Well, I'm really torn at this point about whether to pick up the Troll set. So far, it's the only thing I'm missing for Battlelore. I'm aware of a number of things about the set that I dislike. But what are the good points? What are some of the bad that I may have missed? Anyone care to list what they percieve to be the pros and cons of this last-ditch DOW effort? Thanks in advance.

Though my opinion is tainted by not actually owning the set, I'll offer up some quick Pro/Con (good write ups can also be found in this forum and on BGG, sorry for the lack of links...too lazy).

Pro: you complete your collection (if you're into that kind of thing), another creature adds more variety and playing possibilities, the mechanics for the Troll seem interesting and well executed, the paper epic map can be used for quick epic set ups or an alternate/bonus board, you might like the sculpt.

Con: you may hate the sculpt, the price (retail) is quite high for the product, the creature comes with no cards, some troll miniature have been found damage (broken flags), if you already have the other expansions then the paper map is redundant, you're supporting a mediocre product concept (less is not more).

That's all I got for now. If you're a completist, pick it up. Sounds like you've got a lot invested so at this point you're also pot commited, especially if you can find it cheap. If the sculpt annoys you and you'll proxy the fig anyways, you have less of an incentive. I'm not sure if enough playtesting has been done yet to determine how balanced the troll mechanics are. So far, I haven't seen it out of the norm for this game.

Hope that helps.

Having recieved copies of the expansion, I would say spacemonkeymafia pretty much nailed the pros and cons. The biggest gripe is the value per price. If these had an MSRP of $10, they would have been (near) perfect.

To add a little bit to the cons:

• With the flags being glued, not only are the suscepitble to being broken, they make storing painful. I remove the flags from other units before storing them but I can't with this one.
• Previous expansions included all the reference cards. This one printed them on the map. So if you want to use the Troll elsewhere, you need to memorize everything or print out the cards. What's missing is the front and backside of the Troll card and the Stone Bridge rules.

A glued flag and no reference card means this will not be added to my collection.

Well you can get a reference card by going to the Battlelore Support site here on FFG. As for an actual Troll, one can actually probably get a replacement figure and thus use that.

Cab

Thanks a lot. I would have to say that the biggest cons preventing me from having gotten this already are the glued/broken flags and the lack of an actual card and hex. The biggest pro that has been nagging me into thinking about it is that it brings me back up to date with the game (completist). However, without the card and hex, and with a possibly broken figure, even if I got it, I'd still feel like my collection was 'incomplete'. I'm also wary of supporting this kind of "expansion" (I'd rather call it and extention), in case it creates the idea that it would be acceptable to do this sort of thing again in the future.

Ok. I will admit that I purchased this solely because I liked the figure. So I look at everthing else that came with the figure to be extraneous. However, I do agree that the cost was excessive for what you got, which was essentially the figure and a large piece of paper. Owning the epic expanstion for Battlelore, when I play the "Troll and Country" scenario, I will use the boards and tiles in the game and not the map. The map, when unfolded, does not lay flat, meaning that unless I have a large piece of plexiglass to put over it, or get it laminated, or some other option, I will not be able to easily play this scenario. Second, I think that not including cards for the Troll and the Stone Bridge was also a mistake.

Being a long-time fan of Fanstasy Flight games, I feel that had they owned this game from the beginning, this poorly executed expansion would never have been released. My hope would be that at some point Fantasy Flight games would release the Troll and the two cards in a package more appropriately priced, and leave out the map.

i pretty much agree with bitva's final comments about this, but i have to add that knowing whether or not FFG plans to re-release the troll along with some monster pack or with the heroes would go a long way in helping people make up their minds.

richard has already confirmed that we're going to see a red monster in 2009. we'll just have to wait and see if they will follow in DoW's footsteps and release another horrid value-for-money expansion. somehow, i doubt it.

oh oh. i just wanted to say that im not too put off by the price. i paid 15.50 for my earth elemental and 47 dollars for my hill giant. stupid exclusive figures. im a competist, so that's my problem. i'd gladly pay 15 dollars for the troll, but not if FFG will release it with other monsters, what's the use for double trolls?

Well, I decided against picking this up for the time being, for a few reasons;

1. I was paying enough for other games in my order already.

2. Troll and Country was the only item in my initial order list that was waiting for restock (the unbroken version), and would have delayed my whole package.

3. I'm holding out hope that FFG will make the troll available in a better, more complete format once Troll and Country sells out.

4. I'm sure there will be plenty of other opportunities to buy this if it becomes apparent that it will be the only way to have the troll.

kookoobah said:

In order to field more than one "official" Troll in a particular game, would be one very good use. I've played several games involving multiple Hill Giants, and, myself, would just use proxies rather than fork out the (relatively substantial) dough for another Troll, but imagine that "multi-Troll" games would be a blast as were the "multi-Giant" ones.

I don't mind duplicate creatures either. I wouldn't buy an expansion consisting of only creatures I already had, but if it contained at least something I already didn't own and the rest were duplicates, I'd snag it.

bitva said:

(New to the forums but not the game)



Yeah I came to the same conclusion, really hoping they resell it with another set

I'm all for expansions to the game, as it'a a great game (as evidenced my my poor win/loss record against my GF, lol). But the Troll and Country is way too expensive. A proxy is a great way to go, especially with easy access to the cards for the troll.

Here's my Cave Trol, made by Reaper's Legendary Encounters line. It's prepainted as well, so it's ready to play:

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s274/Aegisgrimm/CaveToll.jpg

This is the Giant I use from the same line of figs:

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s274/Aegisgrimm/OgreChief.jpg

Each will run you about 4 dollars US. I don't mind "cheating" seeing as they are promos anyway.

sweet, where would you buy those figures?

at least the troll, I have the mountain giant.



P.S. How do you edit posts?

zefert1 said:

Unfortunately, you can only edit your posts for about 5 minutes after you post. There is a little "Edit" Link that appears at the right hand side of the the post heading.

thank you, I now see that

Must say these are strange forums, hard to find edit and no pasting

Oh well,

thanks again

zefert1 said:

Pasting works. I have pasted many a thing in here. maybe the shortcut CNTRL-V doesn't (though I thought I have used it before) but you can certainly paste. It is fickle though and sometimes pops up anotehr window. Perhaps you have pop-ups blocked which is why you think you can't paste.

This editor is horrible. I cannot format unless I first do so in Word and then copy it over. It looks pretty but it's a lemon.

You can find the Troll I linked to at TheWarstore.com

It's where I buy all my stuff online. Good service, good prices. You can find some pretty inexpensive Battlelore product there, too. (Like the Dwarf Battalion/Goblin packs for 13 dollars, 100 years war for 20)

yeah I did discover that on my sig, it makes me press like ctrl v instead of just right clicking.

Which in of itself is strange

buy it I did, just so I could have the complete DOW set.

plus the troll figure is pretty good for soft plastic.

Hows the Troll Fig compare to the HillGiant in Size?

OD

The troll is just a bit smaller than the hill giant. You could surely find a picture of both on boardgame geek to compare the two