Borka, Vengeance of the Rimeshaws

As war continues to consume the lands of the trollkin, Borka, Vengeance of the Rimeshaws rides atop his powerful northern bear Arktos like a savage chieftain of old, bringing swift death to his enemies. The northern wind follows Borka, freezing his enemies in their tracks to stand helpless before the onslaught.

Basic Info

• This model is a Warlock.

Warlock Rules A warlock is an Independent Model. a Leader model. a Battlegroup Controller controls warbeasts. Warlocks use Fury Manipulation Uses ARC to determine how many fury points it gains each turn. Begins the game with a number of fury points equal to its ARC. Cannot exceed its ARC stat in fury points as a result of leeching. Can spend fury points only during its activation (unless a special rule states otherwise) for the following: Buy additional attacks Boost attack rolls Boost damage rolls Shake some effects Can leach fury points from warbeasts in its battlegroup in its control range. Spirit Bond allows the warlock to gain a fury for each of its dead battlegroup warbeasts. Reaving allows the warlock to pull fury points from a warbeast in its battlegroup when it dies.

Feat: Ice Storm

1. While in Borka's Template:CTRL range, models gain Stealth.
2. When an enemy model without Immunity: Cold hits one or more friendly models in Borka's Template:CTRL range with Immunity: Cold with a melee attack, the enemy mdoel becomes Stationary for one round after the attack is resolved.

Ice Storm lasts for one round.

Abilities

• Template:Assault
• Template:Cavalry
• Template:Cold Immunity
• Template:Pathfinder
• Template:Tough
• Template:Attuned Spirit
• Template:Defiant Rage
• Field Marshal [ [[:Category:{{{ability}}}|{{{ability}}}]] ]

[[Category:{{{ability}}}]]

• Template:Reposition 3

Weapons

Bomb
File:Gun icon.jpg		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW
		8			1			3			12
Trauma
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		2				6				15
Template:Magical Weapon Template:Critical Smite
Mount
File:Mount icon.jpg		RNG						POW
		0.5						14
Template:Knockdown Template:Trash

Spells

{{Category: Template:Battle-ChargedTemplate:Frost Hammer

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[[:Category:{{{name}}}|{{{name}}}]]	Cost	RNG	AOE	POW	DUR	OFF
	-	-	-	-	-	-
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Theme Forces

• Trollbloods
  • Template:Band of Heroes. In this theme he gains "Optional Take Down".
  • Template:Kriel Company
  • Template:Power of Dhunia. In this theme he can start the game with friendly upkeeps in play.
  • Template:Storm of the North. In this theme he can upkeep spells on (almost) any friendly model for free.
  • Template:Vengeance of Dhunia. In this theme he gains Attuned Spirit [Trollblood/Minion Warbeast].

• Other Factions
  • Minion players can also use this warlock in the Vengeance of Dhunia and he gains Attuned Spirit as mentioned above.

Thoughts on Borka2

Borka2 in a nutshell

Borka has become, after the Northkin became a sub-faction, a nasty all-comers warlock with the ability to protect his army from shooting thanks to Snow Shroud, and the ability to wreck most things that attack his army on feat turn.

Borka himself is a brutal brawler.

Feat thoughts

His feat is brutal and allows you to take the alpha strike from most enemies; if the enemies hit your people in melee they become stationary - especially brutal against models with multiple attacks. If you're lucky you tough out as well.

• His feat is great for tanking the alpha strike.
• The stealth portion of his feat applies to all models (including enemies) in his control area. This can randomly matter in various situations and is worth keeping in mind.

Spell thoughts

• Battle Charged is normally cast on turn 1 and upkept (for free in Storm of the North).
• Snow Shroud - control area concealment, puts Northkin Raiders and Northkin Fire Eaters up to Def 15. Gives stealth to the Bears and Pyg Lookouts. Plus makes Bearka himself Def 16 against ranged which helps a lot with his large base.
• Frost Hammer - a good spell on paper but very situational for Bearka. He's only FURY 5 so hitting is going to be an issue much of the time. The Trollkin Runebearer though can make good use of this spell. If you have a Hearthgut Hooch Hauler in the army it's Veteran Leader ability will give both of them +1 to hit which is helpful. Also the Northkin Elder on the Stone can turn it into a Pow 14. All situational but worth keeping in your back pocket.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• He's a big target and easy to shoot, however tough he is.
• His feat doesn't work against huge bases.
• His anti-shooting tech is decent but nothing great.

Tricks & Tips

• Defiant Rage does not affect his mount damage.
• Attuned Spirit stacks with his Field Marshal, so he can cast the animus of any beast in his battlegroup.

List Building Advice

Strategy

Borka is a personally powerful brawler who tries to win by attrition, minimizing the alpha strike by freezing it solid, and then beating the enemies to a pulp. He sometimes wins by assassination by playing forward, getting further up the board through a counter-charge onto a charge lane, and then beating the enemy to a pulp - but his primary win condition is by beating up the enemy army.

Theme Thoughts

The stationary portion of his feat only affects cold-immune models and therefore is not as useful in Band of Heroes or Kriel Company. Thus, his best two bulds are in Storm of the North and Power of Dhunia and are very distinct from another.

