Post by Trollock on Mar 16, 2017 18:46:48 GMT
I have gotten many requests for this article that i wrote a while back on the PP forum. I recovered it from Google, and will post it here. Note that this contains no new info. I stopped playing Jarl after 9 games, 7 of which i won. He seems totally playable in PoD 
Disclaimer
By reading this post you may get the impression that i think Jarl is one of the best locks in trolls. This is not my point. This post is more my attempt to prove that he is not the WORST. I will however not include any other locks to compare him with that are worse, so perhaps all i can give you is my opinion that Jarl is playable in to a variety of match ups, and he can allow you not only to have fun, but to crush your opponent. Much of this might be him crutching on good beasts, and any lock might have done this as well or better, but that just means you can play whom ever you want and still do well. I take no responsibility for any irrational urge to play Jarl you may experience. Nor for any frustration you may feel afterwards if it does not work out. Results may vary. Be warned!
Intro
Dearest friends. The time has come for me to confess. My name is Trollock (actually, it isnt) and i am a Jarl-oholic. OK, not really, but i have been playing Jarl a bit lately, and i like him WAY more than i thought i would. The reason i started even trying was the arrival of the Power of Dhunia (PoD) theme force. The most common complaint about Jarl has always been that he has 3 upkeep spells and only 6 Fury. This means that if he wants to use his upkeeps he can not run a Kriel Stone, and Trolls with no Kriel Stone has always been controversial, especially in MK 3. PoD allows him to get his upkeeps up for free which allows him to play the Kriel Stone like any other caster. The drawback is that he can no longer include some of the options that was previously thought good with him.
The Power of Dhunia
I played Jarl only once outside the theme force. It worked better than i had anticipated, which made my mind open to giving him a second (and third and so on) chance when the theme was released. I think that the PoD is very strong for him, but have very little experience with him outside of it. He will surely play VERY differently focusing on high DEF and SPD rather on beefy beasts. All of my observations in this thread is based on playing a PoD list. If you are intrested in Jarl outside PoD, PG_Ryssen2 has several battle reports on his blog with him.
spelryssen.blogspot.se/
What is Jarl good at?
A question i myself was struggling with until i played a bit with him. I would probably summarize his strengths as follows:
- His feat is strong in to most lists. Even against Legion it is very strong, because if placed correctly it gives your beasts an effective +2 DEF in melee. Add in a whelp and they are now 15/20. Legion beasts will have a hard time cracking that. Sloan and Vlad 2 are probably the 2 casters that care the least about this feat. You should probably drop something else there.
- Jarl can kill 4 infantry models per turn. This does not sound super impressive, but it is Really noticeable, especially since he can do it from FAR away. Squishy solos and attachments never get to do their thing. Rocketeer die before they get to shoot your stuff. The Kriel Stone will be VERY hard to protect if you are in a mirror match. Cavalry models usually do not like boosted POW 12s. The possibilities are far reaching and they have to be experienced to be understood fully.
- Quicken allows your beasts (especially an EBDT) to get up field really quickly, and be very hard to shoot down. An EBDT in a forest will be DEF 16 against ranged attacks, and he charges 13" with no extra help the round after. He can easily disrupt the opponents formation seriously if they want to stay away from him.
- Jarl can move a lot outside his normal movement. This can allow him to walk up and shoot and walk back again (up to 7" outside his normal movement). This can also allow him to very quickly go out on a flank and take a flag late game, or he could hide in a forest after doing his activation. This too is VERY useful.
What is Jarl bad at?
This topic has historically been mostly about his fury starvation, but with PoD, that issue is not really relevant. He would be better with more Fury, but what caster wouldnt? Instead we have some actual weaknesses to think about.
- He offers no buff to damage (though very few of our casters do).
- He offers no buff to hitting.
- He offers a DEF buff, but at DEF 12, that is not super relevant (or is it?). He also offers no ARM buff.
- He is squishier than the average Troll caster. He is also not capable at killing off a heavy in a pinch like the Borkas and Madraks (though it is debatable if this is really relevant).
- He "has to" play in PoD (in the context of this article at least) and that limits his choices very significantly.
