The Nords are a human faction full of non-human monsters, beasts, and other creatures. These aren’t your father’s Nords, Ragnarok already happened and these are the ones that came out the other side of it. As with any of the Conquest factions this isn’t really just one army, but sub-factions working together to fill holes in an otherwise very skewed army list. Nords are the glass cannon army of Conquest, they get on the table fast, hit fast, and die pretty fast as well. Early scoring and overwhelming in the first few turns of the game is the winning strategy, so if that sounds like your playstyle you’ve found your faction!

Para Bellum supplies the rules for every army, free, to download here as well as a free army builder.

Strengths:

• Extremely fast reinforcements, score fast and early
• Heavy hitting Brutes and Monsters
• Many useful Characters with powerful abilities

Weaknesses:

• Fragile units, low defence across the army
• Limited flexibility in most Characters’ warbands

Army Abilities

The Nords boast just one single army ability: Blood of the Einherjar. When any of your units have been wounded or are missing stands, the remaining stands gain +1 attack; while they’re missing at least half of its Stands or wounds (for Monsters) also gain Flurry or an additional +1 attack if it already had flurry. That means that as your units take damage they’re going to be hitting back even harder.

Unfortunately, Monsters and Characters don’t benefit form this rule, except for Mountain Jotnars which explicitly do. So your Konungyr and Blooded, your real combat-focussed heroes, won’t be gaining extra attacks or re-rolls in their duels; neither will your Sea or Ice Jotnars however they do have a solid amount of attacks to begin with to help make up for this loss.

It’s nice to get something while you’re taking damage, however Nords are generally a very fragile army to begin with. Low defence across the board with only a bit of evasion scattered around means that most meaningful attacks will remove units before you get to make great effect of the Blood of the Einherjar. Taking larger blocks of units with additional stands will help, and taking an even number of stands as well (i.e. a unit of 6 stands, not 5) will mean you get that Flurry bonus (or additional attack) while still having a solid number of stands around. Fielding a minimum sized unit of just 3 stands means you won’t gain that bonus until you’re down to your last, which will be too little too late for those attacks to do much.

Characters

In Conquest, Characters determine which units you’re able to take. Each character has a set list of units that you may purchase for it in its warband: mainstay and restricted. You must have at least 1 mainstay per restricted choice in your warband up to a total of 4 units. You must also have a unit in the warband which your character can join, it must have the same unit type (i.e. Infantry, Brute, Cavalry). Characters must start the game attached a unit in their own warband but can move around to other units mid-game.

What’s important to note here is that all of your Characters’ Supremacy Abilities are always active. You get all of these abilities all game long.

Nords are often a 3 Character army, wanting to field a Shaman for their Supremacy Ability, a Blooded for their unit selection then either a second Blooded, a Jarl, or Konungyr depending which way you want to go.

Konungyr

The King of your army! But often not your chosen Warlord. We’re starting with easily the most expensive character you can take, sitting at 120 points before any upgrades with the ability to take up to 3 trove finds (relics) he can become very expensive very fast. Careful with how much you’re spending on him however, Nords are still a generally fragile army, you don’t want to invest so much into this character to just be removed before he even gets to attack!

His Supremacy Ability gives all of your units Terrifying +1 on a turn that they charge. This is fine but considering it’s useless against a whole faction in the game (Old Dominion) you’ll be a bit mad that he’s your Warlord when you come up against them. Generally you’ll choose any other Warlord over this guy.

That said, a profile of 6 attacks and clash 4 is nothing to mock, but with no Cleave built-in to those attacks they can rebound off enemy armour. There are numerous trove finds however that can help with that, to either make him hit incredibly hard in duels or to gain Cleave 1 to at least get through some armour.

