Trident Realms Review

SK: This is the tricksy army. Movement shenanigans galore, weird spells, tons of tech units. Your favorite player’s favorite army to play on the side.

SK: The Mantic range is complete now I believe with a lot of plastic kits and STLs available. Claws in the sand introduced some new, really nice plastic sculpts to round out a range that got a refresh a couple years ago anyway. On top of that, there’s a myriad of underwater themed third party sculpts with really creative ideas. All roads lead to a very cool Trident Realms army.

SK: A tech spell that can be as helpful as it is hurtful if used recklessly. Will seem useless in a lot of situations but in the situations it’s useful, it’s worth its weight in gold.

SK: Barkskin is always useful! Good command.

SK: This is a really fun command that can synergize well with a lot of the units in the army that have no crush. In practice, however, you end up wanting a lot of other commands so I’ve personally found this command to be missing out.

SK: Awesome, flavorful command. Super useful, especially in lists with plink shooting. I find I gravitate towards this command more than Aqua-venom for damage and it also has no unit restrictions.

SK: Heal is always useful! Great command (I like this over barkskin for lack of restriction and permanence). There’s an error in the companion app I think making this a 5+, which wasn’t in the most recent errata so the originally printed 4+ should still be correct unless im stupid (possible).

SK: I think this spell is substantially better than anybody is giving it credit for. The value cannot be overstated when this spell is used on battleline units or flying units hiding behind impassable terrain. The only gripe I have is that it feels incredibly weird to have the magic missile trait and do no damage.

SK: Gunline Enabler

SK: Generally this is only seeing the table for the core Heartpiercer regiments that will follow it but the unit itself is quite solid. D5 and Ensnare are some pretty great things to have on a foot warlord that usually ends up tying a unit up late game. Rally isn’t bad early game either. Pricey but not unuseable

SK: Doorstop/Tech/Combat Individual

SK: Ekter got worse from 3rd edition and is still SO good. What a unit, please try and get it on the table if you’re hesitant of the 210 point price tag. It will not disappoint.

SK: Force Multiplier and Speed Aura

SK: I’ve been finding that a lot of the more standard sp6 hammers in the game get significantly better at sp7 and not in a linear way. Getting first jump with a unit like depth horrors or molochs or anything else that casts “bonk” is a substantial advantage. It doesn’t hurt that the eternal itself is a punchy unit. The mantic kit for this guy is putrid in quality but charming to some.

SK: Force Multiplier

SK: Sp7 fly doesn’t actually end up yielding very many noticeable results but strider and the attack profile mixed with h4 is quite nice. The unit doesn’t necessarily impress the pilot but it will cause headaches for the opponent trying to not give up flanks and heroes.

SK: Force Multiplier

SK: I’ve broken the spear off this guy more times than I’ve glued it on! Because I lost it the last time it broke… Unit is good though, I just wish it switched a unit to core or special or had a special aura or something as it feels like you take a warlord nowadays to do that. Or take a knucker if you want the same platform but without having to care about it dying. Maybe it’s not a good unit and I like my model for it?

SK: Dragon (Poop Type)

SK: This is a dragon the same way Gyrados is considered a dragon in pokemon. It also is 5 billion points and kind of shitty. I run most of my IRL TR games anyway and don’t know why. This unit needs a substantial points decrease and a little more personality but D5 Ensnare is cool in concept.

SK: Whimzard

SK: I cant say this caster is good cuz somebody will start screaming about Forces of Nature druids. Inspiring spellcasters are great and this is no exception. Take two, you’re gonna need all the help you can get.

SK: ASB

SK: This is what you take when you’ve taken two aquamages and need more. Otherwise take more aquamages.

SK: Kid’s Table Ekter

SK: Fuck this guy. Take an Ekter.

SK: Pest/Dart/Wasp

SK: I quite like these units upon further play and reflection. They provide plink shooting like a wasp, project threat like a dart, and fly around the board like a pest. It doesn’t excel at any of those things but you normally need a couple units to cover that kind of toolbox accessibility so I don’t hate these at all.

SK: Tech

SK: Somebody will spend time getting really good with the siren and it will be really good. Most of us won’t and it will just become a really expensive aquamage most of the time unless you put in the effort to build a list around it and practice a lot.

