Patuljak's Trollbloods

Hi everyone. First off, let me just say that this is not a Warhammer gnoblog. It's a blog dedicated to a game called Warmachine/Hordes that is created by Privateer Press and to the awesomest faction of them all, Trollbloods.

Who are the Trollbloods?

For centuries they have seen their sacred lands taken and their numbers diminished. Now the human nations have brought war to their last refuges in western Immoren. Banding together with their less civilized kin, the trollkin are on the warpath united with heavily armed trolls and the wild dire trolls. The Trollblood march to war to claim what is theirs.

Mighty chieftains rise to rally the trollkin. Among the kriels of the Thornwood Forest, Chief Madrak Ironhide has become an inspiration to his people. Chief Madrak is unstoppable in battle as an albino master of both sorcery and arms. His people have called to him, and he will defend them against all aggressors. Together with their mighty cousins the Trolls, they will rise up to claim what is rightfully theirs and shake the Iron Kingdoms with their war cries.

(Copied from Privateer Press's website)

Anyways, it all started when an innocent me walked into the LGS when it held an open's doors week. I, of course, came to nag the people playing the WHF legendary battle, but when it became obvious that there wouldn't be any action soon I became aware that some guys were playing some other game in a dark, musky corner of the store. So I stepped up, asked what it was all about, and soon I was playing a demo game, drooling and squeeking in excitment. And so it became to pass that I became aware of the wonderful game that is called Warmachine/Hordes.

I recently picked up a warpack (starter set) for my Trolls and here are the results of the first couple of painting session. I present to you my nearly done WIP Axer:









The pictures are crap, like usual. My father is going to borrow me his camera in a short time and hopefully I'll be able to snap some better shots. I'm currently debating the skin tone - I'm not sure whether I should make it lighter or stick with the shade I've got going now. What do you think, does it look natural?

I also took a shot of my warlock, Madrak Ironhide, that I've just started some work on:



And the pair of impalers, currently only undercoated:



Those four make up the warpack. Here's a family shot:



Like I said, better pictures are hopefully to come. This game got me really hooked and I can't wait until I expand to 500pts - there's a small event/tournament going on in the beginning of March and I hope to have it by then.

Let me know what you guys think.

Can't wait to see some better pics of the blue skinned beasties... though this has just reminded me that i've massively neglected are Hordes online game... sorry, just been run off my feet, most of my stronghold time is at work and can't really do all the editing needed there

What did you use in the demo game?

No problem about our game, I've assumed as much

I've used Skorne in my demo game which explains why I've been wanting to play them at first, but after taking a good second look at the minis and playing some proxied warpacks games I've decided on the Trolls. The reactive, counter-attack playstyle suits me and they're simply too full of character to skip!

Also, since you've seen what their official skin tone looks like, do you think I should lighten mine up? It looks a bit unnatural to me at the moment.

on brushthralls is one of my favvorite tuts. trollblood warpack. check it out!

actually i'm a massive fan of alt schemes for PP stuff so dark blue trollbloods all the way

Hi, iwas wondering how big the trollbloods are?
Could they be used to represent Trolls or even Ogre sized minis at all?

Hi,

your normal full-blood troll is as big as ogres - those are the blue-skinned light warbeasts, one of which is the axer. Normal trollkin (for example Madrak) are a bit smaller, pygmies are even smaller, and then you also have dire trolls who are even bigger than normal trolls.

The gallery for their miniatures can be found here:

http://www.privateerpress.com/HORDES/gallery/default.php?level=collection&id=4

I'll snap a size comparison photo next time I take pictures.

Thanks alot mate 

Amazing stuff! Seriously good I love your sorceror Great!!!

Keep up the good work

JJ

JJ - the sorceror isn't even near being done but thanks for the encouragment nonetheless.

The axer's skin has been redone, I'll try to put some better pics up during the weekend.

Also, last weekend I played my first couple of "real" games and I've written a mini report/highlights of the day sort of thing. I used my warpack:

The first game was against skorne. I set up on a hill with Madrak in the centre and impalers on each side, with the axer using a nearby forest to keep himself from being seen but have a charge lane to anything that would come near the hill. The game came down to Morghoul slashing at Madrak, trying to kill him. He failed and Madrak put an axe to his mouth for his trouble. He was really shocked by how tough Madrak was - he never played against him before. He wasn't a happy panda when I told him that the scroll nullifies any effect of an attack too when he tried to throw me and he wasn't happy when I told him about the amulet either. I, on the other hand, was pretty shocked about how brutal Morghoul's feat turn is on the warpack level - basicly, your beasts become useless for a turn. I think I lost an impaler but killed a savage, badly damaged the other one and did some damage to the gladiator.

