Beginners' Guide: HORDES: Trollbloods
This column is for new players wanting to get into the wonderful world of table top gaming. We explain the basics and point you in the right direction if you want to learn more about a specific game.
Admit it, you’ve been looking at WARMACHINE and HORDES models on the shelf and watched the guys playing in the back of the store on the super cool terrain. You’ve picked up a rulebook and you’re ready to choose a faction and start working on your warcry. If you think regenerating trolls that smash first and ask questions later might suit your style, then keep reading.
There are five well balanced and aesthetically pleasing factions in HORDES plus seven other WARMACHINE factions, why should you choose Trollbloods? If you are new to the game, they have a lot to offer. Trolls are hard to kill, hit very hard, and are primarily a melee army without a lot of sneaky tricks to keep track of. Khador, the Warmachine faction that looks like they were imported straight from 1920s Soviet Union, are also a pretty beginner friendly army and a great option. However, HORDES uses the Fury mechanic which allows you to decide how much risk you want to take each turn as you move each model, whereas WARMACHINE relies on the Focus mechanic, requiring you to plan out your whole turn at the start of the turn. I find Fury to be a bit more forgiving when you first learn the game. Trolls also look really cool. When you spend hours putting them together, painting them, and then playing with them, it’s a good idea to play with an army that is fun to look at.
So, you’ve started thinking that you might want to play Trollbloods, but you are concerned that they are only good at melee. Isn’t it important to have ranged attacks? Can Trolls even do that? The simple answer is, yes, Trolls can shoot stuff, but they may not need to if your warbeasts have already killed everything. If you just want to sit in the back and shoot everything that moves while cowering behind buildings and hiding in forests, there are better armies for that general plan. Trollbloods employ lots of good units, warcasters, and even a couple warbeasts that have great ranged attacks, but I feel they are better as support pieces. There are such great melee options, it is hard to make a whole army out of just ranged pieces. I enjoy knowing that several of my models can go toe-to-toe with almost any other model in the game and come out unscathed.
You’re now ready to start choosing figures and putting together an army, but where to start? Privateer Press has created some really awesome starter boxes. Most of the starter sets come with a warlock, two light warbeasts, and a heavy warbeast. However, Trolls are at a disadvantage because for whatever reason, Privateer Press decided not to include a heavy warbeast in the Trollboood starter box. Because it lacks a heavy warbeast, it is difficult to regularly win when facing the other factions’ starter boxes. The starter box is still a really good deal when you consider that one of the beasts is basically free, it just doesn’t seem very balanced against the other factions. I would like to propose a different 15 point list that can be a great starting point for players as well as providing a lot of potential options.
Here’s the list:
Hoarluk Dooomshaper, Shaman of the Gnarls - Warlock (+7 Warbeast points)
Dire Troll Mauler, Heavy Warbeast, (cost = 9 points)
Troll Impaler, Light Warbeast (cost = 5 points)
Trollkin Fennblades, unit (min. unit cost = 5 points for 6 models)
Fell Caller Hero, solo (cost = 3)
For each figure, I will explain why I think it is a good choice and offer some alternatives to choose from as well.
Hoarluk Doomshaper-
Warlocks can really shape the feel of an army because they are the military leader of your team. When your warlock dies, the game is over, so you want to choose one that will be both useful and hearty. Hoarluk is wonderful for beginners because he has a lot of straight forward abilities and several ways to keep yourself out of trouble. There is so much to keep track of when learning this game, that playing with a complicated or fragile warlock can be very frustrating. I also really like that he has seven warbeast points, making fury management a breeze. Madrak Ironhide, Thornwood Chieftain is also a nice option. He is included in the starter box if you decide you want to pick that up. He has a few special abilities that will only be used once a game, making them hard to remember at the right moment, but they are life savers when used properly. His spells are really simple and useful. He does a good job of keeping your army alive and buffing them up to help them destroy your opponent.
Most warlocks are relatively inexpensive and can really change the way the whole game plays. If you like variety, I suggest buying a few warlocks and trying them out to see what kind of style you enjoy. Each warlock also has its own theme list which allows you to reduce point costs for models, take more of a certain figure than usually allowed, or gain bonus for pieces if you follow the list restrictions. If you see a list with a lot of models that you enjoy playing, it might be worth it to play with that list’s warlock in order to gain the bonuses. It is also important to note that you may only play one warlock in any army less than 100 points.
Dire Troll Mauler-
Heavy warbeasts are always my favorite part of any army because the really embody the raw wild power that make Trollbloods so appealing. The Dire Troll Mauler is also one of my favorites because he can grant extra strength to himself or fellow warbeasts. This allows him to hit very hard, likely taking a big chunk of health away from anything he contacts. His five fury points and special chain attack mean he can charge an enemy model, hit that model with extra dice on the attack and damage rolls, hit it again with an extra die on the attack and damage rolls, and then get a free power attack (throwing, slamming, headbutting) with an extra die on the attack roll. That’s a lot of attacking and a lot of damage.
