Grissel Bloodsong, Fell Caller

Fell Callers are powerful Trollkin warriors boasting voices capable of shattering stone and making the sky itself tremble, and Grissel Bloodsong has singular mastery of this ability. She wages a personal war against the enemies of the Trollbloods as an icon among her war-ravaged people. With her deafening hammer Resounder in hand, she serves as an inspiration on the battlefront, prompting even the battle-weary to resume the fight and follow her lead.

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: Fell Chorus

1. Grissel can immediately cast a spell without spending fury.
2. Grissel can use all four of her Fell Calls this activation.

Abilities

• Template:Tough
• Template:Fell Calls
  • Template:Cacophony
  • Template:Heroic Ballad
  • Template:Hoof It
  • Template:Unbreakable
• Template:Harmony

Weapons

• Sonic Blast - 8" Spray, POW 12 ranged attack
  • Template:Magical Damage
  • Template:Deafen
• Resounder - 1" reach, P+S 14 melee attack
  • Damage Type: Magical - As above
  • Deafen - As above

Spells

{{Category: Template:Boundless ChargeTemplate:CalamityTemplate:Guardian ProtectorTemplate:Rift }}[[Category: Template:Boundless ChargeTemplate:CalamityTemplate:Guardian ProtectorTemplate:Rift ]]

Theme Forces

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

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

Thoughts on Grissel1

Grissel1 in a nutshell

Grissel Bloodsong is an interesting warlock with some nice movement tricks thanks to Hoof It, and a fairly low power feat that can supercharge one, maybe 2 units.

Although very powerful in smaller skirmishes The bigger the game the more she struggles to make an impact as she mostly has single model spell support; backed up by her fell calls that add a bit of depth to her kit but only come into their own on feat turn. The key spell to spam is Boundless Charge, do this as often as you have spare fury for and use the Runebearer to give you a bonus cast which can be golden when you need it.

Grissel deepens the kit of Fell Caller models by removing their main restriction, taking any fell caller you can with her is recommended but not essential.

Feat thoughts

An alpha strike feat that can make one unit hit hard - and then take them clear of the enemy. Grissel's feat doesn't seem that powerful but is a very nice buff for certain units.

Hoof it and Unyielding are a bit at odds with each other unless you really want to drive 1 unit deep into an objective and stay there. That opportunity won't happen every game and it's the biggest case for running 2 units with her.

It can also be a good way to get Calamity into play, or to use boundless charge to increase the threat range of one beast.

Spell thoughts

• Boundless Charge - lets one of her warbeasts hit when you don't expect it. Frequently combined with Heroic Ballad and Rage from a Dire Troll Mauler for serious hitting power.
• Calamity - it's expensive and best used on something you have deafened as part of your feat. But the debuff will let even the weakest trolls trade up.
• Guardian Protector - is great on whichever heavy she gives it to. It's better on things with reach but it doesn't matter too much.
• Rift - Grissel isn't likely to cast this herself, it's limited in it's battlefield control with the abundance of pathfinder and it's better to try the gun in the first instance. But a Runebearer who wants to go on the offensive may use it.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• She doesn't scale well into bigger games. Her fell calls and Guardian Protector between them only cover one unit and one warbeast (outside of feat turn), and with a limited way of improving toughness she doesn't really have much attrition.
• She does a bit of everything so is a bit of a jack of all trades, master of none.

Tricks & Tips

Grissel 1 likes to have a couple cheap light warbeasts if you can spare the points because she can stack buffs on them until a Night Troll can kill a 20-point heavy warbeast or a Slag Troll can literally one-round a fresh colossal. She can always use Calamity to beat high-value targets, but Boundless Charge only helps one model and Rage is for one warbeast.

Arcane Suppression, Lamentation, Psychic Vampire and other anti-spell effects don't affect Fell Calls.

She has a boostable spray which drops Def by 2 and prevents targets hit from giving or receiving orders. That can really diminish the efficacy of Cavalry or units that rely on special orders like Shield Wall.

Fell Calls still require targets. Be careful that all of your medium bases don't clog her LoS to the unit(s) she needs to buff. Longriders and Bears are nice because large bases can be seen through the crowd/

List Building Advice

Strategy

Her main win condition is to make her army super fast so they can jam to no end and then beat the enemy to a pulp by leverageing Calamity with a high volume of attacks.

She has some degree of attrition by making 1 unit unyielding but it's more a nice to have then the core to her strategy

Theme Thoughts

Grissel likes melee infantry. Storm of the North and Band of Heroes are therefore the obvious choices. She can play in Kriel Company & Vengeance of Dhunia but her list will be a little atypical as she needs 1 melee unit for Heroic Ballad.

