At Drawbridge Games we are starting a Company of Iron organized play league starting on March 10th. I wanted to get a bit of practice with the stuff I’ll be fielding in the league, so this past Thursday night of gaming was the perfect time to do so.

After much rumination, I decided to play Trollbloods in the league. I play Cryx and Skorne as well, but I already had both the Skorne platoon for the campaign and the Trollbloods platoon (both are completely unpainted except for the Mortitheurge Willbreaker for my Skorne). I thought about each of them and what I’m feeling like playing lately, and I felt the call of the Trolls pretty strongly. While I like my Skorne, painting them is not as rewarding as painting the trolls. I like the color scheme of my Skorne, but it’s labor-intensive and doesn’t always “pop” on the tabletop. My trolls are just as much labor of course, but the green gemstone look I’m going with is fun and makes them very neatly visually different on the table.

The platoon gathered. It’s composed of a minimum unit of Pyg Bushwhackers, a unit of Trollkin Scouts, and a Stone Scribe Chronicler. I love the Trollkin Scouts models–the one stealing the pig is priceless. 

We wanted to give the platoon scenarios a test run so we could make sure things did indeed work in tidy fashion for the league. Thus my sadly unpainted Trollbloods faced off against Enrico’s Legion of Everblight for a game.

His force, arrayed to protect the safehouse from being reached by my Officer. 

I managed to sneak my officer (represented by the Pyg Keg Carrier companion of Borka) just far enough around to make a run for it. The Legionnaires almost caught me, but he managed to slip free and get to the safehouse. 

Definitely a fun way to play–I’m looking forward to both more platoon games and larger games with the Platoons included.

I also had time to squeeze in a 35 point regular game. I wanted to use my new models in what I’m thinking of generally running in the league–a pBorka list. I matched up against Colton’s Khador. I’ve played before against his Karchev list, but Borka and Trollbloods bring a very different look than the Goreshade3 list I faced him with last time.

His deployment and cluster of warjacks around Karchev. 

My force after my first turn of movement–sending the Scouts and Pygs on both edges to clear out his support, and hoping Borka, Janissa, an Impaler, and two Dire Troll Blitzers can stand against the onslaught of Jacks down the middle. 

My feat turn was going to be perfect. One of his Warjacks had ended slightly in the water of the river. With Knockdown on all my models, and the Devastator Open after shooting, it meant that a charging Stone Scribe Chronicler had a pretty good shot at knocking the warjack down thanks to Borka’s feat and his engine going out. It was a great plan until the Trollkin missed his attack roll.

The conclusion was climactic simply because of how long it took. Karchev got a shot at killing Borka personally. So he took it, only to have Borka stumble away after the first attack hit him (and transfer the damage). Then it was my turn, and despite Borka’s attacks, the Blitzer’s full compliment of firepower, and Janissa’s armor piercing swing, Karchev lived. His next turn saw Borka stumble away yet again at the improbable last moment… And I finally finished him on my following turn. 

Once I get my platoon models painted, Borka will be my next target. I love him as a caster and he was a blast to play–such amazing survivability. It was a great game, as we both had so many chances that went awry there was a great deal of laughter (punctuated with occasional kindly but understandable swearing).

366 Points Challenge Progress (2016):

66/366

Battles (Privateer Press):

Overall Totals 2016: 16 (Win/Loss: 12/4/0); 2015: 43 (Win/Loss: 29/14/0)

Skorne:

7 Wins (Butcher, Deneghra, Shae, Sorscha2, Feora2, Severius, Skarre)/ 1 Loss (Rask)

Trollbloods:

1 Win (Karchev) / 0 Losses

 

Cryx:

4 Wins (Caine, Karchev, Skarre, Vlad)  /  3 Losses (Asphyxious, Lylyth2, Goreshade3)

• Warmachine/Hordes