The Terminus Returneth - Cryx Retakes the Table

In honor of all the Cryx painting I've done in the past month, I elected to drag the bad boys out for a run on the table.  To be honest, one of the casters that drew me to Cryx was good ol' Lich Lord Terminus, and I'd just finished up my crabjack repaints (1 Harrower, 1 Leviathan, 1 magnetized plastic chassis) and said 'what the 'ell'.

Cryx
So, I hit up my buddy, and packed the following:
Lich Lord Terminus
-Leviathan
-Leviathan
10 Bane Thralls
-Officer/Standard Bearer
6 Bile Thralls
Withershadow Combine
Bloat Thrall
Tartarus
Skarlock
Darragh Wrathe
Necrotech/Scrap Thrall
Saxon Orrick

Trollbloods
My buddy brings:
Jarl Skuld
-Mulg
-Mountain King
10 Fennblades
5 Champions
-Skaldi Bonehammer
Champion Hero

Scenario - Mosh Pit., Trollbloods get turn one.

A Quick Overview
He slaps the King and Mulg in the middle; Fennblades go on one flank, the Champs go on the other.  Oh, joy, they're all gonna be real fast and pathfindery and STUFF, and the two beasts he has are, well, beastly.  That's ok, I'm Cryx, I've had plenty of sleep, and I'm pretty sure all the alcohol is out of my system by now. (Not that onlookers knew, but what the hell.)

I line up in the middle, Leviathans flanking Terminus, with some Banes in front, Tartarus opposite the Champs, Biles and Withershadow behind, and the Bloat opposite the Fennblades.

He starts out with Weald Secrets on the Fennblades (who promptly run screaming through terrain) and Quicken on the Champs (...because +2SPD isn't gonna make me a sad lil' zombie-panda), and jogs up the middle with the battlegroup.

My initial movement is pretty simple; Terminus hands out a focus to the Leviathans, pops Malediction, and charges up.  The Blob moves on up, Leviathans getting into firing position while Saxon somehow points the undead through a forest.  Biles take up defensive positions, and the Bloat takes up a firing position away from my lines.

On turn two, his champs sweep forward.  Mountain King moves up and tries to spray Tartarus, he's short by about an inch and I'm sweating a lot less.  Fennblades charge/run; I lose a couple Banes, and one Fennblade engages the Bloat Thrall.  Mulg tactical-supremacy's after a run, and Jarl moves up.

On my turn two, I figure it's time to start killing stuff.  Terminus loads the Leviathans up, and the Skarlock Maledicts him.  Terminus then advances, and proceeds to stab a couple Fennblades to death.  I'm gonna need souls, because Mulg is pretty close, and if I don't make an aggressive move he'll own the Mosh Pit and I'll lose. 

The Leviathans burn six focus between them and account for...ONE...kill.  Tartarus manages not to kill a champ on his advance, but reduces all the ones he touches to one box.  Banes charge up and wreck some infantry and champs.  By the time the killing stops, Terminus is sitting on 7 souls.  Darragh Wrathe looks up, sees Mulg a bit close, and decides this is a good time for some 'Beyond Death'.

Terminus is sitting at ARM25, effectively ARM27 against melee.

Jarl decides that it's time for MULG TO DA FACE!, but first, tries to clear some banes (HA! I ARE CAPABLE OF MAKIN' MA TOUCH CHECKS! Sort of...) and then tries to bounce some magic bullets into Wrathe.  His inability to hit with pistols is a bit of a downer, and then Mulg goes in.  Mulg maxes out his fury and puts Terminus down to 5 health.  The Mountain King is one inch away from making melee with Terminus.  I'm down to about 3-4 banes by now, and Tartarus got a case of the Death from champions.  Hardly a shock.

I've several champions still alive, a couple fennblades alive, and...oh yeah, a Mulg and a Mountain King in Terminus' face.  On the bright side, Terminus is sitting on 13 focus.  I do a quick measure, and find that Skuld is within 11" of Terminus.  HOWEVER, getting there involves a free strike from Mulg and the Mountain King.  And a random fennblade.  I activate the Banes, and they manage to crush Mulg's mind.  Saxon guides a Bile Thrall through the woods and he purges, killing a couple more champions that were on 1 health each.

I look at Mulg, I look at the Mountain king, and then a little voice in my head whispers to me:

PAGE 5! GO FOR THE THROAT!

I say 'hell with it' and throw Terminus at Skuld.  1d6+2 isn't enough for Mulg to hit Terminus.  The Mountain king connects, but fails to break Terminus' camp...and Skuld burned his fury trying to get rid of Wrathe. (in fairness, had Wrathe died I would have lost).

Terminus proceeds to rip Skuld in half with a single blow.

End Result
Cryx Win via Assassination

Casualties -
~7 Bane Thralls (who cares)
2 Bile Thralls (who cares)
Bloat Thrall (we can build another out of all the dead trolls)
Numerous woodland creatures from a Bile Thrall Purge
7 Fennblades
Skaldi Bonehammer
3 Champions
Jarl Skuld

Closing Thoughts
I think ignoring gigantic monstrosities like battle engines, colossals, and gargantuans is a reasonable tactic.  Gargantuans can be healed readily, and most people will dump another couple points to put a mechanic behind a colossal.  As such, you're going to have to commit a chunk of forces to kill one, so either go big or don't commit.  Half-arsing it is stupid.

Terminus is fun.  I like the list (could probably tighten it up a bit) and like Leviathans, even when the dice COMICALLY FAIL on them.  A lot.  Like, several times over.  God, I needed friggin' 5s.

The list involves a lot more traffic control than my Legion.  Then again, what DOESN'T run more models than beast-heavy Legion?

Tough is annoying as hell on feat turn.  I could've easily gotten another 3-4 souls, and been in much less danger.

MVP goes to Darragh Wrathe, because Beyond Death saved my friggin' bacon in this game. 

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.