Handling the really good casters, etc

[testuser]

Hi!

Im pretty new to Trollbloods but I have been playing the game for 3 years, so not new to it all =)

I ran eMadrak yesterday and i gotta say hes amazing, and fun to play!

What I wonder is this;

How do Trollbloods handle the really good casters/locks like eDenny, pDenny, Saeryn, pKreoss, eHaley, pHaley, Harby, Old Witch, basically everyone with a denial feat and spells?

We need to get into melee and those casters either deny us that or delay us so they can kill everything without us making it into melee with them.

Also Gun Lines seems to be a problem for atleast eMadrak (?), are there any hard counters against this? eCaine is not really a problem with Grim Salvation. And maybe Terminus could be a problem also..

Im planning to be playing with eMadrak, p/eDoomy, Calandra, and maybe Borka or some other!

Also is Calandra play:able with 2-3 Heavys at 50pts?

[PG_machine007]

Hello and welcome to Trolls!

To answer your first question, denial/control is something that our faction struggles against. Denying our ability to go axe to mouth is very bad.

EMadrak, with the right list, can actually get around some of the denial stuff out there.

Cryx: Cryx as a whole is a hard counter to Trolls, more specifically our axe to mouth casters such as Borka, either madrak, Jarl, etc. Grim is one of the few that can have more success against Cryx because of his playstyle and list composition.
PKreoss: Never really had any trouble with him. We have some of the toughest and most durable casters in the game, and the pop n drop rarely works against trolls. Especially with EMadrak and Borka.
The rest: Everyone has trouble against most of the A casters, unless you have the skill and list comp to stand up to it. EMadrak can actually stand up to most of the casters in the game with few exceptions, and like I said, list comp is a big part of the package. Burrowers can avoid a grand majority of denial and other things, and with EMaddy they can put a serious hurt. Blood Fury on them is amazing. Having some ranged AOE element such as pyre trolls can help stop Kayazis. List balance is still key when making any type of competetive list.

Against gun lines: Just get engaged as quick as possible and cascade your units. 3-4 fennblades can put a stop to most 10 man unit gunlines, and then make sure you set it up that the rest can charge in next turn. Just don't overextend. The way you move up the field will largely depend on what you are facing. Stuff like MHSF is difficult because they can still kill fennblades in melee really easily, unlike longgunners that really can't.

Calandra: I have never done so, but I don't see why not.

FYI, EMadrak is hands down our top tier lock, with still being in the top 10-15 in the game.

[EvilFuzzyDoom]

I can't say I've played against all of those casters, but I've brought down Harby and eHaley.

Harby's feat (and by extension, Old Witch's feat) is fairly easy to work around: deny their denial. If it's early-game, spend a turn hanging back and not engaging. Neither Menoth nor Khador are all that fast, so you should be able to just sit back and do your thing next turn. Late-game, you've probably lost your single-wound troops who care about the feat, so you can pretty much just ignore them (though playing it a bit cagey isn't a bad plan).

eHaley is just a big softy. Just because she chooses your activation order and you have to lose move or action, doesn't mean she gets to decide what you do. See if you can pre-empt her feat turn and put your guys in good positions beforehand. "Oh, so if I take Mulg's move he annihilates my heavy, but if I take his attack he engages my caster? Dang." Chances are your opponent won't have the order-of-activation skills that Trolls players need to survive. Exploit that, and remember that a whole bunch of our buffs are "at any time during this model's activation..."

As for gunlines, they shouldn't be too much of an issue. Fennblades run pretty fast.

[Robbe]

Fennblades+UA+Chronicler is a very good combination against gunlines. Tough rolls and Feign Death are so funny

Calandra can handle 2 heavys and 1 light without any problemm (FURY 7 and Soothing Song). One more Heavy won't be a problem either.

[testuser]

What kind of list would you guys run with eMadrak for it?

Can Borka maybe work as a stopper against some of the bad matchups for eMadrak? I was thinking about running Calandra + eMadrak on tournys, or is that a bad idea?

[FearMeMortals]

I can't say I've played against all of those casters, but I've brought down Harby and eHaley.

