List Building - another example

More on list building this time with my other favourite caster epic Doomshaper. Since I've already gone through the basics I'll start with my list and then explain it.

Trollbloods
Standard Army
PCs: 35 / 35
8 models

[00] Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia (0 / 6 WB)
[12]  >> Mulg the Ancient
[10]  >> Earthborn Dire Troll
[09]  >> Dire Troll Mauler
[06]  >> Troll Axer
[03] Janissa Stonetide
[01] Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

eDoomshaper is in many ways the exact opposite of eCaine, his feat only helps beasts, his spells only help beasts, and he has two abilities that work with beasts. He offers nothing to troops. It should not be surprising then that his list is composed entirely of beasts.

Why those beasts though? Mulg is without a doubt the best troll beast, he has reach, ridiculous P+S on his main weapon, magic weapon (rare for a beast) but even more he has an affinity for doomshaper that will allow him to make an extra attack for free if the thing he is smacking is not dead yet. Also doomshaper is able to cast the animus of a dire troll for free, Mulg's animus is meaningless for this ability as eDoomshaper should not be close enough to the enemy for it to do anything.

That leaves the other dire trolls. eDoomshaper's feat and wild aggression both work for melee beasts so that leans you towards the earthborn and the mauler, also the bombers animus is not particularly useful for an all beast army (no blast damage for one model and those B2B) and the Blizters has a range of self and again Doomshaper should not be close enough to the enemy to use it. So again doomshaper's synergies point you towards the Earthborn and Mauler. I've taken one of each. The Mauler has a great offensive animus and the Earthborn a great defensive animus. The Mauler is a more general beatstick but the Earthborn is able to use the POW of your opponents weapons which makes it great for destroying casters especially with Wild aggression (which boosts to hit rolls, casters tend to have high DEF and high POW weapons).

Next the Axer. Mulg's feat and if needed the earthborn animus is often enough to give you all the charge distance you need but just in case you can throw in the axer too. If gives you extra movement and pathfinder so you can get your beasts across rough terrain as well as giving them a greater threat range. The other thing that is great about the axer is reach and thresher. It will destroy infantry and it can be run light on fury to give Doomshaper something to transfer damage to, it also benefits from eDoomshaper's feat.

Janissa has rock wall. This is one of the best abilities in the game. Put it right in front of a beast and you cannot charge that beast unless you have reach and you get bonus DEF against enemies shooting or stabbing over the wall, put it further away and you can't charge unless you have pathfinder and it gives you a ready made obstacle for elemental communication (which the earthborn can give other models with it's animus) which gives you bonus ARM. In this list she is here to put a rock wall in front of two of the beasts (it only fits that many), have eDoomshaper give out the earthborn animus and have everything +2 ARM.

Swamp Gobbers. I had one point left over. Swamp gobbers can smokescreen your caster (and maybe Janissa too). It's an extra layer of protection for your caster.

In addition to the obvious stuff this list has some tricks. Refuge Mulg into a very threatening position (preferably into melee with your opponents caster) and force your opponent to use all his heavy destroying resources to destroy him leaving your real assassin the Earthborn safe. Goad, Wild aggression and Rage on the Earthborn should be enough to destroy all but the most heavily protected caster. Alternately Refuge one of your heavies back behind Janissa's wall.