The second game was against the same guy. Rematch time! I really played poorly in this game - I positioned the axer in the same manner as before behind an impassable piece but far away from where the action happened and without any good charge lane. In the second or third turn I saw an opening to charge Morghoul with Madrak and I did, but failed to kill him. That wasn't very good because a gladiator and a savage were all set to charge him and tear him to pieces next turn - they were in my rear arc. And that was when I lucked out. The gladiator was an inch or so to the left of the savage, and the other savage was engaging my impaler (the second one died. I think). So I disengaged with the impaler and swallowed the free strike and shot at the gladiator from an angle, hoping for a critical hit. And I got it. Needless to say, Madrak would be torn to pieces if it wasn't for that. Morghoul then did some slashing and some more slashing with his abnormal mass of attacks but failed to kill Madrak again. Guess what? He got axe to mouth. But I really didn't deserve to win this one, my movement and positioning was VERY poor, he played very well and it really came down to that lucky roll. I told him that and he said "that's life". +5 points for him for being such a gentleman.

The third game was against khador. He took Karchev, a marauder and a kodiak. It was a really fun game - Karchev is brutal! Due to tow he was almost in my face on the first turn and unearthly rage is just sick. He parked Karchev and his kodiak in a forest near me with tow where my axer was and brutalized him in the following turn, while the marauder charged into my tight surefooted group of Madrak and the impaler twins. He didn't kill the impaler he charged though because of the +2DEF and no-knockdown and was badly damaged in the following turn. One more turn and he was just a wreck marker. I also slammed the kodiak that was in the forest but Karchev charged in and finished him off and I was now left with only an impaler and Madrak. I opted to move behind an impassable piece that didn't block LoS and try to shoot him to death since I had no chance in an upright fight but that wasn't such a good idea because I severely reduced my movement options with that. He then charged his kodiak in and killed my impaler while Madrak beat on him and almost wrecked him. Karchev then joined the fray and needless to say, Madrak was toast.

So, two wins and a loss and a great time was had.

ouch... sounds like the guy in the 3rd game went all out on you... Karchev in Mangled Metal/Tooth & Claw is purely brutal

Still, good set of games for the first run out... well played

Thanks. Yeah, perhaps Karchev wasn't that fair but I think he still went a bit easy on me, he has almost all of the Khador 'jacks and could easily have fielded something more efficient or brutal (thank god I didn't acquaint myself with Beast 09 that day, I hear so much stuff about it that I quiver in fear thinking I'll have to face it one day). And Sorscha, from what I read, is no walk in the park either. But like I said, it was a very fun day and I shall certainly have my revenge on Karchev

Do you have any experience with Grim? I've been reading on the rulespack for the event on March and you're supposed to have a 350/500/750pts army, it's basicly escalation, with an additional rule that you have to field a different caster for each game. I've been talking with the guy that organizes it and he said that it's no problem if I don't have a 750pts army by then, so I've been thinking about fielding Grim, a Blitzer and two Impalers at the 350 level for some shooty fun. At 500 I'll probably run a classic Madrak brick.

Well, I just found out my father isn't going to be able to lend me his camera for a week or two so with this in mind, I took some shots of the almost-finished-Axer:









(Edit: wow, the fourth picture actually didn't come out that bad. Looks like this camera can actually squeeze out a decent shot or two.)

He's practicly done, I've only got a couple of touch-ups to do. I think he looks better with the lighter skin and I've also toned down his bag which just didn't fit in with the rest. What do you guys think?

Next on my paint list is Madrak, and when he's done I SWEAR I will try to put some good pictures on, for the first time in my life.

And just for mr. Beast, a size comparison photo:



Until next time.

Stuffs looking good Nice work

JJ

Back from the dead!

I'm here once again, and I've got good news and bad news.

Good news are: I've managed to find the "Macro" function (it was painfully obvious, probably the reason why I missed it  ) which means that I took some pictures that don't actually suck donkey-behind! They are still far from perfect but at least they look decent.

(Note: when I used the Macro function and adjusted the dimensions, a new window popped up in the middle of the screen that magnified and sharpened the object in the middle greatly. However I have been unable to figure out how to actually use it to take a picture. Anyone knows how to do that?)

