The Last Chance Qualifier was 50 points, two list required Divide and Conquer. I decided to go with Doomshaper2 and Grim.

My lists were:

Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia *6

Troll Axer 6

Dire Troll Mauler 9

Earthborn Dire Troll 10

Mulg the Ancient 12

Trollkin Runebearer 2

Krielstone Bearer and 5 Stone Scribes 4

Krielstone Stone Scribe Elder 1

Trollkin Runeshapers (Leader and 2 Crew) 4

Janissa Stonetide 3

Thrullg 3

Troll Whelps 2

50/50

Reinforcements:

Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 grunts) 9

Feralgiest 1

Grim Angus *6

Pyre Troll 5

Troll Impaler 5

Dire Troll Bomber 10

Earthborn Dire Troll 10

Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (Cylena and 9 Grunts) 10

Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts) 9

Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt) 1

Trollkin Runeshapers (Leader and 2 Crew) 4

Troll Whelps 2

50/50

Reinforcements:

Horthol, Long Rider Champion 5

Fell Caller Hero 3

Alten Ashley 2

Before I start, I apologize, I didn’t take any gameplay notes during game, I’m going off of memory alone, so if I miss anything, or forget any names, I am sorry.

Round 1: My opponent showed me Saeryn and Vayl2’s theme list. I went with Grim. And he picked his Vayl list.

His list was:

Vayl, Consul of Everblight *6

Harrier 2

Angelius 8

Angelius 8

Ravagore 9

Ravagore 9

Scythean 8

Blighted Nyss Hex Hunters (Leader and 5 Grunts) 5

Spawning Vessel (Leader and 5 Grunts) 3

Blighted Nyss Shepherd 1

Blighted Nyss Shepherd 1

2 Spell Martyrs 2

The Scenario was Sacrifice. The table was set up with a hill in the middle of the table, a forest in front of my deployment zone, and a wall to my right. Turn 3, he saw the opportunity to go for Grim and took it, forgoing the scenario zone. Two obliterations (one that missed), an Angel thrust and a Ravagore shot were not enough to get through 3 transfers and Grim lived, but was on fire.

The next turn the fire stayed on but did little damage. The Earthborn killed the Angel who charged Grim. The Nyss charged a Ravagore just outside of the zone dealing some damage, and Pyre was able to take the zone while a Swamp Gobber ran base to base with the flag and I gained a control point (losing a gobber in the process).

The next turn the Ravagores advanced into the zone, killing a few nyss. The next turn, the Nyss charged and finished the damaged Ravagore in the back of the zone, and then the Earthborn charged with Flaming Fists and killed the other Ravagore, clearing the zone. The last swamp gobber ran to the flag and was able to secure a scenario win for me.

1-0

Round 2: I got paired up with a local and friend of mine, Dave. I knew this was gonna be a hard match-up for me. He showed me Skarre1 and Terminus, both having two units of Bane Thralls (one with UA). I choose Grim again and he picked Skarre.

His list:

Pirate Queen Skarre *6

Stalker 4

Nightmare 10

Skarlock Thrall 2

Bane Thralls (Leader and 9 Grunts) 8

Bane Thrall Officer & Standard 3

Bane Thralls (Leader and 9 Grunts) 8

Mechanithralls (Leader and 9 Grunts) 5

Necrosurgeon & 3 Stitch Thralls 2

Pistol Wraith 3

Pistol Wraith 3

Satyxis Raider Captain 2

Saxon Orrik 2

Warwitch Siren 2

Warwitch Siren 2

The Scenario was Destruction. The table was relatively open. There was a trench in the center of the table, a couple impassible objects on either side, and a forest on either side. Bottom of turn one, my pyre lit the Raider Captain on fire and killed her. Turn two we traded feats (him feating first) and each killed off a handful of each other’s models.

The game drug on ‘til all I had left was Grim and 2 Nyss while he had Skarre, a bane thrall, Stalker, a Siren, the Necrosurgeon and a handful of Mechanithralls. The final round, the Siren missed her attack, failing to shadowbind Grim, and Grim toughed through a bane thrall charge. The Nyss were able to finish the Bane Thrall allowing Grim to walk to Skarre (while staying in reach of the Siren), but with only four fury was not able to kill Skarre. With Skarre’s KD attack and a Stalker within 5” of Grim, I shook Dave’s hand.

1-1

Round 3: I got paired up against Brian B and his gorgeous Cryx army. I apologize, I do not remember his other list. He played Asphyxious1 and I decided to go with Doomshaper.

His list was:

Iron Lich Asphyxious *6

Cankerworm 5

Deathripper 4

Nightwretch 4

Leviathan 9

Skarlock Thrall 2

Bane Thralls (Leader and 9 Grunts) 8

Bane Thrall Officer & Standard 3

Satyxis Raiders (Leader and 9 Grunts) 8

Satyxis Raider Sea Witch 2

Bane Lord Tartarus 4

Pistol Wraith 3

Satyxis Raider Captain 2

Warwitch Siren 2

The Scenario was Overrun. There was a trench in the center of the table, slightly offset to the left, a hill on the right hand side and stream of shallow water that ran the far right side of the board and a small patch of shallow water to my left, right outside of my deployment zone. He won the roll and deployed first.

His Raiders ran full bore up the field turn one. My turn one, thrullg was able to kill a couple of Raiders while the rest of my army bricked up. The raiders did a fair amount of damage to my beasts and killed a runeshaper.

The next few turns I proceeded to yo-yo Mulg and the Earthborn through Banes and Satyxis, with the combination of Goad and Refuge, and kept Mulg and the Mauler safe from the Banes with Janissa’s wall. The Runeshapers held up the right flank, keeping the pistol wraith and Tartarus busy (one even crit kd’ing Tartarus).

Again, this game drug on, he was able to finish Mulg and the mauler. The Runeshapers killed Tartarus and the Pistol Wraith. Then the Earthborn began to kick it into gear. He crippled the gun arm and movement of the Leviathan and then refuged away.

The following turn, he was able to kill the Skarlock, Nightwretch and finish the Leviathan and a Stone Scribe finished off the final Bane thrall, leaving him with only Asphyxious. For several turns after that, Asphyxious kept putting a single boosted Hellfire into the Parasited Earthborn, and teleporting back to the other side of the zone. The Earthborn and Doomshaper would heal the Earthborn and the last Runeshaper continued to Rock Hammer Asphyxious for a few points as the Krielstone scribes began running towards Asphyxious.

Finally, Asphyxious finished off the Runeshaper and a single Stone Scribe, instead of going after the Earthborn. The following turn, The Stone Scribe Elder charged Asphyxious, rolled the nine to hit and did the last few points of damage.

2-1

Round 4: I get paired against Crump of Muse on Minis fame. He shows me Krueger1 (I think) and Kaya2. I take Doomshaper and he chooses Kaya.

His List:

Kaya the Moonhunter & Laris *3

Gorax 4

Ghetorix 11

Pureblood Warpwolf 9

Warpwolf Stalker 10

Shifting Stones 2

Stone keeper 1

Shifting Stone 2

Tharn Bloodtrackers (Leader and 9 Grunts) 8

Nuala the Huntress 2

Blackclad Wayfarer 2

Druid Wilder 2

Reinforcements:

Nyss Hunters (leader and 9 grunts) 10

The Scenario was Envelopment. There was a hill to my left and three walls towards the center of the table, slightly offset to the right. The first round is mostly jockeying for position, Thrullg kills a Bloodtracker or two and takes a few points of damage in retaliation.

My turn two I think I may have a chance to get to Kaya, but a Runeshaper blast deviates and kills the Bloodtracker I was going to goad off of, so I decide to brick up behind double walls. The next turn he feats and with a pureblood spray and shifting stone teleported Ghetorix he kills my Mauler. The Nyss kill the Thrullg and everything else repositions.

He has Ghetorix and the Pureblood next to each other and a Bloodtracker ~3” away from the two of them. I decide to try to kill both ‘beasts. I feat, give Mulg rush and Wild Aggression. Mulg charges the Bloodtracker with his fist, misses the charge attack and with the club. I have to buy an attack and kill her then I goad to the space between both beasts. I buy an attack on Ghetorix and Critically hit, I notice Kaya was base to base behind Ghetorix and since I only had two fury left I decide to slam him away, intending to go after the Pureblood. But, I roll a two on the slam and Ghetorix stops on top of Kaya, through least disturbance, Kaya gets pushed into reach of Mulg and is knocked down. Even with one transfer Mulg kills her.

3-1

Round 5: My opponent shows me Asphyxious1 and Skarre2 (I think). He takes Asphyxious and I choose Grim.

His list:

Iron Lich Asphyxious *6

Deathripper 4

Ripjaw 5

Reaper 7

Skarlock Thrall 2

Satyxis Blood Witches (Leader and 9 Grunts) 6

Satyxis Blood Hag 2

Satyxis Raiders (Leader and 9 Grunts) 8

Satyxis Raider Sea Witch 2

Soulhunters (Leader and 4 Grunts) 9

The Withershadow Combine 5

Darragh Wrathe 4

Warwitch Siren 2

Reinforcements:

Blackbane’s Ghost Raiders (Leader and 9 grunts) 9

Machine Wraith 1

The scenario was Outflank, Outfight, Outlast. There was a strip of shallow water to my left, and a forest to the right. He got the first turn his Raiders ran to the zone on the right hand side, with the Blood Witches and the deathripper running up behind them. The Soulhunters and Darragh took the left flank while Asphyxious the Reaper and Ripjaw took the center of the table.

My turn one Grim walks up, far strikes himself and manages to pop the Raider UA off the table. With no more blast immunity, the bomber and Runeshapers walk up (with far strike on the bomber) and clear a considerable amount of Satyxis, Everything else runs, nyss take the right flank with Gators and the Earthborn going towards the left zone.

The next turn his reinforcements come onto the table. The satyxis charge doing a little damage, mostly clogging things up, including two engaging Grim. The Soulhunters charge and kill a gator and do some damage to another one, the bloodwitches run into the left zone and go incorporeal with the deathripper and siren coming up right behind them.

My next turn my reinforcements come onto the table. Alten advances and pops a shot into the deathripper hitting for some damage. Horthol charged the deathripper, impacting and killing the siren, then crippling the deathripper on the charge. The Gators killed two soulhunters and walked into the zone to keep him from scoring. The Bomber, pyre and nyss cleared out most of the Raiders. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get the ones in melee with Grim so he had to cleave one with his gunblade. The Runeshapers advanced, killed the last few Raiders and attempted to clear the bloodwitches, but could only kill one or two, and missing one shot on the Hag.

This drug on for a few more turns, I apologize, I didn’t take notes and this was the end of a very long day for me, so this is a little foggy for me. But, the earthborn eventually finished off the soulhunters, which the reaper then killed the earthborn. The Nyss and Bomber were able to clear the zone on the right and I scored a point. He then walked a fully camped Asphyxious into the zone as well as Darragh. I attempted to slam Asphyxious out of the zone with the bomber, but fell short. The Blackbanes cleared the other zone and I knew I had to go for it. Grim walked up and feated. The reaper harpooned grim and drug him in, but Asphyxious was just short on walking to him. Unfortunately, Grim was boxed in and unable to do anything and Asphyxious finished him next turn.

3-2

I dropped after this round for the simple fact that I was exhausted (the event was ~11 hours in at this point). I finished 34^th out of 91 players. I was very pleased with my two lists, I felt they played really well, and overall I don’t think I made any blaring mistakes.

The next morning (after a late night of rabblerousing), I signed up for the “Old School Hardcore” event.

Rules:

Hardcore Time Limits

No Extensions

Hardcore Painting

1 List

No Scenarios (killbox artifice for every game)

Seeing how well it performed in the LCQ, I decided to go with my Doomshaper list again.

Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia *6

Troll Axer 6

Dire Troll Mauler 9

Earthborn Dire Troll 10

Mulg the Ancient 12

Trollkin Runebearer 2

Krielstone Bearer and 5 Stone Scribes 4

Krielstone Stone Scribe Elder 1

Trollkin Runeshapers (Leader and 2 Crew) 4

Janissa Stonetide 3

Thrullg 3

Troll Whelps 2

50/50

Round 1- I get paired against another Troll player first round.

His list:

Jarl Skuld, Devil of Thornwood *6

Mountain King 20

Ršk 11

War Wagon 9

Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt) 1

Trollkin Fennblades (Leader and 9 Grunts) 8

Trollkin Fennblade Officer & Drummer 2

Janissa Stonetide 3

Troll Whelps 2

The table was relatively open. There was shallow water towards the center, slightly offset to the left, and a wall on either side of the table. I get turn one, fill up the stone, refuge Mulg and advance. Everything runs, the EB runs to the shallow water.

His turn the Fenns get quicken and run, everything else runs, the Mountain king taking the center of the table, the fenns up the right flank, and Rok and the Wagon going up the left.

My next turn I feat and cast Wild Aggression on the Earthborn, The Earthborn charges and kills Rok then Goads back next to the wall/shallow water. Mulg charges and kills a few Fennblades through goading and then Refuges back. The Runeshapers advance and kill a few fenns.

His next turn the Mountain King advances and sprays the Earthborn for some damage. The Wagon puts some damage on him as well, but doesn’t blow anything. His fenns put some damage on the Runeshapers, killing one of them. Jarl walks away from the Earthborn and camps behind two walls.

The Earthborn destroys the Warwagon. Mulg and the Runeshapers kill more fennblades, Mulg Refuges back to be in a position to charge the Mountain King next turn. Doomshaper advances up to the water with the Earthborn animus and Janissa’s wall.

The Mountain King kills the Earthborn and Jarl puts a couple shots into the Runeshapers, only killing one. The remaining Fenns attack the last Runeshaper, failing to kill it.

