KSB Work in Progress

So I started trying my hand at painting. I have not really done much, it took me 30 minutes to do this and its not the best to be honest. But hey, I am actually trying!

Here is a shot of my Kriel Stone Bearer and 3 of his Scribes.





Its not the best picture, I have yet to really figure out how to take em, but its the best I have done. The runes on the Stone are purple, and I am going to fix the blotch on one side (you can't see it)

But yea, here it is!

Madrak List

Ok so after playing 2 500 point games with Grim, I am really not feeling him. I like him, in theory, but he just doesn't fit my play style at the moment. That style of course is AXE TO FACE! So, I started tinkering with a Madrak list.

So here is what I came up with. Sadly, I took Mulg out and replaced him with a regular Mauler.

Faction: Trollblood
Points: 497
Model Count: 14
Victory Points: 18

Madrak Ironhide
Troll Axer
Troll Impaler
Dire Troll Mauler
Fell Caller
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes [4] (0 added)
Trollkin Champions [5]

All I am missing from this is the Mauler. I can pick that up next week on Payday, and thus have a solid looking 500 point brick list. I kind of like the feel of this list. Now I could take Mulg instead, but then I got to ditch the KSB and I end up with 10 points left over and I am not sure how I feel about that. This is what the Mulg list looks like:

Faction: Trollblood
Points: 490
Model Count: 10
Victory Points: 16

Madrak Ironhide
Troll Axer
Troll Impaler
Mulg The Ancient
Fell Caller
Trollkin Champions [5]


I am really thinking I prefer the list with the Mauler. Sides, the Mauler is still AWESOME looking. Any suggestions/comments?

New Player Introductions - Results!

So my friend Dan got to play. First game of course was against me, and sadly I missed the comments you all made on my previous post >.< I am totally full out fail. So in his first game I told him to feel free to ask me questions, ask my why I was doing things, and I would happily explain. He then told me to not go easy on him as he didn't want to get a "false sense of hope". Dan is a strange person to be honest. Hehe.

So, I didn't hold back. Gene, the gent who I played against last time poppped in, and assisted me in teaching Dan. At one point I left myself open to the Kaya Spirit Door Assassination Trick without realizing it. Once I noticed, Me and Gene explained to Dan what I had done, and how Dan could possibly capitalize and win. This is when Dan learned the first true lesson of Warmahordes: Play like you got a Pair.

Dan did not go for it. Rather, he decided to play it safe. I went so far as to warn him that one way or another I was going to kill him next turn if he didn't finish me off, and he didn't seem to really believe me. So, when he went after my Axer and didn't take him out, I took out his remaining Argus, Warpwolf, and Kaya was left standing facing a unused Impaler and Madrak. At that point he conceded. To be honest he seemed kind of bummed out, and rather then play me again I asked Gene if he could play, Seaforge Battlebox vs Circle. Gene obliged.

I went at this point to play against a Legion list. I really do not like Legion. I played against a list that had the following:

Searyn? Whatever that chick is, the twin.
2 Shedders
Gobbers
2 Angelius
1 Seraph
1 Cav Solo, the Nyss Sorceress

I of course used my Grim list that I detailed in my previous post. For those who don't wanna look back however:

Grim Angus
KSB +1 (So 6 total)
Champs
2 Imaplers
1 Axer
Fel Caller
Chronicler

I knew that if I was going to win this I would have to be lucky. Now, this was the first time I ever played someone who was...how shall I put this? Cocky. He told me, flat out, that he was going to go for the Assassination. I knew about Flight and he told me that I would never see it coming. Yea...I am smarter then I look dude.