Mainstay units:

• Huskarls
• Bow Chosen
• Blade Chosen
• Steel Chosen

Restricted units:

• Ice Jotnar
• Mountain Jotnar
• Sea Jotnar

Sample loadout Duellist:

• Járngreipr
• Vinda, the Dancer
• Heriolf’s Folly
• Headhunter Mastery
• Combat 1, 2, and 3 Retinue
• Wold Aspect

This gives you a Konungyr with 8 attacks at Clash 5 with an extra attack per 2 successful hits (rounding up). In a duel, he gains Smite to completely ignore the enemy’s Defence stat, each hit roll of a 1 counts as 3 hits instead. For protection, Heriolf’s Folly brings his Evade up to 3, meaning he’ll shrug off half of the hits coming back at him in a duel, especially useful against enemies that get to attack first in a duel instead of making simultaneous strikes. That is a lot and you really pay for it at 255 points. You’ll want to attach this to Huskarls until Steel Chosen and Blade Chosen are an option, as soon as they are

Sample loadout Support:

• Raven Messengers
• The Broken Blade
• Tacital 1, and 2 Retinue
• Wolf and Eagle Aspect

Instead of wanting to run straight in for a fight, this Konungyr is a bit cheaper at 215 points and happy to sit back and support the remainder of the army a bit more while allowing his own unit to act a bit more like an anvil. A big block of 5 Huskarls is recommended here, with a Skjald attached for Bravery and Thegn for Bastion Draw to make them as tough as possible. Raven Messengers is a wonderful upgrade that gives off a 12″ aura from the Character stand to use his Resolve of 4, boosted to 5 in a unit with at least 4 stands (including himself) to use on your other units. Especially useful for your Trolls and Ugr units to benefit from to take very few wounds from Resolve.

Jarl

The budget Konungyr, sort of. A weaker profile, and a Warband that you’re often not sprinting for over a Blooded or Konungyr, this guy starts out at only 80 points. You take him to gain access to Ugr (if you’re not fielding a Blooded) and Ulfhendar and Bearsarks, some wonderful glass cannon units that if you can place well can hit extremely hard. These units are going to be why you want to field a Jarl more than anything else.

His Supremacy Ability is an army-wide ability giving your units Opportunists (re-roll hits when attacking units in the side or rear) as well as +1A when attacking units in the side or rear. Nords are able to get on quick, but generally don’t have that much manoeuvrability where you’ll be making use of this all game long. It’s not a bad ability, there are just much better options!

Mainstay units:

• Huskarls
• Raiders
• Ugr
• Ulfhendar

Restricted units:

• Bearsarks
• Blade Chosen
• Mountain Jotnar

Both Bearsarks and Ulfhendar are due to be released later in this year (2023) and once they do, I can see the Jarl being used a little more often.

Sample loadout Budget Support:

• Raven Messengers
• Tactical 1
• Eagle Aspect

Similar to the Konungyr’s above, this makes use of Raven Messengers for an aura of shared Resolve, but is innately lower which just means that you want a large unit of 5 Huskarls to join to gain the stand bonus to resolve to bump back up to 4 or 6+ Huskarl stands to boost to 5! This runs you only 130 points compared to the Konungyr’s 215 so if you’re starved for points and aren’t running an Ice Jotnar then you can pretty happily take this instead.

Blooded

A real melee-monster, with a solid number of attacks and baked in Cleave 2 you can throw him at enemy units and expect a decent amount of damage output. He also has the widest selection Warband in the army, with very solid unit choices and can even become a Brute to join units of Ugr!

His Supremacy ability is the first incredibly useful one listed here: in each turn when you choose for 1 unit to automatically arrive, instead you can choose 2. Getting your units on the board even quicker and being able to guarantee multiple Heavy units at turn 3 is massive. More units on the table means a better chance at scoring points, and that’s really how you win games!

Mainstay units:

• Stalkers
• Trolls
• Ugr
• White Waste Tribesmen

Restricted units:

• Bow Chosen
• Fenr Beastpack
• Goltr Beastpack
• Mountain Jotnar
• Nefhur Beastpack
• Werewolves

That’s a lot of so-far unreleased models. The only beastpack out so far are the Fenr, and I am very (im)patiently waiting on Werewolves to come out.

