The Trollbloods warpack is odd in that it doesn't have a heavy warbeast at all, with three lights and a beefy warlock.
Primal Madrak, Thornwood Chieftain is the warlock in the 'pack. He's a brute with a big magic axe and not a lot of play options. He tends to keep his troops nearby to benefit from his Surefoot spell (models affected by Surefoot or within 3" of the model with Surefoot gain a defense bonus and can't be knocked down). Madrak usually casts Surefoot turn one and upkeeps it on himself all game. He only has two other spells: Carnage, which gives a melee attack bonus to faction models within his tiny control area (he's a low fury warlock), and Stranglehold, which is a cool attack spell that sucks for Madrak because of the low fury.
He's got a sweet axe that hits like a train, and he can throw it and it returns mjolnir-style, which is bitchin'. If he ever crits with his axe the enemy model loses healing, Tough, and can't transfer wounds. That's nasty. He can also ignore a damage roll once per game, warbeasts can't target him with charges or slams, and he is Tough.
His feat, Crusher, gives faction models in his tiny control area the ability to move 1" and make another attack if they kill an enemy model. That's alright. It's even better for beasts who can buy even more attacks. It's great for clearing infantry.
Most of the time, Maddy puts up Surefoot, maybe throws his axe once on the approach, and then casts Carnage the turn his feat goes off. Then his troops and beasts go maul everything they can. He's not versatile but he works.
The beasts in the warpack are two full-blooded Troll Impalers and a Troll Axer.
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| I'm totally not about to put my Impaler in the washing machine; I just hobby in the basement. |
The Impaler light warbeast is a big troll with a spear. It can toss that spear, though it's going to want to boost the attack roll because it's not super accurate. Also, if it crits on the attack roll it slams the struck model back, knocking it down and maybe even crushing models in the slam path. The spear does respectable damage and has reach, so the Impaler can do well in melee under Maddy's feat in a pinch. The Impaler also has an animus called farstrike, which adds 4" to the range of a single model for a turn.
Animi are another difference between Hordes and Warmachine. Warlocks tend to have fewer spells than warcasters, but each beast in their battlegroup adds an animus which either the beast or the warlock can cast (or both).
The Troll Axer Light warbeast is practically a heavy beast. It doesn't hit hard enough for a heavy, but it's one of the strongest lights in the game. It has a big axe (you may have guessed that) with Reach. It also has Thresher, which allows it to use it's combat action to swing that axe at every model within melee range. The Axer animus is called Rush, and it grants an additional 2" of movement and pathfinder to a warbeast it affects.
All full-blood Trolls (so just warbeasts) have a regeneration ability as well. They can be forced (gain a fury) to regenerate d3 wounds. This is a big deal.
One of the main differences between warmachine and hordes is that most warcasters can't repair 'jacks (usually one per faction knows what up), but their are special mechanic units and solos that can do so. However, any warlock can spend a fury to heal a damage on one of their beasts, which means that even a beast that has taken a beating can get back up and fight well.
Warjacks tend to get crippled easier, while beasts are more resilient.
Trolls' regeneration allows them options in the healing order. Other Hordes factions would have to activate the warlock early in the turn and spend valuable fury healing beasts instead of casting spells and animi. Troll warlocks can do the same, or they can activate the beasts first and add a fury or two to a hurt beast to bump it back up.
That's cool.
Without heavies, Madrak has trouble with high armor, and his battlegroup is a actually a point or two short of many other battleboxes out there. He has to rely on the Impalers to slam a key enemy model back to control the board while he and the Axer wail on another target. With some luck he might win the attrition war, or if his Impalers get lucky and slam a model over the enemy warcaster/warlock, Madrak or the Axer can probably swoop in to finish them off. Relying on the probability of critting on three dice is not great strategy, but since Madrak's feat is all about clearing infantry, and Carnage supports a mass of troops, in Battlebox games Maddy doesn't have much else.
I decided to pick up Grim Angus instead of sticking to Madrak, since Grim is a bounty hunter with a real gun and not a magic throwing axe.
I've built a few Grim lists with my meagre supply of Troll models. I'll talk about that later.
-Merlin out
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone y'allz
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