Warhammer Fantasy Battle Tabletop Gaming: Tribes of Norsca

The Army of Midgard is the second Norse Warhammer book that we're supporting in the Battle Reporter forum.

To summarize; it's a really well thought out army list with plenty of original features, a lot of character (it really does feel Viking-esque) and the presentation is to be applauded.

Please note that this army book is completely unofficial and is NOT endorsed by Games Workshop in any way at all.

The Army Book is an impressive 139 pages and covers the history, background and tribes of the Norsemen. There is a description of their lands, the climate, a map of the "Uncivilized North" and a story of the Norse peoples in their eyes and in the eyes of the Old Worlde. There are some excellent short stories covering the sagas of individual Norse characters.

click the army book cover to download and leave Norsca feedback here.

The Viking theme proves very popular among Warhammer gamers possibly because they have had their appetite whet by the excellent Norse miniatures that Citadel produced many moons ago. Or, maybe because the Old Worlde just seems to come to an abrupt halt a bit too far South!

It's a bit of a lost opportunity really because bordering on the dreaded Chaos Wastes and separated from the Old Worlde by the Seas of Chaos and Claws, Norsca must be under constant siege and forever fighting off new Chaos incursions. These factors should provide the perfect backdrop for some great Chaos vs embattled defenders battles. Sadly, GW has long since abandoned the Norsemen to their fate but thankfully the community has filled the void with a couple of excellent army books (here's the other equally superb Norse army book PDF).

The Ejsgard Army list comprises 8 lord level characters, 7 heroes, 4 core units, 8 special units and 4 rare units. The first thing to note is that if you're into cavalry you might want to mount up and ride on because by and large the Norse don't bother with beasts of burden to carry them into battle !

Initially, I though this would be a major drawback but a lot of the units have an army special rule named Barbaric charge which means they use the swiftstrider rule for charging so you won't wait long before the blood starts to flow. In fact, the army as a whole feels quite bloody and close combat oriented. Grim Squeaker (the author) has done an admirable job with the special rules that lends the army a furious, fremzied and fearless character. The background, stories and unit rules are heavily influenced by Viking mythology and they are so well written that the army book is quite an inspirational read and you start thinking about army lists, miniatures and where you're going to get them from - a worrying sign !

There are a couple of interesting special rules that will enable you to customize some of your characters with "gifts" and mutations.

The unique Ejsgard Mutations will set your characters apart from one another from giving them a massive frame (+1 toughness) to having frozen skin (+1 scaly skin) to being cursed with daemonic horns (d3 magical impact hits) - plus several other interesting qualities.

The Gifts of Olric can be granted to your Ulfjarl - werewolves who have mastered control over their form. These half-men half-werewolves will always strike first with 4 strength 5 attacks (which can be turned into killing blows with the Natural Predator rule) and are made more resilient with the ability to regenerate.

There are also a few (but not many) magical items to choose from (plus the ones in the Warhammer rulebook of course).

The strength of the army lies in it's fury (more supporting attacks), frenzy and ability to close down on the enemy once in charge range. You will need to rank up units because they are still puny toughness 3 humans at heart and most do not have much of an armour save (except for the Ravensworn that have a 5+ ward (increased to 4+ if they successfully augment it with their innately bound Call to Glory spell).

The army list encourages the use of some of the more exotic units like the Morkewerenar (effectively Were-Bears), The Ice Mammoth, Blood Maidens, Snow Trolls and the Apparition of Cadavers to make up for the relatively low toughness and movement rate of the human element of the army.

Even though Citadel stopped making Norse miniatures a long time ago I don't think there will be too much of a problem finding them for this army, there are bound to be other companies making Viking models. Most of the special and rare units can be taken from the existing GW range, such as the giant, trolls, mammoth, norse spawn, blood maidens and so on.

Also, if you really must use Citadel models then you'll probably find some old Norse Warriors on eBay if you;re patient and are prepared to pay (quite a bit) for them. All-in-all, I don't really see why someone couldn't go ahead and collect the army right now.

Also, with this army you have the added benefit of being able to use the models with two army books ! Not just this one but the Norse Army book written by Mathias Eliasson (see link at the top of this post) - so you're getting two armies for the price of one :)

If you love close combat and think missiles, war machines and horses are for girls and cowards then this might just be the army for you. It's an in-your-face, march them forward as fast as you can go type of force. Also, you'll have great fun getting drunk setting fire to your hair and running around the gaming table with a double handed axe to get into character :)

Just like the Norse Army book from Mathias, Grim Squeaker's Tribes of Norsca is packed full of soul (which is surprising because you'd think most of them would be in Valhalla by now!)

I think people will have great fun putting a Norsca army together. It's an army you can really love for it's fearless warrior code where death is inevitable and to be welcomed (providing you put up a good fight first !)

Please check out all of the other unofficial WFB army books here.