Starting Orc Henchmen - Single Troll, or Heap of Orcs?

For a starting orc warband, is it better to have a troll as your one and only henchman and then buy in more henchmen as you play, or have a bunch of orc and goblin henchmen and save up for a troll later?

On the one hand, a troll can take (and give out) a ridiculous amount of punishment, causes fear, and never has to be replaced.

On the other hand, it has an upkeep cost, and doesn't gain XP.

What do you guys suggest?

Thats a tough one. O+G warban only has 4 starting heros so I'd normally advise maxing out on henchman to get LGT and fill your hero quota. However, like you say, you don't have to worry about a troll dieing, and he also regenerates wounds ( or ignoars them on 4+ ). My other thought is that if you only have a troll as a henchman and all the other warbands have henchman than after a while you'll start getting the underdog bonus for a low WBR.. that would be a good time to bring in some ork boy henchman....
Thats just me tho... have fun with your O+G.

Saving up for a troll can be a real pain, as unless you get lucky on exploration, you won't be able to replace dead members or get new equipment for several games, which can seriously hamper your performance.

That said, unless you really skimp on hero equipment at the beginning you'll only have a few models and will rout easily.

However, a troll is massively dangerous to starting warbands. Regeneration essentially means it has 6 wounds that the enemy have to cause on average before they even get to roll for injury. 3 S5 attacks or the auto-hit vomit means any lone charging model is going to get it.

Your 4 heroes and a troll comes to 400. That still gives you enough for four bare-bones boys (taking you to the all important 9 members - rout tests at three OoA) or a couple of boys and a few bits of gear.

The horde of boys is thoroughly one-dimensional - run forward and swamp them. Crossbow based warbands or those that start with a troll are far more challenging to play - So I say go with the troll.

yeah, well, the tactics with a troll and 4 heroes aren't too complex. Move troll towards enemy warband, while keeping heroes behind troll :p

True, but you will be much more easily flanked and vulnerable to counter-charges.

I always start with the troll. We play that fire can kill him, as per the Black Orcs, but it never has.

I have always gone with the multiple hench-orc option, but next time may go with the troll option for variety.

"However, a troll is massively dangerous to starting warbands. Regeneration essentially means it has 6 wounds that the enemy have to cause on average before they even get to roll for injury."

Which is why if the opposition is smart, they concentrate instead on taking down the Big Boss, without whom the troll is useless. And the captain can't be too far behind the troll...

Exactly, which is why it's a more challenging warband to play with and against. You have to keep your boss safe and the troll in combat and they have to take him out while avoiding the troll.

Troll. I don't know about you, but I've never had 200gc in one place at a time. Much easier to buy at the start and spend 30 on a henchman here, and 30 on a henchman there.

Also, unless you're playing with a house rule, TROLLS CAN NEVER DIE. Best big guy ever.

Go with the troll! First of all, there are many cool models to use. Secondly, you get alot of value for your gold, and in many ways it's more sound to buy the troll early on, since with more members in the warband you earn less money - so later on in the campaign it will take a long time to save up for the big guy. Plus Fear is generally more effecient early on in the campaign, and might mean that your opponent keeps his warband members close to the leader for ld-benefits, which makes for interesting charge tactics on your part.

folketsfiende wrote:

Go with the troll! First of all, there are many cool models to use. Secondly, you get alot of value for your gold, and in many ways it's more sound to buy the troll early on, since with more members in the warband you earn less money - so later on in the campaign it will take a long time to save up for the big guy. Plus Fear is generally more effecient early on in the campaign, and might mean that your opponent keeps his warband members close to the leader for ld-benefits, which makes for interesting charge tactics on your part.

All good points! I already have the model for him... two models, in fact. Years back I bought two female ogres from Wizards of the Coast's Chainmail range. I recently gave one a sex-and-species change operation. I just need to attach it to a square base and paint it. And in the event I get bored with him... I still have the other female version of the model.

As for keeping the boss with the troll, I'm thinking Sprint will be the first skill the Boss gets. That way he can keep pace wih the big guy.

I've played in many campaigns over the last few years, switching back and forth between starting with a Troll and saving-up for one later.

I've NEVER managed to buy the Troll late-on!

Yeah, I think it is almost more of a question of go with a troll from the start or go troll-less altogether. The orc band I was playing recently did just manage to scrimp and save enough money for one... after about 14 games...

What about Black Orcs? The cost of your starting heroes is such that after a troll you only have 40gc left to spend on weapons/henchmen.

With Black Orcs you have 5 heroes, so I always start with a troll there too! Actually I always start with a troll. Either the troll wins those first games or he better go OOA so I can rout.