with pDoomy

For the first time since Lock and Load the opportunity has presented itself for me to play in a Mangled Metal/Tooth & Claw tourney at our leagues.  Being able to compete instead of being the TO will be interesting and immediately the planning stage set in.

With the high cost of Trollblood beasts it is likely the games will start with my army being outnumbered, to me this is a huge disadvantage in this game format for Trolls with no cheap option for a heavy.  So the decision has to be made with which beasts to bring.  Depending on the caster Trolls can usually fit in one heavy and two lights so long as it is not Mulg, or two heavies one can be Mulg.  With so very little amounts of bodies on the table some casters will be able to assassinate without much trouble so bringing a more durable caster is paramount.  To list some of the threats and weaknessess of my own army here is what I think will need to be overcome in an all comers Mangled Tooth & Metal Claw event.

1. High ARM lots of wounds heavies (Khador comes to mind)
2. Swarms of Light or Lesser Beasts (Legion)
3. More models on the table
4. Faster Armies
5. Denial Casters

Dire Troll Smasher ~ Homebrew

"As the huge beast smashed our Lancer to bits, the Pygmy on it's back laughed maniacally while lobbing grenades into our trench. When the smoke cleared all that was left of our journeyman was his boots." ~Cygnar Trencher Commando

Dire Troll Smasher
Trollblood Heavy Warbeast

Smasher
SPD...STR...MAT...RAT...DEF...ARM...CMD
4.........12......5.........4........10......18(22)......5
Fury 4
Threshold 9
FA U
Wounds (Same as Bomber - 28)
PC 10

Paint and Model Like You Got a Pair!!

I was planning a few in-depth painting and tactics posts, but between re-modeling my basement and the gawd-awful amount of overtime I've been working, I decided to keep it simple this time. Instead, I will make the first post in a small series with various tips and tricks meant to inspire any wargamming hobbyist of any skill level. I am also writing this from work, so please.....don't tell my boss! :P

I've been gaming since the late 80's, and have been painting miniatures for roughly 17 years. While I don't consider myself an expert painter or modeler of any sort, I am, however, quite adept at putting out fantastic looking, battlefield quality armies in relatively little time. The following is a few tips for anyone looking to enjoy the hobby side of miniature gaming.

Elite Khador Jacks vs. Budget Khador Jacks

Hello Scrummers, Im back from my hiatus in the mountains of Switzerland. I went on a soul searching, 5 week hike through the Swiss Alps and...You're not buying any of this are you? Ok, so I actually just have a bad habit of falling off the planet. But Im back for awhile.

Today I want to talk about WarJacks, and more precisely, you guessed it, Khador WarJacks.
Now in Khador there is a very large disparity of funcitonality between our elite 'jacks (ala Drago, Beast, and Behemoth.) And our rank and file 'jacks(pretty much everything else.) Many tournament Khador lists have been almost exclusively single 'jack lists with one of those elite 'jacks. However there has been an influx of cheap 'jack armies recently that have been running four, five, and even six 'jacks.

Borka, What am I doing Wrong.

A question about how to use Borka better came up on the forums this morning and I wanted to add one of the responses to the Borka Tactics Section.

Q: Borka, What am I doing Wrong.

I've played at least one game now with most of our casters and I've been thus far able to figure out how to make them work with the exception of Borka. I've taken him in several games now and I just seem to be missing something. How do people use him to success? What sorts of combos do people find to be effective?

Every time I've taken him, the only useful thing I've been able to do with him is cast Iron Flesh. His feat has seemed to be sub-par, giving me an extra 2" movement that I can never seem to get to work with an alpha strike (due to my opponent hanging back), and Mosh Pit seems to be impossible for me to get any value out of due to his terrible fury stat and the fact that everything else I take with him easily outdistances him.

For the record, I have read the Trollblood Scrum guide to Borka but I'm just not seeing much out of him. I have taken him against Khador a couple of times, Skorne once, and Cygnar once with no success and pretty disastrous results (the games weren't even close).

Hardcore First Test

Today I managed to get in my first playtest match in the buildup to the Hardcore Tournament last weekend of November, Madrak1 (gotta get used to using that system) versus Kraye.

Madrak Ironhide................Kraye

> Mauler............................> Centurion

> Earthborn........................> Hammersmith

> Mulg...............................> Defender

> Runebearer......................> Cyclone

Min Fennblades..................> Hunter
> Officer and Drummer.......> Hunter

Min KSB and Scribes.........> Charger

> Elder...............................> Sentinel

Min Burrowers

Min Bog Trog Ambushers

Fell Caller

Upcoming Trollblood Releases of Interest

Figured I'd put up a few of the release dates on things you Trollblood (and non-Trollblood) Players might be interested in.  Yeah I didn't list all the warlocks, but all the Hordes Warlocks of a similar make become available at a similar time.

September
PIP71059 Trollblood Trollkin Warlock Jark Skuld, Devil of the Thornwood (white metal) $17.99PIP75037 Minion Gatormen Warlock Maelock the Dreadbound (white metal) $22.99
PIP NQ38 No Quarter Magazine #38 $7.50

November
PIP1047 HORDES: Domination Softcover $32.99
PIP1048 HORDES: Domination Hardcover $42.99
PIP71060 Trollblood Trollkin Warlock Grissel Bloodsong - Marshall of the Kriels (white metal)(1)  TBD
PIP75033 Minions Farrow Warlock Sturm & Drang (white metal)(1) $23.99
PIP75041 Minions Gatorman Posse (repackaging)(white metal)(5) $49.99
PIP NQ39 No Quarter Magazine #39 $7.50

Sid's Saturday Shenanigans #1 ~ 09/03/2011

Hello to all Scrummers out there on the internets! As promised I have brought you the first edition of Sid's Saturday Shenanigans, where I, SlapHappySid, will showcase my own painting projects of your models that you have commissioned me to paint or my own Khador or Trollblood models, that I have neglected to paint in a long time! In this issue I will showcase TheGreatBlah's Trollblood Sluggers and where I am right now in painting this hard hitting unit. I was going to showcase my Man-O-War Shocktroopers, but there was a complication. As I was spraying my shocktroopers with a sealant, the sealant decided to flake onto my models, and even concentrate itself in unwanted places. I was furious! So I apologize for the inconvenience. I will have to go back and see if i can fix this issue, and if not, I will have to strip the paint and start over.

Anyways, enough of the bad news. You guys want to see the good stuff. Now let me present to you the WIP pictures of the Trollblood Sluggers!

Hardcore and Benelux Masters Update

OK I will throw out the update first of all, sadly my plans to attend the Benelux Masters currently looks like a no go due to personal problems meaning my intended travel partner is unable to make it, leaving the trip unfeasibly expensive to travel alone.  Disappointing, but tempered with the news that I still get one last big tourney before the end of the year and an interesting one for me, my first Hardcore 50pt tournament last weekend of November.

This represents a new experience for me, as Hardcore as a tournament format has never really kicked off here in the UK until this year, and personal commitments meant that I was forced to miss the qualifying heats for the UK Hardcore Invitational.  It also gives me plenty of incentive to finally crack on with painting my trollblood force, something which admittedly has somewhat fallen to the wayside as I have instead opted to work on painting up my Retribution in recent times.