Grissel vs Ravyn the Stinky Elf

Grissel found that she like Grim's Earthborn called 'Cannonball'.  Being a Dire Troll did not hide the intelligence in the eyes of Cannonball, and Grissel was even suprised when he began speaking to her in very broken and simple Molgur-Trul.  He had carried a message to her from Grim warning her of Elven activity in the area... Elven activity?  Grissel was pretty sure she had never seen an elf, though Cannonball seemed to know them as indicated through the bond.  The Dire Troll didn't seem to like them much.

One of her Scattergunners Grib quickly moved over to her side.  With a large foul smelling cigar it his mouth, Grib began speaking to her around it, "The elves are near, though we haven't seen them yet, four of my men lay beyond regeneration because of their arrows."  Grissel frowned and barked, "setup defensive positions here, we will wait for them to come to us."  Trough the bond she felt Cannonball's eagerness for battle and almost staggered at his ferocity... Dire Trolls, even smarter than average ones, still made her uneasy at their quick easy access to such rage.

Throw a Brick at them ~ Chief Madrak Ironhide

One of the oldest Trollblood strategies, beginning from our Alpha warlock Chief Madrak Ironhide.  The Troll caster that every Trollblood players owns, yup its our battle-box caster.  One of his signature spells 'Surefoot' means him and his Trolls pack themselves so tightly together that they quite literally form a 'Brick' of Trolls.  Add in things like the Kriel Stone Bearer and Gobber smoke and now Janessa Stonetide playing pMadrak gives you more and more reasons to make sure large aoe's hit all of your army.  Other Troll casters can brick to some degree, Borka with Ironflesh, does a decent minibrick.  But no Troll caster can play clumped up with the effeciency of our buddy Madrak.

Photo courtesy of Battlecollege

Chief Madrak Ironhide

Stats- Madrak has decent stats for a Warlock, nothing glamorous but it's okay two of his spells make up for his defeciencies in Defense and take his good MAT and make it great.
Weapons- He has one that he can use in melee or range. At range it doesn't go far but that is what Farstrike is for, if you happen to kill something on your first throw then you get to throw again. Top that off since its a throw STR buffs increase the ranged damage along with the melee damage and his P+S is pretty good to begin with. In melee he has reach which was a glorious addition in MKII. Icing on the cake is Critical Grevious wounds, which makes enemy Warlock's cry if you pull on off while hitting one of them.

Abilities- He has a few nifty abilities. Talisman on subdual means beasts that activate where Madrak can see them can't charge or slam him even when they frenzy. Snap Fire is discussed above. Scroll of Grindar's Perserverance is pretty awesome and is essentially Madrak taking a free hit that won't hurt him.
Spells- Surefoot is his signature spell and key to bricking, it takes low Troll DEF and turns them into being difficult to hit unless you can boost. Stranglehold slows things down from getting into your front lines and has good range, it's also cheap which is good because Madrak needs all the fury he can get. Carnage means that when your brick closes on their front lines your chances of hitting go way way up.

Brick Basics

Chief Madrak Ironhide ~ Surfoot is why he bricks so well.  Cast it turn 1 or turn 2 (usually on himself) and upkeep the rest of the game.  The added defense for him and everyone around him along with making it so none affected can be knocked down takes the Average low Troll Defense into respectable levels.  Most of the othe Core-Bricking models have decent MAT and carnage just makes it that much better. Toss is his Scroll and a buff or two and he is very hard to kill in an assassination attempt.  If they do rush the brick then Crusher on high MAT high DMG Champs is bad news.

Calandra, The Dark Mother ~ by Sevwall

Beware trollblood players. The Dark Mother brooks no disrespect, and her powers are insidious. She controls the dice, and through them, the game. Play her with regularity and you will expect the dice to respond to your beck and call. Addicted to the power, games with other casters seem hollow, as fickle dice refuse to bow to your whim. She is powerful, but once played she refuses to play second fiddle to anyone else.