- He has no obvious good match ups where his abilities will let you win in list selection.
- If you upkeep all his spells, that costs you 3 Fury a turn.
So, that is quite the list. He has many sneaky tricks when it comes to removing the opponents models, but offers little direct support to anything, especially not in PoD. His buffs are unit centered at a glance, and you can not bring any real units.
What do do with him then?
Late one evening i threw together a list with 5 heavies. I call the concept "Jalle å Heavies" (this will sound hilarious to Swdish warmachine players all over the world ) I have been playing very similar lists with many many casters and though it looked wonky on paper at first, it has worked super well on the table. The list has a bit of everything and has gone through several permutations but has stayed true to its core of "many heavies". Here is my latest version:
Trollbloods Army - 75 / 75 points
Theme: The Power of Dhunia
(Skuld 1) Jarl Skuld, Devil of the Thornwood [+30]
Dire Troll Bomber [19]
Dire Troll Bomber [19]
Dire Troll Mauler [15]
Dire Troll Mauler [15]
Earthborn Dire Troll [15]
Trollkin Runebearer [0]
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (min) [6]
Stone Scribe Elder [3]
Trollkin Sorcerer (1) [3]
Dhunian Knot [6]
Troll Whelps [0]
Troll Whelps [0]
Northkin Shaman [4]
The list has some points floating around, and it is possible to get a light or Runeshapers in there by tweaking it. I am pretty pleased with the looks of it atm though. My though process on the essentials is that i start with double Bombers. These guys are incredible plain and simple. Though Grissel 2 and Gunnbjorn does it better, 2 Bombers that shoot at the same heavy can cripple it. Add in some chipping damage from Jarl or just an extra round of shooting due to the bomber being 15" away from the target after shooting at it, and you can start killing off heavies before they get to do anything. Now add in the feat that should buy you another turn, and this forces the opponent for come to you, and he wants to get there fast. Oh, and if they brought infantry, 4 x 4" AoE + Jarls personal abilities with pistols will really help you along.
With 3 models that shoot every turn with powerful attacks, the Dhunia Knot is a very strong inclusion. Bombers that have to boost to hit are far less thrilled but RAT 5 vs DEF 10-12 becomes totally fine if you add in a re-roll. Same for Jarl. RAT 7 is a bit low for shooting infantry, but he can often aim to 9, and by adding in a re-roll i dare take the chance and not boost to hit. This makes his fury last way better. 6 points are a lot, but since they turn on such a big part of your list, i think it is well worth it here.
Where there are Bombers, there needs to be Maulers. With 2 of them i dare use them for fighting without the feat of losing access to Rage early on. They are very good at killing heavies that make it through to your lines. If one of them Rages the other it also takes Fury load off Jarl. They are simply good beasts. Period.
Since i had decided to go for 5 heavies, the EBDT felt like a natural 5th dude. Turns out this is a superb piece. when MK3 spoilers hit i was really dismayed, thinking the EBDT was now unplayable. I was wrong. It does not do what it used to, but it is still VERY strong. His job here is usually to rush toward the enemy zone at top speed. Then he tries to be annoying until he dies. Sounds pretty weak, but he is so good at utilizing terrain, and the immunities make him surprisingly hard to kill. All the while he threatens to charge a long way with Rage up and kill something important. Trust me, it works really well in practice.
Then we have the Runebearer. In a sense, he got nerfed with jarl since MK2, since he can not cast Quicken (that costs 3), but now you do not need to cast it yourself, and getting a free Magic Bullet each turn means 2 extra Fury. He is auto include for sure.
The Kriel stone is mandatory for me in this list. Jarl can drop 5-6 Fury in it turn 1 and then it is probably set for a while. +2 ARM takes your beasts survivability in to the "hard to kill" range, and when combined with a whelp and the feat, Living models will not be able to do much against you. I want an Elder, because even though you have 5 heavies, they only hit "pretty hard" with Rage up. +1 allows them to start one rounding opposing heavies. If you have a King with high natural POW, +1 more just makes you save a Fury on an attack you no longer have to buy, but going from POW 18 to 19 can allow you to not have to bring in a second heavy to finish the job.
