Rolling out the Trolls

I took a break from the painting last night as everyone at the club was desperate for me to attend (who am I kidding? I practically jumped at the chance) and had my first none tutorial game with the Trollbloods which I again faced Ben and his Skorne.

I took:

• Hoarluk Doomshaper
• 2x Impalers
• Axer
• Fell Caller
• Kriel Warrior Unit
• Krielstone Unit

Ben took:

• Mordikaar
• Void Spirit
• Cyclops thingy
• Gladiator Titan
• Praetorians
• Venators

Things flowed a lot better in this game and I really started to get used to how things work, although it was still a slow game as I seemed to take forever to decide on options and activation orders! It was a slow start and Ben clearly had the advantage until i pulled a nasty trick and cast Rampager on his Titan meaning I took control of it and could advance it and make an attack, so I sent it to strike Mordikaar. I managed to hit and then rolled two sixes for damage leaving his Warlock on a single point of damage! Unfortunately for Ben, he forgot to deflect the damage to a warbeast so he was perilously close to death. On the flipside, I didn't really have much with which to capitalise on this as my force was severely diminished. The photo below is of this event which I took on Ben’s photo – when he sent it to me today, he named the photo as ‘Mark’s trickery’!

My only real option was to move my Impaler out of a combat he couldn't win with a void spirit and threw a spear at Mordikaar which just did enough to see him off, but obviously this time Ben remembered to spend fury to place the damage on his titan. Ben moved in the Void Spirit again and the Impaler died before he could do anything further. The Void Spirit is a tricky blighter as I need a magical weapon to harm him because he is incorporeal (I think) which meant that in my list, I’d need to risk Hoarluk to cause him damage! This obviously highlights a gap in my lists - I’m sure that this problem isn't going to arise in every game, but against the Warmachine players I know that there are a lot of Cryx armies, and from my basic understanding, they have a few similar beasties. Off the top of my Head, the Rune Shapers unit have magical attacks, but I don't know how good they are. After that I suppose I’m left with spells. Something to chew over I think!

In the end I was left with just Hoarluk alive when we stopped, though at least this time my force had worked a bit better than previously and I’d started to use them as a cohesive force. The Impalers aren't as bad as I had thought as we had previously overlooked one of their (major) rules, so I think I’ll keep at least one in most forces unless i have major successes with the Pyre Troll when he arrives.

I'm still waiting for the mauler and the Pyre troll to arrive, and I’m starting to again consider another unit - it’s a toss up between the Trollkin Champions and one of the ranged units at the moment as I’m aware I’ve not got much to soften up the enemy as the fell caller and the two Impalers don't cause enough of a dent really.

Finally a big thanks to Dave (captaincaine) for his help and advice both tactically and on future purchases - he has particularly suggested a slag troll which would cause a few headaches for the Warmachine players. I may have to buy that one in Notts at the end of the month! ;)