Welcome to another Kith, Kriel, and Kin article. As always, I am Kyle (IAmSweeps on the various interwebs). In this article I am going to visit probably one of the most talked about topics in the game right next to "How to make Mountain King good?" Every hero/villain has an origins story. Today we are going to help you write your own. Whether you are a brand new player, choosing your first faction, or picking up your second (or third, or fourth, or...you get it) the question always comes up, "Where do I begin?"
I'm not going to go into the faction selection process. I am assuming that, at this point, you have already looked at the models (or maybe got your hands on a faction book) and fell in love with the strength, beauty, or aggressive look of Trollbloods and made the right choice.
Warmachine/Hordes is such an exciting game that draws people in so strongly that people don't always think about what they want, or have the capacity to know what they will want when getting into any new faction. This brings me to the first point of conversation I want to cover:
To Battle Box or Not To Battle Box?
No one can question that the single purchase a player can make to jump right into a faction is the Battle Box. However, is this the right choice for everyone?
When I played Mercenaries and I was looking for the Hordes faction I wanted to play to give me a good sampling of both gaming systems. I knew it was going to be Trollbloods. While I had time I did a lot of research into the casters and decided before ever playing a single game I wanted to play Borka Kegslayer, Calandra Truthsayer, and Hoarluk Doomshaper(both versions).
When I played Mercenaries I locked myself into one caster, buying all of the options available to that one guy, and feeling like I could not just swap casters and have a good game. Mercenaries are kind of a special case in this but I didn't fully realize that at the time. So, what I did instead is the same thing a lot of people do. I bought the Battle Box and tried to buy models that would go with it and any other list I might want to play. I focused more on the staples of the faction rather than just making the best pMadrak list I could because I didn't want to be in the same position as I was in Mercenaries where I could make absolutely any list I wanted with pMagnus but couldn't really do much with say, Broadside Bart. I had a few of the things he likes but not all. Let me be frank in that I am a poor 30 year old college student with kids and responsibilities that tie up the disposable funds that would go into a hobby. So, I have to make every purchase count.
Fast forward 8 months from the time I started playing Trolls and I feel like I might finally be able to make a Calandra (My second purchase after the Battle Box) list I don't hate, I can make an eDoomshaper list that is "great", but I find I don't like running a mostly beast list, I have enough variety in infantry to try to play pDoomshaper (though I would rather try Runes of War), and I just got Borka last week. 8 months of playing the Faction and I don't play any of the casters that got me into the faction. I want to be clear though, I absolutely do not regret the 8 months of play. In that time I have grown to love casters that I had overlooked in my initial look at the faction.
I am going to use my girlfriend as a great example of not starting with a Battle Box when getting into the game/a faction. She wants to play Circle Orboros (I can't blame her. They were second on my list). She bought pKrueger first, received 2 Argus as a gift from a buddy of mine, and bought a Gnarlhorn Satyr. Points wise, this is the equivalent of a Battle Box. So we have been playing it as one. Then I got her the Tharn Bloodpack because they seem like a good utility unit with both ranged and melee attacks. The number of models is still low so she wont be overwhelmed by the number of things she has to control. She wanted the Lord of the Feast because of his super solo ability to get in, do a lot of work, and get out. A set of Gallows Grove, heavy beast kit, and Razorwing Griffon later and now she can make a good 25-35 point army how she wants. Why do I bring up a Circle player in a Troll article? Well, at this 25-35 points she can get a good sampling of Caster, beasts, units, and solos to decide if she likes to run more infantry, more beasts, or remain balanced. Based off this decision she wants to either go eMorvhanna (more units), eKaya (more beasts), or just stick with pKrueger (balanced). All factions have the ability to play one of these three styles, but which style is right for you? Helen, my girlfriend, isn't sure which is best for her. So, she is taking the approach of buying models that work well together and can be used in other lists, with different types of casters, to decide which play style she prefers. As we analyze these pieces we see the only thing she is missing from the Battle Box is pKaya, the warlock. But, by not starting out with the Battle Box itself she has so much more than if she had bought that first and tried to build to it.
In my own meta I have seen 3 new Trolls players in the past 2 months and every one of them bought the Battle box and are trying to build from it, just like I did. Most Trollblood players can agree that pMadrak is a decent cast, most people will use an Axer and at least one Impaler as they progress deeper into the faction. So, what is the big deal with just buying the Battle Box and having those models right away? I think that by doing that you focus too heavily on trying to build up from the pMadrak battle group rather than actually building a Trollblood army.
What is the difference and why does it matter to a Trollblood player?
You can ask 100 Trollblood players what are the best models to buy for a new Trollblood player and absolutely none of them will say any of the models in the Battle Box (maybe) except for the Impaler. Why is this? The Battle Box is not a strong representation to what Trollbloods are. They introduce the budding new player to the idea of the level of synergy Trolls can play and force concepts of order of activation, but it does not show a new player just how much each of our warlocks, barring eDoomshaper, can do for Troll infantry which is easily the bread and butter of every Troll army.
Our faction lives and dies by synergy and buffs to our troops. So, in my humble opinion I present:
Top 5 models/units every Trollblood player should get
5. Janissa Stonetide This character solo can play many roles in a Trollblood army. Most commonly she is used because she has the ability to place a wall in front of key pieces you would like to protect. Whether you want to block a charge on your caster or strategically place a wall within 2" of anyone with the Earthborn Dire Troll animus on it, her wall comes in handy in pretty much every game she is in. That is not all she brings to the table though. She has an ability to move all enemy models within 3" of her towards a table edge. She has Force Lock, which can make her a point on the field that enemy models trying to charge past will stop in their tracks. She has armor piercing on her weapon. I put her at number 5 because while she is a very powerful piece that any of the Troll casters would love to bring along she doesn't do anything to buff the army. Also, because of character restrictions you can only take her in one of your 2 or 3 lists, depending on tournament format. Regardless, you will want to take her in one of those lists for sure.