Bad news are: I've got a whole bunchload of new stuff for my Trolls, meaning I haven't actually got much painted. I've been hyped and experimented on a bunch of models, meaning most of my stuff is 30% done, and the grand total of fully painted models is...1. Nonetheless, I shall share the pictures of my finished Impaler with you. I present to you Sven the "How-can-you-get-so-much-critical-hits??" Bad Boy:



There's a lot of shine on the pictures, it doesn't look that bad in real life. I've sealed him manually with gloss first and then went over with dullcote on most part (except for metallics and gems and other things that I wanted to stick out, like eyes) but I guess I missed some parts - it isn't noticable IRL.



I'm sorry for the crap lightning - I was so excited that I actually managed to find the Macro function that I wanted to take some pictures right away, no matter the fact that it's dark outside and that I took the pictures under a crappy kitchen lamp. Not to mention all the shadows.





And a couple of close-ups:









All in all, I'm pretty happy with how he came out.

My next project after him was supposed to be my Axer (that I stripped AGAIN) but due to the fact that I've painted him a gazillion times already and was never happy with him I have cowardly decided to put him aside for the time being. Here are a couple of pictures of my next project, a WIP Fell Caller, that I am determined to finish until the end of the next week:





The metallics are a little sloppy and messy, I intend to fix them.





Fell Callers have really cool fluff in the WM/Hordes universe. They are the supposed sons and daughters of the legendary Bragg, the infamous starter of the Fell Caller bloodline. They are known for their powerful voices, which can rally their allies to heroic efforts and shatter bones with their ear-rending power. Their voices and the flaming pillars they carry on their backs (yes, that's what it's supposed to be. It didn't come out as well as I hoped it would) serve as a rallying point. They are travelling warriors that cause no end of mischief when they come upon Trollkin settlements, seducing local women and causing drunken brawls, but when battle comes their allies are happy to have them by their side. In-game they are great support pieces, superb buffers and decent warriors.

That's it for now, I'll post more pictures when I get more work done. I intend to paint up my big badass Dire Troll Mauler and Madrak after I'm done with him.

On the gaming front I've got a lot of games in at my LGS since I last updated, even playing in a local tournament/event thingy in which I placed 3rd. This game is really proving to be worth every € spent with the enormous fun it provides. I've written a couple of reports, I'll post them up tomorrow if anyone's interested.

As always, C&C welcome

Good call on the fell caller. I'm almost done with mine as well. In your spirit I will finish mine during the next week as well, just to get us trolls back on the table

I used him a lot and his ability to ignore difficult terrain is awesome, and his warrior models get +2 to hit combined with the impalers animus makes madrak a killer when throwing. I won most of my short game wins on that combo.

Good luck out there Pat.

Good to see this blog back as well nice work on the fell caller and Impaler... so what other stuff have you picked up for the trolls then

Definitely interested in hearing a rep of the tourney/event thing, congrats on placing 3rd

Thanks guys!

I've also picked up Grim, a Mauler, a unit of Champions, a unit of Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes and the UA for them, Stone Scribe Elder and a Hero. I'm also waiting for Borka, Swamp Gobbers and another Hero to arrive. I would get more but I've decided to first paint up what I've got and then expand.

Here's the event/tournament report copypasted from the PP forums:

Hi everyone. During this weekend, my LGS held a fun event/tournament in honour of a player who is moving into another country soon (actually, he organized it). Basicly, you had 350/500/750pts armies which you could use during games with other people. The bigger the size of the game, the more points you got if you won or lost. There were also a couple of other rules, like you coudn't play the same opponent twice in a row, you had to play on a different table each game, and 50% of your army had to be warbeasts/warjacks. You also couldn't use same casters throughout the lists. I planned on bringing 350 and 500 armies but my stupid champions haven't arrived on time so I thought I was doomed to only playing 350pts since there was no proxying allowed. In the end, I played some 500pts games because someone was kind enough to lend me his champions for a game on the first day, and on the second day we realized no one timed their turns like they were supposed to so we said what the hell, let's proxy the champions.

There was a turnout of 9 or 10 people over the two days in the end, and that's a lot for my LGS. There was also a couple of passers-by and observers.

Enough talking, on to the reports!

(Disclaimer: everything is done from my hazy, bad memory, so there might be some mistakes. Appologies to my opponents if I wrote something wrong.)

Game 1: 500pts vs the Harbinger of Menoth

I used this list for my 500pts:

Madrak
Mauler
Impaler
Axer
Champions
Krielstone Bearer and Stone Scribes (3)
Fell Caller

His list was, from memory:

Harbinger
Avatar
Castigator
Devout
Vassal
Hierophant
Wrack
Wrack

I think that was it.

Even though I'm pretty much a beginner I still thought, from what I heard, that his list wasn't very optimized. This guy doesn't play WM very often so our game took a lot of time as he checked out individual and general rules. I got first turn and set up in the classic brick formation, with champions in a straight line, the leader behind, the Impaler and Axer each on one wing, Madrak right behind the Champs, a Fell Caller on one side of Madrak and the Mauler on the other and the Krielstone & unit right behind him, meaning everything benefited from Surefoot if I cast it on Madrak. He set up in a weird way, with the Hiero, Devout and Harbinger in the rightmost corner and the Avatar, Castigator and Vassal in the middle. Wracks were AD'ed to the fullest.

I basicly ran everything forwards, cast Surefoot on Madrak and charged him up and dumped 2 fury on the Krielstone. He advanced behind a building cautiously with the Harbinger and Co. and stayed put with the Avatar and his buddies. I advanced slowly in my next turn, killing a Wrack with my Impaler and his thrown spear and the other Wrack with thrown axe from Madrak. He wasn't very happy about that, I don't think he expected them to do squat. He advanced a little further with everything and cast a couple of spells, I don't think it was anything significant. Come my turn, I run my champions and Axer towards the Avatar and buddies, hoping to hold them off for long enough for Madrak, the Mauler and the Impaler to kill the Harbinger & Co., which was by now very much seperated from the rest of the army. In his turn, he advanced a little with his caster going around the building, blasted me with a couple of spells (which I transfered away), leaving the Harbinger in charge range of Madrak and the Mauler (I guess he forgot that I had Rush). The Avatar and the Castigator wrecked some Champions and did nothing significant. In my turn I activated Madrak, cast Rush on himself and the Mauler, charged the Harbinger for some damage, and then charged in the Mauler who finished the job.

Result: Win.

Reflections: the Harbinger has a silly amount of Focus. That's about it, I can't say that I learned a lot from this game.

Game 2: 350pts vs the Witch Coven of Garlghast

My list was:

Grim
Mauler
Axer
Impaler

While his was, I think:

Coven
Slayer
Deathripper
Deathripper
Deathripper
Deathripper

Deathrippers shall be reffered to as "chickens" in this report.

We rolled off and he got first turn. The terrain was heavy with forests and a lake in the middle, which I thought was good since Grim ignores forests and a Cross Country'd Warbeast can too. He set up in a straight line, with the Slayer in the middle and the Coven behind him. He ran two chickens forward and advanced catiously with everything else. Little did I know of the horror called "Stygian Abyss spamming" that was about to befall me. I ran optimisticly, putting Cross Country on my Mauler who went to flank, engaging one of the Chickens with my Impaler and shooting the other with Grim for a bit of damage. In his turn he feated, advanced further with a chicken and holding the other back to bodyguard and block LoS to the Coven along with the Slayer.  And then it began. Two fully boosted Stygian Abysses on Grim (which I transfered away) and one on the Impaler (he disengaged with his 'ripper with me missing the free strike) and I wasn't so light-hearted anymore. I advanced, feated, killed a chicken, pounded a bit on the other with my Axer and managed to find LoS on a Witch with Grim (but I missed due to being Blind), but my Impaler and Axer were already badly damaged because of the transfers and I knew things didn't look well. His turn again and guess what? More stygian abysses. One went on Grim, blinding and damaging him, one finished off the Axer and one did some damage to the Mauler. He also moved backwards which he called "tactical retreat" but I kept repeating "chicken, wussy" and other things until we both started laughing, easing the Stygian Abyssed atmosphere. In my turn I shot at a Witch with Grim, sadly not doing enough damage to kill her (and he reassured me that he can spread the damage out, throwing the last ounces of my hope into a deep, Stygian - Abyss), moved the Mauler into a forest - he was now pretty near the Coven - and finished off the chicken the Axer was beating on last turn with my Impaler. In his turn: tactical retreat, Stygian Abyss, "oh, look, your Impaler is dead", and for a change of pace he cast Soul Cage (or something like that) on my Mauler. That forced me to cast Mantrap on it in my turn to break it, robbing me of my precious Fury. I tethered a chicken since my LoS to the Coven was now blocked and mauled on the other surviving one with my Mauler. His next turn was a formality: Stygian Abyss, "oh, look, your Mauler is dead", Stygian Abyss, Stygian Abyss, "oh, look, Grim is dead".