So first turn, I ran my champs up. Ran everyone up, took a shot and threw a couple of spears. He got into position. Second turn I ran my champs again, and next thing he knew I had my Champs about 6 inches away from his Caster. I could see the change right there in his expression, a change from "I am gonna win easy" to "Wait, this is not a good thing"

He still fly his guys over and attacked my beasts, and got his shredders into melee with my champs. As the fight went on he had to use more and more effort to kill things as I kept making tough rolls. Eventually however he got an Angelius back to Grim, and I had no one to transfer to and no safe haven. At that point I conceded, and shook his hand thanking him for a good game. He seemed kinda...distracted by that point. As if he could not believe he had so much trouble. I have to say, I took a kind of twisted amusement that I gave someone THAT much frustration :P

When I went back to Dan's game, I found that Chris, one of our FLGS Skrone/Khador players helping Dan out. Chris is awesome. He is the man whose damn cats (Ferox) tore me up when I played my Darius list for the first time. So I turn to the Dan vs Gene and find taht Gene only lost 1 Gun Bunny, and still had 2 others and a Driller. Dan had 2 Argus, 1 that was near death, and of course Kaya, who had a SINGLE HIT POINT LEFT.

This time Dan went for the throat. He had already feated, and had been literally doing 1 point of damage per attack with his 2 Argus to Gorten. He finally charged Kaya in, and used up ALL her fury to bring Gorten to 3, but he had managed to knock Gorten down with a crit (Gorten had not used the anti knock down spell).

So we have 1 Argus left (the other had died the turn prior) Dan hits automatically, boosts damage on the first bite...does 1. His second attack? Boosts damage and does 2... exactly enough to kill Gorten.

Dan wins his second game, and was much happier. He said afterwards that he had learned alot and enjoyed the game. So while I might have sucked at teaching and I learned something, at least Dan seems to be enjoying himself. Overall, a win as far as I am concerned!

Introducing New Players

Hello everyone! So, today I am going to be showing a friend of mine how to actually play the game. If you remember from my Gorten vs Grim post, that game was actually played because a friend of mine named Dan wanted to see how the game was played. After thinking about it he decided he wanted to give it a shot. So, on Monday he went online and bought himself the Circle Orboros boxed set, with Kaya 2 Argus and the Warpwolf.

Today will be the first time he has ever actually played. Its gonna be at least 1 if not more games with our Battle Box contents, which means of course he is going to face Madrak, 2 Impalers and my Axer. I told him that I am going to go "easy" on him in a sense, as I will explain any moves I make if he asks. I am also going to let him take back his moves if he wants so he can learn.

I don't want to pummel him into the ground for his first game, but at the same time I still want to pose a challenge and make him have the most fun he can have. He is a competitive person actually. Much more then me in fact. For example, he tends to enjoy PVP on games like WoW and Champions Online. I don't.

So I wanted to ask you all: How do you introduce new players? Do you let them win their first games? How do you treat them on their first games?

I know I won my first game but I don't feel like it was given to me either. I took a chance and won. The guy I was playing with also refused to use Sorcha's feat, but that's besides the point.

Today is gonna rock!

Trollish Planning at its Finest!

Ok. After much thought and deliberation, I have decided on which Heavy beast I am going to go with. DRUM ROLL PLEASE!

And the winner is...





Mulg the Ancient!

Now I am sure some of you are going to ask why. Well its simple. I love the model. It really came down to what I wanted to see, not necessarily what was most effective. Truth be told I play to have fun first, and if I win great. There is just something about this big guy that draws me to him, and while playing him without Horluck may not be the most intelligent thing to do, by golly I am gonna do it. Besides, he just looks cool.

Now, I have an idea on what to do at 500 with Mulg using what I have. Here is what I was looking at:

Faction: Trollblood
Points: 498
Model Count: 16
Victory Points: 17

Grim Angus
Troll Impaler
Mulg The Ancient
Fell Caller
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes [6] (2 added)
> Stone Scribe Elder [1]
Trollkin Champions [5]

So in this case I am going to need 1 more Scribe, the Elder, and Mulg himself. Yea, I need 1 more Scribe. Go figure that I would be missing the second from the blister. Ehehehe.