Sample loadout Brute:

• Rjóða, the Red Bringer
• Curse of the Vargr
• Dragon Aspect

The Blooded only has a Clash value of 3, so the Dragon bringing that up to 4 helps more of his attacks land. Curse of the Vargr turns him into a Brute, gives +1 attack and wound, and gains impact 3 all for the cost of 10 points. He can no longer purchase any retinues and this is your mastery, but it’s very worth it to run with a unit of Ugr and cause an incredible amount of Cleave 2 damage. That relic weapon gives a further +2 attacks (for 8 total here) AND gives the unit Bloodlust, meaning they can charge the turn they arrive from reinforcements (but might have to charge or move as well). That’s a lot for only 130 points!

Sample loadout Infantry:

• Rjóða, the Red Bringer
• Lessons of the Jotun War
• Tactical 1 and 2 Retinue
• Combat 1 Retinue
• Dragon and Wolf Aspects

Thanks to being able to take retinues this Blooded is still hitting at Clash 4 with 8 attacks of Cleave 2, but with the additional perk of Indomitable and an open mastery slot so that enemy units charging in their front lose any Impact they’d normally make. This guy comes out to 210 points, if you wanted to make him a bit cheaper you can drop the mastery to be 170 points instead. This guy will run around with a block of Trolls, either a minimum sized unit of 3 or a block of 5 to better make use of their healing, depending on the size of game you’re playing. Since Trolls has Oblivious adding Indomitable to that unit is massive for straight up ignoring damage.

Shaman

Easily the best Warlord you can have in a Nord army. This cheap little spellcaster has a very limiting Warband which makes him a bit of a tax to field but worth it for his supremacy ability. The spells he has access to are largely defensive, giving a friendly unit either re-rolls on Defence rolls against melee or shooting or +1 to evasion to a max of 2 against shooting only; both are only 8″ range so be careful with your placement. He does have one spell to debuff enemy units, with a 20″ range that makes them unable to target anything outside of 12″ for shooting or charges. The former is very situationally useful, most shooting in the game is 14-18″ range only to begin with, so isn’t a massive debuff and the latter is only useful against very fast moving enemies.

His supremacy ability gives 2 units per turn the Vanguard rule. This is so, so good. A free additional move when 2 of your units arrive is incredibly powerful, allowing Jotnars to sprint on a full 21″ means they’re able to get to objective zones the turn they arrive in many cases and sets them up for fantastic charges later on too. This ability is in effect even if the Shaman is killed AND before he even arrives! This is the best Supremacy ability the Nords have access to.

Mainstay units:

• Raiders
• White Waste Tribesmen

Restricted units:

• Bearsarks
• Mountain Jotnar
• Sea Jotnar
• Ulfhendar

Another case of being much more useful once those Bearsarks and Ulfhendar are out!

Sample loadout Sacrificial Lamb:

• Runes of Fate
• Sacrificial Lamb
• Arcane 1

The idea here is that you don’t really care as much if your Shaman lives or dies. This comes out at 115 points but you can easily leave the Runes of Fate at home for the time being as Raiders aren’t making incredible use of it! Either stick in a unit of Raiders with a Captain upgrade without Runes for an additional Medium unit to score with or in a larger unit of Bearsarks with the Runes to get them across the table taking a bit less damage on the way in and giving them re-rolls on Defence.

Sacrifical Lamb is here to give your opponent options. The turn that the Shaman dies (and he will, he’s your Warlord and is weak and goes with weak units) the rest of your army gains Blessed. So, does your opponent attack and kill the Shaman early giving you a whole turn of Blessed to make use of? Or do they re-consider their options and mess up their temp of cards to deny you the buff? Either way you come out a winner here gaining a tactical advantage.

Volva

 

Your other spellcaster, she has a much wider range of spells to make use of. Healing her own unit while giving re-rolls of 6 for morale, giving a friendly nearby unit Blessed, giving an enemy unit within 12″ Decay 3, adding +2 resolve to a nearby unit, or giving her own unit Terrifying 1 for the turn. All pretty useful spells, except for the last maybe where Decay will generally do more damage. The game plan with a Volva is to throw into a large unit of Valkyries and keep healing them all game long to give you a solid anvil to score objectives with. Any of the other spells will be more situational to make use of since you can only cast one of her five spells each turn.

