Bill, Tom and Bert, the three trolls of Hobbit movie fame!
A lovely set of plastic kit figures, including their campfire. There are also differing hand options for the weapon hand.
I looked at some of the painted examples in the book, and on the web, and some of their how-to's...
I messed about a bit with colour washes/glazes using GW Lahmian medium mixes, but in the end came down to a simple heavy dry brush as being the most effective and quick way to produce decent results.
They are are not going to win and golden demon awards but they are table top standard playable in a reasonable time frame. ( I am trying to get through my LOTR lead mountain and may take a few short cuts here and there - I might even forgo eyes on rank and file troops! Shock horror! EDIT: I couldn't do it! Busy working on WoMT and still had to try and get the eyes right inside their helmets - nowt like making life difficult for yourself!).
There's actually not much to them, more or less two colours; flesh tone and their brown leather clothing... A little bit of decorative detail on the base lifts the overall impression...
The trolls have come down from the Ettenmoors from up north, and that idea made me think of heather in the Scottish highlands so I added some colourful heather clumps from Tajima Tufts. Some cork sheet made simple rock effects.
One of my favourite scenes from the movies... just wonderful characterization by PJ and the guys at Weta, not to mention the actors voices - just wonderful stuff - always brings a smile :-)
Three monstrous trolls! As dear old Bilbo put it...
 |
| Bill (Aka William Huggins. Who'd have thought a troll would have a surname!?) |
 |
| Tom |
 |
| Bert |
The above naming is as per the GW listings but I think they may have got them mixed up. If you compare some of the stats and special rules, they don't really match the on screen characters. And some of the online transcripts I have read ascribe the lines to differing named trolls... But as far as I see, as per the naming above, Bill is in charge, Bert is number two and Tom is the weakest!
Roast Mutton Again? These is West Nags!
 |
| Campfire |
A dwarf's eye view...
The trio once more...
And of course facing down the Dwarves of the Company of Thorin Oakenshield!
The dawn will take you all!
-----o0o-----
In game terms, the trolls are, as you would imagine, very tough characters, and two of them have F7. Crucially also, because they are 'characters' they have Might, Will and Fate points too, making them very handy in a scrap and with a fair chance of winning a fight, can then put those new Monster brutal power attacks into play... Might points also allowing for Heroic actions to be called... they each also have a characterful special rule, themed in to their movie actions...
However, in the movie scenario for the game; Roast Mutton, the trolls are up against 13 Hero dwarves, and a hobbit, all with Might, Will and Fate too... and in the SBG game, numbers count, so the trolls are really up against it to defeat the dwarves... but I guess in the movie they were too, and only came out on top when the dwarves were forced to surrender, to stop Bilbo having his arms pulled off!
Of course these movie events play out differently than the book, so there are various ways to play out this scenario...
And of course there's no reason you cant include them in your evil forces as allies, along side roving bands of orcs and goblins...
-----o0o-----
Brett and I had a quick run through of the scenario yesterday, with Brett commanding the trolls. Bert got surrounded and floored early on, but then Bill and Tom stood their ground and starting flinging dwarves around - poor Thorin getting flung through 3 of his compatriots, finally ending up in a pine forest... three other dwarves were Rent (Rended?) apart, Brett liked that ability! And one was stuffed in a sack! But that ended the game as the sun came up, turning the remaining trolls to stone. By scenario victory conditions, we ended in a draw!
Good fun. We'll have another go of it, and I'll put up a battle report... stay tuned!