In Power of Dhunia he goes all in on Battle Charged with a large battlegroup. He'll typically run Rök, Mulg, 2 EBDTs, and Axer and a Storm Troll. The rest of the points go to a maximum Krielstone with the Stone Scribe Elder and a Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew, the free models being 2 Whelps and the Rune Bearer.

His Storm of the North lists feature a small battlegroup, consisting of a Mauler, an EBDT and a Pyre Troll, the rest is infantry (that is, double Bears, double Fire Eaters, Raiders and a maximum Stone with the Northkin Elder), since Northkin Infantry is superb.

Individual choices are discussed below.

Storm of the North

The most popular choices are:

• Northkin Raiders are Northkin, have Pathfinder, are DEF 15 against ranged and magic attacks from shooting, and Advance deploy. They make an excellent crumple zone.
• The Northkin Bear Handler & Battle Bears are tough enough to take charges and live - but more importantly his granting them concealment grants them Stealth. And who doesn't love bears with the bear warlock.
• Northkin Fire Eaters are excellent. Bringing a Pyre Troll to light them up is frequently hard but since Borka loves the Pyre Troll animus he doesn't mind spending the points.

If you want to mix it up a bit, consider these:

• Long Riders and Horthol can keep up with his intended pace and hit hard - even impact-attacking their way through frozen enemies extremely effectively.
• Trollkin Champions can really make enemies suffer when they get the charge
• Pyg Lookouts also have Stealth with Bearka, but Mark Target isn't really essential for him or his troops.

Kriel Company

These is nothing in Kriel Company for Borka that he can't also find in SotN, so don't bother.

Band of Heroes

Similarly, there is nothing for him in the Band that he can't find elsewhere.

Power of Dhunia

This theme is obviously all about his battlegroup, which technically isn't theme specific, so you will find an in-depht discussion of that down below.

• Mulg the Ancient should be noted here however, since you can't field him anywhere else (unless you run out of theme, which is subobtimal. Mulg sports a 2" reach club with crit-smite, which is nice for counter change, he brings some anti-magic and anti-incorporeal tech and Primal Rage, which makes him suprisingly nimble during the opponent's turn. Furthermore, his animus makes him an Arc Node for Frost Hammer.
• Troll Whelps: A mainstay for PoD, because they get in the way, are annoying and come both back and for free in the theme.

Available in all themes is the Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes of course.

• Lanyssa is the first and foremost choice for him, due to Hunters Mark. She also profits from the coldstone damage buff and on top of that, she works with his feat.
• A Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew is an excellent pointfiller, as always.
• The Swamp Gobber Chef is another such point filler, that provides fury management and contests when needed.

Battlegroup

Borka is only a FURY 5 warlock however this limitation can be mitigated somewhat. His Attuned Spirit ability allows him to cast the animus of any warbeast in his battlegroup for free each turn. Plus the Runebearer increasing his control range to 12" makes a huge difference. Throw in some whelps and he can handle enough beasts to do what he needs to.

• Rök - A Stumbling Drunk heavy warbeast is great. And hilarious. He's also very hard hitting on the counter-charge, and Primal is well worth casting for free (normally not on Rök himself). (If Rök didn't exist the Dire Troll Mauler would be an obvious choice)
• The Dire Troll Mauler is af course still a viable option, simply because it's cheaper, which matters a lot in SotN builds.
• Earthborn Dire Troll - the Earth's Blessing animus is arguably the most important animus for Borka, him being unable to be knocked down means many opponents won't even go for the assassination.
• Dire Troll Brawler is a heavy with a 2" reach weapon, which is excellent with countercharge.
• The Troll Axer has Rush and 2" extra movement on a warbeast is a lot. Also it has a 2" reach weapon, which is excellent with Countercharge.
• The Troll Bouncer has a 2" weapon - again excellent with countercharge - and also is very tough and can shield guard for Borka. He's a nice utility piece but frequently hard to find the points for.
• The Pyre Troll animus is one of the few ways to increase the damage of Borka's mount attack. Pow 16 weaponmaster attacks are a thing.
• Storm Troll seems like an odd choice, but there are quite a few nifty techs in this model that Borka can work with. Critical Disruption is another great control effect, especially when applied to a stationary warjack, caster or beast, since they can't shake stationary when disrupted. With Counter Charge and disruption you can even stop an incoming 'jack dead in it's tracks. It's Animus can be used both offensively and defensively. E-leap let's you clear annoying high def models if you hit something close to them. The immunity ensures your opponent doesn't do the same to you, since they don't really care about Borka's concealment.

Starting a 25 point Brawl list

In 2020.11 Jaden Iwassa, one of the LOS authors, put together this list for the Brawlmachine format. He even wrote about it's playstyle, which you can read here.

Theme - Storm of the North

Borka, Vengeance of the Rimeshaws: [+27 WBP]

• Pyre Troll: [8 pts]
• Rök: [19 pts]

Fell Caller Hero: [5 pts]

Gremlin Swarm: [3 pts]

Valka Curseborn, Chieftain of the North: [Free] Template:Grey

Northkin Bear Handler & Battle Bears: [10 pts]

Northkin Fire Eaters: [7 pts]

Total RRP: USD $261 (based on PP's online store prices 2021.03)

Other

Trivia

Released in Hordes: Exigence (2014)

Video Battle Reports

• 2019.11 Desperate Pace, vs Thagrosh2
• Template:VBR