Her supremacy ability gives army-wide +1 Evasion, except for characters, to a max of 2. If you build your army around a lot of Evasion 1 units then this can be amusing as you watch your opponent’s face realise all the Cleave they brought is functionally useless now. The Blooded and Shaman supremacy abilities are generally better, but if you don’t have either in your army but have a Volva then take this one.

Mainstay units:

• Valkyries

Restricted units:

• Huskarls
• Raiders

Very, very, limited restrictions. But that’s fine, all you want here really is just a block of Valkyries.

Sample loadout Healing Anvil:

• Runes of Fate
• Rune of Shielding
• Arcane 1, 2, and 3 retinue

Coming in at 175 points she’s not the most expensive, but notably more than a Shaman. That Rune of Shielding and Runes of Fate are there to make your Valkyries even more of an Anvil with Bastion and ignoring the first failed save from each attack. All of those Arcane tiers bring her up to Priest 6, make her Scaling spells easier to cast, and turns a fail into a success each time; combined with the Valkyries’ Devout rule, that’s an average of 5 wounds healed each turn, more than a stand’s worth of wounds!

Units

 

Now that we know which characters we’re using to gain access to each unit, let’s look at what these unit’s can accomplish on their own.

Light Regiments

Raiders

You’re likely taking at least one unit as “tax” for the Shaman you want but between impact hits, flurry, and other upgrades they can actually put out a decent number of attacks. Take a Captain to become a Medium unit for scoring when you need to, and a Shield Biter for extra 2″ on charges. On more than one occasion I’ve seen people underestimate a unit of Raiders but when thrown into the right targets (not high defence units) they can turn out a solid chunk of damage for their low cost. For 120 points with a minimum size and Captain they can hold objectives just fine, not a terrible choice.

Stalkers

The first of two shooting units for the army, Stalkers are relatively cheap, with built in Flank and Vanguard and 6″ move they can get into range early and give you a solid Reinforcement line from the get go. With only Barrage 3 however you’re not going to expect a lot of damage from these guys but with Evade 2 they can happily plink away at objectives and be annoying to remove. Coming in at 160 points (because the banner is hardly worth it on these) they’re a cheap mobile ranged option to slot in.

Bow-Chosen

The other shooting unit and easily the better one. You’d be hard pressed to see a Nord army without at least one unit of Bow Chosen showing up. With Precision Shots to render Defence useless and 5 shots per stand, even with a short range of 14″ they’ll put on the hurt. Consider running a character with The Hunt’s Instincts with them to get the most out of shooting while keeping them mobile. At 210 points though for a minimum unit you definitely feel that cost over the Stalkers, but on the table you’ll see why they cost that much if you get them into a good position.

Werewolves

At time of writing these aren’t out yet but I am very excited for them to be. A Light unit with a 7″ move, high number of attacks, and Regeneration 3 they’re great value for 160 points. Combine that 7″ move with the Shaman’s Supremacy ability to have a unit almost half way up the table from turn 1, just be careful about where enemy shooters might come in!

White Waste Tribesmen

Another as-yet unreleased unit, and even cheaper than Raiders if you can believe it! Only 90 points for a unit these guys only have Defence 1 with no evade so can’t take a punch. The only reason you’d consider these guys is for the White Waste Shaman upgrade, a command model that’s Priest (5) and has Enrage and Dominate spells. The former gives a friendly Monster +6 attacks which would be insane on any of your Jotnars and the latter reduces an enemy Monster to only one action that turn. Dominate has a short 8″ range and a low attunement of 2 making it difficult to cast, but in the right situation that’s very strong. The plus side is that this is a free additional action to cast, so you can move twice and cast the spell, making those ranges a bit easier to deal with.

