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a nearby store has a load of trollbloods and skorn stuff at 50% off.

so i am gonna start me a troll army.

i was planing on picking up the starter pack (if they have it) and another caster Grim (he looks neat).


but what units and warbeasts should i pick up? i think they have most of the line.

This is a tricky question, have you had any experience playing hordes? When you play games do you prefer to shoot them from a distance or charge in and apply axe to mouth. Do you bunch your models up on the table or do you spread them out? These questions need to be answered before you start your purchases, the battle box and extra caster however are both a solid choice.

Madrak and Grim are two different casters, which is good, cos it means that you'll have two different playstyles.

From what you're getting, an axer is good in all the lists. Impalers work well with Madrak and Grim especially, but you might not use them all the time.

Solid purchases:
-Champions: A beefy elite unit that works well with Madrak
-Krielstone and attachment: Excellent buffing unit for your army
-Dire Troll Mauler: Very versitile melee heavy
-Earthborn Dire Troll: Works very well with Grim Angus.
-Kriel Warriors with UA and a Stone Scribe Chronicler: Excellent tarpit
-Fell Caller: Useful solo
-Thumper- Really handy, works well with impalers and with Grim
-Whelps- really useful if you're running a lot of beasts

Really the only unit to avoid currently is Scattergunners, everything else works more or less. Some things work better with melee casters and other work with ranged.
Download the rules pdf too!

Hey, that's how I started, box + grim!

I ended up beast heavy but am having to tweak it as I go.

Krielstone is amazing. After playing a dozen games without, and 1 with, I don't know why I didn't get it earlier

They were out of the starter boxes... so I picked up this.

1 earthborn dire troll (the only and last big troll he had)
1 impaler
1 axer
1 slag troll

A unit of champs

And he did not have grim, so I picked the lock I liked the sound of... the kegslayer.

I honestly picked him because he has that little guy toting around a keg of booze for him



Some of the other stuff they had there was...

Long riders (enough to make a full unit)
Another box of champs
Scatter gunners
1 thumper
kriel warriors (2 to 3 boxes, and extra blisters to)
kriel warrior piper and standard
And stone scribers (just the blisters, no unit box)

Now, I'm NOT telling you to not take Grim, but it's the kind of guy everybody starts with, because he is hardcore and "different".
The problem with Grim is that you suddenly have a shooty and field control centered army, and your only beefy guys (if you even have them) will merely countercharge and maybe assassinate if enough traps have been sprung. Also, you're really diverting your whole army, which was originally very melee&buff based. For example, when both the warlock, the fellcaller, the krielstone bearers and a dire troll himself buff the dire troll, for instance... Well, then your dire troll is up for anything, really. And it's not like your wasting four models just to have one model powered up, since the stone bearers buff everything, the fellcaller can do more than just that and all the warcasters know how to take stuff down in their own right.
That said: if you really like him and like the idea of having, say, Madrak AND Grim as model, you can take the standard stuff everybody has been suggesting here and put them to real good use in different ways. A friend of mine started the same way, and he uses Madrak as a fell caller proxy. I notice that he wants to go for the shooty units, tho, to make a very ranged and denial army with Grim, and I notice a hint of regret that he didn't go for Borka, and wild, wild melee.
Also, 50% off means you should buy the thumper once or twice, since that's a real useful model, cheap in points but expensive in money.

Envy89 wrote:They were out of the starter boxes... so I picked up this.

1 earthborn dire troll (the only and last big troll he had)
1 impaler
1 axer
1 slag troll

A unit of champs

And he did not have grim, so I picked the lock I liked the sound of... the kegslayer.

I honestly picked him because he has that little guy toting around a keg of booze for him



Some of the other stuff they had there was...

Long riders (enough to make a full unit)
Another box of champs
Scatter gunners
1 thumper
kriel warriors (2 to 3 boxes, and extra blisters to)
kriel warrior piper and standard
And stone scribers (just the blisters, no unit box)

Looks like you have a good start to me, Borka is fun and it's a great fig. A minimum unit of cavalry might be a good idea, they give you a little extra speed and can hit fairly hard.

Yeah, I didn't notice your last post.
I think it's great you picked up borka. He still plays very different from the rest, and it's not as if you can't play anything else than the pure bash-trolls. If the game really gets you hooked and you are expanding your models alot, Grim will be a nice way to have a complete new experience with the same army, but for now it'll be pleasing enough to just have Borka.
Also, the pyg keg carrier really rocks.
The stuff you mention they also have are really great too. If it was me (who know little restraint when buying an army), I would just buy the lots you just named (not the kriel warriors though, I don't like them). Thumper is great support for little points, scatter gunners are very decent, long riders are just too good for words (GET THEM!), stone bearer you should look out for too.

The trolls you DID pick are all very good choices, you'll notice that the slag troll is better vs warmachines, though.

Agreed on the Long Riders, they're great and work well with borka (he expands their threat range nicely on his feat turn).
Kriel Warriors are good if paired with a Chronicler and the Standard Bearer and Piper- they're a really effective tarpit.

Can't say I rate the scattergunners as they are. I have a unit, and they've been underperforming since they lost the ability to be buffed by the fell caller. They work better with Grim than others.

Thumper is brilliant, well worth the points.
The Earthborn might be my favourite Troll heavy, but then the Mauler is awesome too. Both work well with Borka, so you're good there.
Borka is a fun caster, and probably the best looking troll warlock in terms of his model.

its tempting to buy him out of his trollbloods... 50% off is just too amazing. but adepticon is this weekend, and ive allready droped $80.

he had a few more locks... hoarluk doomshaper and grissel bloodsong if i remember correct, and maybe the ender of worlds.

i really like the looks of the kriel warriors as well as the scatter gunners... and the cav models are way the hell overpriced, so its hard to not buy a unit (bought all his Menoth cav at the last convention he was at)


i will for sure pick up the thumper next time i am there. but what about that second unit of champs? ive heard they are weapons masters now, so 4 dammage dice on the charge. can that still be upped by the pyg keg carrier to 5 dice? or did they change the keg a bit?

Kriel warriors and Long Riders are solid buys I think, you'll be glad you got them cheap.
As to the second unit of champs, the keg no longer gives them anything. However, Epic Madrak (World Ender) does have a spell that does it, and yes, it does make them horrendously nasty. Especially in the +1 Str order, maybe getting +2 from the Chronicaler. You're looking at average damage 31 (ish) and as much as 44 on the charge attack.

However, they are now 10 points for a full unit. Considering a lot of games might be around 35 points, two units is going to leave you little room for anything else. They are solid though.

Mm, fought against a Madrak brick yesterday. The champions are really hard to remove from the table. 2 units will work well I think (although somewhat expensive...)