However, Grim’s troll companions were unfamiliar with the boggy terrain of Madrot, and were proving to be less effective than their long-standing teamwork normally allowed. The time to call upon the shattered kriel’s resources had come.
Grim strode into the small ring of solid ground that had once been the center of the kriel at dawn, flanked by his troll companions. He was immediately irritated at the lack of a watch - the kriel’s trollkin were largely still asleep after a celebration for the previous day’s “victory”, a caravan raid fought entirely by the warlock and his beasts. Grim reached out mentally to Irontooth, his Mauler, and prodded the beast into unleashing a titanic bellow. The trollkin were surprised into action, leaping up and grabbing their weapons to face whatever threat had approached.
Shaking his head, Grim reprimanded the kriel’s survivors for their lax behavior. “We do not have the luxury of rest! The humans have taken from you one thing only and you cannot idle until you take it back: your pride as a trollkin! Take up your weapons and what remains of your krielstone, and come with me. You won’t be returning to these ruins of your former lives ever again!”
Without waiting to see the trollkins’ response, Grim spun and marched out of the clearing. Of course, this didn’t stop him from peeking through Jurt’s eyes to see the trollkin survivors hastily breaking camp to follow, determination plain on their faces. In the next fight, Grim would test the resolve of Madrot Marsh.
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After the couple of games I played with the 15pt list during Week 2, I had three glaring problems I wanted to fix:
1) Not enough attacks. With four models (not counting the noncombatant Whelps), I wasn't able to generate enough attacks to handle any enemy that brought infantry at that point-size. Solution: Bring infantry to spread the love around.
2) Not enough bodies. Again, with the selection of models there, only three things could help shield Grim from line of sight. Even with fairly careful placement of models, the enemy ended up getting into melee with my ranged attackers before I wanted that to happen. Solution: Bring a "tarpit" or defensive option to screen Grim from the enemy.
3) Not enough armor! Grim has a wonderful DEF of 16 (coming from Butcher-driven Khador, that spoils me!). He's only ARM 15 however, so once he started getting hit my beasts were collapsing under the transfer damage. Solution: Krielstone!
Without further ado, my 25pt list (this week's additions are in green):
Grim Angus
*Irontooth the Dire Troll Mauler
*Jurt the Troll Impaler
*Swampfire the Pyre Troll
(6) Fennblades
(4) Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes
(5) Whelps
Stone Scribe Chronicler
Modeling & Painting:
I knew from the beginning that Weeks 3 & 4 would, together, be my toughest stretch of the Journal. There's a lot of infantry to be added this time, which is always what bogs me down. I'm not a very fast painter as I have a tendency to go back over and over for touch-ups and detail work.
That said, as Week 2 comes to a close I'm basically right at my painting goal. I have my min unit of 6 Fennblades ready to be inked and based after some breakneck (for me) painting this afternoon. The rest of my 25pt list additions are primed, but nothing more yet. I knew that this past week would be a busy one for me, so I don't feel behind on my goals or anything. Likewise, this coming week looks to be a fairly peaceful one, so with some luck I'll be done with these guys before the weekend rolls around.
Close-up on the unit of 6 Fennblades, still in progress:
This coming weekend a few friends are coming down to visit, and I expect to get quite a few games in. I'll take pics and post batreps with the Week 4 report.
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