Hello all. My name is Noghannan but y’all can call me Nog. This is going to be my first post at the Hysteria and highly likely not my last. I am a Warmahordes junkie like many of you reading along. I currently own a mini from nearly every faction (way more for most) but for all intents and purposes I am a Trollblood player through and through.

I received a text from Northblade the other day asking when he would get a post so I figured I would do something on the newest Trollblood hotness: The Hunters Grim aka eGrim aka Grim2. My plan is to do this as a two part post with the first installment covering Grim2 and my initial thoughts and the follow up article being my impressions after getting the boys painted and a minimum of 20 games played.

I have been excited/worried about Grim2 for nearly a year now. A local gamer/hobbyist/friend attended last year’s Lock and Load and texted me pictures of Brian Dugas sculpting The Hunters Grim.

 

After my initial excitement about how amazing the sculpts looked I got concerned over Grim2 being the first warlock unit and how this would play out on the table. After this initial wave of interest things died down on Grim2 until picking up early this year with rumors coming out about his feat/stats at Templecon. The early spoilers on Grim2 once again ramped up concern among the Trollblood community and it wasn’t until the release of Gargantuans that everyone got the full look at Grim2 and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. Okay enough babble let’s get into it shall we?

Grim2 is a warlock unit consisting of three models: Grim Angus and his pyg buddies Muggs and Krump. All three models have tough and pathfinder. Grim’s stat line is identical to his prime version with a one point bump to RAT being the only change. I know I was hoping for a fury bump when he went epic but Soles and DC didn’t call me for my “wants” (what up with that?). There is one big change from his prime version and that is Grim2 has lost true sight. He still wears his goggles but they just don’t seem to work anymore. This was a really big let down when I saw this as I love Grim1’s ability to carve out whatever the heck he wanted. If you were a nasty solo or UA and within range Grim was gonna shoot you. Since I brought up the topic of shooting you….Grim still carries Headhunter/gun blade which is nearly identical to the previous form except in a far easier to fire form.

 

The only difference is that Headhunter lost bait the line and instead picked up blood lure which grants free charges for his battle group against a model hit vs. the movement bonus. I personally like the free charge for fury efficiency better. Grim still has take down on the gunblade but like Grim1 if you are in melee something has gone wrong.

Spell List:

·         Mage Sight: Place a 5” AOE completely in his control area. Models in Grim’s battlegroup can ignore forest/clouds/stealth when targeting a model in the AOE. Here is his “work around” for losing true sight but I wish his goggles still worked.

·         Mirage: upkeep spell granting a model unit apparition which grants a model/unit a 2” place effect during the control phase. Interesting note you can choose to upkeep the spell after the movement effect if needed.

·         Mortality: range 10”, -2 DEF/ARM, and target model unit cannot be healed…yes cancels tough. This spell feels Cryxian in design and I love it. This spell came as a total surprise when the book was actually released but looks very very sexy on paper and appears to be Grim2’s money maker.

·         Pursuit: upkeep spell which allows a model in Grim’s battlegroup to make a full advance if target model/unit advances during their activation.

Looking at the spell list it is pretty solid. Mortality really kicks it up a notch but I wouldn’t say there is a “dead” spell in the list. I see using mortality very often and I expect mirage to be up most of the time either on a unit or Grim and the boys. In my mind there are a few units that are just begging for mirage but even if you are not using said units it can be applied to Grim2 and allow for extra movement shenanigans (never a bad thing). Mage sight and pursuit are situational but do have their uses.

Feat: On My Mark

·         Friendly faction models gain mark the target (think dirty Cygnar rangers) and Snipe.

I have to say my initial impression on the feat were “that’s OK” but that is better than “the feat is what?” (I am looking at you Gunnbjorn) I will have to see if I change my mind about the feat after significant playtime. I have heard rumblings that building for the feat is a trap and I tend to agree with that but once again time will tell.

Muggs and Krump are standard pygs with one point bumps to MAT/DEF, a two point bump to RAT, and 5 health boxes signifying their superior skill/training (or just maybe cause of the bowler hat). Muggs/Krump both have low P+S melee weapons with take down but, like their boss, they should rarely see melee. Muggs and Krump both bring different tools to the unit:

Krump: Wearing a mighty fine bowler hat and smoking a cigar Krump has a range 8 pow 12 blunderbuss. Muggs also brings two other abilities to the table.

·         Granted: Circular Vision. Aslong as Krump is alive they all have a 360 front arc. Handy but that is about it.

·         Trapper (*action): place a 5” AOE in B2B with krump which stays in play 1 round. Any living/undead model entering/ending their movement in the AOE take a POW 10 DMG roll. If they are damaged the model is knocked down. I think this may be situationally good due to what Muggs brings to the table but I think often I may just prefer to have him shoot.

Muggs: While he doesn’t have the amazing bowler hat like Krump he does bring some great tools to the party.

·         Snare Gun: Muggs has taken control of Grim’s old side arm. In case you don’t remember this is a range 8 weapon which causes no damage but knocks down any target hit. It is really nice that once of the pygs carry this weapon so that we can benefit from shooting headhunter and the snare in the same turn.

·         Granted: reform. As long as Muggs is alive the unit can make a 3” move following the completion of their actions. This is an awesome ability which I feel makes Muggs the more important of the pygs by a long shot. Due to the importance of this ability to the unit I don’t see Muggs getting to shoot the snare that often as I will be trying to keep him safe to maintain reform. The ability to reform may help Krump do a better job laying down the trap and then getting back to a safer position.

I have been having a hard time with list building for Grim2. The issue I am running into isn’t what to put into the list but what not too. The way mortality seems to make everything better I am seeing reasons to play almost everything (no not you skinner get back in the case). I am going to hit on some of the minis I am looking to try with Grim2. You will see some really great trollblood models left off the list (Mulg/Janissa) and this is on purpose. As we currently live in a character restricted world some minis just won’t have the opportunity to join Grim2 as their services are required elsewhere…..Doomshaper never learned to share.