Whelps are mandatory. You will be running hot on Fury, and they work fine as Fury management here. Make sure you cover LoS to them so they do not get sniped out. Two units are not mandatory, but it is hilarious.
The rest of the list is pretty optional. You could tweak it as you wish. Some will want to get an Axer in there. Slag Trolls or Bouncer are also interesting. Runeshapers can be good too, but i do not like them very much. I went with the unusual Sorcerer on the Kriel Stone. I can dump all 6 Fury in to the stone, and the Sorcerer will actually kill a guy every now and then. You can drop him, the Stone Elder and a unit of whelps/shaman to get 10 points for a preferred option. Having only a min stone is sub optimal imo though. I prefer this version, though it piece trades worse.
So, How does this work?
That is a good question, and one that I am not sure i can explain. Basically you shoot a lot, and make sure to remove key models with Magic Bullet. Killing Ragman is the same as getting +2 ARM on your stuff. Killing a couple of rocketeers will save your beasts from harm. Clearing your own flag/zone becomes trivial with Magic Bullet and Black Penny. Meanwhile, your EBDT contests as well as it can, and you use your feat to prevent the opponent from alpha striking effectively. Force them to come to you, and when they get there, smash their face in. If they jam with infantry, you use Jarl to free your bombers who then shoot down more infantry. If they go in with heavier things, Maulers kill those things, allowing Bombers to continue shooting at the rest of the army. I have no actual battle reports, but here are the games i have played so far. I am 6-0 with Jarl against random lists.
Jarl vs Caine 2
Ugh... Caine 2 seems like a strictly better version of Jarl. However, his list was not equipped to handle 5 ARM 20 Heavies. Caine sees through the feat, but not all of his force does. I ground them down and won on scenario by scoring my flag repeatedly. Lost 1 heavy.
Jarl vs Rasheth (shooting)
The feat was magnificent. I ran up outside threat ranges, then on the next turn i move up and shoot and feat. He did nothing and i continued shooting. I ground him down and won on scenario by scoring my flag. lost no heavies.
Jarl vs Thagrosh 1
The EBDT was super hard to kill for him. My beasts were effectively 15/20 on my feat turn against his beasts, and his infantry could not see them at all. I ground him down and moved off to the side to start scoring a flag. Won on attrition and scenario followed. I think i lost 1 heavy.
Jarl vs Vlad 2
In this game, i have no feat. However, i shot down Drakhuns with my Bombers, and rocketeers with Jarl. He spent his entire army killing my EBDT on his feat turn (he had horrible dice). Then i killed the feated Kayazy with boosted blasts and he had basically nothing left. Lost 1 heavy. Got dealers choice on winning on assassination or scenario.
Jarl vs Vlad 1
He had 50 dudes and 3 heavies. I also forgot to feat, but he couldn't quite exploit it. I killed 10 infantry dudes per turn. Lost 2 heavies and killed his entire army. He had 3 rifles left in the end and i won on scenario.
Jarl vs Bethayne
He managed to drag out a Mauler on my feat turn, but the stone was far enough up to cover it still. He spent his entire army including his caster to kill it (he didnt want to feat), and that left him exposed. Magic Bullet plus two bombers put him down, though i rolled extremely poorly. Could have played for attrition instead though but we wanted to play more games so i went for it.
All of these games have been long but brutal. I have basically ended up with 3-4 heavies left when the opponent ran out of army. Whelps to manage fury during the long grinds are crucial, and the feat can buy you a turn. I have been lucky and gotten to go first more often than not and that is super good. You push the battle line so far up that you can trivially clear your zone while doing serious damage to the opponents army. I honestly do not know exactly why this works so well, but so far, it has. Killing 4 infantry of your choice each turn is VERY strong, and blocking LOS for a turn is too. Our heavies are good, and the opponent seem to run out of steam before you run out of heavies. Once they start "almost" killing your heavies, you can rotate that one back and let another take the next punch.
