In Part 1 I talked some about the warlocks that can aid a Troll shooting game. I'm shooting for brevity here because honestly, most of the stats speak for themselves; you can look and see what our beasts do, and this is primarily a review. The next post will be more actual thinking over review of our options. I'm passing on the Solos and Battle Engine, because
Warbeasts
Troll Impaler: I was going to cover the heavies first, but I can't without mentioning this guy. People know him, both love and hate him - but he really makes our ranged game work. Far Strike is crucial to our best shots, and he has a great crit on his shot. Seriously - you can't look at ranged Troll game without this guy.
Dire Troll Bomber: Yes please. Arguably our best ranged heavy (to this point - Dozer and Smiggs may change that), with a great AE size, great pow, average RAT. This big boy can lay a good hurting from range to soften up before pillowfisting in melee. Beware the RAT, though; that's the constant downfall of all these ranged beasts.
Dire Troll Blitzer: So neat, so... Inconsistent. Great animus in Repulse, really interesting mechanic in the gun on the back, but d3 shots is really kind of a pain, especially at RAT 5. Some Warlocks can really turn him on, and I honestly don't think he's bad, just hard to use truly efficiently. The casters that CAN use him, however, are money with him.
Pyre/Slag Troll: These two fill a similar roll in their damage animi, but different in output. The Pyre is nice for getting that little AE tucked in, especially on clumped guys, but his output is mediocre. The Slag troll, against Warmachine, can be monstrous very quickly, and with a little help, on POW 13 fists, he honestly gets to a solid hitting stat for a light quickly.
Storm Troll: Once reviled, now beloved. This guy came in and people complained that he filled a roll Trolls already had (killing low ARM guys without bounces), but then the realization of how much more killing models could get done without exposing other models to harm, and how nice it is to bounce electric shots into models you can't hit otherwise. This guy is always on standby for me. Solid animus, and great for getting electroleaps into pesky support models.
Winter Troll: Oh, the potential. RAT 4 kinda makes him rough, but he's got a place; the animus is a little lacking, though. However, boostable RAT 4 can work with the right support - see Grim Angus or Hunters Grim - for clearing some swarms, and his animus can be great for clearing the jam by rendering models stationary. Also, you can paint him to look like the Macho Man Randy Savage.
Swamp Troll: Now this is an interesting little piece. I like him, although I only use him infrequently, because he has a really nifty crit effect, Drag can be really sweet, and his animus can actually be really kinda stupid good for pushing DEF values around. He's a situational piece - but one that I really think has some neat uses that shouldn't be overlooked.
Units
Burrowers: Surprisingly useful with the right support shooting. Not a dedicated shooting unit, but POW 14's hit hard if you can land them. Look at support from Grim or Viktor Pendrake particularly. Calandra does a lot for these guys, too.
Bushwhackers: These guys get crapped on HARD, but I'm coming to love them. They're too annoying to ignore, but not worth dedicating too much points too without going overboard. RNG 14 CRA is a thing, and these guys can take out key front line pieces or support models shockingly well. When you start getting Fennblades or Kriel Warriors into the enemy, they really start shining because the opponent is now kinda stuck trying to figure out what to do about them, but not able to react very well.
Scattergunners: With the UA, freaking sweet. Only RAT 5, but high volume of attacks, and great for clearing jams if you can bump RAT with aiming or abilities like a Grim feat. These guys have a lot of good places in armies.
Thumper: Never played it, unfortunately. Decent range shot, OK RAT, Momentum is cool... But no mobility is really tough to get around.
Sluggers: Never played them, mostly because they suffer from the Thumper problem to me of lacking mobility. Standing in place to get D3 really kinda stings. They're solid enough shots, but kinda lacking in staying power, and very jammable.
Minions:
Alten Ashley: Big ass honking gun, great for damage to warbeasts, or for solo removal. Not much to say about him - he's fairly self explanatory. Can benefit from Far Strike, though, which is kinda hot.
Dahlia and Skarath: Really, this is Skarath. Dahlia brings her own benefits, but Skarath is the shooting here. Boostable SP 10 with Corrosion is really pretty nice; it's great for supporting armies that have trouble dealing with low-mid DEF, high armor, or against Stealth models like Bane Thralls. However, Scattergunners may be better, unless you're specifically wanting what Dahlia and Skarath bring to the fight, in particular Dahlia's denial.
Nyss Hunters: Yummy. CRA, RNG 12, and they switch to melee well. Very nice. There's not much I can say that hasn't already been said.
Farrow Brigands: I was just theorycrafting these guys to figure out what I wanna say... And I think Trolls can use them, actually. I think someone like Grim Angus (see a trend here? RAT fixer extraordinaire!) or Calandra could work with them. The prayers give them versatility, and they're at least moderately cheap, plus POW 12 ranged shots more reliably kill ARM 15-16 models (Bane Knights) better than POW 10 shots. The catch is they're a little pricey when we have in-faction options, and the shooting range is only OK. Not inherently huge, but interesting all the same.
No comments:
Post a Comment