Road to Smogcon: 35pt Steamroller Musings

Smogcon is going to be the first UK gaming event to adopt the style of the big American conventions.  I bought my ticket within an hour of them going on sale and am seriously excited about it, so excited it inspired me to setup a blog documenting my progress towards the event.  One of the key features of Smogcon is that it is running a huge number of qualifying tournaments on the Friday night and Saturday day (even into the early hours of Sunday morning for those that are willing to go without sleep) and I have so far entered the Friday night 35pt Steamroller qualifier and the Saturday 50pt Steamroller qualifier.  

This leaves me with something of an issue; most of my warmahordes gaming is done at 50pts, I don't get to attend many tournaments so I tend to pick the big masteresque events which don't often stray away from this points value.  35pts is therefore going to be something of a challenge for me, I am aware that many casters are considered to 'scale' well or badly, changing the meta and the power levels at lower points values.  Two good examples of this are EVlad and ESkarre; both feats effect a set maximum number of models and so, with less models on the table, become exponentially more powerful. With this in mind I have begun examining the various troll casters looking for counters to these popular choices and to see if any of them have the same 'power scaleability'.

Calandra @ 35

My favourite troll caster (Calandra) likes herself plenty of infantry to maximise the effect of her feat and jam up the board while she grinds you down with a very effective 'Starcrossed' attrition game.  I worry that at lower points she is going to stuggle with damage output and without points for supporting 'buff' solos may lose some of her army synergies.  If I go with Calandra I am going to be stealing liberally and with no shame from Sevwall's patented 'Burrownomicon' List with just a minor tweak or two....

Calandra
Dire Troll Bomber
Troll Impaler

10 Pygmie Burrowers
10 Trollkin Fennblades with Officer and Drummer
Fellcaller Hero
Stone Scribe Chronicler
Victor Pendrake
4 Farrow Bone Grinders


With the current shift toward Hordes as the 'perceived' power system this list is designed for one purpose only - to tackle and take down opposing Horde armies.  Pendrake all but guarantees hits on what are often high DEF beasts and the Bone grinders allow Calandra to maintain some distance and still be able to throw out a Befuddle or two.  On the whole, Hordes beasts are lower armour so I hope that my damage output won't be an issue.

In the past my counterpart list to Calandra would have been the tried and tested EMadrak 'Blood Fury' spam that uses virtually the same troops.  While this has no problem cracking armour, every time I have run Maddy recently he has really really struggled getting past high DEF troops. With this in mind I am turning away from him, especially if the second list must be 'anti-warmachine' in its flavour.

PGrissel

I must be clear before I begin, I have never used PGrissel before, but, as Christmas is approaching there is a small chance my loving family may be persuaded to spend the extortionate amount of cash required to purchase a full Kriel Warrior unit with UA and 3 Caber Throwers.  A little bit of internet research led me to a 'Hammer and Anvil' tactic posted up on the PP Trollbloods forum. Essentially, the full 15 man Kriel Warrior unit jams up the centre of the board whilst the cavalry 'hoofs it' 21" down one flank and looks to pile back into the middle turn 2.  


PGrissel
Slag Troll
Troll Impaler


10 Kriel Warriors, Officer and Drummer, 2 x Caber throwers
6 Krielstone Bearer and Scribes
Fellcaller Hero
Horthol, Long rider hero
3 Long Riders


I am finding that I run out of points really really quickly in this list.  The Slag troll provides a damage buff and some nice anti jack capability, the Impaler does its usual snipe/critslam job.  I feel like it can deal well with high def (fervour/war cry/calamity/cma) giving a potential +8 MAT on the warriors, line breaker and similar buffs on the cavalry will also mean they can run over iron fleshed troops pretty easily.  I worry about cracking armour however - I am aware of the buff stacking possibilities on the Caber Throwers but I only have 2 of them.  I wonder if this would be a better list with a Mauler instead of the two lights, then allowing me to add the Stone Scribe Elder and the final Caber thrower.  It will also give me a nice recipient for 'Hallowed Avenger'.


These will be the first two test lists for 35 point steamroller.  Even as I type I think I prefer the mauler to the two lights with Grissel.  If anyone has any really effective 35 point lists for me to try please post them up.  I feel lost at this point level and really need some assistance.