Thrommel

Race: Dwarf
Class: Defender
Survivability: High (average for a defender)
Damage Output: Low (4-7)
Threat Range: Low (Base 8" and difficult to increase)

Profile: He's slow and easy to hit. He relies on his RES of 2 and his boxes to stay alive and he has a 2 action cost melee attack with very high damage although his melee is only 6 (which is good for a defender).

What does he do?: Thrommel has one of the easiest knockdowns in the game, he only needs to damage a model then spend a fate to knock down an enemy model and doing 4 damage on a glance means that he only needs one hit symbol. On top of that you only need to damage and get one combat manoeuvre to stun your opponent. Combined it means that Thrommel can take two actions away from a hero and your opponent can only spend a fate to remove one of those conditions.

He has an ability called bodyguard, it's not fantastic, your opponent does 2 less damage on their first attack to a hero within 2" provided they don't have a way to ignore RES.

Lastly his higher level abilities are very strong. Get him to level 2 and he cannot be pushed or knocked down. This makes him excellent for blocking charge lanes and contesting a shrine. Get him to level 3 and he has one of the best abilities in the game (in my opinion) in dwarf toss.

Fate Appetite: High. At level one/two he wants a fate to charge and stun and knock down a model. At level 3 he wants a fate to dwarf toss into the middle of multiple models then stun one with his warhammer. Without fate a number of other defenders outshine him.

Level Appetite: High. The things that distinguish Thrommel from the other defenders are almost all on his higher level abilities.

Magic Items: Boots of Speed (Low) - on the 5v5 maps I often like to have Thrommel finish of the nearby monster on turn 1 and buy the Boots of Speed. From then on he can really move up into annoying positions to cause problems for your opponent blocking charges, contesting and protecting weaker models and he can't be pushed out of the way. That said he doesn't generally want to be making 3 move actions and the boots don't affect dwarf toss so if you can get by without them you should. Items that benefit from multiple attacks like the Armour Shredder or the Blood Sucker are useless for him. The other boots are also useful as are healing items and the Gift of the Gods. In general he does not need a magical item so giving him one will be match up dependant.

Combinations: An obvious combination is Kvarto allowing him to make an additional attack, this works well if you can knock down a model that has already activated and then hit it again. It works less well if you need to hit a model that is still standing without any positive dice modifiers (MEL 6 isn't the greatest).

Thrommel is one of the better defenders for a ranged aggressor warband, once leveled up he can't be moved out of the way allowing him to protect your squishy aggressors and he is has great knock down abilities which can really dial up your ranged damage output. In particular I will point out Loribella - she really needs a knocked down opponent to trigger spring loaded reliably and she heals Thrommel and gives him extra speed though I personally prefer him with Kogan and Istariel.

He also works well with the standard models that work well with defenders, Nephene, Bastian, Piper...

Ban Targets: Thrommel's low AGI makes him vulnerable to models with abilities that ignore ARM. Allandir can ignore his ARM at level 3 but at lower levels is able to use his low AGI to twin shot damage onto nearby targets. Rakkir and Zhonja, are able to use his low AGI to apply their fate abilities that ignore RES (Rakkir in particular can apply a large amount of damage and then move to safety). Styx can apply a large amount of burst damage that ignores RES as well as pull him out of position even when levelled and Brok is always someone to avoid with a lot of defenders, particularly low AGI defenders he can use to trigger Back Swing.

Judy's Judgement: