Thornwood Thursday - Trollbloods (asstd)

Today's post features an assortment of models I've painted over the last couple of weeks, including the lovable drunken lout Borka Kegslayer.

First up is the big man, Borka.

His codpiece is out of control! Trollbloods worship their goddess of fertility,  so phallic or fertile images are pretty common on them.

Borka is a super fun caster, whose rules really match his name. Dude likes to drink. The pyg carrying a keg for him can top him off every turn, giving him 2 fury and Stumbling Drunk. SD means if he gets hit by an enemy melee attack, after resolving the attack he wanders away D3" in a random direction determined by the scatter template, then you choose his facing. Also he cannot be knocked down. He is of course a melee beater, with a reach magical weapon and good stats. He's Unyielding, gaining +2 ARM in melee. And of course, he is Tough.

His spell list is sweet: Iron Flesh (amazing for trolls, especially stuff like Fennblades), Mosh Pit (friendly melee attacks cause Knockdown), and Windwall (can't target him or dudes near him with non-magical ranged attacks.) His feat, Barroom Blitz, gives additional movement to friendlies charging, slamming, or trampling in his control area. In addition, beasts do power attacks without being forced and with an additional die on damage. Finally, he adds an additional die to collateral damage rolls, which is a super rare ability and surprisingly effective. Slamming something into the opponent's caster now becomes a super serious threat, for example. Can't wait to try him out!

Next up is my Slag Troll.

Bonus points if you know why I chose purple.

I like to paint my elemental trolls in different colors than my standard blue. I went with purple in this case, and I'm pretty happy about how it came out. Slag Trolls are basically trolls who live in volcanic or other areas with high concentrations of metals or minerals. They've adapted by producing tons of super strong acid to break down the material and eat it. In game, they spit AOE acidic shots. In addition, they do bonus damage against non-living models such as constructs, jacks, and undead. Their animus, like other elemental animi, gives immunity to their damage type (corrosion in this case) and some bonus damage. Not an amazing troll, but a cool utility piece that was fun to paint.

Last up is my most recently completed model, Skaldi Bonehammer. (Trollblood names are so ridiculous!)

He has a totally sweet looking cigar in his mouth, but a frontal shot makes it almost impossible to see. :-/

This dude, appropriately enough, is a sometimes bro, sometimes rival of Borka Kegslayer. When Borka left to kick ass and chew bubblegum, Skaldi followed to make sure Borka didn't hog all the good fights, booze, and glory. Obviously he likes his booze as much as Borka, but he doesn't have any cool rules to reflect it.

Skaldi is a character UA for the Trollkin Champions unit. He's a neat addition, granting Overtake to the unit. Overtake allows a model to move 1" after killing an enemy warrior model. Since Champs have two melee attacks but no reach weapon, this improves their killiness (it's a word, shut up) substantially. Perhaps more importantly, he also grants the unit Overtake, giving them the Pathfinder ability when they charge. SUPER useful in the right circumstances. He can also Counter Charge a model that advances within 6" of him, but this will often lead to his death so it's only useful in certain circumstances. I haven't used my Champs in a long time, so it should be fun to break them out again.

Thanks for checking out my latest painting!

p.s. The Slag Troll and Skaldi are part of my Play it Painted 2013 commitment over at Muse on Minis. Check it out and support this awesome endeavor to get more painted models on tables this year!