The Mauler charges and kills the remaining fenns, except for the Drummer, which the Runeshaper finishes. Mulg gets Wild Aggression and Rage from Doomshaper and then charges the Mountain King, killing him with two fury to spare.

Jarl starts by popping a shot into Doomshaper for a few points of damage, which irritates Mulg and he triggers protective fit, with Wild Aggression, hits Jarl for a ton of damage (Turns out, Rage lasts for a round). Janissa walls sideways to block off the Mauler’s charge lane.

The final runeshaper advances and rock hammers Janissa for some good damage. The Mauler runs to within 8” of her, Hoarluck advances and Primal Shocks Janissa killing her, then Mulg finishes off Jarl with one swing.

1-0  61 VP’s

Round 2: I played against Matt Butcher, and his Vayl1.

His list:

Vayl, Disciple of Everblight *6

Shredder 2

Angelius 9

Ravagore 10

Ravagore 10

Typhon 12

Succubus 2

Blighted Nyss Shepherd 1

Blighted Nyss Shepherd 1

1 Spell Martyr 1

Strider Deathstalker 2

Strider Deathstalker 2

The Forsaken 2

The Forsaken 2

The table had a hill on the left hand side, some rough terrain towards the center of the table and some obstacles in either corner (that never really came into play).

My turn one I do a lot of running. The Earthborn goes near the rough terrain, everyone else bricks up behind Janissa’s wall. I put Wild Aggression on Mulg.

His turn one was a lot of running, a ravagore on either side of Vayl, Typhon and the Angel running up the center with the Deathstalkers running hard on the left flank to get to my support. The spell martyr runs up and he channels a Rampager through it to the Earthborn, which walks back and kills the Runebearer.

Preparing for the ensuing charge, I brick up, Earthborn Animus on Doomshaper, Mulg, and Janissa, all huddled around Janissa’s wall and throw some fury into the Krielstone. The Earthborn gets close enough to the rough terrain to benefit from the speed boost next turn. The runeshapers run towards the deathstalkers.

Vayl puts up Leash on Typhon and feats. Typhon and the Ravagores all shoot the Earthborn doing some damage. The angel charges the earthborn and does some decent damage on the thrust, but doesn’t blow anything. His feat he moves all his beasts to the left flank, up on the hill.

My next turn, Doomshaper upkeeps Wild Aggression on Mulg who gets Rush from the Axer and charges Typhon, killing him, goading off the kill to the angel and does some damage to the angel. Next, the Earthborn gets Wild Aggression from Doomshaper and charges the Angel, killing it. The Mauler charges and kills both Deathstalkers. The stone runs to catch Mulg and the earthborn in the aura.

His turn, the only ‘beasts he has left, are two Ravagores, and a shredder. They go in on Mulg and the Earthborn, but even with Incite and Chiller, due to some less than spectacular dice, they both live.

My turn, I have some major frenzy issues. I take from Mulg and the Axer but that still leaves the Earthborn and Mauler with fury. The Mauler fails his crazy test and charges and kills the Earthborn. Mulg then goes on another killing spree. He kills both ravagores, snacking all of them to starve Vayl of her fury and also heals to relatively healthy. Everything else runs, the stone keeps Mulg in its aura, Doomshaper and Janissa advance behind Janissa’s wall.

The next turn he again throws everything he has at killing Mulg but to no avail. He then hits Doomshaper with a Malice, doing some damage.

The next turn, the Mauler kills the shredder and a forsaken. Then Mulg with Wild Aggression pac-man’s through the two shepherds, last forsaken and Succubus. The Axer then charges and finishes Vayl.

2-0  61 VPs (122 VPs total)

Round 3: So far, I’m 2-0 and in the hunt for Executioner, and I get paired against Jake Van Meter. Well, crap.

Anyways, his list:

Tier 4

Vayl, Consul of Everblight *6

Harrier 2

Angelius 8

Angelius 8

Ravagore 9

Ravagore 9

Scythean 8

Blighted Nyss Legionnaires (Leader and 9 Grunts) 6

Spawning Vessel (Leader and 5 Grunts) 3

Blighted Nyss Shepherd 1

Blighted Nyss Shepherd 1

1 Spell Martyr 1

He won the roll and went first. There was a wall on each player’s side of the table, a forest off the left side of my deployment and an obstruction on the far right by his deployment zone.

His first turn, everything ran forward preparing to charge my lines next turn. The Legionnaires ran and charged each other, killing 3 members of the unit, fueling the Spawning pot, which walked forward and made a shredder. Everything else advanced/ran.