I already do have plans to go to 750. This is what I was looking at for that point level:

Faction: Trollblood
Points: 750
Model Count: 23
Victory Points: 25

Grim Angus
Troll Impaler
Troll Impaler
Mulg The Ancient
Fell Caller
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes [4] (0 added)
> Stone Scribe Elder [1]
Trollkin Champions [5]
Trollkin Champions [5]
Trollkin Long Riders [3] (0 added)


For this I am going to need Mulg, The Elder, Long Riders, and a second unit of Champs. The basic idea is to do what Trolls do best. Slowly but surely walk up and put an Axe to your face. Both lists are based around that. I figure I can use Grim to give Cross Country in both lists to whomever needs it (The champs or Mulg in the first list, or the Champs, Mulg, or Long Riders in the second). Now once again this may not be the most perfect list, but it seems like a lot of fun to me and its probably something my opponents won't expect.

Already I can see people looking at me like I am crazy, and then being amazed when I actually succeed. I know I will be.

Troll Heavies - Where to Start?

So I am going to get for my Trolls a heavy finally. There are, at least by my count, 4 different Heavy Beasts. I am basing all this on Battle College's Trollblood Page so forgive me if I am not stating the right things.

Firstly we have the Dire Troll Mauler. A staple it seems of alot of forces, his animus Rage gives a trollblood model +3 STR for one turn. He also has a fury of 5 and a decent P+S Attack on his 2 fists, plus his chain attack. Snacking also seems like a decent way to keep him alive, but I have heard that he can be downed easily with focused fire.

Next, we have the Dire Troll Blitzer. His animus seems situational, and while he doesn't have the chain attack he has a d3 Gun that can fire regardless of what the troll is doing. Run the troll, fire the gun. In Melee? Fire the gun, but at a target NOT in melee with the Troll. The range is meh, and so is the RAT, but the Impaler at least can boost the Ranger and I am not sure if the Fel Caller can boost the RAT (I don't think it can).

Thirdly, we have the Alpha Beast, The Earthborn Dire Troll. He is slightly easier to hit but also has a better MAT then the standard Dire Troll, and his Animus is interesting. I hear alot about "double dipping" to get the KSB Armor Boost twice using his Animus. His special powers seem interesting on the surface, and since I have been enjoying Grim I could see a few combo's with Grim and the EBDT. Also the Stealing of a Weapons POW can be devestating but I wish I knew more about how it worked.

Finally, we have the big daddy, the oldest of all the Dire Trolls....Mulg the Ancient. This guy is our character beast, and truth be told I love the look of him. He is so...angry and awesome. In fact, he is one of the first reasons I started looking into Trolls. This guy just screams BEAT FACE NOW! His animus is interesting, and his special Rune Breaker Scars are also interesting. He has reach, which is neat, but only 1 really powerful hit and then a secondary hit in the open fist. Since I am not running Doomshaper his affinity is moot, but Are you going to Eat That seems amazing. 4 inches of out of turn movement + regeneration? Sign me up man! That could be scary.

So here is where I stand. I want to get 1 single heavy for now. I am limiting my purchases to one item for Hordes a month, and for now I want a heavy. I just have no idea what to GO with. I have Grim and Madrak for my casters, so I want something that can support both of them. I am leaning towards either the standard Dire or the EBDT, but Mulg just looks so awesome. Of course, conversly, Mulg is the most expensive of the brutes. Comically enough I have a guy who wants to paint Mulg when I get him for free, so I do have that if I get Mulg hehe.

So I ask you all, the paragons of Warmahordes! Given my options which Heavy would YOU start with and why?

Grim vs Gorten - 500 Points

So today I went down to my FLGS to take my trolls out for their first game in about a month. I also took a friend of mine who is interested in the game named Dan with me. We ended up hanging out up there for about 30 minutes when I met a man named Gene. Now, Gene and me chatted about Hordes and Warmachine. Turns out Gene was purchasing some Retribution and had just about EVERY Merc model in the game. He said he was up for a game and ran off. 30 minutes later he returned, and brought out Gorten Grundback and a Seaforge list.