Medium Regiments

Huskarls

A very straightforward unit of semi-elite warriors. They have an OK statline but lack any Cleave on their attacks making them better suited to hunker down on an objective or go after weaker enemies instead of trying to punch up. At 150 points before upgrades they look cheaper than they end up being. You’re going to want to splash out on a Skjald and Thegn, upgrades that give the unit Braver, +1 Resolve, Bastion, and attached characters +1D in duels that make this unit much tougher but also starts to get expensive to field. With all of that you’re looking at 295 points for 5 stands plus the cost of the character joining them.

You’re really taking these to run with a Jarl or Konungyr with Raven Messengers as above and a unit of 5 stands of them (to be 6 with the character attached then). Having Impact 2 per stand does make them better suited to attacking objectives, likely taking a wound off from the impact and then also getting to attack after (so long as they have the action available) to take off 2 wounds in one turn, opening up the option for it to be shot at by your Bow Chosen, or just easier to remove next turn!

Valkyries

Identical to Huskarls for their stats and cost but gain Blessed, Devout, and Support 2. With no officer model options they can’t gain Bravery or a baked-in +1 Resolve, but with a Volva for Bastion and run in a large block to make use of both healing magic and Support 2 they act as a very solid anvil for you to move onto an objective zone and very happily just stay there for the rest of the game. Just like the Huskarls too they’re 150 points base realistically they’ll cost you 255 to field for a block of 5, plus the cost of the Volva to be truly useful coming closer to 430 points. Not cheap.

Trolls

The “basic” infantry option for the Blooded, sort of. Easily the best Infantry option this army has available to it at the moment with 5 Attacks, Cleave 1, and 6 wounds per stand with Regeneration 6 to bring back a stand per turn, basically. Oblivious helps them take even less damage from resolve as well, making them equal parts tough and killy. You can happily run these in a minimum sized unit to cause issues on their own or take larger units for higher resolve to be even more resilient, and even more annoying for your enemy. At 190 points for 3 stands with a banner these aren’t even that expensive for what they bring to the table.

Ulfhednar

Released later in 2023 and I cannot wait. The first truly “elite” unit we’re listing here, with a combination of 8 attacks and Lethal Demise they can sprint into combat with a move and charge if they need to, and be fine to be hit back dealing damage as they go down. With Bloodlust they can charge the turn they arrive to the game and with a forward reinforcement line from other units could cause some havoc early. You can take either a Gothi or Savage in the unit, the “better” choice being the Gothi to gain Blessed and Devout to make them a prime target for the Volva’s +2 Resolve spell as well as re-rolling saves or attacks as needed each turn. Not cheap, though, at 210 points before you get into any upgrades like banner and officer.

Blade-Chosen

Like many Nord units the Blade Chosen eschew armour and protection for damage output instead and these hit hard. Best to pit against enemies with low defence due to lack of Cleave 6 attacks with Flurry and Clash 3 will chew through lesser protected enemies with relative ease. Add in a Shield Biter for +2″ charges and they’re getting into the targets they want to hit that much easier. Once they’re out, best suited for a Duelling Konungyr to help get him to where he wants to be with an additional attack thanks to the Officer. Equally expensive to the Ulfhendar at 210 points, it’s a difficult choice between the two (if you’re having to make it) but will depend on the rest of your list.

Goltr Beastpack

The first unit on this list that, to me, seem kind of absurd for their cost. In a good way, probably. At only 110 points you get 3 Cavalry models with 7″ move, 8 attacks each, Impact 4 and Brutal Impact 2. That’s going to do a lot of damage between the charge and attacks, even at just Clash 2. They also only run you 40 points per model after, too, so a little brick of 6 comes in at just 230 points for a total of 24 impact hits, averaging 8 hits with -2 to enemy Defence. Followed up by not a small number of attacks.

Fenr Beastpack

Another cavalry unit, but slightly more expensive at 130 points and more of a skirmisher unit than a blunt hammer. They’re Oppurtunists with Fluid and Loose Formation making them incredibly flexible to manoeuvre, can get to the flank charge they want with relative ease, and Flank onto the table to come in early to line it up. Their main downside is being Irregular so that fast 7″ move can’t help with your reinforcement line or push back the enemy’s either. As well as the normal Nord issue of just being pretty squishy when hit back.