If you are weak willed, I suggest you stop right here. If not, continue on, and see the face of true power.

Calandra
Alias: Cali, Sexy Trollkin, Dice ****er

Calandra doesn’t play the same game as everyone else. She manipulates models, but more importantly she manipulates the dice. Other casters have various powers, but they cannot turn a roll of a 3 into a roll of a 9. Calandra can, with ease, in two separate ways. She is fragile, but her spells and dice manipulation makes her one of the most survivable casters we have. She lacks some power to kill things herself, but even then she will stalk and kill the wounded with her vicious dagger.

Calandra, The Dark Mother, Lists ~ by Sevwall

Top Lists
This is the basic list that I use when I want to win. It is not a nice list and it’s not a good way to win friends. However, it will consistently win you games.

Points: 35
Calandra Truthsayer, Oracle of the Glimmerwood (*5pts)
* Troll Impaler (5pts)
* Dire Troll Bomber (10pts)
Pyg Burrowers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt) (1pts)
Trollkin Fennblades (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Fell Caller Hero (3pts)
Stone Scibe Chronicler (2pts)
Trollkin Runebearer (2pts)
Trollkin Champion Hero (3pts)

This is essentially a burrower list. I would read the Burrownomicon before playing it. Essentially, your main offense is burrowers, which you support with your copious support solos. The Fennblades play cleanup and the Bomber clears out high DEF stuff that you can’t hit, or boosts damage to cripple heavies. The game ends on scenario or in a quick attrition grind.

So, you want to have a non-burrower list, because you have some small measure of fairness and honor. Okay, another winning list. We will take it up to 50 points to compensate for the lack of burrowers.

Points: 50
Calandra Truthsayer, Oracle of the Glimmerwood (*5pts)
* Troll Impaler (5pts)
* Dire Troll Bomber (10pts)
* Mulg the Ancient (12pts)
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (Cylena and 9 Grunts) (10pts)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt) (1pts)
Trollkin Fennblades/UA (Leader and 9 Grunts) (10pts)
Fellcaller Hero (3pts)
Janissa Stonetide (3pts)
Runebearer (2pts)

This is a slightly friendlier list. Fennblades are your massively first striking unit with the UA, and the feat and the Fellcaller mean that they will crush most opposition. The Nyss strike from the sides, picking off support on the feat turn and generally being a pain with Starcrossed DEF 15. Mulg follows in the back, slowly, inexorably making his way toward the caster to pummel them in the face. Janissa plays guard duty for Calandra, and prepares to dive into combat to forcelock any flanking threats. Its slightly experimental, because Janissa and the UA aren’t out yet and I’ve only gotten a few games in with them, but I’ve run the list with 5 other points in their place (hero and chronicler) and the theory is sound.

Epic Doomshaper Tier Teaser @ Bell of Lost Souls

 Bell of Lost Souls posted a pDoomy Tier teaser today. You can check the full article out HERE. 

Cheaper Dire Trolls... yes please.  And contrary to the general idea on the PP forums.  I like the Skinner enough to bring him on purpose.

Captain Gunnbjorn @ GTM

Game Trade Magazine Issue #127 has on its cover today Captain Gunnbjorn and inside the front cover his actual book entry from the Trollbloods book. The full entry can be found HERE .  For your pure reading enjoyment, go take a look.

Grim Angus Tier 3 vs Lord Carver

Grim had to admit he was liking his new Swamp Troll.  He and it seemed to have the same ideas about how to track and capture prey.  Much to the frustration of his long time Impaler who repeated attempts at making dinner out of the Swamp Troll failed.  As he chuckled at the Swamp Troll taking another shot at the Impaler with its tongue one of the woodsman appeared at his side.  Grim had to respect them, not very many things could get that close to him without his notice. "We found him," said the Skinner, "Gudrun and Alten both seem to be working for them."  Grim chuckled, "their man posing as Alten is our bounty, we will hold them off as long as possible while you help sucure him."  Blythe and Bull are here to help as well, Alten is sparing no expense for the capture of his would be doppleganger.