So far, i have not run in to any of the metabenders, and i might not fare well enough against them, but that is true for so many troll lists. You have options though, and perhaps it works better on the table than on paper. This seems to be Jarl in a nutshell. So i wont tell you to go play Jarl. He is not our best caster. But if you do want to play him, this way seems to work just fine, and it has been fun
Disclaimer
By reading this post you may get the impression that i think Jarl is one of the best locks in trolls. This is not my point. This post is more my attempt to prove that he is not the WORST. I will however not include any other locks to compare him with that are worse, so perhaps all i can give you is my opinion that Jarl is playable in to a variety of match ups, and he can allow you not only to have fun, but to crush your opponent. Much of this might be him crutching on good beasts, and any lock might have done this as well or better, but that just means you can play whom ever you want and still do well. I take no responsibility for any irrational urge to play Jarl you may experience. Nor for any frustration you may feel afterwards if it does not work out. Results may vary. Be warned!
Intro
Dearest friends. The time has come for me to confess. My name is Trollock (actually, it isnt) and i am a Jarl-oholic. OK, not really, but i have been playing Jarl a bit lately, and i like him WAY more than i thought i would. The reason i started even trying was the arrival of the Power of Dhunia (PoD) theme force. The most common complaint about Jarl has always been that he has 3 upkeep spells and only 6 Fury. This means that if he wants to use his upkeeps he can not run a Kriel Stone, and Trolls with no Kriel Stone has always been controversial, especially in MK 3. PoD allows him to get his upkeeps up for free which allows him to play the Kriel Stone like any other caster. The drawback is that he can no longer include some of the options that was previously thought good with him.
The Power of Dhunia
I played Jarl only once outside the theme force. It worked better than i had anticipated, which made my mind open to giving him a second (and third and so on) chance when the theme was released. I think that the PoD is very strong for him, but have very little experience with him outside of it. He will surely play VERY differently focusing on high DEF and SPD rather on beefy beasts. All of my observations in this thread is based on playing a PoD list. If you are intrested in Jarl outside PoD, PG_Ryssen2 has several battle reports on his blog with him.
spelryssen.blogspot.se/
What is Jarl good at?
A question i myself was struggling with until i played a bit with him. I would probably summarize his strengths as follows:
- His feat is strong in to most lists. Even against Legion it is very strong, because if placed correctly it gives your beasts an effective +2 DEF in melee. Add in a whelp and they are now 15/20. Legion beasts will have a hard time cracking that. Sloan and Vlad 2 are probably the 2 casters that care the least about this feat. You should probably drop something else there.
- Jarl can kill 4 infantry models per turn. This does not sound super impressive, but it is Really noticeable, especially since he can do it from FAR away. Squishy solos and attachments never get to do their thing. Rocketeer die before they get to shoot your stuff. The Kriel Stone will be VERY hard to protect if you are in a mirror match. Cavalry models usually do not like boosted POW 12s. The possibilities are far reaching and they have to be experienced to be understood fully.
- Quicken allows your beasts (especially an EBDT) to get up field really quickly, and be very hard to shoot down. An EBDT in a forest will be DEF 16 against ranged attacks, and he charges 13" with no extra help the round after. He can easily disrupt the opponents formation seriously if they want to stay away from him.
- Jarl can move a lot outside his normal movement. This can allow him to walk up and shoot and walk back again (up to 7" outside his normal movement). This can also allow him to very quickly go out on a flank and take a flag late game, or he could hide in a forest after doing his activation. This too is VERY useful.
What is Jarl bad at?
This topic has historically been mostly about his fury starvation, but with PoD, that issue is not really relevant. He would be better with more Fury, but what caster wouldnt? Instead we have some actual weaknesses to think about.
- He offers no buff to damage (though very few of our casters do).
- He offers no buff to hitting.
- He offers a DEF buff, but at DEF 12, that is not super relevant (or is it?). He also offers no ARM buff.
- He is squishier than the average Troll caster. He is also not capable at killing off a heavy in a pinch like the Borkas and Madraks (though it is debatable if this is really relevant).
- He "has to" play in PoD (in the context of this article at least) and that limits his choices very significantly.
- He has no obvious good match ups where his abilities will let you win in list selection.
- If you upkeep all his spells, that costs you 3 Fury a turn.