If you want to expand your army or just feel like looking at all your options, the Earthborn Dire Troll and the Dire Troll Bomber are both a lot of fun. The Earthborn gains bonuses from different types of terrain near him. He can increase his defense, speed, or armour depending on where he is on the board. He is a little more difficult to play because you have to plan ahead a lot more but he can really surprise your opponent when he crashes across the board at full speed with buffed up stats. The Bomber is a lot of fun to play because the small troll on his back throws powder kegs of explosives around the board while the Bomber protects your models from taking any splash damage from them. If you want a little more ranged damage in your army, or you are playing against a lot of units, he can be a blast to play.
Troll Impaler-
There are a lot of light warbeast options making it difficult to pick just one.The impaler is a solid choice because he is able to make ranged attacks that have a chance to slam the model hit. A slammed model is knocked down and pushed back. Depending on what is around it, this model may be slammed into another model, causing damage to both, or it may hit a wall or fall off a ledge causing extra damage. This is really useful when you are able to slam a model against other models that cannot be targeted or are difficult to hit.
If you think you need more defense for you warlock or if you are dealing with units, there are two potentially better options. The Troll Bouncer is a solid body guard with his ability to jump in the way of an incoming ranged attack and his Bump animus that pushes models away from a target. This can save your warlock or another invaluable member of your army. He can also regenerate to heal that damage once he’s taken the bullet for your team. The Troll Axer is also a handy piece because he can attack everything in front of him each turn instead of only one or two things. He can tear through a whole unit of models in one turn if he is in the right position.
Trollkin Fennblades-
While these guys probably won’t be able to kill a heavy warbeast on their own, they do a great job of getting in the way and when combined with Hoarluk’s Fortune spell, will turn into a serious threat. They have reach which allows them to attack models up to 2” away from them. This will make charging a lot more useful because more models will be able to attack one charge target with extra damage. They also have a nice ability called Vengeance, enabling them to move 3” and attack at the beginning of your turn if any of them died the turn before. They still get to take their regular action any time later in the turn. The Fortune spell lets them reroll missed attacks so it is very likely they will do some significant damage.
Kriel Warriors and Trollkin Champions are also good choices. As your army grows towards 35 and 50 points, you will find it easier to fit in more units and harder to add more warbeasts. So, if you are torn between two units, try to budget towards acquiring both of them because you’ll probably end up playing with both anyway. The Kriel Warriors are nice because they have a lot of helpful unit attachments that make the whole unit better without incurring a lot of point or dollar costs. They are pretty plain to start out with but you are able to field a lot of them for very few points and can use them to block charge lanes, hold control points, or protect your warlock. The Champions are much more aggressive, but cost more points. They will deal an immense amount of damage and are very tough to kill. Even a unit of just 3 models is a force to be reckoned with in a 15 point game. They cost a lot of points but are well worth it if you can remember to use all their bonuses.
Fell Caller Hero-
This guy is a toolbox. Each turn you are able to choose one of three different “fell calls.” Each call gives a different buff to a model or unit. He also has a good spray attack which can damage multiple models at once and he is a weapon master with two attacks each turn meaning he can deal a significant amount of damage in melee. He is useful in almost every situation making him my first choices almost every time I need to fill another 3-4 points.
When evaluating other solo options, don’t forget that many of the Minion solos will also work for Trollbloods. The Totem Hunter from the Minions book is slightly more advanced than the Fell Caller but can be a useful assassination piece. His jump and sprint abilities allow him to move into the right spot, take out a key piece of your opponent’s army and then leap out of the way before the enemy has a chance to retaliate. Alten Ashley, Saxon Orrik, and Viktor Pendrake are all specialized in dealing with warbeasts but will be only minimally useful against Warjacks and other non-Warbeast models. Gudrun the Wanderer is also an interesting model that will do a good job of taking care of hard to hit and hard to damage enemies. He is especially useful against ranged attacks.
There are also several very exciting models releasing in the next few months from Privateer Press that will make great additions to the Trollblood family. Once you have built your army and played a few games, it may be worth checking out the Trollblood War Wagon, the Sons of Brag, and Rok from the Domination book. I also personally enjoy playing with a full unit of the Long Rider Cavalry along with Horthol, the Long Rider Solo. Although the rules for these figures can be more challenging, they will be very rewarding once you have a good handle on the basic mechanics of the game.
Whether your goal is to win big tournaments or just enjoy a great game with your friends, Trollbloods are a great place to start with HORDES. Most importantly though, Trollbloods are immensley fun to play. Between their brutal attacks and hefty defense, they promise to offer an intense battle for any opponent.
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