Trollblood Tactics, pt 1: Mulg vs Rok - the Eternal Question

I haven't been doing a lot of posts in a while, but I'm hoping to change that. Expect more battle reports in the coming future, hopefully at least 2 a week from myself. In the meantime, here's this:

In an effort to be a more effective blogger (and forestall further increments of Skorne fanfiction... even if it is a fun read...), I'm going to be doing posts on subjects that, for me, don't have definitive answers or advice elsewhere.

All of us, at one point or another, come across a question or an issue -- indeed, one would say a indubitable conundrum -- in Warmachine/Hordes list building, tactics, or with a model (or 2) that we either:
1): cannot, for the sake of delicious apple pie, find an answer for (despite developing short term carpal tunnel by apparently angering the Google itself with unceasing attempts),
2): find so many answers, counter answers, and arguments for/against that it becomes a exhausting quest to mine useful information from the numberless hordes, or
3): find answers that, at the core of your being, you simply disagree with or feel are misguided.

Of those three possibilities, #2 is the most common, #1 the least (for the simple reason that many of the good stump-er questions/answers get a well thought out response eventually), while #3 can be the most downright frustrating.

Today's Conundrum: Mulg or Rök?

In terms of Heavy Warbeasts, Trollblood players have approximately 6 choices (not counting the Mountain King, aka -- apparently-- "Bruce"). Let's break them down a little:

Shooting: Blitzer and Bomber - they both shoot, have Fury 4, can do melee (but will need some help), and have a useful animi.
Melee/Support: Earthborn and Mauler - melee powerhouses, the EBDT is more of a toolbox while the Mauler is flat out aggressive destruction. Both have very useful animi, and can wreck face.
Characters of Destruction: Mulg or Rök - the two deadliest Heavy Beasts that Trolls have, they play very differently. Lets discuss why, and determine which is "better" at what.

Side A: Mulg

Ah, Mulg the Ancient, the tactical nuclear missile's badass grandpa. The term "Mulg-ed" has long been a stand alone reference to "doomed in as short and bloody fashion", and your opponent likely knows that (or, bonus for you, very soon will). Here are the quick Pros and Cons.

Pros:
- P+S 19, Reach, Magical, Crit Smite main attack
- P+S 17, Open Fist secondary attack
- Mostly good stats - MAT 7, ARM 19, etc.
- 34 hit boxes. Just... damn.
- Great abilities - Relentless, Protective Fit, etc.
- Animus will flat out shut down enemy spells/animi.
- Fury 5, Threashold 10

Cons:
- SPD 4
- CMD 6, making his animus effect short ranged
- He's not a cheap date - 12pts is pretty expensive.
- He's a bit TOO powerful - don't expect him to live long against a smart opponent.

The Savvy: He can kill anything. I'm not kidding - there is not a single damn thing in Warmachine/Hordes that he cannot wreck, smite, crush, destroy, maim, or (assuming it was alive to begin with) eat in a single turn. Barring certain warcasters/warlocks (the Butcher(s), Thagrosh(s), Kromac on a good day, maaaaybe Terminus), I have not run into a single model in the entire game with more raw destructive potential than Mulg, and that includes a few Colossals/Gargantuans.

However, he first has to get there, and, despite being ludicrously powerful and annoyingly hard-to-kill, he's not invulnerable. Plus, your enemy will probably know all of that - Mulg is one of those models with a very well deserved reputation, and you don't play  the game long before figuring that out. Trolls have a messload of stuff that make up for this, however -- various feats, animi, and support spells provide speed boosts, and the ubiquitous trollblood brick (and snacks) only enhances his survivablity. Regardless, he is only one model - the enemy can and will kill him at the earliest opportunity, there are a metric crap-ton of things that can slow him down, and after everything else he still has his issues (like dealing with high DEF, being knocked down, Gorman, etc.).

His Niche: He can kill anything. Jacks, beasts, warcasters, warlocks, solos, UAs, whatever - he will kill it. Plus, he will shut down the enemy's spellcasting and animi when he's near them (assuming he survives the "kill it! kill it with fire!" knee jerk reaction), making him a great Brick model. This is particularly useful against attrition armies (skorne or trollbloods, for example) and Warmachine, as he can simply power through any ARM bonuses/damage penalties and lay waste to whatever he's targeting.

That being said, he will not work well against units - high DEF (e.g. kayazy) and/or numbers will be able to bog him down and tie him up for a while, especially if the enemy can block trampling lanes or reduce his speed. A tar-pitted Mulg is going to be in trouble.

