Cassius

This is Crump's list which he used to qualify for masters at GENCON. He also played Cassius in the masters where he came fourth but GENCON masters was 75 points.


Circle Orboros
Standard Army
PCs: 50 / 50
38 models

[00] Cassius the Oathkeeper (0 / 6 WB)
[00]  >> Wurmwood, Tree of Fate (Companion)
[10]  >> Warpwolf Stalker
[09]  >> Woldwarden
[04]  >> Gorax
[02] Shifting Stones
[01]  >> Stone Keeper
[02] Shifting Stones
[09] Tharn Ravagers (5 grunts)
[02]  >> Tharn Ravager Chieftain
[02] Saxon Orrik
[02] Farrow Bone Grinders (3 grunts)
[06] Farrow Slaughterhousers
[06] Farrow Slaughterhousers
[01] Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

The bellows crew is important as you can use it to give the tree or the Stalker stealth. The woldwarden animus can do the same thing (generally you'll have the Woldwarden forward with the Stalker and the Bellows Crew back with Wurmwood). The Woldwarden does a similar job to the Gallows Groves, allowing you to get your spells out when you don't want to teleport otherwise the bone grinders give you extra spell range and you can move forward to cast your spells and teleport back. Tharn Ravagers are DEF 15 in a forest and ignore the terrain penalties to LOS and movement and can move through other models in the forest (both the one made by Cassius feat and the Woldwarden). The chieftain makes them POW 15 on the charge and gives them advance deployment. The other trick you can do in this list is that you can kill your own models for more souls on Wurmwood. In particular you can kill the bonegrinders. 

I also think if you don't like slaughterhousers (or don't have them) you can take Nyss Hunters or Blood Trackers without losing a great deal as those are both spectacular units, they also give you another two points for another solo, you can actually drop Saxon Orrik as well as he's mainly there to give the slaughterhousers pathfinder and you have 4 points for two solos or a lord of the feast. The reason slaughterhousers are in there is because they are so toolboxy (to continue my trend of making up words). Take Down gets rid of soul collecting or corpse collecting shenanigans and stops tough, powerful charge makes them MAT 8 on a charge and if you put some damage on a beast/jack they become weaponmasters, they also have reach which again is very useful in some circumstances. That and they can hang back and give Cassius some much needed protection and they have tough so they can be a pain to get through.

Here's the 75 point list because what the hey:

Circle Orboros

Standard Army

PCs: 75 / 75

56 models

[00] Cassius the Oathkeeper (0 / 6 WB)

[00]  >> Wurmwood, Tree of Fate (Companion)

[10]  >> Warpwolf Stalker

[10]  >> Warpwolf Stalker

[09]  >> Woldwarden

[04]  >> Gorax

[01] Gallows Grove

[01] Gallows Grove

[03] Tharn Ravager White Mane

[03] Sentry Stone & Mannikins

[02] Shifting Stones

[01]  >> Stone Keeper

[02] Shifting Stones

[08] Tharn Bloodtrackers (9 grunts)

[02]  >> Nuala the Huntress

[09] Tharn Ravagers (5 grunts)

[02]  >> Tharn Ravager Chieftain

[03] Farrow Bone Grinders (5 grunts)

[10] Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (9 grunts)

[01] Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

Flanzer's Trolls at GENCON

My brain is fried so I'm going to take a break from uni shit and think about warmachine. In particular I've been meaning to analyse Flanzer's lists from GENCON. Jason Flanzer is one of the top players in the US, he changes factions pretty regularly and of all the players he's the one I look out for the most becausse he tends to play very different, very interesting lists. He definitely did that at masters taking a mountain king into the final. He lost but the fact that he made it that far with a mountain king tells you that it can be made to work. So lets have a look at his list:

Trollbloods
Runes of War (Hoarluk Doomshaper)
(Tier 4)
PCs: 75 / 75
34 models

[00] Hoarluk Doomshaper, Shaman of the Gnarls (0 / 7 WB)
[20]  >> Mountain King
[12]  >> Mulg the Ancient
[10]  >> Earthborn Dire Troll
[09]  >> Dire Troll Mauler
[06]  >> Troll Axer
[03] Janissa Stonetide
[02] Troll Whelps
[04] Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (5 grunts)
[01]  >> Stone Scribe Elder
[03] Trollkin Runeshapers
[03] Trollkin Runeshapers
[03] Trollkin Runeshapers
[03] Trollkin Runeshapers
[03] Trollkin Runeshapers

So first thing to note. ARM buffs, this list has them. With the Earthborn, Janissa and the krielstone the MK will be ARM 23 most turns without using his upkeep slot which  means you can then throw banishing ward on him. That means no enemy spells may be cast at him which makes it very hard to drop his ARM unless you have purification. The wall from Janissa also helps to keep him safe. Still you're starting off with 10 less health than a regular colossal and the wall can't completely protect him and the DEF bonus it gives isn't really going to help. While your earthborn hides behind the wall only reach weapons can hit him and he's DEF 14 if they do. MK behind a wall is DEF 11 in melee swinging over the wall or you can just go around/over it. I suppose the key here is that the earthborn, krielstone and Janissa are already in the list so you that ARM buff was already there.

Offensively - You have fortune which helps both his MAT and RAT and with a 10" spray that's actually pretty useful. You've got rage to take him to P+S 22, rush to give him 12" threat and the strength bonus from the krielstone if he needs it. The key here is the runeshapers. They bring a shitload of knockdown to the table. They can make sure he actually hits his targets. 

So add all this together, does that make the mountain king worth taking. Almost definitely no but talking this tier list at 75 points, then yes he's worth including. Not an auto include but not silly to take either. Quick explanation: The benefits of the tier list are fantastic but it is really restrictive, you can only take two units: the krielstone (and only one unit of krielstone bearers) and Runeshapers. There are already 5 units of runeshapers, that's not only a lot of models to buy but they all do the same thing and that's put out short range shots and knock down stuff. They are only middle of the range in melee, doomshaper needs his beasts to really tear things up in melee but he's only fury 7 and in his 50 point list he already has 3 heavies and a light (it's this list minus the mountain king, a unit of runeshapers and whelps). He'll struggle to take two more heavies, even if he takes a bunch of whelps his fury management is going to be really difficult. The mountain king won't do as much as two heavies but it also is easier to manage the fury from. And it will do slightly more for it's fury than a beast that is not Mulg. 

His other list:

Trollbloods

Family Reunion (Borka Kegslayer)

(Tier 4) 

PCs: 75 / 75

39 models

[00] Borka Kegslayer (0 / 5 WB)

[00]  >> Pyg Keg Carrier (Companion)

[09]  >> Dire Troll Mauler

[02] Stone Scribe Chronicler

[03] Trollkin Champion Hero

[03] Trollkin Champion Hero

[03] Trollkin Champion Hero

[03] Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (3 grunts)

[01]  >> Stone Scribe Elder

[05] Trollkin Champions (2 grunts)

[09] Trollkin Champions (4 grunts)

[09] Trollkin Champions (4 grunts)

[03]  >> Skaldi Bonehammer

[09] Trollkin War Wagon

[09] Trollkin War Wagon

[03] Gudrun the Wanderer

[09] Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (9 grunts)

Another theme force, another fantastic list. This one is surprisingly fast, is full of weapon masters, everything is really hard to kill and it has a lot of ranged threat as well. Great complement to the first list as it really does play quite differently. The first list is more defensive and attritiony, this one wants to get to get up in your face and does so quickly. I suppose the only surprise to some would be that Borka only has one beast. He only really needs one, the mauler stays back and is there almost entirely for his animus. Troll infantry is good enough that quite a few lists scrape by with only one beast.