Trollbloods: Northkin Fire Eaters
Time to check out yet another Trollblood unit. This time it’s the Northkin Fire Eaters.
This new unit competes for the hotly contested 4 point spot already filled by a lot of other great Trollblood choices. Swamp Trolls, Krielstone Bearer and Scribes with Elder, as well as min units of Burrowers and Kriel Warriors will all set you back the same number of points as these new guys. But their true rivals seem like the Runeshapers. Both units consist of three multi-wounders with short range but powerful attacks, and of course, they both cost three points. What makes the Fire Eaters worth considering?
Before stats even come into play, you have to consider Advance Deployment. Hordes (and of course Warmachine) is about so much more than just killing your opponents. You want to get up into their business and earn control points. AD gives you the extra distance you need to get there faster. And having SPD 6 just make the Fire Breathers even better at this – although they don’t have Pathfinder which can make maneuvering tricky. You’ll need luck, or an opponent that’s off their game to actually score with just the Fire Eaters. But just being able to threaten enemy zones and flags with them early will help you force your opponent to play on your terms. Then while they’re busy trying to chase out your Fire Eaters you can be Dominating your own zone.
Fire Eaters are also fairly resilient which is important if you’re going to try to grab or threaten objectives. It will take more than a bit of scattered gun fire or a well placed Blast to make them go away. While they’re not as heavily armored as their Runeshaper counterparts they’re one of those rare troll units with DEF 13. If you don’t play Trolls you don’t know how low DEF 12 really is. That 1 extra point makes more difference in defense than nearly any other stat – at least that’s what Scouts with their DEF 13 have taught me. CRAs are still pretty dangerous though, even with five wounds. But in a pinch Tough is always there to possibly maybe save you. Oh and there’s Fearless too. It won’t make them harder to kill, but they also won’t run packing when something scary comes along.
The RAT on these guys is a little low at a 6, but they have that whole Fire’s Fury thing going on, so you can get all their attack and damage rolls boosted. You just have to get them set on fire. A Pyre Troll can help here, but one member of the unit can always set the others on fire. Plan for this the turn ahead by arranging the unit in such a way that a model in the rear can assault and catch the other two. Then they can go off assaulting on their own. They might leave they’re buddy out of coherency but no big. Be very wary of lighting these guys up though. Even with +5 ARM against fire, there’s a good chance they’ll end up dead within a turn or two. On average rolls they’ll take a point or two of damage from a POW 12 fire hit plus more each turn if the fire doesn’t go out. There’s a slim chance they’ll die just from the first hit so it’s a gamble. You’ll get the most out of these guys if you put them on a flank and have them burn up any infantry that get stuck in with other models. This is pretty convenient since most objectives are a little off center, so they’ll be there already.
There’s one last really important thing about the Fire Eaters. They have three interesting keywords/abilities that allow them to fit in to several theme lists adding some new spice to underused tiers. They’re a Pyg unit with ranged weapons and Advance Deployment. The Pyg distinction will get them into Grissel 1’s Blood of Bragg Tier where they’ll help clear out infantry that gets jammed up on your Kriel Warriors. Especially since potentially boosted sprays can help with the heavier infantry the warriors might struggle with. Pyg units also play an important role in Grim Angus’ Tier, which was pretty much forgotten about on sight given how limiting it is. But now that you can take four point Fire Breather units, it’s not particularly restrictive to field up to six units in total. This will allow you to lay down three four inch forest templates and have enough points left over for a couple of bombers, a pyre, and an Impaler. Or you could really go crazy and drop the bombers for a Mountain King… As a unit with a ranged weapon, these guys will also fit into a Gunnbjorn theme. A nice little AD unit like this could help delay your opponent’s advance and give Gunn more time for shooting. Lastly they fit into Bearka’s Tier because of AD, but I think we can safely say that was intentional. I mean they were both released at the same time right? And you’ll definitely want them with him since they have Immunity: Cold.
What it really boils down to is that the Firebreathers are just another great tool for the Trollblood faction. They’re not an auto include, but they can do great things if used properly. I look forward to trying them more whenever I play Trollbloods.
~Hope you enjoyed the article. What do you think of the Firebreathers?