My turn I run into position, bricking up the best I can, Earthborn animus on Doomshaper and Mulg, some fury into the stone, Janissa walls and everything runs.

His next turn the earthborn gets charged by an Angel, but he missed the boosted attack. He bought an attack and hit, dealing a few points then refuging away. Vayl then refuged the other Angel and put Admonition on the Scythean. The other Angel charged the Earthborn, did some solid damage and refuged away.

Seeing the opportunity, I feated with Doomshaper, put Wild Aggression on the Earthborn and Refuge on Mulg. The Earthborn charged and killed the 2^nd Angel. Mulg was able to kill the Scythean after goading off of a legionnaire then refuged back.

The next turn Jake finished off the Earthborn, and was able to put some damage on the Mauler, swapping Refuge between the Angel and a Ravagore.

This continued for several turns, as with already using my feat, he could keep kiting me. I continued to brick up and try and close the gap to him. Eventually I was able to kill off the pot and the legionnaires and he finished off the Mauler.

Finally, knowing dice down was growing near, I decided I could go for it. I put Wild Aggression and Rush on Mulg. He trampled over a shredder, killing it, then goaded forward, but was about an inch short from engaging his two Ravagores. I ran the Axer into position for next turn.

His next turn he destroyed Mulg and shortly after that dice down was called, resulting in a double loss.

2-1 36 VPs (158 VPs total)

That round could have gone better, I got most of my points off of his spawned lessers. But frankly, I was happy with that game. I didn’t have much time to decompress before the next round.

The final round I got paired up against a Haley2 list with the Stormwall. I played on the same table as the last round.

His list:

Major Victoria Haley *5

Stormwall 19

Squire 2

Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) 6

Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer 2

Hunter 6

Field Mechaniks (Leader and 3 Grunts) 2

Rangers 5

Captain Arlan Strangewayes 2

Eiryss, Angel of Retribution 3

Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist 2

Journeyman Warcaster 3

Ogrun Bokur 3

I won the roll and decided to go first. My turn one, I put refuge on the Earthborn, Earthborn animus on Doomshaper and filled up the stone. Everything ran, the Earthborn ran next to the forest to reap the extra speed next turn.

His turn, Haley advanced to the left of the Stormwall and put Temporal Acceleration on the Hunter. Arlan powerboosted the Hunter, then the Hunter advanced and popped two shot into the earthborn for a few damage. The Gunmages ran up the left side. Eiryss ran up the right flank. The Stormwall walked up the center of the board and put down some covering fire templates. Jr. walked up and put Arc Shield on the Stormwall. Gorman ran behind the wall on his side of the table. The rangers ran forward towards the center of the table.

My turn I saw the opportunity to take out the stormwall. I upkept Refuge on the Earthborn. The Runeshapers advanced and killed the few Rangers blocking my charge. Doomshaper feated, put rage on the earthborn and advanced. The Earthborn charged the Stormwall, Almost cleaning one side of it. He then refuged away to engage Gorman. Mulg then got Refuge from the Runebearer and rush from the Axer. Then he charged the stormwall, leaving it with four boxes left (rolling double ones on my last attack). He refuged away. The Mauler advanced to be in a position to charge next turn. Janissa dropped her wall.

Jr. upkept Arc shield. The Mechanics began by repairing the Stormwall. The stormwall advanced and put some shots into my lines. Haley advanced, Tk’d the Earthborn away from Gorman and feated. Gorman advanced and blinded both the Mauler and Mulg (due to my own poor placement). The rangers ran into position again. The Hunter popped some shots into Mulg, doing some moderate damage.

My next turn I didn’t do too much due to his feat. A primal shock killed Gorman. I walled up with Janissa and the Earthborn Animus on Doomshaper and camped a few fury. A few things repositioned.

His next turn, he decided to go for the kill. The Gunmages got Deadeye from Haley, and advanced to position to shoot, but due to models and terrain, only two were able to get shots on Doomshaper. The hunter and Stormwall both shot Doomshaper as well, but through my transfers, he was left hurt but not dead.

My next turn, I’ll admit, I sort of panicked. Mulg got Wild Aggression, and charged into the Gun Mages. I killed a Gun Mage and goaded to the Hunter, a few swings and I killed the Hunter, then I goaded to melee with Haley. Here is where I panicked, and it cost me executioner. Instead of going for more VPs with Mulg, especially now that the biggest threats to Doomshaper were gone, Mulg killed Haley.

3-1 35 VPs (193 VPs total)

End of the day I came 21 points short of executioner, but overall had a fantastic day and a great weekend overall. I would like to thank all of my opponents over the weekend for some fantastic games.

