Troll Update - Glorantha Trolls

I recently backed Fenris Games' "Rise of the Draugr" Kickstarter (and now they are finally putting into production that sweet zombie dragon by Tim Prow!)

But as an add-on, they also added these zombie trolls sculpted by Jo Brumby. The problem was, in looking at them, they didn't seem like trolls to me at all. I mean, not compared to the trolls I already have, and not like any fantasy trolls I had seen before. They had a beastman appearance with dog-like faces and tusks. Still, trolls are trolls. And obviously, the artistic conception of trolls varies widely from artist to artist and mythology to mythology. So I didn't really give it any more thought.

Fenris Zombie Trolls

That is until I was perusing a blog and found these. These are eight trolls from (the sadly no longer operational) Mad Knight Castings. And they have the same dog-faced look about them. So, obviously, I've missed something. There's a common thread in this interpretation that harkens from somewhere. So I went to the Google...

Mad Knight Castings Skeletal Trolls

Apparently, these are trolls as imagined in the RuneQuest world of Glorantha, which seems to be widely popular. In this interpretation, trolls are not solitary monsters that regenerate and vomit acid, but rather intelligent, if primitive, adversaries with complex social structures. They are also called "Uz" (the name they call themselves) and have several sub-types including "Dark Trolls" which are the ones above.

I've got the good people at Mad Casting to sell me some of their leftover stock and also am waiting for the Fenris trolls to arrive. So now the question is, how do I play these on the table top? They're labeled "trolls" but they're not really the trolls that I would use in Piquet.

Great beastmen for my undead Chaos army?

Trolls!

These guys don't live under a bridge! They are lean, mean and dangerous to know. Seriously. I use trolls to tie down super-strong creatures like Ents. They are extremely powerful and can regenerate. In Piquet terms, this gives them the Extraordinary ability of "Invincible" which means you need 5 hits to effect a stand loss instead of 3. Add to that the natural toughness ability of undead and that means you need to to beat the roll by 6! You roll up against one of these guys and you are not going anywhere.

The biggest thing I remember about watching the Hobbit is walking out of the film muttering to my wife, "Trolls are NOT to be played for comedy!" Verily, they will fuck up your day.

 RAFM RAF03726 Skeletal Troll. A venerable favorite.

 Fenryll FM092 Zombie Troll. Rather small, and I find the sculpt to be too "cartoony".

 Mirliton UD058F Undead Troll. Recast of an old Grenadier sculpt. Just grand.

 Ilyad Retours Des Dieux BLMV09 Grotesque. Perhaps my favorite troll model. Lovely detailed sculpt from the sadly now defunct french company. Fortunately I have their entire undead line, all of which are marvelous. Made from resin and a good example of how good resin can be.

RAFM RAF03719 Plague Troll. 

RAFM RAF03724 Undead Troll. Another of RAFM's awesome troll scuplts. 

Reaper 2680 Undead Troll. Reaper's foray into undead trolls. It's a nice sculpt. 

Chainmail Ahmut's Legion Bsttered Skeletal Troll. Meh. Very small. More like a hobgoblin than anything else.

Titan-Forge Drakskull's Menace Undead Trolls. Two sweet zombie trolls from Titan-Forge to fight with their undead greenskin horde. 

Mantic Dungeon Saga Hoggar, Zombie Troll Shaman. From Mantic's upcoming Dungeon Saga game. Finally, an undead troll magic user!

Mantic Dungeon Saga Zombie Troll. An undead troll from the upcoming Dungeon Saga game.

Mantic Zombie Troll Regiment from their Kings of War line.

Mage Knight Sinister #68 Troll Zombie. Meh. Small, pre-painted plastic.