SK: Trick(lebrook)

SK: I think this unit is too expensive to be tied to 3 gigas that are ALSO too expensive just for an elite aura on units with 12 dice each. It’s a very clean synergy but I personally squirm at the price point. If you want a non-hero individual to hold tokens, there’s plenty of others with better rules and stats.

SK: Pest/Force Multiplier

SK: It’s hard to justify this over a pond warden but it does that job. Albeit, worse.

SK: Anvil

SK: Solid unit in 3rd is a solid unit in 4th. Regiments of these are devious to remove for their price and a horde or two are a fantastic tar pit while also being the only horde the army has access to. Conventional wisdom will tell you to bring 1 horde with hammer of measured force but a radical genius(me) will tell you to bring 1 horde with chalice of wrath and maybe a second with hammer or even with nothing. They have a hammer of measured force command now so maybe just go nakey and enjoy the tar.

SK: Dustin Howard’s Martyr (Utility)

SK: You cannot convince me the riverguard ranged upgrade increase was not a gross overcorrection. Those 50/60 points appear to be paying for not only the ranged attack they gain but also still for crush 1 they are losing. The melee unit is solid and fun in both forms with a lot of finesse and an acceptable amount of punch if you can hop into a flank or rear. The shooting unit is a submachine gun for the cost of a decimator horde which is kind of unacceptable. With the amount of 155 point regiments in this army it would be really nice to see these frogs get the red goblin treatment and come stock with both crush 1 and javelins for ~150/190 respectively. Would be a nice new role without ranged abuse and without overpaying for the shots.

SK: Budget Anvil

SK: What if Ironguard regiments were speed 5 but kind of bad? No bane chant but hammer of measured force command and hitting on 4s instead of 3s. Speed 5 doesn’t really get you anything meaningful compared to ironguard either and phalanx isn’t super good right now. I personally like razorsword regiments more but I wouldnt knock somebody for running a bunch of these with the cool new plastic sculpts. The troops of these at 115 are stellar chaff tho. Super good if you are looking for a stick and flank kind of build.

SK: Multi-purpose

SK: In an army full of general purpose units that are “good” at a lot of things, this is the best at that. D5 Ne16 isnt nothing, 15 attacks with crush 1 isn’t nothing, but 155 for a core unlock is basically nothing. Troops with the Depth Horror Eternal Aura make for really good chaff at 120. There’s nothing to fawn over about razorswords but there also isn’t much to critique, they’re a nice unit in both flavors.

SK: Chaff

SK: Scouting 60 point chaff YUMMY. One of 4 non-yielding, 60 point units in the game AND it scouts? These are fantastic and a melee focused Trident army should try(dent) to have 3 of these in every build.

SK: HAMNER

SK: Bonk. These units barely even have special rules. Deliver them into combat and giggle.

SK: Plink Shooting

SK: Love Love Love me a Naiad Heartpiercer troop! They got a couple extra attacks this edition in both troop and regiment form and they work well on the table usually. Super cheap special units to get to those tasty support options that Trident Realm loves and shooting synergizes well with the way the army tends to want to play in most builds.

SK: Flank-Hunter/Chaff-Killer

SK: Losing the thunder aura from Kthur and losing access to bane chant put these squids in a really odd place. They used to work as sneaky, berserking, pseudo-hammers with a surprising amount of survivability in regiments and now their new role needs to be figured out and I sure haven’t been able to. Nestled in between battle lines to win chaff offs is the only way I’ve not been burned by Thuul in 4th edition and even then you’re building a list around 120/155 point units that can fail spectacularly. It’s hard to even justify getting them into the list a lot of times. If the Depth Horror Eternal’s aura stacked this unit would become super interesting.

SK: Beefy Utility

SK: Water elementals are not really bad at anything nor do they excel at anything. In certain situations and amounts they can be fantastic or bad which means they’re a solid unit if put in positions to succeed. Troops are the most infuriating chaff to kill and the regiments are really useful when the time comes. Wouldnt make an army around them but love 1 or 2 in the right builds. The regiments seem to really want items.