Pairings of Note: Axer, whelps
Mulg really is a loner - he needs very little to function effectively, but whatever he does get make him even more deadly. The Axer is a great option, as +2 movement is just what the doctor ordered to counteract the speed issue, especially in those crucial first few turns when he's going to lag behind. Since you want to get as much use of of him as possible, most of the time it's best to max out his fury on a charge and kill as many things as possible. If he lives through the retaliation, you're really going to want whelps around to make sure he doesn't frenzy and so you can heal him up next turn.


Side B: Rök

The younger, drunker crazy uncle of the Dire Troll family, Rök brings a lot of things that Trolls don't get anywhere else, and he brings it with style. And by 'style', I mean 'deranged beer-soaked homicidal rampage'. Here's the lowdown:


Pros:
- Amusingly Aggressive (Berserk & Assault)
- Nasty-good Animus (with a MAT & STR boost!)
- P+S 18 Axe & P+S 16 Open fist = good
- Boostable 6" POW 14 Spray w/ Crit Freeze!
- MAT 7 and SPD 5 mean he's fast AND accurate
- Durable (Snacking, Regen, and decent hit points)
- Immunity:Cold (Khador might be inconvenienced)

Cons:
- Your beasts (him included) will frenzy with Primal
- 6" spray is a bit underwhelming and situational
- Berserk can be troublesome to use properly
- Effectively as hard to kill as a Mauler
- Lacks Reach
- Cheaper than Mulg, but more than a Mauler


The Savvy: Used properly, he can kill a few things in one turn. Berserk, Assault, SPD 5, and a boostable Spray attack make him the absolute bane of most infantry (especially heavy infantry, surprisingly), and Berserk gives him the option to have his cake and devour it too. Where Mulg can pick one or maybe two targets a turn and utterly smash them into pulp, Rök can conceivably take out a single big target -- or that pack of poor foolish infantry and (if you angle it right) the big target too. The Spray attack and Assault lets you clear out pesky solos and beast/jack buddies (henceforth known as "oh hello Paingivers, let me sing you the song of my people...") while beating the living tar out of the the big guy they were hiding behind.

Stop planning Berserk-a-geddon, because Rök is no Molit Karn -- he lacks (probably deliberately) the support abilities that maker Berserk ridiculous, such as reach, overtake, bulldoze, or sidestep. So instead of working his way through a unit or two, Rök needs to find a pack of models (maybe close to a heavy beast/jack or high-ARM target) and proceed to go to freaking town on them. Plus, thanks to Snacking, you have a rather efficient way to stop the berserk if you go nuts a little too close to your own lines -- namely, just eat something. Berserk ended. This has it's upsides and downsides - you can't crazy-snack your way through an enemy unit, but you also won't snack your way through your own units.

His Niche: Crowd Control, plus heavy hitting. That wall of advancing Man'o'War? Line Segments. That brick of Cetrati? *Burp* The Avatar of Menoth and those choir? Rubble and frozen corpses. And while you're at it, that Mauler on the other side of the field suddenly and unexpectedly went Primal'd batshit on the high-DEF enemy warlock.

What Rök really brings is versatility - he's kill-y enough to go toe-to-tow with heavy jack/beasts, his abilities let him face down heavy infantry better than any beast we have, and his animus is just what the doctor ordered for those assassination runs where your other beasts need just a little more oomf to take on Warcasters/Warlocks. Where Mulg can often be overkill, this guy is just about right for most situations, and can spread out the hurt a lot more.

Pairings of Note: Earthborn, Mauler, Blitzer, Light Beasts (especially the Axer and Night Troll)
Much like his club-wielding counterpart, Rök is fairly self contained, and anything else you bring is really just a bonus for him. However, where Mulg wants models to buff himself, Rök wants models that benefit from his animus the most. Troll Beasts (excluding Mulg and Rök) have always had a tough time hitting opponents - who can blame them, with an average MAT of 6? But, if you boost that MAT up to 8 (and throw in an extra +2 damage) you've pretty much solved that problem and then some. The Axer's Thresher ability benefits especially well from this, as does the new Night Troll with it's below-average MAT. The next problem arises when you realize that the beast will frenzy and you're going to lose it for a turn regardless - this alone makes whelps less of a good buy, as you could spend 2 points on models to pick up the slack on that turn.


Conclusion: I like 'em both, and I can see situations where either would be more useful. I've had Mulg for longer but haven't used him much (no, I have no idea why not), whereas Rök and his animus seem very centered on an all-out, 1 turn assault - which I often end up doing anyway, given retaliation from a smart opponent. I'll be using both of them from this point onward, though not always in the same list.