Warbeasts:

·Mountain King: Trollbloods much maligned gargantuan. Based on my limited play time with the big guy I have been underwhelmed, to say the least, but the to hit benefit from mortality/marked sprays may help may the big guy sign….we will see.

·   Bomber: Nothing groundbreaking here. The bomber is considered by many to be one of trollbloods best beasts. How can they get worse with an accuracy and damage buff? I am toying with taking a pair at some point.

·         Blitzer: A beast I have not put on the table yet but have been thinking about. I really like the blitzer with Grim2 (maybe more than the bomber) and plan to try it out before the bomber. I think the volume of attacks is a major selling point for this big guy. Mortality makes him a little more of a melee threat and on feat turn the slugger should be pretty accurate as he will most likely be marking the target he is attacking. If we take into account a “perfect storm” scenario of feat, blood lure, mortality, best roll for auto fire you are looking at a total of 9 attacks (3 at pow 15 and 6 at pow17) which can be pretty lethal.

·         Earthborn: Like the bomber nothing groundbreaking here. A fantastic beast with a fantastic animus. He may have taken a little bit of a hit in the post Gargossal meta but a top notch beast.

·         Rok: I like the idea of pairing him with one of our ranged beast so if needed he can put primal on that bomber/blitzer and turn them into a true melee capable beast. Rok is a viable melee threat himself and he will be able to mark his own targets when he, hopefully, assaults on feat turn. Maybe this won’t play out as I see it but looking forward to trying it out.

·         Slag: One of our quality lights beasts. Nice gun with ROF 2 to take advantage of snipe on the feat and a quality damage buff via animus. Erosion has the potential to do really good things depending on match-up.

·         Pyre: Another of our quality lights beasts. Quality damage buff and immunity via animus.

·         Impaler: Another of the troll light beast but this one has his own tax named after him. Far strike for non feat turns and an opportunity to fish for crit smite on feat turn.

Units:

·         Scattergunners: I have been meaning to get this unit on the table since the UA came out back in Domination it just hasn’t happened. An ideal target for mirage which allows the ability to line up some really nice spray lanes. Mortality, mark the target, and the potential for aiming due to mirage make for some seriously accurate sprays and the potential to clear mass infantry. May be able to take them as the lone “tarpit unit”

·         Sluggers:  A unit widely considered to be “bad” I think could find their home with Grim2. Atypical problem with the sluggers is their relatively short range and the need to aim to be truly effective. Mirage and the feat may be the combination that helps these guys (and gal) shine. I can see putting them on a flank, applying mirage, run into a firing position covering a zone then mirage and aim the remainder of their time on the table. This combo may not be enough but I am certainly interested in giving it a go since the model are really nice looking too.

·         Pyg Burrowers (Dygs): Oh what can I say about these lovely little guys other than I love dygs. I assume most of you know what dygs do so I will not go into it. One thing I see as a change from my normal dyg play is I can actually see them shooting those slug guns instead of using them in melee and thus freeing up the fell caller to call something else on someone else. The dygs lowly RAT of 4 can quickly go to 8 on feat turn (aim + marked) and with the application of mortality that is potentially 10 shots of RNG 8, RAT 10, POW 16….pretty damn scary from a 4/6 units. Eh?

·         Scouts: A unit I like but never seem to put on the table much. They bring AD and slightly better DEF. Despite being a 6 man unit they have a nice volume of attacks via assault and their hand weapons. The combination of mark the target for the assault (will be marking it themselves) and gang/mortality these guys look like they could have some very solid damage output come off a flank.

·         Sons of Bragg: A buddy ninja’d the SoB for me last year at LnL and after some initial concerns I really like this unit and have been happy with them  nearly every time I play them. An accurate high damge unit just gets better with Grim’s debuff and Tor’s spray can get really accurate with fervor/mark the target and can get some surprise distance due to assault.

Solos:

·         Fell Caller: This is dependent on unit selections but we all know what they do.

·         Stone Scribe Chronicler: The SSC has some extra untility from his normal army buffing roll as he can now give his buffs to Grim and the boys. What could be better than having feign death when facing a pesky drop n pop list? Even if you are not running up against a drop n pop the extra 2 DEF from concealment is always welcome.

·         Runebearer: I have a hard time not seeing Moses left out of Grim2 lists. The extra fury he saves Grim2 most turns and the ability to one time Mortality himself seems too good to pass up at 2pts.

Minions:

·         Bone Grinders: Cheap unit that gives Grim and extra 2” on mortality and potentially keeps him out of harms ways.

·         Gatorman Posse: Once again nothing ground breaking here. Gatormen are a solid unit that I really enjoy playing with my trolls and anything that makes them more accurate/higher damage cannot be bad.

·         Gatorman Witch Doctor: Some interesting things with this guy. The first thing that comes to mind is zombify to take away that random terror check on our dygs. The other option is if you are taking bone grinders or posse you can start throwing out late game sac strikes for some super accurate magic damage.

·         Rorsch and Brine: R&B have the great ability to get alpha strikes but can sometime be a little pillow fisted….I may have said it a time or two but Grim has something that helps that. Could be a nice second heavy option that won’t tax Grim’s fury.

There we have it some of my initial thoughts and plans for Grim2. I may have left some minis off as this list is obviously not all inclusive but I think I touched on most of the models that I plan to test with Grim2.

Ok time for me to get some paint on these beautiful minis and get a bunch of games in to kick the tires and see how wrong/right my initial impressions are. See everyone soon and until next time keep it kriel y’all!

 – Nog