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The Three Trolls are excellent hazard creatures if used wisely. They have 11, 12, and 13 prowess with a high frequency of play. All three trolls are keyable to double wilderness (not that uncommon) and two of the three are keyable to a single wilderness or a variety of shadow and dark lands, domains or holds. This makes them more playable than any other troll creature. They have a high prowess and only give up 1 MP if defeated.

Their special ability can give your opponent late game heartburn. Your opponent will have to discard all non-special items on a character wounded by a second or third troll keyed to the same company and site path. Note, that even against Minion companies, the trolls will not be detainment and can wound if keyed to their favorite terrain - wilderness. This may be just the edge you need to pull out victory as your opponent discards all those hard won MPs.

The disadvantages for the trolls are few. First, they are unique, so you can only include one of each in your deck. Second, they only have one strike and no body. Third, they don't get to pick their targets like the dreaded assassins or cave drakes so some thought must be put into their use.

A preferred method of using the three trolls is in with an Orc deck. Include three Minions Stir (+1 prowess/+1 strike to orcs and trolls) and hold your trolls until you have at least two. Play Minions Stir to bump up the trolls to two strikes with 12/13/14 prowess, and start playing. If you have a high hazard limit, throw some orcs before the trolls to tap characters so you can choose your targets. A large hand size and a high hazard limit on your opponent are needed to easily pull off this killer combo. The promo card, Fury of the Iron Crown, is another great enhancer. It will give any of the three a +4 prowess to one strike. Sure, you will give up a single MP for the troll, but your opponent should lose many more if used to force the discard of items.

Remember, all you have to do is wound. This is especially important on high body characters like Beorn or Glorfindel II who have been pumped up with items like Orcrist. Suddenly they aren't so tough anymore after a troll wounds them and runs off with their sword. It works even better on hobbits.

In other decks, the trolls can still give a late game surprise if you are willing to play them in pairs or as a trio. Note, that even if the first troll is cancelled, a second or third will still be able to force the discard of items as playing a previous troll is all that is required.

With the inclusion of Tom, Bert and William as characters in Against the Shadow, it is now possible that you won't be able to use them as creatures since their manifestations will already be in play. While there are ways to deal with this as well, that will be a story for another time.

Frerin

Original card review taken from : http://fan.theonering.net/morgulrats/
With the authorization of the webmaster.

The reviewing team consisted of Gwaihir (Chris Farrell), Gimli (Nathan Bruinooge), Ohtar (Charles E. Bouldin, Esq.), Radagast (James Kight), Joshua B. Grace (Beorn), Martijn Steultjens (Fram Frumgarson), Jason Klank (Saruman) and Jeffery Dobberpuhl (Wormtongue)