Result: Loss.

(Note: you may have gotten an impression that he was a bad person or something from the way the report is written. On the contrary, most of the ranting is a joke. We had quite a couple of good laughs during the game and it was very relaxed and fun. A great guy to play.)

Reflections: This was my first time playing Cryx, and in retrospective I should have just ignored the chickens and ran towards the Coven. I tried too hard to kill them, never stopping to think and to realize that they can't actually tie you down with their puny little weapons. If they even have any, I didn't even check.

(Note2: stupid Stygian Abyss.)


Game 3: 350pts vs Sorscha

His list was:

Sorscha
Behemoth
Berserker

I was obviously using the same list. I've playtested my list against his two times before so we both knew what it would come down to in this game - he would either kill me in two turns after he feated or he would get killed in return. It was all up to how I did with him beating on my caster - which damage I would take, how much and how I would transfer, how good his rolls were and if I was still alive after that how good my rolls were and how much I still had alive.

This game was pretty fast. I got first turn, ran everything forwards and put Return Fire on Grim. He advanced a bit and shot a couple of bombards with his Behemoth which put a little damage here and there. In my turn I advanced, feated and tried to use Spread the Net to spread out so as little of my stuff was hit by his feat as possible. I also shot Sorscha with Grim but missed. In his turn I realized I failed, since only my Axer was left out. Stupid Sorscha. Anyways, the beating then began. Due to my poor positioning he charged my Mauler with his Behemoth and killed him and fired off his bombards on Grim, and I took one and transfered the other. I was also forced to transfer a good handgun shot from Sorscha. In my turn I could do squat other than leach fury as I unfroze. He then shot at me some more, leaving  me on 2 health or so and with no fury, and the Axer was killed due to transfers and the Impaler badly damaged. He also cast tempest on Grim, knocking down him and the Impaler who was also caught in the blast. Now it was either do or die, I cut myself for a fury, leaving me with 4. I stood up and forfeited my movement, cast Farstrike on my Impaler and shot Sorscha. I hit but did very little damage, 6 I think. Now it was all up to my Impaler. He stood up and shoot Sorscha, hitting her. I needed an 8 to kill her...and I rolled exactly an 8. Phew.

Result: Win.

Reflections: The situation at the end of the game was exactly the same as our previous game before the event - only Grim and my Impaler were left and they both hit Sorscha, but the Impaler had to roll a 7 to kill her and rolled a 6. Such is life.

Oh, and the Behemoth is super stupid. How does anyone ever manage to kill him?


Game 4: 350pts vs Reznik

His list was:

Reznik
Reckoner
Revenger
Devout

I got first turn and deployed normally in a line. The terrain was pretty nice for me, with craters all around which counted as difficult terrain and gave cover. I put Cross Country on my Mauler (I forgot that I could use trail blazer, since the craters were exactly big enough for the 3" pathfinder bubble) and advanced straight into the crater, along with the Mauler. The Impaler and Axer each went on one side. He also advanced and did nothing special, I think he shot with his Reckoner but the shot fell short. In my turn I feated and pinned his stuff down, shot the Revenger to get Bait the Line and charged in with my Axer. That proved to be a stupid move since I forgot about the shield that pushes you back and one solid hit later he was out of combat. I then did an even more stupid move: even knowing about the shield, I still cast Rage on the Mauler and charged the Revenger. Needless to say, he was pushed back, with the Revenger barely scratched. I also shot the Reckoner with my Impaler and got a critical, slamming him back. In his turn, he took advantage of my stupidity and beat on my Mauler with Reznik and the Revenger, utterly and totally killing him. Oh my. Stupid Warmonger. He also did some damage to my Impaler when he shot him with the Reckoner. Now I knew I was in a very bad position - Reznik was very tough and my big hitter with his animus that makes other stuff hit big was dead and my Impaler was ( please read: http://privateerpressforums.com/faq/#behaviour ) up. In my turn, I did some unsignificant and stupid stuff with Grim and the Impaler, basicly guaranteeing that I would be in even deeper *peep* next turn, and in desperation I beat at Reznik with my Axer, fully expecting to do basicly nothing.

Two amazing swings later, Reznik lay dead.

Result: Win.