• Mulg - he is the main caveat here as he lets her channel mortality, but he also goes to threat 14" with Guardian Protector and Boundless Charge, at P+S 21 with Calamity on his target no less. The extra attack from her fell calls is natutally good on him too, as is being able to back up after a days work thanks to Hoof It.
• Runeshapers start to hit really hard and accurately if you layer Calamity with buffs from the Hermit.
• Janissa Stonetide buffs the Runeshapers and Raise Earth and Rift can be used to deny the enemy parts of the battlefield.
• Dhunian Archons get a special mention here as they can be taken in pair. Focus management is always great for Grissle, but them being able to heal her Runeshapers is the main takeaway here.

• Long Riders - Under Hoof It they can get quite ridiculously far out of the way of Countercharges.
• Trollkin Fennblades - Great at getting the alpha strike as they are very fast already due to No Quarter.
• Kriel Warriors - The best chaff in trollbloods, which makes them excellent jammers.
• Trollkin Champions - They love an extra attack off Heroic Ballad, especially with Overtake from Skaldi. Hoof It helps the unit reunite after a far-flung charge in order to benefit from Defensive Line. On the Feat turn they can get both, AND a War Cry from a Fell Caller Hero.
• Horgle1 - having someone cast the Pyre Troll animus for you frees up your fury for more boundless charges.
• Sons of Bragg being able to target them with extra fell calls is pretty great.

Template:Header

• Long Riders, mentioned above, can also be taken in this theme. With the Northkin Elder on the Krielstone, Wild Winds lasts the entire turn. So they would get that extra inch on the Hoof It move as well.

• any solo has Mark Target, which is useful for her personal gun.
• Northkin Raiders - can do well with Heroic Ballad, or rather they are one of the few units using it on due to quick work.
• Trollkin Scouts - Heroic Ballad with gang and grievous wounds can do wonders vs other tough models.
• Sons of Bragg - live here also

Template:Header Having access to farrow warbeasts, infantry and Attuned Spirit is nice but without Fell Callers it's probably a theme you only want to reach for at small points levels despite it's bonuses

• Krielstone - The staple of Trollblood armies.
• Hermit of Henge Hold - Both telemetry and master or run are great for her, making for a -4 ARM swing or super accurate Calamities.
• Farrow Bone Grinders - The only arc node in faction is Mulg, and he's only available in Power of Dhunia. That means in every other theme, these guys buy her an extra 2" of safety when she she casts Calamity. The also make a handy target to hit with a Rift in order to help speed up a nearby EBDT.
• Fell Caller models, obviously, to stack multiple Fell Calls (via her Harmony rule).
  • Fell Caller Hero - The Fell Caller model, he comes with March, War Cry and Reveille, all of which can be extremely valuable. He's also FA 2 so you can have multiple sources of it. Pathfinder stacks extremely well with Hoof It, War Cry and Shout Down makes even the lowest MAT units very accurate and Reveilling a unit that was affected by Cry of Defiance last turn makes it very hard to remove.
  • Boomhowler1 - His Fell Calls only affect his own unit. A Fell Call Hero can then give his unit a much needed Pathfinder or +2 MAT. The unit is cheap and can jam for the rest of your forces and Boomy himself gives you another Cacophony bubble without putting Grissel at risk.
  • Boomhowler2 - Stack Reposition 3" with Hoof It to rocket a model/unit across the table. Or you can put Hoof It on one unit and Repo on another so your entire force becomes deceptively mobile. Alternatively stack Boomy's Hoof It with Grissel's Unyielding to jam a melee unit deeper into enemy lines. Also Booomy has Covering Fire and Beat Back on his gun to contribute to your scenario game.
  • Boomhowler3 - He's a premium beatstick model, and he also can use a Hoof It Fell Call. Another of his calls is Dinner Time which acts as a speed buff for beasts and stacks with Boundless Charge, so imagine the face your opponent makes when Mulg just charges across the table at lightning speed. His last call, Shout Down, is a much needed accuracy-fixer.
  • Sons of Bragg - Like Boomy1 their calls only affect themselves, but Harmony means you can buff them further. Pathfinder helps with terrain. Unyielding is much more relevant on them since they're multi-wound models. Call of Fervor, War Cry, or Shout Down give them a +2/+2 on their attacks, which is amazing on a trio of Weapon Masters, and becomes obscene with Heroic Ballad as well.

Battlegroup

• Dire Troll Mauler - The backbone of Trollblood hitting power in melee.
• A Pyre Troll can do the job of a Mauler on a budget.
• Troll Axer Rush and Boundless Charge stack
• Earthborn Dire Troll - Rift leaves a patch of rough terrain. If there's no one around she wants to kill with it (or is expendable) you can just cast it on the EBDT without killing him. If he's under the Kriel Stone Aura and/or getting +2 ARM from Elemental Communion, then the blast damage from Rift cannot hurt him. But Rift/Elemental Communion + Boundless Charge gets the EBDT up to a 13" threat. Don't forget that the Runebearer can help out with this. Rush and Hunter's Mark stack with this too.

Other

Trivia

Grissel1 was one of the three starting warlocks in Hordes: Primal Mk1 (2006)