Rumble in the Ruins – Battle Report: Trollbloods vs Khador

Even as the trollkin hacked their way through the thick forest undergrowth, Grissel Bloodsong could feel the powerful ancient energies eminating from the Orgoth ruins up ahead. Even so, it did not distract her from hearing a discernable hiss of steam and ponderous steps of heavy armor a distance away from them. If Grissel were anything but a fellcaller, she wouldn’t have noticed.  ”We’ve got company. Be aware.” she spoke to Grindar, a fellow fellcaller under her command.

As the trollkin cleared the last of the thick underbush and entered the Orgoth ruin complex, Grissel could hear distinct human voices at the other end of the complex. With a peculiar northern accent. They could only be Khadoran. Grissel growled and shouted at Grindar. “It is imperative that we reach the summit before the Khadorans! Lead the troops up now!”. As Grindar led the champions, scribes and Krielstone bearer up the pyramid, Grissel turned to the three trolls tagging along behind her. “Jab! Ponty! Carnegie! Follow me!” Grissel ordered as she started running towards the far right of the complex.

 Scenario: 500 points. King of the Hill. Following standard Steamroller 4 rules.

Trollblood (Me)

Grissel Bloodsong

Troll Impaler (Jab)

Troll Impaler (Ponty)

Troll Axer (Carnegie)

Fellcaller

Trollkin Champions

Krielstone Bearer & Scribes (4)

- Stone Scribe Elder

Swamp Gobber Fog Bellow Crew

Khador (Emil)

Vlad

- Behemoth

- Wardog

Man-o-War Drakhun (dismount option)

Man-o-War Demo Corps

Great Bears of Gallowswood

Deployment

Emil won the roll and decided to deploy and go first. He deployed his Behemoth and Demo Corps on his left flank, Drakhun and Great Bears on the right, and Vlad and Wardog in the middle.

I deployed the Champions on my left flank, with fellcaller, Krielstone Bearer and Scribes, and gobbers behind them. Grissel and the trolls were on my right.

The pyramid complex proved our undoing, as there were only small steps (the biggest allowed 3 medium bases across, while the smallest only allowed one), requiring both of us to either funnel our troops, or sacrifice movement to clamber up the stones.

Round 1

Khador: Emil runs everything up, as was expected. Vlad casts Blood of Kings (BoK), and moves up with the Wardog pulling up the rear. The Behemoth takes pot shots at the Troll Impaler he could see, but basically used it to gauge distance.

Trollblood: Grissel dumps 5 fury into the Krielstone, calls Hoof It on the Champions and moves forward. Jab, Ponty and Carnegie run up and rile for fury. The Krielstone does the aura and Combat Warding and move up. Fellcaller runs. Gobbers move up and conceal the Champs. Champs run. Hoof It brings them to the first pyramid step.

At this point, I was unsure on the ruling of Grissel’s fell calls, and the Krielstone aura. Apparently they can run.

Not much action this round. Not that I’d expect anything else from Khador and Trollbloods.

Grissel looked on as two bombards, obviously aimed for Jab, fired from the hulking warjack in the distance blasted part of the ruin foundation a safe distance away. Jab was unfazed, but Grissel knew that danger was close.

Round 2

Khador: The Drakhun and Great Bears are the first of the Khador troops to reach the base. Vlad once again casts BoK and moves up behind them together with the Wardog. The MoW Demo Corps trudged along behind. The Behemoth once again runs up and lobs bombards, which deviate off to nowhere.

Trollblood: Grissel leaches fury, and gives one to the Krielstone. She calls Hoof It on the Champs again, and moves off towards the pyramid base. At this point I forget to spend her fury on animi, so that she can leach fury from her beasts next turn. Jab runs up the base, while Ponty and Carnegie trudge along to the side due to their mistress’ misjudgement. No need for them to accidentally frenzy, eh? The krielstone does its buff, and the Fellcaller runs up the ledge unto the first platform of the pyramid. The Champions run all the way to the summit, thanks to Hoof It. They’re at the top, but now depend on their brotherly camaraderie to weather the Khadoran storm.

