Article 15 The Mighty Trolka by Andy Jefcoate

In his last Flintloque hobby article for this year Andy continues his journey in the Witchlands and this time deploys the biggest regular troops on Valon the mighty Trolka.  Enjoy and if you missed any of the previous fourteen articles you can see them all on our blog by clicking on this TAG.  Last time Andy put Valonian Civilians into his game and before that there was the mistress of death Lady Wintermore.  If you would like to Begin in Flintloque visit out website HERE.

The Mighty Trolka!

The Alternative Armies Troll week drew my attention back to these guys, the Trolka of Skandavia. They are allies of the Ferach Empire, and are mainly found fighting in the Witchlands so are perfect for my games.

As the largest figures in the Flintloque and Slaughterloo ranges (they stand around 50mm high) they are hard to miss so had been on my radar for a while, but it made me decide that I needed a Trolka section.

In the past this would have been an expensive undertaking but not so now, thanks to most of the range being in resin. The castings are excellent with lovely detail and being resin you can store them without reinforcing your floor boards, and transport them without needing the muscles of Arnie!

What is available?
There is an excellent range of Trolka figures available including Line Infantry, Light Infantry, Cavalry and Artillery. There is also an imposing metal General figure standing 60mm high! They are supported by the slightly smaller Trolkin of Copendaz (standing a mere 30mm high!) but for this article I'll concentrate on the Trolka.

What did I get?
I purchased a section of 6 Trolka Line Infantry from pack 56550, consisting of an officer, a musician, a standard bearer and 3 troopers. I also bought an additional trooper to paint up as a zombie!

As the Trolka Cavalry ride huge Moose into battle I had to have one in my collection so bought the officer figure from pack 56570. He will eventually lead my section, with the line officer on foot coming into play if the Moose gets taken down or if a mounted figure doesn't fit the scenario.

How did I paint them?
There is a high level of detail on these figures but due to their size I found them to be relatively easy to paint. As always I like a bright colour scheme to stand out against the snow so I painted their jackets a light blue with yellow trim as suggested in the 'Death in the Snow' book.

The officer had to stand out so I reversed these colours for him in the same way that I did with the Ogre cavalry.

For the Zombie Trolka I painted him in a similar way to my regular Savant Zombies, so his uniform jacket was done in a dark green with red facings to show his allegiance to the Witchlands. I toyed with using him as a mortal Trolka who is rebelling against the Ferach Empire, but the chance to add a bit of muscle to my Savant Zombie section was too good to miss!

How I've used them in my games
While I haven't used the cavalry figure yet, the infantry have been very useful. Just one or two can be used to really strengthen any Ferach section and are great for beginners as they are easy to use, and fairly forgiving if you make a mistake. If you use points to build your sections they can be expensive (30 point basic cost for even a Raw figure) but with an unmodified steady rating of 6, with 6 wounds and starting at +5 in combat they can give the Witchlands player a very bad day.

The fact that they can carry a Skandavian Kannonderbuss is also useful as this is basically an artillery piece. At short ranges (under 15cm) this weapon fires at 60/18 when using Roundshotte or 80/10 when using Kannister. Not many creatures can stand up to that!

A Trolka section is great to try out, you will always be outnumbered but if you don't let your force get spread out and mobbed then it really is a force to be reckoned with. Especially if supported by a Vampyre such as Rosafiend as outlined in my narrative below.

As I mentioned earlier I also painted an additional Trolka as a Savant Zombie to even the odds a bit. I've used the stats of the Ogre Savant Zombie as advised on page 83 of the 'Death in the Snow' book. Despite being dead this Trolka still has an unmodified steady rating of 6, with 7 wounds and a basic modifier of +4 in combat.

The continuing narrative
The Emperor Mordred knows that the Dark Czar is seeking the traitor Rosafiend so that he can make an example of her as there are rumours that others of her kind are considering joining her. She therefore doesn't stay in one place for too long but she is currently with Saindoux, a situation that she created in order to take on and frustrate the efforts of her nemesis Lady Wintermore.

To insure her safety the Emperor has insisted that she take a Trolka bodyguard, and they have become fanatically loyal. While they would never all leave her undefended, some of their number have joined Saindoux's forces in battles with Witchlands troops. They have heard that Lady Wintermore has a Zombie Trolka and the thought of one of their brothers being used in this way has fired them up to oppose her whenever and wherever they can.

If she gets a chance Lady Rosafiend would also like to meet Lady Wintermore with teeth and claw, and the feeling is mutual!

What's next 
I hope that you've enjoyed reading about how I've brought the mighty Trolka into my games. I've now got fairly large forces for both sides in the Witchlands conflict so rather than creating new units I'm concentrating on individual characters and unusual figures to spice up my scenarios. I'll let you know about some soon, so until next time......

Thank you for reading.

Andy