Troll Basher

Troll Basher Trollblood Northkin Light Warbeast

Prime This model is available in one Prime Army, Storm of the North. It can also be used in the Unlimited game mode. You can view the other Mk3 models that made it into a Legacy Army at this page. Note that the rest of this page is about the model's Mark III rules.

Wielding enormous maces made from salvaged scrap metal, the ferocious troll basher is the favored warbeast of many Northkin. Troll Bashers are quick to anger and enjoy crushing enemies before devouring them. Northkin warlocks often let their bashers run at the fore of battle. There, their wild swings can cause the greatest harm to massed enemy troops.

Basic Info

Troll Basher
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Warcaster 0 BASE Medium SPD 5 STR 9 MAT 6 RAT N/A M.A. N/A DEF 12 ARM 16 CMD N/A ESSENCE {{{essence}}} FOCUS N/A FURY 3 THRS 9 HP 22 F. Field N/A WJP {{{wjp}}} WBP {{{wbp}}} IHP {{{ihp}}} FA U UNIT SIZE N/A COST 7 N/A N/A N/A Warcaster 1 COST N/A N/A Understanding the Statblock

Warbeast - All warbeasts share a huge stack of special rules. The short version is they're big, furious, and beat stuff up pretty good. Click here for a newbie-friendly recap, or click here for the full rules.

Abilities

• Immunity: Cold
• Pathfinder
• Regeneration [d3] - This model can be forced to remove d3 damage points once per activation. This model cannot use Regeneration during an activation it runs.

Weapons

Heavy Mace
		RNG				POW				P+S
		1				5				14
Beat Back - Immediately after a basic attack with this weapon is resolved during this model's Combat Action, the enemy model hit can be pushed 1" directly away from the attacking model. After the enemy model is pushed, the attacking model can advance up to 1" directly toward it. Critical Stagger - On a critical hit, the model hit loses its inital attacks and cannot make power attacks or special attacks for one round.

Animus

	COST	RNG	AOE	POW	DUR	OFF
Icy Breath	1	SELF	-	-	Turn	No
The spellcaster gains Chiller for one turn. Chiller - While within 2" of a model with Chiller, enemy models suffer -2 DEF unless they have Immunity: Cold.

Theme Forces

• Trollblood
  • Band of Heroes
  • Kriel Company
  • Power of Dhunia. In this theme, when this warbeast casts its own animus the COST is reduced by 1 (to a minimum of 0).
  • Storm of the North
  • Vengeance of Dhunia

• Other Factions
  • Minion players can also use this warbeast in the Vengeance of Dhunia theme.

Thoughts on Troll Basher

Troll Basher in a nutshell

The Troll Basher is a cheap beatstick. A 7 point model with P+S 14 and that's frequently effectively MAT 8 - and is trollishly tough. This is either awesome and exactly what you want or you want something else entirely.

Being a Northkin model it does get some support from the Storm of the North theme and the Hearthgut Hooch Hauler but this is just a bonus to its core role of economy beatstick with built in MAT fixer.

It's P+S is just high enough that you can push it to respectable levels with just a few ubiquitous buffs.

Combos & Synergies

• Power of Dhunia - casting your animus for free then charging is lovely and helps prevent a loss in output.
• Rok - you can Primal it and use it as a fire and forget missile.
• Borka, Vengeance of the Rimeshaws - it's a cheap and hard hitting counter-charger. It’s crit effect can also ruin an enemies day when attacking out of turn.
• Calandra Truthsayer, Oracle of the Glimmerwood likes lots of warbeasts to soothing song - but frequently goes for ranged units.
• Madrak2 - probably wants 1 for his berserk and overtake feat - it stacks nicely with chiller.
• Hoarluk Doomshaper, Shaman of the Gnarls, Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia, Hoarluk Doomshaper, Dire Prophet, and Horgle, the Anvil can let it boost four attack rolls for a roughly 90% chance of staggering its target
• Krielstone - The standard Elder gives you +1 STR, the Northkin Elder either +1 SPD or +2 STR(!), on top of +2 ARM from the base unit
• Pyre Troll/Slag Troll - +2 to melee damage via the animus is exactly what the Basher needs, with a standard stone on top of this buff it hits at P+S 17, so as hard as a heavy.
• Hermit - The last caster independent damage buff you can give the Basher. Mad Vision also means you can negate a freestrike and have it move somewhere inconvenient for your opponent and apply Chiller.
• Dhunian Archon - Fury Management and healing.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Point for point it's going to lose to heavies - hitting power matters.
• Low threat range.
• Unfortunately while the model one hands the weapon, he needs both hands to use it so no open fist additional attack.
• Because it only has 1 initial it drinks fury into infantry and when trading vs other lights.
• It has a fair bit of competition at 7 points, if you don't need it's amazing hit fixing Animus you may get more from the extra initial attack and gun on the Storm Troll or the 2 extra attacks and stealth on the Night Troll.