Reflections: All I have to say is that I totally didn't deserve to win this one. If I have to pull a lesson out of this one it would be that it's never good to play too fast. I kept doing stupid things and kept forgetting stuff because I was, god knows why, playing too fast. This was the first time my Axer actually did something, usually he just misses or fails to hurt stuff. Maybe I'm not using him in the right way.


That concluded the first day since it was already around 8PM, and what a first day it was. The atmosphere was very nice - everyone was laid back, we drank a couple of beers, we joked and fooled around and basicly had a great time. Onwards to day two then, which would hopefully be as great as the first one!


Game 5: 350pts vs Hexeris

I played against the same guy as the last game of day one and he used Hexeris since everyone agreed that Reznik is stupid due to a 350 game with him against Deneghra taking an hour and a half. Or something like that. His list was:

Hexeris
Rhinodon
Canoneer
Krea

Terrain was pretty insignificant. I don't remember who got first turn, I think it was me. I ran with everything and put Return Fire on Grim (note: when, in my reports, I say that I ran with everything, that excludes my caster who always casts or does something and charges. Yes, thank you, I'm fully aware that it is illegal to run and cast spells.) In his turn he moved forwards, Death Marched the Rhinodon and forced the Krea for her aura which gives +ARM&DEF against shooting to everything withing 2". From my previous games with him, I knew what a pain in the backside the Krea would probably prove to be, so I decided to shoot her for Bait the Line, cast Rush on my Mauler and charge in with him to wreck her face. He did that, but with that I stupidly once again exposed my only heavy hitter to big retaliation. My other two beasts also advanced and the Impaler shot at something but didn't do anything significant. Oh, and I also feated when I realized my stupidity, hoping to pin the Rhinodon down. Well, I didn't do that, since he had reach on his stupid tail, and he used it to smash the Mauler into a little puddle of "Patuljak is dumb". The Canoneer also shot at something doing minor damage. In my turn I charged my Axer into the Rhinodon (I think) but my dice betrayed me - I think I didn't manage to lay a single hit on him. From then on everything spiralled downwards - the game lasted for some time as I tried to dodge and he slowly and sistematicly erradicated my beasts, forcing Grim to cut himself until he was down to 2 health. I danced around with him, hoping that he would make a mistake that would enable me to kill Hexeris with a Mantrap, Headhunter shot and good rolls, but he was careful enough, always having enough Fury to transfer away, and after two or three turns he caught up with me and Hexeris sliced Grim into tiny little pieces of Troll.

Result: Loss.

Reflections: what can I say, badly played by me, nicely played by him. I did learn a lesson though - never, ever expose an important component of your list to get rid of an annoyance. It's not worth it.


Game 6: 350pts vs Stryker

His list was:

Stryker
Thunderclad
Lancer
Charger

We played on the same table as in my game against Reznik, meaning a lot of craters. I got first turn, actually remembered that I have Trail Blazer and used it to good effect to provide cover for my whole army. I also cast Return Fire on the Impaler. In his turn he moved up catiously, trying to shoot at me with his Charger but being much too optimistic about the distance between us. He also ran the lancer forward and cast earthquake, which was out and scattered onto my Mauler and Grim, knocking them down. In my turn Grim stood up, forfeited his movement, shot at the Lancer to do some minor damage and cast Rage on the Axer, who then charged the Lancer. He did a nice amount of damage, I think he knocked his lance off with his first attack, but he missed with the second one. My Impaler shot but did nothing significant (that's becoming the theme here) and my Mauler moved a bit forward. In his turn he bit into my bait and charged his Thunderclad into my Mauler, falling short by an inch or so. He also shot my Impaler with his Charger but didn't do much. Stryker then moved up, cast another Earthquake which knocked my Mauler down and feated. In my turn Grim also feated, putting the point near Stryker so that the Thunderclad couldn't move forwards to engage stuff and Stryker couldn't move backwards by a lot. I also finished off the Lancer with my Axer and Impaler and moved my Mauler into a position to charge Stryker next turn. In his turn he cast another earthquake which missed my Mauler and deviated onto the Axer and Impaler, shot at Grim (I transfered away) and moved the Thunderclad to try and block the Mauler's charge lane to Stryker, but he failed due to Spread the Net. The Thunderclad also shot the Mauler with his lightning sword or whatever it is but didn't do much. In my turn I put Rush on the Mauler, charged Stryker and two Big Meaty Fist hits later, Stryker was dead.