How To Burninate: The Pyre Troll and You ~ by DHRayne

The pyre troll is one of my favorite models in the Trollblood army, so i thought i would do a little write-up on him so other people might be inspired to give him a try. If you already play him with regularity, then props to you! By the way, I named mine “Torch” before that lame Khador Jack came out...so there...anyway, lets get into the good stuffs.

Stat Line

SPD: Typical Troll beast
STR: Bouncer
MAT: Impaler
RAT: Calandra
DEF: Typical Light
ARM: Imapler
CMD: Impaler
Fury: Typical Light
Threshold: Winter Troll
Cost: 5pts; one less than the Slag
Immunity Fire: This is nothing to scoff at. With the large amounts of fire in the game, he really increases his survivability by leaps and bounds with this alone.

Nothing overly impressive on his statline, he’s very similar to the other elementals and he shares many of his stats with the Impaler (who I find to be one of his best friends, but more on that later).

Grim Angus Tier Spoiler

Thanks to our friends over at Bell of Lost Souls we have the Grim Angus Tier List Spoiler.

The Skinner being hugely unpopular on the PP forums doesn't bother me a bit, I'll be buying a few of them because I like them.  I always take Alten Ashley so that is gravy for me. Add in the Burrowers and Bushwackers as well as some Bomber's and Blitzers and we're good.  Dannon Blythe & Bull are new to be as I have only played them once or twice since they came out.  The mystery for now is the Scouts... they'll probably be good, and we all know I'll buy them.

Gunnbjorn Experiences ~ by Sevwall

Just played two games with him.

BACKGROUND: I played vs my friend, and the best player I know. I usually lose to his circle, so that doesn't play into my thoughts on him. I have Gunnbjorn's cards in front of me, so all the info is based on real stats. Caste Kill first game, No Man's Land second.

Played two games, First list was:

Gunn
Bomber
Slag
Winter
Impaler
Bushwhackers
3 champs

vs

Kaya
Wilder
Stalker
Gnarlhorn
Druids/UA
Stones/UA
Stones
Blackclad

I got stymied by blackclads (clouds on them is crazy, DEF 18... blech), then wrecked by druids puling the bomber into the waiting arms of a stalker, who got teleported back. I focused mainly on guided fire, got some nice kills, but was unable to kill all that much. I got worn down, attritioned, and killed. I haven't played my friends circle in almost, hmmm, 6 months now, so it was a relearning experience, and a bad way to learn Gunnbjorn.

Second game
Pygs -> Dygs/whelps
Champs -> Runebearer/Feral/Fellcaller

vs

Morvhana
Stalker
Guardian
Stones/UA
Druids/UA
Bloodtrackers
??????

A little better. I focused on rock wall (which I hadn't even cast the game before) to keep my trio of lights safe, and the game was a longer grind. In the end, it came down to regrown (and regrown, and regrown) bloodtrackers overwhelming my ability to kill them.

Thoughts:
He's no Grim, thats for sure. While his spell list is more powerful, he lacks the same mitigation that Grim does with is feat, his spell that provides Hunter, and natural True Sight, its much, much harder to shut Grim down. Gunnbjorn makes his beasts shoot great, but none of our shooting beasts are all that great in melee, so if you fail, its over. You can survive a bit, but the grind will get you.

I'll have to play more games vs less capable opponents. But right now I'm hugely impressed with how fun he is to play, how new his style is, and how solidly in the middle of our casters he is. Not someone I see myself taking to tourneys I want to win, but definitely someone I will be playing with in friendly games.

I'm looking forward to the champs with guns. If they provide durability and ranged firepower, as well as a capable melee presence, I will be taking them. Even possibly over burrowers, who don't work particularly well with him, and who can't provide the tough wall he needs. Or I might just focus less on guided Fire, and take out a beast and the whelps for full fennblades.

He's promising. Just not better than what we have.