Tricks & Tips

• It's quite effective as a DEF debuffer thanks to Chiller.
• In terms of meat for the points it's excellent and can afford to be lost.
• Stagger is at its most effective against colossals, gargantuans, and battle engines

Other

Trivia

Released in the Northkin expansion (2017.07)

Other Trollblood models

Trollbloods Index       (Edit)
Battlegroup & Similar
Warlocks	Borka1 - Borka2 - Calandra - Gunnbjorn1 - Gunnbjorn2 - Grim1 - Grim2 - Grissel1 - Grissel2 - Doomshaper1 - Doomshaper2 - Doomshaper3 - Horgle2 - Jarl - Kolgrima - Madrak1 - Madrak2 - Madrak3 - Ragnor
Warlock Attachment	Trollkin Runebearer	Lesser Warlocks	Horgle1 - Madrak0
Light warbeasts	Ice Troll - Night Troll - Pyre Troll - Slag Troll - Storm Troll - Swamp Troll - Troll Axer - Troll Basher - Troll Bouncer - Troll Impaler - Winter Troll
Heavy warbeasts	Dire Troll Blitzer - Dire Troll Bomber - Dire Troll Brawler - Dire Troll Mauler - Dozer & Smigg - Earthborn Dire Troll - Mulg the Ancient - Rök
Gargantuan	Glacier King - Mountain King - Sea King
Units, Solos, & Battle Engines
Units	Dannon Blythe & Bull - Boomhowler1 - Dhunian Knot - Kriel Warriors - Stone Bearer - NK Bears - NK Fire Eaters - NK Raiders - Pummeler Crew - Pyg Burrowers - Pyg Bushwhackers - Pyg Lookouts - Sons of Bragg - Scattergunners - Thumper Crew - T Champions - T Fennblades - T Highwaymen - T Long Riders - T Runeshapers - T Scouts - T Sluggers - Warders Special WA: Trollkin Sorcerer
Solos	Boomhowler2 - Boomhowler3 - Braylen Wanderheart, Trollkin Outlaw - Bumbles - Dhunian Archon - Fell Caller Hero - Fennblade Kithkar - General 'Thunderstone' Brug - Horgle1 - Horthol, Long Rider Hero - Janissa Stonetide - Ledfoot & Tredz - Madrak0 - Northkin Shaman - Pyg Tank - Stone Scribe Chronicler - Troll Whelps - Trollkin Champion Hero - Trollkin Skinner Valka Curseborn, Chieftain of the North
Battle Engines	Hearthgut Hooch Hauler - War Wagon
Theme Forces
Band of Heroes - Kriel Company - Power of Dhunia - Storm of the North - Vengeance of Dhunia
Minions that work for the Trollblooods
Refer to Who Works for Whom and/or Category: Trollblood Minion
This index was last updated: 2021.10

Rules Clarifications

Rules Clarification : Beat Back      (Edit) You cannot use Beat Back if you destroy the target; because you can't advance towards a model that is no longer on the table. (Infernal Ruling) You can trigger Beat Back even if the model is no longer in your melee range after the attack. For instance, if you used a Pitch to throw it away, you can still Beat it Back. (Locked thread) The free advance doesn't depend on the target being pushed, but it is dependent on you trying to push them: If you try to push something which Cannot Be Pushed (such as a Colossal), then it won't move and then you can advance directly towards it. If you choose not to push your target, then you choose not to trigger Beat Back, so you don't get to advance. (mk2 Ruling) Beat Back can be used to push larger models. Push - General     (Edit)   [Show/Hide] Pushed models do not change their facing. Pushed models move at half rate through difficult terrain. Also, Pathfinder doesn't apply during pushes. Pushed models stop if they contact anything - a model of any size, or any obstacles or obstructions. You don't get free strikes against pushed models, because it is "involuntary movement" and therefore does not count as an advance. Pushed models suffer the effects of anything they move through (such as acid clouds). If you use a Push vs a charging model (via a free strike for example), this will stop the charge movement (refer core rulebook). However, if the pushed model is in melee range of its charge target after the push, then it is considered a successful charge. (Infernal Ruling) In that scenario, you measure whether the charging model moved 3" or less excluding the push distance. (Infernal Ruling) If you push a model to a position where it regains Incorporeal (for instance you push it out of range of an Exorcist) then what happens is (Being Checked by Infernals)

Rules Clarification : Stagger      (Edit) A Staggered model can still declare a charge. (Infernal Ruling) If that charging model can then buy a melee attack, that bought attack will count as its charge attack. Stagger prevents "free" Power Attacks, such as Smash & Grab. If you manage to free strike a model that is in the middle Slam move, and cause a Stagger, it will not prevent the slam that is already in progress. Stagger does work vs Colossals/Gargantuans.

Rules Clarification:  : Warbeast      (Edit) (Click Expand to read)

See also the Warbeast page for a recap of the core warbeast rules. Forcing If an ability doesn't specify how much it costs to force, it costs 1. (Infernal Ruling) Animi A single Animus can be on several models at the same time. (Infernal Ruling) Unlike in Mk2, in Mk3 if a model has an animus on it from any source and then another animus is cast on that model, it will lose the first instance of an animus and will be replaced by the second. It does not matter if either the first animus or the second animus is from a warlock or warbeast. (Infernal Ruling) An animi cast by a warlock is an animi and a spell. (Infernal Ruling) Transferring Damage If both the warlock and the warbeast are damaged by the same attack (such as an AOE), then you need to apply the 'normal' damage to the warbeast before the transferred damage. This distinction can be important when you're working out who/what actually destroyed the beast. (Infernal Ruling) Frenzy (Edit) You cannot trigger optional abilities (such as Cleave or Sprint). (Infernal Ruling) You must trigger compulsory abilities (such as Consume) ... except for compulsory abilities that also generate an extra attack (such as Berserk). In that case, you don't get the Berserk attack. (Infernal Ruling) A warbeast may not make an Assault shot as part of a Frenzy activation. If the closest target to a warbeast resolving a Frenzy cannot be charged, then the warbeast will forfeit movement and action (as per the rules of having to charge and not being able to). (Infernal Ruling) If a frenzying warbeast can't reach its charge target (because the charge lane is blocked by terrain, etc) then it will make a failed charge and end its activation. (Locked thread) If a frenzying warbeast has two melee weapons with the same POW, it can choose which one to use. (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Cold - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Pathfinder      (Edit) Pathfinder (Edit) - Pathfinder does not apply to involuntary movement (pushes & slams). (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Regeneration - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Icy Breath      (Edit) Rules Clarification : Chiller - None yet. (Edit)