So, that is quite the list. He has many sneaky tricks when it comes to removing the opponents models, but offers little direct support to anything, especially not in PoD. His buffs are unit centered at a glance, and you can not bring any real units.
What do do with him then?
Late one evening i threw together a list with 5 heavies. I call the concept "Jalle å Heavies" (this will sound hilarious to Swdish warmachine players all over the world ) I have been playing very similar lists with many many casters and though it looked wonky on paper at first, it has worked super well on the table. The list has a bit of everything and has gone through several permutations but has stayed true to its core of "many heavies". Here is my latest version:
Trollbloods Army - 75 / 75 points
Theme: The Power of Dhunia
(Skuld 1) Jarl Skuld, Devil of the Thornwood [+30]
Dire Troll Bomber [19]
Dire Troll Bomber [19]
Dire Troll Mauler [15]
Dire Troll Mauler [15]
Earthborn Dire Troll [15]
Trollkin Runebearer [0]
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (min) [6]
Stone Scribe Elder [3]
Trollkin Sorcerer (1) [3]
Dhunian Knot [6]
Troll Whelps [0]
Troll Whelps [0]
Northkin Shaman [4]
The list has some points floating around, and it is possible to get a light or Runeshapers in there by tweaking it. I am pretty pleased with the looks of it atm though. My though process on the essentials is that i start with double Bombers. These guys are incredible plain and simple. Though Grissel 2 and Gunnbjorn does it better, 2 Bombers that shoot at the same heavy can cripple it. Add in some chipping damage from Jarl or just an extra round of shooting due to the bomber being 15" away from the target after shooting at it, and you can start killing off heavies before they get to do anything. Now add in the feat that should buy you another turn, and this forces the opponent for come to you, and he wants to get there fast. Oh, and if they brought infantry, 4 x 4" AoE + Jarls personal abilities with pistols will really help you along.
With 3 models that shoot every turn with powerful attacks, the Dhunia Knot is a very strong inclusion. Bombers that have to boost to hit are far less thrilled but RAT 5 vs DEF 10-12 becomes totally fine if you add in a re-roll. Same for Jarl. RAT 7 is a bit low for shooting infantry, but he can often aim to 9, and by adding in a re-roll i dare take the chance and not boost to hit. This makes his fury last way better. 6 points are a lot, but since they turn on such a big part of your list, i think it is well worth it here.
Where there are Bombers, there needs to be Maulers. With 2 of them i dare use them for fighting without the feat of losing access to Rage early on. They are very good at killing heavies that make it through to your lines. If one of them Rages the other it also takes Fury load off Jarl. They are simply good beasts. Period.
Since i had decided to go for 5 heavies, the EBDT felt like a natural 5th dude. Turns out this is a superb piece. when MK3 spoilers hit i was really dismayed, thinking the EBDT was now unplayable. I was wrong. It does not do what it used to, but it is still VERY strong. His job here is usually to rush toward the enemy zone at top speed. Then he tries to be annoying until he dies. Sounds pretty weak, but he is so good at utilizing terrain, and the immunities make him surprisingly hard to kill. All the while he threatens to charge a long way with Rage up and kill something important. Trust me, it works really well in practice.
Then we have the Runebearer. In a sense, he got nerfed with jarl since MK2, since he can not cast Quicken (that costs 3), but now you do not need to cast it yourself, and getting a free Magic Bullet each turn means 2 extra Fury. He is auto include for sure.
The Kriel stone is mandatory for me in this list. Jarl can drop 5-6 Fury in it turn 1 and then it is probably set for a while. +2 ARM takes your beasts survivability in to the "hard to kill" range, and when combined with a whelp and the feat, Living models will not be able to do much against you. I want an Elder, because even though you have 5 heavies, they only hit "pretty hard" with Rage up. +1 allows them to start one rounding opposing heavies. If you have a King with high natural POW, +1 more just makes you save a Fury on an attack you no longer have to buy, but going from POW 18 to 19 can allow you to not have to bring in a second heavy to finish the job.
Whelps are mandatory. You will be running hot on Fury, and they work fine as Fury management here. Make sure you cover LoS to them so they do not get sniped out. Two units are not mandatory, but it is hilarious.
