About a month ago, I had my first game in public. That’s right, outside the house, in an actual local game shop. After two long plague-years, I felt a little apprehensive about returning to playing in public. To be honest, I still feel a little weirded out. I’m okay losing the mask, as long as nobody’s coughing up a lung or talking like Daffy Duck or Sylvester Cat after being presented with a juicy steak dinner. I’m still not down with the handshake. I never was into the handshake before the plague, and all this heightened awareness just made things worse. Still, the trolls needed to be taken for a walk.
Also, as a bonus, Dessa decided to play at the store for her first time! It’s super amazing to have someone to gab about the games afterward for hours on end. She brought her CG, and I brought trolls.
Trolls in Brawlmachine
I’m not a big fan of Trolls at 25 points. I kind of hate it. Some warlocks actually do okay at 25, but the way trolls want to bring solos, warbeasts, and certain units to stack effects, it’s hard to build at a low point value. The lure of Pathfinder makes Fell Callers wanted, the Krielstone is almost mandatory, and the Runebearer is every warlock’s BFF. Leave out the models that help deliver the army, and lose out on scenario. Put in too much support, and fail to do work on arrival.
For Ragnor, I have a sweet 75-point list, so I tend to dial it down from a full list to play Brawlmachine. Lose the extra Mauler and move the Axer over from Madrak. Delete all units, keep Janissa and add in a whelp. The idea here is to push the warbeasts out as far as possible and use Ragnor’s feat in place of the krielstone. It’s like playing in the last two turns of the game, where my opponent crushed my crumple zone, wrecked my support, and it’s down to either a quick scenario push or an assassination attempt.
Ragnor in Power of Dhunia
- Ragnor
- Dire Troll Mauler
- Dire Troll Blitzer
- Troll Axer
- Madrak 0 (free)
- Troll Impaler
- Boomhowler 3
- Janissa
- Troll Whelp
Ossrum in Hammer Strike
- General Ossrum
- Grundback Gunner
- Grundback Blaster
- Wroughthammer Rockram
- Harlowe Holdemhigh
- Thor Steinhammer
- Horgenhold Forge Guard
- Stone Lord Guvul Godor
- Horgenhold Artillery Corps (free)
I’ve played Ossrum before, and the Forge Guard are good. My plan going in was to avoid giving them the alpha. The Forge Guard only threat 9 inches base on a charge. Godor can give them Desperate Pace, for another 2 inches, bringing them up to 11 inches. The feat can push them another 3 inches, to a respectable 14-inch threat. Compared to the Mauler and Blitzer with Dinner Time and Rush, and the trolls are short by an inch, landing at 13 inches. Maybe a Brawler is worth it? The Axer does threaten 14 inches, but it won’t benefit from Rage. The Impaler can pick things off on the advance with its spear, and Ragnor offers his strength buff spell, Pulverizer, as needed.
The Rockram is a little scary, as Critical Stagger sometimes happens, and can nerf one of the warbeasts. Luckily, I’m not worried about knockdown at all. However, the whole army hits really hard, and they could easily overcome Ragnor’s feat.
The game
Trolls pretty much rushed everything, and Janissa popped a hill up for Madrak to stand on. Ragnor made most of his army dig in. I accidently forgot to hoof it with the Blitzer, but that’s probably okay because it’s dug in anyway.
The Rhulic dwarves walked up, but kept their distance.
Turn 2
The dwarves are so far back, that if I run up, they’ll get the alpha. If I hang back, I can move the Impaler or Blitzer up, blast a warrior, then hoof it backwards. I decide on the Impaler, because it has the most range and a wonderful crit slam.
The impaler walks up, and sure enough, it slams a guy backward into another guy. Thor lives through this, but the first little dude dies. Impaler hoofs it back into his starting position.
The dwarves realize that I can do this all day. They run into the zone, feated up. Their armor is better, and they got pretty far, but couldn’t press the attack.
Turn 3
Trolls push in. Between Rage and Pulverizer, the Axer hits several dwarves with Thresher. Madrak drops a couple dudes, triggering his echo. The mauler throws the heavy warjack after its chain attack triggered. That jack won’t be doing anything soon. The blitzer cleans up the rest of the dwarves, and the zone is almost clear. Ragnor feats. Both of us are picking up points due to my whelp and his shooter in the woods.
Dwarves try to get into the zone and drop some trolls, but can’t do much against Ragnor’s feat.
Turn 3
The trolls finish up, but it’s weird. The axer frenzies, hitting the mauler in the back. Luckily, the dwarf warcaster is still in range, and between Rage and Pulverizer, the warcaster is dead.
This wasn’t how I wanted to play the game, but it was kind of forced. Assassination was absolutely the way to go, since the game was so small. Zone control was assured after killing the unit of dwarves, but time consuming. If we were on the clock, I would be low, and killing the caster would be the best decision.