Moonlighting with Minions: Trollbloods

After a slight hiatus from my 'moonlighting' articles, and at the prodding of one my local buddies (well, now local 'press ganger' I suppose) I'm back to it, and going to hit up our favorite irate hard-to-put-down medium-based army.

Solos of note: Trollkin Whelps
This is pretty much what you've got for fury management/out-of-activation healing for your battlegroup.  Two points give you five guys, and you can either start 'em on the table OR have them come into being when your big guys get hit.  They can be sacrificed in your control phase to drop Fury off a beast.  On the downside, this requires your opponent to cooperate.

Honestly, this is about it for non-faction-specific support in terms of units and solos.  You are passing up on some wicked stuff like Fell Callers and Kriel Stone bearers, for example.

The Warlocks
Grim Angus
Who likes hunters?  (No, not the Cygnar light jack...)  You've got two faction-specific spells.  Cross-Country is a PAthfinder buff along with Hunter, so if you've got a ranged beast in your battlegroup without native pathfinder, you can get mileage out of it.  Return Fire lets you, you guessed it, return fire, but it's faction specific (and since you have to SURVIVE the hit, it kinda goes with ranged beasts...).  Otherwise, your feat and movement debuffs are kinda useful.

This guy would be very picky about a battlegroup (and want ranged stuff) but if you could bring a heavy hitter and still get some ranged, or use Cross Country on something other than an Earthborn...there's some potential, but it's picky with this guy at best.

Grissel 1 & 2
All about faction infantry, more or less.
Hoarluk Doomshaper, Shaman of the Gnarls
This guy's got a little potential.  You've got a feat that impacts enemies only, and only Fortune is faction-specific.  Banishing Ward, at least, is good for anyone.  He's compatible with minions, at least, but doesn't necessarily do anything spectacular for infantry.

Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia
Refuge is faction-specific, but you have to survive the hit, so it likes a beast again.  therwise, this guy is all about beasts.  I guess if you want to bring a minion unit  with him he'll work, but he really kinda wants a hefty battlegroup.

Gunnbjorn
Your feat guarantees that any minion infantry you bring (outside of dug-in Brigands) is gonna get iced on feat turn, because they're the ones that will be easiest to hit.  I suppose Snipe is a nice bonus, and if you really want to bring Brigands and shooty troll beasts, you can make him work.

Honestly, you're better off looking elsewhere.

Madrak 1 & 2
These guys are both all about friendly faction infantry.

Borka Kegslayer
Other than his feat, this guy can work with minions.  His spell list is notably lacking in the word 'faction', and if you bring a heavy or two, this guy'll get mileage out of his feat.  Honestly, he's got potential.

And, dude.  He's DRUNK AND BELLIGERANT.  Come on.  That's gotta count for something, right?

Calandra Truthsayer
Minion-friendly DEF buff?  Enemy-only attack debuff?  Minion-friendly feat?  Yeah, we have a winner here.  She is 100% compatible with minions.

Jarl Skuld
Tactical supremacy, quicken, and weald secrets are all compatible with minions.  The only thing you lose out with Minions is that your feat turns into an LOS-blocker instead of a feat-turn Veil of Mists spam-fest.

Honestly, this guy's not bad.  You lose out on a little, but not nearly as much as the average troll caster.

Overall
Calandra's about as good as it gets for minion-friendly warlocks.  I believe it was Lamoron that said it; 'grab Calandra, an Earthborn Dire Troll, an Axer, and call it.'  That's not bad advice at all.  I'd say you could make Jarl work, though you lose a bit on the feat.  The Doomshapers are more beast-centered, but could learn to love some minion infantry.  Borka's semi-workable, but you lose out on the feat's burst of speed for your minions, which hurts.

Honestly, though, you lose so much in-faction support via fell callers, krielstones, and whatnot that I feel like Trolls are probably last on the list of minion buddies.