The rest of the list is pretty optional. You could tweak it as you wish. Some will want to get an Axer in there. Slag Trolls or Bouncer are also interesting. Runeshapers can be good too, but i do not like them very much. I went with the unusual Sorcerer on the Kriel Stone. I can dump all 6 Fury in to the stone, and the Sorcerer will actually kill a guy every now and then. You can drop him, the Stone Elder and a unit of whelps/shaman to get 10 points for a preferred option. Having only a min stone is sub optimal imo though. I prefer this version, though it piece trades worse.
So, How does this work?
That is a good question, and one that I am not sure i can explain. Basically you shoot a lot, and make sure to remove key models with Magic Bullet. Killing Ragman is the same as getting +2 ARM on your stuff. Killing a couple of rocketeers will save your beasts from harm. Clearing your own flag/zone becomes trivial with Magic Bullet and Black Penny. Meanwhile, your EBDT contests as well as it can, and you use your feat to prevent the opponent from alpha striking effectively. Force them to come to you, and when they get there, smash their face in. If they jam with infantry, you use Jarl to free your bombers who then shoot down more infantry. If they go in with heavier things, Maulers kill those things, allowing Bombers to continue shooting at the rest of the army. I have no actual battle reports, but here are the games i have played so far. I am 6-0 with Jarl against random lists.
Jarl vs Caine 2
Ugh... Caine 2 seems like a strictly better version of Jarl. However, his list was not equipped to handle 5 ARM 20 Heavies. Caine sees through the feat, but not all of his force does. I ground them down and won on scenario by scoring my flag repeatedly. Lost 1 heavy.
Jarl vs Rasheth (shooting)
The feat was magnificent. I ran up outside threat ranges, then on the next turn i move up and shoot and feat. He did nothing and i continued shooting. I ground him down and won on scenario by scoring my flag. lost no heavies.
Jarl vs Thagrosh 1
The EBDT was super hard to kill for him. My beasts were effectively 15/20 on my feat turn against his beasts, and his infantry could not see them at all. I ground him down and moved off to the side to start scoring a flag. Won on attrition and scenario followed. I think i lost 1 heavy.
Jarl vs Vlad 2
In this game, i have no feat. However, i shot down Drakhuns with my Bombers, and rocketeers with Jarl. He spent his entire army killing my EBDT on his feat turn (he had horrible dice). Then i killed the feated Kayazy with boosted blasts and he had basically nothing left. Lost 1 heavy. Got dealers choice on winning on assassination or scenario.
Jarl vs Vlad 1
He had 50 dudes and 3 heavies. I also forgot to feat, but he couldn't quite exploit it. I killed 10 infantry dudes per turn. Lost 2 heavies and killed his entire army. He had 3 rifles left in the end and i won on scenario.
Jarl vs Bethayne
He managed to drag out a Mauler on my feat turn, but the stone was far enough up to cover it still. He spent his entire army including his caster to kill it (he didnt want to feat), and that left him exposed. Magic Bullet plus two bombers put him down, though i rolled extremely poorly. Could have played for attrition instead though but we wanted to play more games so i went for it.
All of these games have been long but brutal. I have basically ended up with 3-4 heavies left when the opponent ran out of army. Whelps to manage fury during the long grinds are crucial, and the feat can buy you a turn. I have been lucky and gotten to go first more often than not and that is super good. You push the battle line so far up that you can trivially clear your zone while doing serious damage to the opponents army. I honestly do not know exactly why this works so well, but so far, it has. Killing 4 infantry of your choice each turn is VERY strong, and blocking LOS for a turn is too. Our heavies are good, and the opponent seem to run out of steam before you run out of heavies. Once they start "almost" killing your heavies, you can rotate that one back and let another take the next punch.
So far, i have not run in to any of the metabenders, and i might not fare well enough against them, but that is true for so many troll lists. You have options though, and perhaps it works better on the table than on paper. This seems to be Jarl in a nutshell. So i wont tell you to go play Jarl. He is not our best caster. But if you do want to play him, this way seems to work just fine, and it has been fun