Harby's feat (and by extension, Old Witch's feat) is fairly easy to work around: deny their denial. If it's early-game, spend a turn hanging back and not engaging. Neither Menoth nor Khador are all that fast, so you should be able to just sit back and do your thing next turn. Late-game, you've probably lost your single-wound troops who care about the feat, so you can pretty much just ignore them (though playing it a bit cagey isn't a bad plan).

eHaley is just a big softy. Just because she chooses your activation order and you have to lose move or action, doesn't mean she gets to decide what you do. See if you can pre-empt her feat turn and put your guys in good positions beforehand. "Oh, so if I take Mulg's move he annihilates my heavy, but if I take his attack he engages my caster? Dang." Chances are your opponent won't have the order-of-activation skills that Trolls players need to survive. Exploit that, and remember that a whole bunch of our buffs are "at any time during this model's activation..."

As for gunlines, they shouldn't be too much of an issue. Fennblades run pretty fast.

You need to play more scenarios

[PG_Celedor]

I agree that scenarios help Trolls a lot. I also find some ranged fire power forces your opponent to engage.

[EvilFuzzyDoom]

You need to play more scenarios

I really do

[PG_JBFlanz]

When I look at your list, pDenny is the one that jumps off the page at me. She can do more than deny, and is strong on all sides of the board. I like to solve many of those problems with armor. Not saying I cannot lose, but I find that many of said casters do not bring enough punch to defeat our highest armor. It is frustrating to deal with heavies at arm 22+ behind a wall to being with. Even an army of banes bounce off that kind of armor. It is about playing the game your way, not theirs. If they do bring the punch, they are making sacrifices. Exploit that weakness and move forward. pDenny has the easiest time getting around our strengths. If this is tournament play, plan for that. The more lists offered, the better. I prefer to play Trolls at 3 list events, but even in a standard 2 list format, you can get a lot done. Best of luck moving forward, the journey is half the fun!

[Beckman]

eHaley is just a big softy.

Play her more. With better players. She's generally horrifying.

Edit: What I mean by this, is... When she pops her feat, you lose a turn. And that sucks bigtime.

[EvilFuzzyDoom]

Play her more. With better players. She's generally horrifying.

Edit: What I mean by this, is... When she pops her feat, you lose a turn. And that sucks bigtime.

Oh I'm not saying that's not true. But if you can put anything in her face, she goes all smooshy.

[testuser]

What caster does the "Trollbrick" the best? (and what Heavys does that usually include?)

[PG_Celedor]

What caster does the "Trollbrick" the best? (and what Heavys does that usually include?)

Borka or pMadrak. Also throw in Earthborn, Janissa, and KSB for max ARM. Mulg goes in all my beast bricks as well. A damage buffer and Axer for Rush is also a good addition.

[Beckman]

Oh I'm not saying that's not true. But if you can put anything in her face, she goes all smooshy.

Yeah, I guess... She doesn't have to be close at all, though... what with that 18" control area and all..

[Da-Rock]

eHaley under my control......yeah, I'll get rocked...........eHaley under a good player, not so much.

[The Happy Anarchist]

What caster does the "Trollbrick" the best? (and what Heavys does that usually include?)

Earthborn and Mulg every time for my beast brick caster. Round it out with some combination of Axer, Mauler, or Pyre troll. pDoomy, eDoomy, Borka and pMadrak are the ones I use. They all do things differently. I like Borka & pMadrak best, but both Doomy's also have their plus points.

Calandra can definitely run with 2-3 heavies, Bomber should probably be one of them.

Against denial casters I go one of several routes. Beast brick, though you have to be careful not to lose on scenario against eHaley - or shooting/melee heavy lists that take our models good at melee and shooting and rely on those. Another option is to swarm the board so that they literally cannot deal with everything. eMadrak can do this, or Jarl can just by getting so far up the field to start.

[Ravir]

Denial spells? Thrullg. The only anti-magic in our entire faction is pDoomshaper, and to some extent Mulg. Thrullg keeps wanting to pop up in my lists that depend on alpha strikes, which is most of them, because of denial spells neutering the front line.