Across the lands of Mantica, there is trade. Markets bustle, coin changes hands and people barter. If you want food to feed your children, you can find someone who'll sell it. If you want silks for your bed, there are places to buy it. These things are obvious, and the wheels of commerce turn ever onward. Yet there are some things that are frowned upon; purchases that, according to those in charge, should not be made. But where there's money to be made, there will be those willing to sell the unsavoury. Beneath the great cities, behind the walls in dark alleys, there are the black markets. Contraband: stolen goods, narcotics, and the like pedalled to those with the money to buy it. But go deeper, go darker, and you find the real items of depravity. Scrolls of foul magic, severed parts of fantastic beasts, curses cast for coin and more. These deep markets are where the Vampire Lord's Necromancers do trade, collecting the spell components that they are unable to gather themselves. And collecting, too, the exotic corpses to be resurrected by their arcane powers. Corpses such as Trolls.
As with all good preparation, fresh is best. If you can get a Necromancer to a Troll shortly after it has been cut down, get the black energies into its veins before its own stubborn healing processes begin to drag it from the brink of death, you can create a fine specimen of a Zombie Troll. However, it is rare that this can be done, and more often than not one has to compromise on freshness. Trolls are notoriously had to kill, however, and transportation of presumed dead Trolls has been the undoing of more than a few careless deep merchants when their cargo has pulled itself together and slaughtered those around it. Disease is usually the safest way. Very few diseases affect trolls, but those that do are extremely virulent and can expire the troll while keeping its body mostly intact. Of course, a Troll's immune system will seek to fight such infections, and you will often find that its regeneration kicks into overdrive. Spurs of bone will burst from the skin, or calloused malformations will pile up like armour as the Troll's body tries to purge the illness. These disease-killed Trolls, when brought back from the dead, will lack the regenerative powers they had in life. But they'll maintain the strength and ferocity, and often that is all a Necromancer will care about.
For my Zombie Troll Regiment I used Abominations from the board game Zombicide. One each of the regular, Toxic and Berserker Abominations. I had so many Abominations from the Zombicide kickstarters that I had a few spare I was happy to rebase to use. I had received some zombicide paint sets for my birthday, so I was keen to try them out. The skin tone was Scaley Hide, the spines Boney Spikes, the boils Toxic boils, and the hair was Light Denim. The clothes were old citadel Snakebite Leather, and the gorey bits were new citadel Mephiston Red. The whole lot was then brushed with Cabot's Water Based Stain and Varnish, Satin Walnut, from a local hardware store chain. I use this as a cheap substitute for Army Painter quickshade dip. Once dry, I textured the bases with flock and some tufts, and hit the whole thing with Army Painter anti-shine matte varnish spray.
I wrote the disease vs fresh resurrection piece of fluff based off hearing someone say that the Zombie Trolls in Dungeon Saga still regenerate, so wanted to explain why those in Kings of War might not, despite both games being set in Mantica.
Sp: 6, Me: 4+, De: 4+, Att: 9, Ne: -/15, Pts: 115. Crushing Strength (2), Lifeleech (1), Shambling
I have tried them in a few games, and at the Regiment size they are fairly delicate. They should be saved as flank chargers where they're not likely to get charged back, or to attack ranged units that are fairly ineffective when fighting back in melee. If you commit them to a front charge, and the opponent is not routed, you're likely to lose your Zombie Trolls on the counter-charge. Being shambling means they can be surged, so hopefully you can position them appropriately and fling them into those flanks at the right time.
As with all good preparation, fresh is best. If you can get a Necromancer to a Troll shortly after it has been cut down, get the black energies into its veins before its own stubborn healing processes begin to drag it from the brink of death, you can create a fine specimen of a Zombie Troll. However, it is rare that this can be done, and more often than not one has to compromise on freshness. Trolls are notoriously had to kill, however, and transportation of presumed dead Trolls has been the undoing of more than a few careless deep merchants when their cargo has pulled itself together and slaughtered those around it. Disease is usually the safest way. Very few diseases affect trolls, but those that do are extremely virulent and can expire the troll while keeping its body mostly intact. Of course, a Troll's immune system will seek to fight such infections, and you will often find that its regeneration kicks into overdrive. Spurs of bone will burst from the skin, or calloused malformations will pile up like armour as the Troll's body tries to purge the illness. These disease-killed Trolls, when brought back from the dead, will lack the regenerative powers they had in life. But they'll maintain the strength and ferocity, and often that is all a Necromancer will care about.
For my Zombie Troll Regiment I used Abominations from the board game Zombicide. One each of the regular, Toxic and Berserker Abominations. I had so many Abominations from the Zombicide kickstarters that I had a few spare I was happy to rebase to use. I had received some zombicide paint sets for my birthday, so I was keen to try them out. The skin tone was Scaley Hide, the spines Boney Spikes, the boils Toxic boils, and the hair was Light Denim. The clothes were old citadel Snakebite Leather, and the gorey bits were new citadel Mephiston Red. The whole lot was then brushed with Cabot's Water Based Stain and Varnish, Satin Walnut, from a local hardware store chain. I use this as a cheap substitute for Army Painter quickshade dip. Once dry, I textured the bases with flock and some tufts, and hit the whole thing with Army Painter anti-shine matte varnish spray.
I wrote the disease vs fresh resurrection piece of fluff based off hearing someone say that the Zombie Trolls in Dungeon Saga still regenerate, so wanted to explain why those in Kings of War might not, despite both games being set in Mantica.
Sp: 6, Me: 4+, De: 4+, Att: 9, Ne: -/15, Pts: 115. Crushing Strength (2), Lifeleech (1), Shambling
I have tried them in a few games, and at the Regiment size they are fairly delicate. They should be saved as flank chargers where they're not likely to get charged back, or to attack ranged units that are fairly ineffective when fighting back in melee. If you commit them to a front charge, and the opponent is not routed, you're likely to lose your Zombie Trolls on the counter-charge. Being shambling means they can be surged, so hopefully you can position them appropriately and fling them into those flanks at the right time.
Haven't seen these before. They're great miniatures and totally suited as Zombie Trolls. Suitably icky colour scheme too. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks. :) I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.
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