Looking Forward

Now that Warmachine Weekend has come and gone, I start looking towards the next year. I am really happy with the growth I’ve made in my trolls this year and I have quite a few more ideas to go on for next year.  Also, after a year sitting on my shelves at home, I finally have an idea for a paint scheme for my Cryx and I’m looking forward to going back to playing them next year. I also plan on keeping a running tally of my games and ‘casters I play for the next year, if for no other reason, I want to see if I fall into any discernible patterns on ‘casters/lists I seem to reach for.

Lastly, I want to thank all of my opponents from Warmachine Weekend again and give a big shout out to all of those who make Warmachine Weekend happen, they give up so much of their time to make it the best weekend of the year, every year. To anyone who hasn’t had the opportunity to make it to WMW, I would greatly encourage you to make it out if you can.

‘Til next time!

Lawso

Part I of this blog series discussed why I had started gathering Trollblood Faction models for the Neverplay Kriel.

Part II focused on skin tones of the Neverplay Kriel and even presented you an opportunity to influence my decision with a poll at the end.

Part III discussed the main color of the clothing for the Neverplay Kriel. I narrowed it down to 3 similar choices, but each with their own character.

Part IV covered Quills and Natural Armor, but I introduced the idea of converting the entire force to be blighted. Not at the same level of the Bloodgorgers or Gerlak, but still using some of those same elements to make my Trollblood army.

Part V showed the results of many of the previous polls and refocused the entire faction as a omage to my son’s struggle with Autism. It also offered several choices that have been running around my head on color of the Armor.

Readers’ Choice

Since this article is so closely on the heels of the last part, there are no results to post here. The previous polls are still going and will be until Wednesday, November 21, 2012. In the meantime, I will be assembling the canidates that are up for vote for experimentation. Lucky for me, the Champions, Boomhowler & Co, and Bushwackers are all assembled. So that means I am working on Fennblades.

On With the Story

I am not a fledgling player when it comes to Warmachine & Hordes. I have been playing since the release of Apotheosis. While I don’t feel the need to start with Battlebox games, I do feel the need to start at a 35 point list. This particular blog entry isn’t long and arduous, but it does have lots options. Plain and simple, I am asking where you think I should start my army. In the Cast Your Votes section, I have listed seven different polls, most with multiple options so that you, my readers, can give your suggestions on what my first build shall be. So, let’s not beat around the bush about it. Let’s get straight to the voting. Each poll is a complete list of what I currently own in that category, but it does not necessarily cover my Merc/Minion options. Should you have one of those as a suggestion, just comment. Due to a high amount of spam, I have to approve first time comments, but if you have commented before, it should show below rather quickly.

Cast Your Votes

 Next Time

I haven’t decided what the next topic will focus on. It will either be Albinos or basing. But until then…Keep rolling Tough rolls.

Part I of this blog series discussed why I had started gathering Trollblood Faction models for the Neverplay Kriel.

Part II focused on skin tones of the Neverplay Kriel and even presented you an opportunity to influence my decision with a poll at the end.

Part III discussed the main color of the clothing for the Neverplay Kriel. I narrowed it down to 3 similar choices, but each with their own character.

Part IV covered Quills and Natural Armor, but I introduced the idea of converting the entire force to be blighted. Not at the same level of the Bloodgorgers or Gerlak, but still using some of those same elements to make my Trollblood army.

Readers’ Choice

So let’s cover the voting as it stands and some of the actual decisions I have made about the project overall. While the overall opinion is that the Twilight skintone would be great, I think I am going to reserve that for my Bloodgorgers. Kamilion even suggested that I make the entire army look like Doomsday. That’s the man-beast that killed Superman, boys and girls. And if it is good enough to kill that overbearing goodie goodie, it might be good enough for me. Making the entire faction blighted or some homage to an uppity do-gooder slayer would be incredible, there is no doubt. I have, however, decided that this army will be my tribute to Autism Awareness. When I play these, I will be using puzzle piece tokens and the autism awareness templates that were created for the Oct. 20th, 2012 tournament. Yes, that was a Mick Foley-style shameless pop. SO, with that in mind, while the clear choice is elsewhere, I have decided to go with the Templar blue that won out in the original skintone poll. So, you get your way, but you don’t. Cool, huh.

Cloth has also been decided. Again, you get your way, readers, but not in the way you might think. The burnt orange, my personal favorite, wins out by a long way, but I have discovered something fantastic. On the official Scottish Tartan registry there just so happens to be a tartan for the National Autistic Society of Scotland Tartan. This fits the color I want, challenges me to push my painting to a new level and gives me another way to show support for autism awareness, treatment, and cure. Here is what the pattern looks like.

National Autistic Society of Scotland Tartan

Should you be interested in doing some research on tartans or seeing plenty of examples of actual tartans, you can visit Scottish Register of Tartans.