Result: Win.

Reflections: well, this was the first time I used Grim's feat to the full potential and it was eye-opening. Although, to be completely fair, this was my opponent's first game in some time and it showed because he did a lot of clumsy movements, helping me to achieve what I wanted.


Game 7: 500pts vs Deneghra

His list was something like this:

Deneghra
Slayer
A couple of chickens that shoot AoEs
Skarlock
Necrotech
Whitershadow Combine
Pistol Wraith
Machine Wraith

I used the same Madrak brick list as in the first game.

The table had a lot of menhirs on it, which counted as impassable terrain. We rolled for scenario and it was Mosh Pit. He got first turn and he spread out, with chickens all over the place and the Whitershadow Combine and the Pistol Wraith on the right flank. I advanced slowly with my brick, nothing special, with the Impaler and Mauler going to the flank. The Impaler shot at a chicken, doing some damage but failing to get a crit. Again. In his turn, he advanced further down and started spraying and AoEing the shiat out of me. Almost all of my champions were corroded and hurt, my Impaler was also corroded and hurt, my Axer was badly hurt and Madrak and the Mauler lost a couple of hit points too. In my turn I charged my champions into a chicken straight ahead and killed it, the Axer ran to block a gap in the formation, with Madrak moving slightly to the right flank behind a menhir so that he could throw his axe at the Pistol Wraith. He did and he killed him, and he also bounced it onto a member of the Combine, but he failed to kill him by a point. My Impaler charged a chicken nearby and damaged it further and my Mauler readied himself to kick the ( please read: http://privateerpressforums.com/faq/#behaviour ) out of something next turn. And that was when Deneghra feated and arced Crippling Grasp on Madrak. He then charged Madrak with the Combine (I was shocked when he told me that they are actually quite decent in combat, before that I thought "what the hell, let those wussies charge him") and I was forced to use my scroll to avoid getting killed. He also tossed a couple of sprays all over the place, further hurting my champions and Madrak who was left with 3 points, and his Slayer charged my Axer, killing him. In my turn I charged my Champions all over the place - 2 into the Slayer, 2 into another chicken and one ran to Deneghra (I also forgot that she's immune to free strikes). I then missed with most of my attacks, barely scratching the chicken and the Slayer. Madrak beat on the Whitershadow combine, rolling low and failing to kill a single one (leaving the leader with 2 or 3 hit points), and I held on to two fury, realizing I would need it if I am to hope to survive. My Mauler came and missed with most of his attacks, although he did manage to kill a member of the Combine, and the Impaler scrapped the chicken he was hitting for the last two turns. In his turn, he sprayed and AoEd the shiat out of Madrak again with everything he had, and in the end I had to make a tough roll, which I passed. I looked over the table and realize he would be screwed next turn, as most of his army was in a bad position and would mostly get killed, and then he remembered he forgot to activate his Machine Wraith. He realizes he can advance to Madrak, he hits him (needing a 9 or so), and he then rolls the 8 or so on damage, forcing another tough roll, which I fail.

Result: Loss.

Reflections: that was a very fun and educational game. Madrak killed by a Machine Wraith? Come on! But I think I learned how one needs to tackle Cryx now, so I think I'll be able to deal with them next time. My big mistake was moving Madrak out of the brick - I should have just stayed where I was and swallow the shots from the Pistol Wraith.

Stupid Whitershadow Combine charging through terrain....


Game 8: 500pts vs Stryker

This was the same guy as from game 6. He wanted revenge and he used:

Stryker
Thunderclad
Ironclad
Lancer
Stormblades + UA

I think that was it, I might be wrong though. The scenario was No Man's Land.

