Pet Rocks - My Trollblood collection, part 4 of 4

The fourth, but not quite final post on my Trollblood collection (continue reading to discover the shocking conclusion!)

Gunnbjorn is, without a doubt, my favorite of the more recent troll sculpts. He's got a lot of attitude, actually incorporates that the fact that the Cygnaran army is multiracial (and not just the half point Bodgers you can buy), doesn't have hands that are insanely large (just very large), and has some fun tech. (It doesn't hurt that he plays to my strong suits.)

I decided to give him a little extra character, with the sand bags and knife, and felt that the death card was a fun nod to the other larger than life officer, Kilgore.

The Pyre Troll was fun, for the flame effects. Unfortunately, the lighting kind of killed the subtle orange on his skin, though you can still see it a bit, around his legs and belly. He's a little bizarrely small, but I like his look better than the plastic update.

The Scouts were my favorite recent trollkin unit, with some slightly flat cartoony features that I think work better than the weird proportions that have crept in to the line.

Last, and least manly, is the only female troll mini I have, and one of only four in the line (with two being different versions of the same model).

I think that, by far, Janessa Stonetide represents the best adaptation of the trollblood look as female.

(Not quite) finally, the group shot:

I'm quite happy with how the army turned out. A few minis kind of got rushed, but for a gaming army (vs. say, a skirmish group), I feel like these guys came out nicely.

First battle (summary):

I was on the fence about these guys, but with my first WM/Hordes escalation league coming up, I decided to try these out, with Khador as my second choice.

This wasn't actually my first Trollblood battle, but is probably still in the first half-dozen, and I think it's been close to a year since I've actually gotten a game in (hence the choice to get myself going with the league).

To get going with a pre-league practice game, we both took the first size allowed, 11 points.

I ended up taking

• Grim
• -Impaler
• -Mauler

I was on the fence about taking the Earthborn (better abilities and rules) or the Mauler, but ended up taking the Mauler because of its animus: the difference between P+S 13 and 16, on both melee and range, was too good to pass up, since it made the Impaler much more threatening in a small game like this.

I was opposite

• Kraye
• -Charger
• -Lancer
• -Ironclad

I started to write a battle report, except I realized that a full report wasn't really all that important, so, instead, highlights...

Return Fire on the Mauler turned out to be really good. One retaliation took out the Ironclad's arm, and another took maybe half of Kraye's health (with little health left on the Mauler, he was going to finish it off, but got unlucky and needed two swings).

NB: I was doing this wrong. For some reason, you're allowed to do melee attacks in reaction to ranged attacks, which had me thoroughly confused, so I had misread the card...

Far shot and Rage makes the Impaler a very strong piece. I'd definitely play with this combination again, as the Mauler helps itself and the Impaler; the Impaler helps itself and Grim; and Grim helps all of the pieces. I feel like I got a nice little web going there.

NB: I also was doing this wrong. I forgot you couldn't stack Animi.

I didn't actually ever use Cross Country or Bait the Line, which were largely why I took Grim, because Kraye closed so quickly. This was somewhat reassuring, that I could deal with another relatively fast scoutish caster.

I only used Marked for Death on the feat turn as insurance, but it seems useful enough. (Grim feated, Marked Kraye for Death, and blasted him from a distance with Headhunter, ending the game.)

I'm still not sure about taking the Mauler (for the combo with the Impaler) or the Earthborn (better otherwise)...