SK: Anvil or Thicc Chaff

SK: I’ll be brave and say that gigas are a trap, they’re paying too many points for CS3 and big shield and don’t have enough attacks in an edition where volume of attacks is significantly more important. Plus you feel obligated to axel tricklebrook who is also way too many points in my opinion. They can make acceptable anvils in bulk and their damage output is super reliable but it’s just not enough for a 140/200 point specialist. Erich please don’t read this.

SK: Abusive Ex (Alpha?)

SK: I unironically think the next time I field a regiment of Wyrmriders, they will be fantastic. I think this thought every single time. Lo and behold, every single time I field them they die in a cartoonish, piano-from-the-sky way without recouping even half of their points. They lost nimble, pathfinder doesn’t unhinder them now, and they lost a step of regen. It’s a bad time to be a wyrm these days, but maybe next game….

SK: Master of None

SK: Dambusters have always been a fascinating unit but seem toeing the line of being a trap in most cases. The regiments almost mandate a brew of sharpness or blessing of the gods to be a threat on an otherwise excellent heavy cav platform (Strider, Fly, Sp7, D5). The troops make for really interesting flank hunting threats with their mobility and 50mm depth at 150pts. I dont hate either option in reserved quantities. Models are pretty cool too!

SK: SHOTGUN

SK: I think this might be one of the best units in the army. The shooting is incredibly potent, has frostbite for those sp6 matchups, and has a massive flying footprint to protect the things behind it in a pinch. 185 points for “chaff” is obscene so they really need to be used creatively in an army with multiple layers. These frogs don’t take a cover penalty behind tidal swarms due to height difference!

SK: BAD GUN

SK: If you want to scratch the komodon itch, DO NOT TAKE THIS. It’s a 100 point, US2, Flying, SP7 unit that happens to have a shooting attack. Anything it contributes to a fight is gravy, focus on sending it to die or score objectives before you start expecting damage from this frog-mounted frog. The model is really cool though!

SK: Pest

SK: This unit has all the juiciest keywords in the game and none of the useless ones. This mixed with break-neck speed and a small base makes it one of the best units in the whole game at causing psychological damage to your opponent. NOT real damage, that’s the trick. In the hands of the right player, Knuckers will have players cursing them under their breath.

SK: Shambling Anvil

SK: This unit is okay at living, okay fighting, and okay at being fast and its 225 points. Its better than a coral giant and strider is hard to come by on lesser waters unlike in Forces of Nature so I understand the appeal, it’s just not my jam. I’d take itemed up lesser water regiments with JBOO and Sharpness before I even considered this. Also if you print the official Mantic GWE, it is a hundred pounds with a precarious center of gravity for a 50mm base, be warned.

SK: Shambling Anvil

SK: It’s amazing that a unit as widely accepted as bad in all flavors such as the Giant, can be outdone in terribleness by a cousin. I struggle to find a use for this unit when a greater water exists, and I don’t even like those. It will however, never die so if you wanna spend 195 points on that idea, go for it. It’s worth noting I actually kind of like the official Mantic coral giant and dont think it should get as much hate.

SK: Anvil (?)

SK: Rampage stonks are as high as they’ve ever been and the Kraken is thriving! This is a uniquely cool anvil in that it’s kind of fast and also kind of lethal in the right circumstances. It’s very versatile and one of the few centerpiece/hobby units in Kings of War that is legit good.

SK: GUN

SK: Generally good. The harpoon ability to drag is often wasted outside of designed builds for it but the shooting is cheap and solid.

SK: Fucking awful holy shit. I have played countless games with Trident Realms grasping at competency with the deepest toolbox in Kings and that has culminated in me feeling frustrated at the thought of having to either bring a shitty meathead list of ensnarers and gigas that will go 2-3 or bring a highly tuned trickbox that takes 15 times the mental load and clock compared to the opponent just eek out a narrow win or fail your elaborate rube goldberg and lose HARD. If we had written this review a month ago I would have sang the praises of the funny movement circus army as an engaging side gig but then another month happened and every ounce of that charm has been lost.

SK: Hammer&Anvil, Shooting, or Movement shenanigans seem to be the 3 buckets most TR lists are falling into that actually synergize well. There’s ideas of MSU within the list as well as Chaff&Hammer but they aren’t fully fully explored and aren’t making it to GTs.