Quills and natural armor seems to have come out with the deep red as the clear winner, but I am still considering the twilight triad or the indigo triad as the final color. It will just depend. Perhaps some test models are in order?

On With the Story

Yeah, it has been a while since we covered this topic. But hasn’t been forgotten. Not even close. This time out, we are talking good old fashioned armor. The manufactured kind. Breast plates, greaves, gorgets, shields, and helmets. Even a War Wagon. Metals, plain and simple. There is a ton of metal that has to be covered and I am hoping for a unique look to them so let’s see what we can come suggest. At first I had thought that a rather brilliant silver would be the best idea, but I don’t really like that stark sort of color except on religious models, such as Precursor Knights. After that I considered a highly verdigris copper or brass. This unique corroded look offers up the struggle that is the back story of the Trollblood faction in a very visible way. I had painted a Madrak for someone a long time ago that had this sort of look to it. It doesn’t look bad, but it might not be the best for me. Again, a test model might be in order. My technique and painting ability has improved significantly since that time and might be able to pull off the look in a much more attractive way than I could before. I did also have the notion of having a black armor with a gold fleck in it. I have a craft paint that would give the right color. I would need to search for the right additive to a more refined paint that can give me the same or near same look. I would want to highlight it with a silver mixed in to just lighten it. Originally, I had used this paint on Fiona the Black and planned to highlight it with blue, but that won’t do on this project as the skintone would blend to greatly with the armor highlights. I could also take a very standard approach of a mid-toned steel with a darker color metalic for the shadow and lighter for the highlight. Honestly, this is most likely to win, but I have a very nice looking Smoke wash from Vallejo that I would like to see on it. Again with the test models…. Maybe the best question for this week is what should my models be for the various techniques and tones I would like to see?

Cast Your Votes

 Next Time

We still aren’t done. Not by a long shot. Next time we are discussing the starting Army. Who should be the Warlock, The beasts, the units, the solos. From the ground up, dedicated readers.

Terrain: Each side had a hill and forest (forest on the right on the Troll side, on the left on the Ret side) with a large hill near the center of the table.

Scenario: Bunkers

The Lists:

Trollbloods:

Grim Angus

^Troll Impaler

^Pyre Troll

^Dire Troll Bomber

^Earthborn Dire Troll

Nyss Hunters (Leader and 9 grunts)

Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 grunts)

Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew

Runeshapers

5x Whelps

Reinforcements:

Horthol, Long Rider Champion

Fell Caller Hero

Alten Ashley

Retribution:

Dawnlord Vyros

^Hyperion

^Sylas

Dawnguard Destors (Leader and 4 grunts)

Dawnguard Sentinels (Leader and 9 grunts)

^ Officer and Standard

Dawnguard Destor Thane

Dawnguard Destor Thane

Arcanist

Dawnguard Scyir

Eiryss, Angel of Retribution

Reinforcements:

Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen

Mage Hunter Assassin

Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios

I won the roll and decided to go first.

Deployment:

Trolls deployment from left to right (from a Trolls perspective) was Nyss, Runeshapers, the Bomber, Pyre, Grim, Gobbers, and Gators. The Impaler tucked in behind Grim and the Bomber. The Earthborn stood a little behind the gators and a whelp stood behind the Bomber and Earthborn.

Ret’s deployment from left to right was Eiryss advance deployed to the far left, then Hyperion, a Destor Thane, the Sentinels, and the second Destor Thane. Vyros, the Arcanist, Scyir, and Destors piled in behind Hyperion.

Trolls T1: Grim puts up Cross Country on the Gators, the Gobbers advance and pop smoke. Everything else runs. The Nyss take the left flank, while Grim, his ‘beasts and the Runeshapers go up the center of the table.

