Trollkin Warders

Trollkin warders dedicate their lives to the defense of not just their chieftains and shamans, but also the kith and kin least able defend themselves. When warders take up defensive arms, they do so with zealous fervor. Shouting the words of their oath and the battle cries of their kriels, they challenge any who would dare harm those they are sworn to protect.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Template:Tough
• Template:Carapace
• Template:Roadblock
• Template:Shield Guard

Weapons

Battle Weapon
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		2				4				11
Template:Brutal Charge

Weapon Attachment

As with most Trollblood units, they may have a Trollkin Sorcerer weapon attachment. His info has been omitted for brevity.

Theme Forces

• Template:Band of Heroes. They gain "Optional Take Down" in this theme.

Thoughts on Trollkin Warders

Trollkin Warders in a nutshell

Tough, Shield Guards. ARM 21 vs ranged attack ARM 23 when under the Krielstone, Warders have one real job : soak up bullets. But they can fight in melee as a second choice.

Roadblock is a situational buff but it can help casters like Madrak1 deliver other models by stacking defence. Gaining Carapace but losing Wall of Steel helps the unit spread out for shield guard and is an extra 2 armour against guns; but it comes with the downside of them being considerably weaker when in melee or vs offensive spells.

When deciding wether to run Warders or not you have to ask yourself if the rest of the army can make up for their minimal offensive output if you utilise shield guard and roadblock on turn 1 and 2. If your enemy runs a minimalist ranged game you may be better suited to another unit of Trollkin Champions or the Sons of Bragg

Combos & Synergies

• Krielstone helps their survivability. They want to be tough to tank incoming fire.
• Anyone and everyone you don't want shot. How useful they are depends more on your opponent than you but there is no one they don't go well with so it's hard to call out specific combos for them.
• Ragnor1, Madrak3,and Grissel2 all help their survivability on feat turn.
• Madrak2 - Blood Fury and his feat minimise the single attack, they also help deliver other models which Madrak needs.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• They don't hit hard for their points. Just absorb hits at range very well thanks to the stone buff and Carapace.
  • The Kriel Warriors have the Caber WA which hands out Carapace to other models and is cheap so the only things special about them is roadblock and shield guard.
• They are too expensive to be spammable even as a min unit and spammable shield guards is what the game is all about nowadays.
• It is generally not worth upgrading a min unit to a max unit because you are paying 6 points for just two bodies with the Shield Guard rule. For two points less than a min unit you can get a unit of Farrow Valkyries which are less durable and unable to take friendly faction buffs in Band of Heroes, but have a higher volume of attacks and Vengeance. There is also basically zero opportunity cost in regards to the minion unit slot as Trollblood only realistically hire Valkyries or a Bellows Crew as minions, if any. This also make the max unit option even less appealing because then you are paying double the price for Valkyries but only get two extra Shield guards, and 8 points is a LOT, especially when models like Boomhowler3 exist. TL/DR: Instead of paying 16 points for 5 shield guards you can also pay the same price for 3 shield guards and a beefy solo, or multiple smaller ones. Choose wisely.

Tricks & Tips

• Remember they aren't bad fighters, they won’t do much to heavies but they are still trolls
• Shield Guard works even while you're out of formation. If you don't need them fighting next turn, spread them out and protect your high-risk models!

Other

Trivia

Released in Hordes: Gargantuans (2013)