His List:
Gorten Grundback
Ogrun Boker
Hammerfall High Shield Gun Corps - 10 I think (Might have been 8)
Horgenhold Forge Guard - 10 I think (Might have again been 8)
Herne Stoneground & Arquebus Jonne
Gunners - 3
Driller - 1


My List:
Grim Angus
Champions
KSB + 1 Extra Scribe (5 Scribes)
Fel Caller
Chronicler
Impalers - 2
Axer

I don't remember how the first couple of turns went save for a few highlights. Turn one we both basically advanced, and I dumped most of my fury into the KSB. I also took a single shot at his Gun Corps with Angus, but was too far away to hit (even with the Impaler's animus). He didn't do a whole lot on the first 2 turns.

After 2 turns of advancing, I finally got a shot at his Horgenhold. I only could miss with Angus on snake eyes and I roll....SNAKE EYES. This set the tone of the game for both of us. Most of our attacks that could ONLY miss with snake eyes got, well, snake eyes. I was able at one point to cast Rush on my Axer and charge, and use Thresher. Now, I am not sure if each attack ON thresher gets the damage boost, or if just the first, because it is a special attack. Also, am I even allowed to use Thresher on a charge? Neither of us was sure so he allowed it. I had shot one of his Horgenhold and was able to get the charge and hit 3 others.

He got Gorten in and after one attempt at killing my Axer he finally was able to do it on a second turn.

The best part for me was when I charged my Champions into his line. He had lined up Herne and Jonne, the Driller, and his Gun Corps. I was able to get 2 champs in B2B with the Gun Corps, 1 in with Herne (the Ogrun dude), and 2 with the Driller. I killed 1 Gun Corps, Herne, and did some damage to the Driller.

In the end we had to call the game on time. He declared me the winner via VP, as I had only lost 2 Champs and my Axer, and he had lost Herne, all but 1 Horgenhold, a Gunner, and 3 of his Gun Corps.

Things I learned!

I need a Dire. The KSB really did not help too much in this game, save for preventing some damage to the champs via the Armor Aura. I easily however can expand to 750 by getting another unit of Champs, a EBDT, drop the Axer or the second impaler, and go for some Long Riders. I enjoyed the Toughness yet again of my Trolls, but the dice hated me this evening.

I swore I would do it

And I did. I completed my trolls. 500+ Points baby!

Here is the whole family. Unpainted for now but eventually I will get it taken care of.

List Theory - Grim and the Bulls

Ok so I got Grim and was thinking about how to use him at 500 points and have some fun. A few people have told me that the KSB don't really fit his playstyle, and after taking a look at his card I can believe it. So I got to thinking...

How can I expand my trolls while also building a decent 500 point list?

I think I found it. I call it Grim and the Bulls:

Army Points: 489
Victory Points: 17

Warlock
Grim Angus

Warbeasts
Troll Impaler
Troll Axer

Units
Trollkin Champions
Trollkin Long Riders (3)

Solos
Fell Caller
Trollkin Hero

I figured that with this list I have a decent infantry unit in the Champs, some fast power in the Long Riders, and 2 excellent solos. Further, the Axer can hang with the Champs while the Impaler follows Grim around.

What do you all think? If I go with this I need to purchase the Long Riders and the Hero, which is not too bad to be honest.

List Building - I have no idea!

So thanks the Barrett, I now have a new Warlock - Grim Angus. This gives me the following trolls to work with:

Warlocks:
Grim Angus
Madrak Ironhide (pMadrak)

Warbeasts:
2 Imaplers
1 Axer

Units:
Kriel Stone Bearers (at least min size, might be with 2 more)
Champions

Solos:
Fel Caller
Stone Scribe Chronicler

I have no idea what to do with these guys. Can I make a decent 500 point Grim list with these? Should I stick with Madrak? What would I want to add to build a good Grim list with the stuff I have? I have set my sights at 500 points at the moment, but I intend to expand to 750 when I can. I want to get Fennblades instead of Kriel Warriors for my troops.