As she witnessed the eager champions run up the steps of the pyramid all the way to the summit, Grissel cursed the trollkin spirit they displayed. “Dhunia, help them.” She prayed as she worked her way towards the Orgoth ruin.

Round 3

It's getting messy!

Khador: Emil moves the Drakhun up the steps, just enough to get him in melee with the Champions. He rolls one attack for the Annihilator Blade, and messes up one Champ badly. The Great Bears run into melee with the Champs, hoping to tie them down. Vlad casts BoK again, and moved up behind the Drakhun. The Wardog follows suit. The MoW Demo Corps run up to the second platform. The Behemoth moves up to the first platform, and lobs a couple of bombards towards Jab. One nicks the Impaler on a scatter, but even on 3 dice, doesn’t manage to damage him.

Grissel watched as the Khadoran troops closed in on the Champions on the Summit. Holding onto the summit was of utmost importance, Hoarluk had said to her the night before, but she did not question why. She rushed up the steps, a sense of urgency washing over her. Her lips parted, and a sound akin to a hundred trollkin singing in unison escaped her. The sound of her raptuous voice drowned out the sound of battle. The Champions fought with renewed vigor, as the rest of the trollkin dispatch party rushed up the steps with astonishing speed.

Trollblood: Grissel passes a fury to the Krielstone, moves up and pops her feat, barely catching the Champions on the summit. She fires her handcannon at the Behemoth, and falls short anyways. Once again I forget to ditch the rest of her fury. Jab moves up, casts Far Strike, and throws a spear at the Behemoth. The spear thuds to the ground in front of the Behemoth, much to my dismay. Ponty moves on the side, also casting Far Strike. Her spear hits the Behemoth, but does no damage past its thick metal plating. Carnegie the Axer moves up, hoping to countercharge the Behemoth next turn. The Krielstone pops the Stone Strength aura and runs up, catching the Champs in the aura. The gobbers run, as does the Fellcaller. The Champions move into combat, taking care to keep in base-to-base with each other. The leader starts the concert going, hacking up Yarovich of the Great Bears. The next Champion takes care of Kolsk and manages to deal a couple of damage to the Drakhun. The Champion after that dispatches the last of the Great Bears, and also dealing piddly damage to the Drakhun. The next hacks up the Drakhun badly, but still the Drakhun stands! (on his horse). The last champion decides to go after Vlad, and hacks him up to one life! Vlad, being the badass that he is, grins and bears it. Oh boy… Hoof It then allows everyone to move up again. The Champs fill up the space left by the deceased Great Bears, and the Krielstone proceeds to move up again. Jab, being the hungry troll that he is, cautiously advances towards the Behemoth. Ponty positions herself for a slam throw, and Carnegie positions himself better. Grissel doesn’t do anything too stellar. The Fellcaller moves up to engage the Wardog.

Grissel felt a sense of calm as she heard the victory howls from the Champions at the summit. Her pleasure quickly turned to dread as a piercing human voice rose from the sounds of clashing metal. A voice befitting a king. Grissel turned her head just in time to see the Behemoth barrelling down on Jab at an unnatural speed. “Nooooo!”

Round 4

Where's Jab?

Khador: Vlad allocates 3 focus to the Behemoth. He casts BoK, and pops his feat. He then proceeds to gut the Champion who dared to draw his blood. This would be the first of many ones I roll for tough checks. The Wardog chomps on the Champion leader, and only managed to annoy the great trollkin. The MoW Demo Corps charges the Fellcaller (one did, the rest got into combat), smashing his head in with the Ice Maul. The Drakhuun scores a couple of hits, but the Champs remain. The Behemoth charges Jab, dealing 15 damage on the first fist attack. The second attack rips a gaping hole in Jab’s fat tummy. It then lobs a couple of shots at Grissel, which only causes dust to settle on her shoulders.