He got first turn and moved up, casting +6" snipe on the Stormblades. Stryker and the Thunderclad stayed with them, while the Lancer and the Ironclad went on the left flank. In my turn I advanced slowly, casting Surefoot and using the Krielstone aura, knowing that he's going to have a tough time cracking my brick. I also moved the Impaler on the right flank, shooting at the Stormblades but falling short. In his turn he charged the Lancer into my Axer who was guarding that flank but failed to do anything significant due to him having ARM20. The Ironclad ran behind him and the Stormblades moved up, shooting the Champions but doing nothing due to their high DEF and ARM. In my next turn I moved up slowly again, with the Mauler trying to throw the Lancer away but failing to hit, and the Axer subsequently beating on him. The Impaler shot at the Stormblades and got a critical hit, slamming the trooper into the Sergeant and killing them both. His turn, he moves slightly with the Stormblades and shoots my champions again, failing to do anything significant again. Stryker also casts Arcane Shield on them and feats and the Lancer halfheartedly beats on the Axer, doing little. The Ironclad also runs and comes nearby. Come my turn, I give Open Road to my champions and run them into his Stormblades, preparing to feat next turn. My Impaler shoots a little again and kills another Stormblade and my Axer wrecks the Lancer. My Mauler moves up and throws the Ironclad away into an obstacle, doing a lot of damage with four dice. His turn, he beats on the champions with the Thunderclad and the Stormblades, killing two. The Ironclad gets up and moves forward to the Axer and Stryker moves behind the Thunderclad. In my turn I pop my feat, kill all but one of his Stormblades and end up in front of the Thunderclad, damaging him a little. I try to throw the Ironclad again with the Mauler but I miss. His turn again, he retreats Stryker further back, beats on my Champions with his Thunderclad but fails to do much (I passed a tough roll on my Kithkar) and kills the Axer and the Fell Caller with his Ironclad. Come my turn, I get a little too cocky when my Mauler scraps the Ironclad and my Champions do a lot of damage to the Thunderclad and expose Madrak to Stryker with no Fury for transfers. Luckily, he is tough anyway and he has his scrolls, so when Stryker charges him in the subsequent turn he fails to kill him. In my turn I scrap the Thunderclad, beat on Stryker with Madrak and kill him.

Result: Win.

Reflections: don't get cocky when you're winning, it almost cost me the game which I had in my pocket. Also, champions are awesome. I know there's quite a fuss about the brick and that it gets a bad rap on the forums but so far I'm really enjoying playing it.


In the end, I ended up with 16 points and 3rd overall. A nice wrap to a really nice and fun event.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it.

Hi everyone, 'tis me again

I'm a bit late with the update but he was actually finished today in the night so I could say that I fulfilled my deadline

His base isn't done yet but I won't jibber jabber - without further ado, my brand new spankin' Fell Caller:



















I'm quite pleased with how he came out IRL, he doesn't look that good on the camera - the varnish and the "high" definition of the camera makes sure of that.

Oh, and I also snapped a quick, better shot of my Impaler:



What do you guys think? C&C very welcome

I love this stuff! It looks awesome and I like your take on the colour scheme! :D

It may be the camera - but I wonder if one more highlight on the skin would be beneficial?

BB

Thanks!

Yeah, you are probably right - but in comparison to my Impaler I think the skin was already a step forwards in the right direction as far as highlights go, and I'm afraid I'll just mess him up since I'm a little at loss where to put more highlights to achieve a good effect.

That's right, I also snapped a better shot of the Impaler which I forgot to post, I edited it in my last post.

I'll be taking an interest in this G'log now that I'm looking at getting into Hordes 

Ok, the models are the best that I've seen you paint dude, the pics are the best I've seen too!

Keep it going, I'll be looking in from time to time after I've read it all 

very nice, i really like your fellcaller. looking forward to seeing your mauler painted.

i play trollbloods my self, so far i got a few painted models, but i just picked up so much more, fellcaller, grim angus, kriel wariors, kriel stone bearer a attachment. right now im painting ogres so they much wait alittle.

Hello everyone, and this is not an update I fear - the Mauler's paintjob is progressing slowly due to schoolwork, he's about 60% done. I do have a question for anyone looking though. A couple of friends have recommended that I wash the skin of my Trolls once it's done so as to make "the brights pop". However, I have only used GW washes so far and I don't want to use them on the finished job since it dirties it which leaves one possibility - to make my own wash. However, I'm not sure how to do it. What I do with the skin is prime it with Chaos Black, undercoat with Regal Blue, paint over with Enchanted Blue leaving the recesses alone, drybrush with 1:1 Regal Blue/Vallejo Ice Blue, heavily highlight with 1:1 Enchanted Blue/Ice Blue and put final highlights of 1:3 Enchanted Blue/Ice Blue. Now, the thing I'm stuck on is which of these colours/mixes to use to make the wash. The brightest one? The one in the middle? Decisions, decisions... *dramatical sigh*

Any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated

I would make a wash using regal, and place it where I wanted the shadow. In your case that would be around the Stone things and in recesses. I made my own wash for my trollbloods with a mix of water and paint. If you find that this only produce an inconsistent shade, then you can add some medium. For that I use P3s medium