Any ideas?

A Big Thanks!

Goes out to Barrett. You are probebly wondering who I am talking about. Well, let me tell you the story. So as most of you know I started with Cygnar. I discovered quickly that they were not for me, and ended up moving on to Trollbloods, which makes me very happy. But I was left wondering what to do with my Cygnar.

Now Barrett has been commenting on my blog for a while, and he suggested Bartertown, which I ended up using. Much to my surprise he ended up buying some of my Cygnar. After the first order, a month later, he wanted to buy more, and I had no other offers so I went ahead and sold him some. Before shipping it however, I realized that I didn't want nor need the Cygnar, and ended up just sending him ALL of my remaining stuff. I didn't tell him either, as I wanted it to be a surprise. And from what I know, he was indeed surprised.

Now today its my turn to be surprised. This morning I check my email to find this comment on my last post:

Hey Clayton,
Hope you received, and enjoyed, my little thank you gift for the Bartertown deals. Good hunting with the Trolls!

From Barrett.

So I go 0_0 I haven't checked my mail in a few days (I am bad at that) so I have no idea what he is talking about. So after dropping my wife off from work I head to the mailbox and check, and find a package for me.

Inside that package?

Grim Angus Blister.

So now I have Grim Angus, another Warlock for my Horde. And I am sitting here looking at it going "Dude."

Thanks Barrett. You rock sir. Now I just have to put all my trolls together :P This is one way to get me to do it hehe

Snazzy New Look! Same Fresh Taste!

For those who actually visit my site/blog/whatever it is, you may notice that it looks different. Quite different. I found the template on a different site and tried my hand at putting it together. I think it looks nice.

The only thing its missing is a snazzy banner. My art skills being what they are (NONEXISTENT!) I have not made one.

Anyone feel like making me a nice banner? *hint hint nudge nudge*

In other news: I started playing WoW again (oh noes!) and am also planning on getting my champs and KSB together this Sunday. I would like it if a few of you could "get on my case" and make me do it :P Comment or something to remind me, if you would be so kind.

Otherwise I may put it off again 0_0

Also I am going to be adding a wish list soon to my page. Just a kinda "what I want" of trolls. If you all have any suggestions of what I should add please let me know. I also am going to add a wishlist for a mysterious second faction. While I have talked about eventually getting Menoth, I have recently begun thinking of other things. This is by no means me getting said faction NOW. Rather I want to wait till Mk2 before I actually decide, but I have been thinking.

Having someone else Paint for you

So, 2 posts in 2 days. Crazy isn't it? This is something I have been thinking about for a while. Paying someone else to paint your mini's for you. There are a lot of commission painters out there, such as Kerry at War Painter Studio. Most of these people have comparable pricing and are things that I could afford. Not all at once of course, but slowly over time.

And alot of these painters are amazing, with skills that far exceed mine. Of course, my skills are crap BECAUSE I don't paint or have not painted much. Hehehe. I realize this.

So I have been considering having someone paint my minis. Why? Several reasons:

1. I got the game to PLAY the game, not really to paint. Conversly, I can't stand seeing a nicely painted army against my STEEL TROLLS.
2. I have nearly zero patience for things like painting
3. I have nearly no time to do this. I have 2 days off a week and generally have errands to do
4. I am a wee bit of a perfectionist and get really bothered when things dont go my way

Of course, there are a few benefits to painting on my own.

1. I get the satisfaction that I did it. That these are MY trolls painted by MY hand.
2. Practice makes perfect!
3. If someone goes WOW I can say "Yup I did it" and get a confidence boost.

So there are pro's and con's to any choice.

What do you all think?