Pet Rocks - Trollblood Addition: Dire Troll (modular)

One of the only Privateer Press plastic resculpts I prefer over the original, I finally got a Blitzer, however, that's not quite the full story.


I think the original blitzer was decent, but really strangely lanky. The weight of this one feels much closer to the other Dire Trolls in the line (plastic and metal), while feeling much like the original. There's something a little weird about the Pyg troll on its back... you can see from the side that it has almost no torso, which I would have changed if I'd noticed before gluing it.

Other than that, and that I liked the original's chains, a definite improvement.

The Mauler resculpt, on the other hand, was a bit of a train wreck, in my opinion. I didn't like the new head; the separation of quills on its back from those on its head made it look like it had a tuft of hair and a whole bunch of back hair, instead of a mane; and a whole bunch of chains didn't really pull off the same "unbound beast"look as just a loin cloth. Also, I loved the original pose.

So, here's my mauler. Same thing, but no Pyg. I wasn't going to spend time magnetizing and painting components I didn't like, just for the sake of completion. I just picked my favorite hand from each kit, and used them for both.

The Bomber was actually why I got this kit, since I felt like my Trolls were missing a solid ranged component.

I was originally going to also magnetize his right hand and his head, but I found that I really preferred the Blitzer head on both, and felt that one powder keg looked dangerous, while two looked cartoony.

Games

I was out of town for a weekend, but managed to get a couple games in last friday.

Both games, I took:
Grom
-Axer
-Earthborn
3 Champions
6 Trollkin mercs
Janessa

The first game I played was against Cygnar, led by Lord Commander Coleman "Imma beat you with my electrostick" Stryker.

The game went pretty evenly, until I failed to get a single shot to connect with Stryker on a critical round, so my Earthborn was out of melee range and Stryker's movement wasn't hindered. I had also never encountered the rule that you can't charge up a hill more than 1" tall, which kind of ruined my backup plan. I held on a couple turns after that, but I think we both knew that that failed attack was the real end of the game.

My second game was against Macbain and his crew of Steelheads. I love my steelheads, so, when I saw Halberdiers and Cav across from me, I knew what I was in for.

A couple highlights:
-by far the best game I've had with my Axer, instead of kind of muddling around and getting shot, he had a great target: a small unit of elite infantry. Grim shot one, trying to get Bait the Line, but ended up killing it, and the Axer clobbered the other two with a single thresher.

-Boomhowler was without a doubt MVP, and not because of 4+ tough (which I didn't use)

During the first engagement, I thought his unit wasn't in a very dangerous position, so I decided to scare the Halberdiers, and it actually worked: they were pinned, instead of setting up for a Flank bonus with the cavalry

The next turn, he yelled again, putting MacBain's remaning Rover at -2 to hit, which meant that his six attacks missed my earthborn, who was now at full health, instead of probably hurting pretty badly.


I'm feeling a little more like I understand Trollbloods, but am still trying to figure out what makes them click.