 

Trollblood: Grissel is full of fury, but Ponty manages to pass her threshold check. Grissel moves up, and casts Calamity on the Behemoth. She then fires her handcannon, but the shot bounces off the Behemoth’s thick plating. A risky maneuver, since now she’s all out of fury. Ponty positions herself  behind the Behemoth and facing the MoW Demo Corps, in case an opportunity presents itself. The Krielstone Bearer moves to the summit, a decision that would prove costly. The gobbers run up to engage the Behemoth. I realized it didn’t really prevent the Behemoth from moving into combat with Grissel, but fortunately the warlock was on higher ground. Carnegie the Axer charges the Behemoth and does some solid damage, but not enough to knock out any system. I’m treading on thin ground now. The Champions proceed to hack apart the Wardog and the Drakhun (finally).

Round 5

Khador: Vlad holds onto his focus, casts BoK, and moves to the summit. He hacks apart a champion, and rains Khadoran fury down upon the Krielstone bearer, who, due to failing every single tough check, proceeds to sacrifice all but one scribe. Yuk. The MoW Demo Corps move into combat, killing off the leader and severely maiming the remaining Champions. The Behemoth whiffs its attacks.

The tide had indeed turned, Grissel thought as she felt Carnegie’s disappointment and horror at not being able to dispatch the hulking warjack. “Why. Won’t. You. Die!” Grissel shouted, as she unloaded another handcannon shot at the Behemoth. The remaining gobber cowered as it dodged the massive fists of the Behemoth. As if a sign from Dhunia, Grissel heard the incomprehensible ravings of a man gone mad atop the summit. She turned around and saw Vladimir, the famed prince of Umbrey, hacking away at the trollkin. With a frown and clenched teeth, she tightened her grip on her maul Resounder, and ran uphill. This ends now.

Trollblood: Grissel, now loaded with fury, moves up to the summit and faces Vlad. Attack, boost to hit. Miss. Buy second attack, boost to hit. Miss. Not good. I was now left pondering on the consequences of missing the 3rd attack. Even if she camped on her fury, it wouldn’t be enough to weather the beating Vlad would rain on her. I have to take my chances. Buy attack, boost to hit. Resounder finally connects with the lithe warcaster, and he crumples in a heap to the ground, unconcious. It’s not the end though, since we are not playing caster kill. Ponty moves up and boosts a spear throw. Critical! The MoW Demo Corp gets thrown into another, killing both. The Champions kill off a MoW Demo Corp soldier, and the gobbers run to engage the remaining Demo Corps. Carnegie runs after the Demo Corps, hungry for meat.

Round 5

Khador: The MoW DC manage to kill off one gobber, but don’t dent the Champions.

Trollblood: Carnegie mosies up to the MoW Demo Corps, and hacks one to death.

Grissel looked upon the lone Khadoran soldier, the Kapitan of the men in steam armor. The trollkin Champions and Carnegie held him away from Grissel. The Kapitan was still willing to engage his enemy, but Grissel thought otherwise. “Son of Khador. Take your leader with you and begone, Else I cannot ensure his safety with my Troll brethren here.” She nodded towards Carnegie, who was salivating at the mouth. The Kapitan spoke. “You have just signed your death warrant, trollkin, of that I assure you.” The hulking man made his way to the fallen warcaster and picked him up. “Your generosity is noted, but this will not change our stance towards the enemies of the Motherland.”

As the Kapitan made his way down the pyramid steps, Grissel called after him. “Tell your komrades that this ruin now belongs to the Trollblood. The next time we meet, I won’t be so generous!”.

Grissel could hear a faint chuckle under the hissing steam armor of the Kapitan.

Afterthoughts: A close game, and big mistakes on my side. Granted, it’s our first battle together with new armies. Now I know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of Vlad. That man is a dangerous one-man army.

This is my first game with Trollbloods, and I must say I really like the synergy. I have to read up the rules abit, though. The Fellcaller didn’t do anything except die, so next time I’d have to carefully utilize him. The Champions were awesome beatsticks, and the synergy with the Krielstone made them nightmares to deal with.

So till next time!