Ret T1: Eiryss advances and shoots a nyss, killing him. Vyros puts Inviolable Resolve on the Sentinels, casts Mobility, and advances. The Arcanist gives Hyperion a focus and Hyperion runs. The Destors run up the middle of the table, a Destor Thane and the Sentinels run up the right flank. The other Destor Thane runs hard up the right flank, trying to clog up my reinforcements zone. Trolls T2: Grim leaches and upkeeps Cross Country. My reinforcements come onto the table. The Fell Caller and Horthol kill the Thane, Alten advances and plugs a shot into the other Thane, dealing some damage. Grim advances and finishes off the Thane with his headhunter and puts Far Strike on the Bomber. The Bomber advances and deals 12 damage to Hyperion’s force field. The nyss advance and a three-man CRA kills a Destor. The Runeshapers run. The Gators sing Dirge of Mists and run. Ret T2: Vyros upkeeps Inviolable Resolve for free with Sylas and hands Hyperion three focus. His reinforcements come onto the table. Eiryss kills another Nyss. The Sentinels get the charge order. Six charge attacks kill a gator, the Fell Caller and force Horthol off his Buffalo. Vyros puts up Mobility and advances. Issyen charges and kills two Nyss. The Assassin charges and kills Cylena. Narn charges and kills a Runeshaper. The Destors advance and shoot the rest of the Runeshapers off the table. The Arcanist advances and repairs Hyperion for four damage. Hyperion advances and shoots the Earthborn with his big gun dealing eight damage, then shot and killed a gator with his smaller guns. The Scyir charges the Gator in melee with Hyperion and does six damage to him. Troll T3: Grim leaches and dropped Cross Country. The Nyss charge and deal nine damage to Issyen and three damage to Narn. The Bomber gets Far Strike from the Impaler, stands still and drops two bombs on Hyperion dealing considerable damage. The Gators charge and pray Dirge of mists. Two charge Hyperion dealing moderate damage and almost crippling the right side. The other Gator kills the Scyir. The Earthborn advances and finishes off Hyperion (with help of stealing the POW 6 of the Sentinel standing next to him). Grim stands still and snipes the Mage Hunter Assassin. Alten shoots the Sentinel Officer but cannot break armor. Horthol does nothing as to not incur the vengeance of the Sentinels. Gobbers advance and blow smoke. Ret T3: Vyros upkeeps Inviolable Resolve on the Sentinels. The Sentinels charge and killed Alten, force two tough checks on Horthol (which he passed), and miss the Earthborn, whom is DEF 14 because of the shallow water. The Destors charge, killing a Gator and dealing eight damage to the Bomber, which spawns a whelp. Narn charges the Pyre dealing twelve damage to him and getting lit on fire for his trouble (IT BURNS!). Issyen and Eiryss kill a nyss each. Vyros and Sylys run. Trolls T4: The Impaler fails his frenzy check and kills a whelp.Grim advances, pops feat, puts Flaming Fist on the Bomber, and shoots the Sentinel Officer but fails to break armor. The Bomber kills all three Destors, snacking each one to heal five health. The Gators pray Cold Blooded and kill the Sentinels engaging the Earthborn. The Earthborn advances and kills the Sentinel Officer and another grunt. The Nyss kill Sylys and fail to hit Issyen. Horthol stands up and misses his attack on a Sentinel. The Pyre troll kills Narn. The gobbers pop smoke. Ret T4: Vyros drops Inviolable Resolve. The Arcanist charges a Gator, but fails to break armor. The Sentinels kill Horthol and deal sixteen damage to the Earthborn, spawning one whelp. Issyen misses the Nyss. Eiryss kills another Nyss. The Destor deals three damage to a gator. Vyros charges the Bomber and kill him. Trolls T5: The Impaler advances and misses a boosted headbutt on Vyros. The Gators kill two Sentinels, the Earthborn clears the Sentinels out of the zone, snacking some health back. Grim advances and kills another Sentinel. The Gobbers charge Vyros and the Destor missing both attacks. I gain a point at the end of the turn. Ret T5: The Sentinels charge and finish off the Earthborn. The Arcanist hits a Gator but fails to break armor. Issyen and Eiryss kill of the last of the Nyss. Vyros kills the Impaler. The Destor deals one damage to the Gator. Trolls T6: The Gators start by killing the Arcanist and a Sentinel. Out of options, Grim puts Flaming Fists on himself and charges Vyros. He connects with two fully boosted attacks and puts Vyros down to one health remaining. The Pyre charges Vyros and connects on a boosted claw to finish him off. Afterthoughts: Another hard fought game. He was closing in on a scenario victory (only the pyre left on that side of the table to contest the zone) and I had to go for it. A couple of dice rolls go differently, and I could have easily lost. The Sentinels are downright nasty, especially with Inviolable Resolve. I am glad to see this list can take down a Colossal as that was a concern of mine going in. I also want to say thanks again to Mark for a great game. He is always a tough and extremely fun opponent. Lastly, if any of you have suggestions for anything you would like to see me write about or any Troll warlocks you would like to see more reports on, let me know in the comments below. ‘Til next time! Lawso

Autism Speaks is one of the leading charities in the world. Each year, Autism Speaks sponsors a vast number of walks that go to directly fund their initiatives. While it was last the weekend before this tournament, funds will still be attributed to the annual event as the final deadline for this year’s funds is Dec. 15, 2012. To spearhead the fund raising, Game Nite ran a successful puzzle piece campaign in April. That is Autism Awareness Month. It raised over $150 total. I would like to thank them for their amazing support for the last two years.