Thoughts on Troll Scouts

I've been making my way slowly through the new Trolls book and thought I'd give my thoughts on some of the new models / units that I'm finding interesting. Up first are the Scouts.


image from Privateer Press

SPD 6 is nice, and pairs well with Pathfinder and Advance Deploy to really get them moving. They can also charge clear through forests to get to enemy units on the other side thanks to Hunter.

MAT 6 isn't anything amazing on its own, but combined with Gang and any of the MAT buffs available to Trolls these guys are going to reliably hit DEF 15 in melee. RAT 5 is less impressive (and there aren't nearly as many RAT buffs available) but Hunter does mean that enemies aren't getting any defensive shooting buffs.

DEF 13 is on the higher end for Trolls and should probably be buffed by whatever piece of terrain they're sitting in. ARM 13 is not great, but hopefully the high DEF will keep them safe.

Assault and Gang are where these guys really shine. On an Assault charge the unit is going to throw out 6 axes at RAT 5 POW 11 coming into melee. If the thrown axe kills something, they're get to make another RAT 8, POW 13+2D6 attack on something else, and if it didn't kill they'll be making a RAT 8, POW 13+3D6 follow up attack - that all assumes that Gang is in effect. And that's just their own stats, imagine what some Troll buffs could do!

The models look a bit weird, but the pig, jug of moon-shine, and whelp playing a guitar are selling me on them.

I envision these guys being deployed on a flank in some cover and just waiting around for something juicy to appear. They'll be tough to dig out of a forest and can threaten a big area of the field with their 9" threat range. They'll be able to reliably do damage to other AD units and flankers or help scrape off units from a Kriel Warrior tar pit.