This Week in Immoren: taking Grissel for a spin

Well, I've had a cracking weekend which included five good games of Warmachine. Two against Ben's Cygnar lists and three against Sam's Legion. 


Grissel is doing well. Out of the four games I've used her for she has won them all. Three times on scenario. As such I'm happy her list performs well and that I know how to use it. The trick now is to practice so as to make perfect since all three of those wins were from a single scenario. It's all well and good winning that, but I need to ensure she does well on others. 

For this post I'm going to focus on Grissel, as there is still a fair amount of work to do with Doomshaper whereas with her list I'm settling in to it quite nicely. The list itself is as follows:

Grissel Bloodsong, Marshal of the Kriels - WB: +6
- Trollkin Runebearer 2
- Troll Axer - PC: 6
- Slag Troll - PC: 6

Fell Caller Hero - PC: 3
Stone Scribe Chronicler - PC: 2

Trollkin Warders - Leader & 4 Grunts: 8
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes - Leader & 3 Grunts: 3
- Stone Scribe Elder - Elder 1
Trollkin Fennblades - Leader & 9 grunts: 8
- Fennblade Officer and Drummer - Officer & Drummer 2

Grissel seems to get a bad rep on the internet and having played her I can't really understand why. Sure, she's not bedecked with spells with an answer to everything, but to be honest I think that can be a disadvantage at times. All I really need out of a caster for a jam list is to help the units get up the field and to take care of itself, and Grissel does that pretty well really. So far I've kept her out of trouble, but I do need to bear in mind that she still dies when you hit her hard and often enough, and no that isn't a euphemism. She is still in mourning after all!

The Runebearer does what the Runebearer does, and there isn't much more to be said there.

I'm using the Warbeasts very differently in this list to in previous ones. There are a number of reasons for this. firstly, with only two beasts, and light ones at that, if I commit them early and either or both get killed, that's the end of Grissel's fury for the rest of the game. Secondly, if I'm not relying on the beasts all game it means I can dump more in to the Krielstone to keep them safe rather than using Grissel's fury points to cast the beasts' animi on themselves. Thirdly, it means I can keep a point on Grissel and a point spare on the beasts so that I can transfer a bit of damage if I need to. 

I'm starting to see why Warders are so popular. ARM 17 as their base is respectable. If they suffer damage they gain +2 to become ARM 19 which is pretty good. Combine that with a Krielstone bearer and that gives another +2 for a smashing, or rather, smash denying ARM 21. That's a pretty solid unit right there, and it causes most opposition a headache at the best of times, but in combat under Grissel2s feat? That adds Unyielding to the mix which adds a further +2 resulting in an awesome ARM 23. 

The Krielstone itself has been a great addition. As well as the above boost to my Warders, the stone also helps give the Warders, and everyone else in the area, a few extra benefits if you include a Stone Scribe Chronicler. I've previously tended to favour Stone strength for the +1 Strength, which is useful, but lately I've got a bit of mileage from Combat Warding and Spirit Chaser. The former is useful to help against Menoth or Cryx continuous effects, and the latter means I can cope with taking on anything with Incorporeal and for that matter Stealth (which I forget Spirit Chaser does, so I shall make a big deal of this bracket so hopefully I shall remember it for the next game). 

In these last few games with Grissel, the stone has given both Ben and Sam some heartache when they thought they had rolled well for attacks, or that I'd not rolled well enough on my own. Not bad for a unit I only took to protect beasts and that in my last post I didn't think would even do that well enough. 

The Fennblades have been the trickiest to use really. I'm just about coming to terms with letting them die. For a while I've been trying to learn how best to use them as bait and I'm getting there now, though sometimes baiting with them isn't always the best use. Sometimes just getting upfield to threaten a some is the way forward. If some die, then so be it, but force the enemy to wipe them out or conceed scenario points. 

As support for the Fennblades, I've taken a Fellcaller and a Stone Scribe Chronicler. The idea with the latter is to add Tale of Mist to the Fennblades, so that they gain concealment to add a touch more protection, but also if they are hit, damage and pass a tough roll, then the enemy can't target that model with ranged magic or mundane attacks. Furthermore, I have used Hero's Tragedy and Charge of the Trolls too where appropriate. The latter helped me take out an Archangel with just two Fennblades, an Officer and an Axer. Thank Dhunia for tough rolls!

The Fellcaller mainly uses Overcome to make sure the Fennblades do get upfield quickly, but Reveille does ensure when they do pass tough they get back up and crack on straight away, and if they other two options aren't needed, then I can help them hit!

So that's the list and how I'm using it. Hopefully the Doomshaper list will improve with experience, and even if it doesn't too much, I only need to play it the once. 

Until next time,

Thanks for reading.