4. Stone Scribe Chronicler This non-character solo has 3 buffs he can place on one of your units. These buffs are not Fell Calls or Spells and will stack with those types of buffs. I like to think of him as a 1-2-3 step buffer. He can use Tale of the Mists to help deliver a unit to your opponents lines by giving them concealment and Feign Death. Then, he can use Heroes Tragedy to disrupt the flow of your opponents turn by knocking down their warrior models that manage to kill a member of the unit. Finally, if I have positioned my beasts properly, you can use Charge of the Trolls to gain a buff to hit and damage models in melee with your beasts. I put this guy at number 4 because even though all three of his buffs are extremely useful, Charge of the Trolls is very situational. Tale of the Mists and Heroes Tragedy, however, are useful in pretty much every game.
3. Fell Caller Hero This non-character solo also has 3 buffs he can give to one of your units in the form of a Fell Call. A Fell Call is a specific type of buff that can not stack with other Fell Calls. He can give a unit Pathfinder, +2 MAT, or make every friendly Faction knocked down model in his CMD 9 to get up (not targeting a specific unit). The thing that pushes the Fell Caller higher on the list than the Stone Scribe Chronicler is the +2 MAT doesn't care about the position of your beasts. It doesn't increase damage but we have other damage increases effects elsewhere and most of our units have decent damage output as is. Pathfinder is pretty scarce in Trollbloods so any way that we can pass it out to units is great. You might play 100 games where you don't need to use that Fell Call but eventually you will approach a table and it will be a rough terrain nightmare and you will thank your lucky stars for having him. Last but not least with this guy, he has 2 weapon master attacks and a pretty good spray attack. So, not only does he buff your units but he can get in the mix and do some work as well.
2. Trollkin Runebearer "Troll Moses" is my number 2 but could easily be in the number 1 slot. He has the ability to make one of your caster's spells cost 1 fury less or, once per game, he can cast one of your caster's spells that cost 3 fury or less. This seems really simple and unimpressive so why do we care about this guy? With most of our casters we find that we wish we had just one more fury to be able to cast a spell or animus and still be able to camp some for damage transfers. This guy gives us that extra fury. If you are playing eMadrak you might have Madrak upkeep Blood Fury on one unit, have the Trollkin Runebearer cast it on another unit, then have Madrak cast it on himself and go in for a charge/feat assassination run. There are so many other examples. He is a non-character model so you can literally take him with everyone (unless you are playing a theme force that doesn't allow him)
1. Krielstone Bearer and Stone Scribes + Stone Scribe Elder The only unit in this list but probably the most important unit in the faction. The Krielstone Bearer is a fury vault which means early in the game or whenever you find you have fury to spare rather than just dumping it you can put it in the stone (provided it isn't full). With this fury the unit can put up Protective Aura which give +2 ARM to every friendly Faction model in the protective "bubble". This faction is known for hitting with an alpha strike, getting counter hit pretty hard, then getting back up and trading blows with your opponent. The additional ARM this unit provides can mean the difference in a unit getting shot off the table before it reaches the enemy. It can make your unit laugh at a low P+S melee attack. Heavy infantry who already have beefy DEF and ARM become almost unkillable unless your opponent focuses a lot of resources to taking them out. But wait, there is more. I also include the Stone Scribe Elder, the Unit Attachment for this unit. I include him because I believe that the unit, and your whole army, needs what he brings. He has the ability to "warp" 1 of 3 additional buffs. One adds +1 STR to friendly Faction models in the Protective Aura. Hooray for damage buffs. Another makes everything effected by Protective Aura to be immune to continuous effects and any continuous effects already in play expire. Lastly, enemy models inside the Protective Aura lose Stealth and Incorporeal. This last one is situational but can really hose an army that relies on these things. This unit is number 1 because the buffs it grants reach your whole army if you want and only costs 5 points for the whole unit + UA. You will find that you don't always need a full unit but I would still suggest that you ALWAYS bring the Elder.
All of these models/unit have 1 thing in common. They are support. As I said before this faction lives and dies by synergy and buffs and the sooner you pick up the models that maximize the effectiveness of ALL of your models the better. In a future article I will discuss how to balance the amount of support you bring because, while all of these models are great for their ability to make your worker models better, they can take up a lot of point cost in your army if you try to always take them all.
I will not make suggestions about which warlock is the best to start with, which beasts you should buy, or which offensive (worker) units are best. There are so many to choose from and they all perform differently in different situations. I have a personal bias towards models with Reach so the units I use tend to be those with Reach more often than not. That is not to say that models without reach don't perform extremely well.
Where do I go from here?
There are volumes of knowledge on the interwebs and one that stands out to me as a must visit is actually the Privateer Press Trollbloods Community forum. There you will find a Sticky Thread: For-Kith-and-Kriel-Your-Guide-to-All-Things-Trollbloods-Ver-2-0. Inside this thread is a huge knowledgebase of posts from various Troll players about all of the models in faction, minions, strategies and tactica. Tons of information. If you came to read my article before visiting this thread, I'm flattered. Now, go check out the forum.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article. As with all Kith,Kriel, and Kin articles this is not meant to be the end of the discussion but, rather, the beginning.
~IAmSweeps
No comments:
Post a Comment