Ugr

Easily one of my favourite units in the army list, these are kinda like big Brute trolls, just without the healing but that hit even harder. You can take a Blooded with the right Mastery to join them to just steamroll across nearly any enemy unit they run into. Being Fearless with Oblivious helps them take damage but ignore most wounds from Resolve rolls. At only 150 points for 3 and 55 per stand after you want to take a bigger block of 5 or 6 to really make use of Oblivious but units of 3 running around causing issues isn’t bad by any means! Clash 3 with 4 attacks and Cleave 2 makes sure that attacks hit and stick.

Heavy Regiments

So far the only released Heavy regiments are the various kinds of Jotnar, but let’s save those for last.

Bearsarks

Our first Infantry Heavy regiment come in at 190 points for 3 stands, but realistically are costing you 220 because there’s no way you’re leaving the Gothi and banner at home. For only 15 points to gain Blessed and Devout is without a doubt worth it every time. With Defence 3 and Resolve 5 they don’t even have a bad statline, either, able to take a punch and keep going; and in return hit with 5 attacks of Cleave 2 with Linebreaker, rendering shields and Bastion useless to really strike through enemy defences with ease. You can Seek New Escort to plant a Konungyr across into them or just run them completely on their own down the flank and become your enemy’s number 1 problem as soon as they arrive.

Steel-Chosen

Maybe the toughest infantry unit in the army with 7 Wounds, Defence 3, Resolve 4, AND Oblivious the only thing that Trolls have over these is their Regeneration and slightly faster move. At 200 points base you’re always taking a Skjald to gain Bravery and go up to Resolve 5 and after you take a banner they’re 235 for a minimum sized unit. Adding more gets expensive quick though and not generally recommended unless you’re using these as a duelling-Konungyr delivery system in which case you have a very scary block of warriors trotting down the table. Once these guys are out expect to see them in every single Nords list, they are very solid.

Nefhur Beastpack

The heavy cavalry unit you were waiting for (and still are, for the models) and easily the best of the beastpack options. With Shock, Impact 3, Brutal Impact 2, and Cleave 1 they’ll smash into something and clear it out. Especially since they have an 8″ move to get them where they want to be! With the Shaman’s Vanguard that’s a 24″ move onto the board to line up a charge for the next turn. They can even take a hit with 5 wounds a piece and Defence 4, shrugging off light attacks with relative ease. All of that and you’re only paying 165 for 3 stands! These are going to be common in most Nord armies, being one of the toughest and the fastest unit in the army list packing a hell of a punch. Take a unit of 4 so that you can lose 2 and make effective use of the army’s ability to gain extra attacks and Flurry on those hits.

Mountain Jotnar

The first and most basic of the Jotnar options, at an easy 170 points this guy does exactly what you expect. This is the only Monster in the army that gets to make use of Blood of the Einherjar ability, and with 12 attacks base and 14 wounds it’s nice to get a 13th attack with Flurry after losing 7 wounds; those attacks are at Cleave 2 so can go into most units with effect. You generally won’t be mad about taking one of these in an army, a Monster base takes up less space than 3 stands wide does so is a bit more manoeuvrable, and between Impact hits and attacks can one-shot objectives in a turn, same as the other two but at a lower cost. These come in the two player starter set and are just inherently cool so are pretty common to see in Nord armies.

Sea Jotnar

A hefty price increase from the Mountain version at 230 points is he worth the extra 60 points? Yes. The same Defence and Resolve but with Evade 2 means he can go into the more elite enemy units and shrug off some big cleave attacks. To make up for the lack of the army ability, he just starts at 13 attacks instead which is just better since you don’t need to be wounded first, but no chance at gaining Flurry before going down. However, he does have Fiend Hunter so as long as you’re attacking the a Brute or Monster unit you get the same effect, before needing to be damaged.

What really sticks out however is his ranged attack. That’s right, a Jotnar with shooting! It’s only an 8″ range but is 6 shots with armour piercing and thanks to his size means he can sit back behind a friendly regiment in combat and hurl his shots over them. He also gets to make a free volley action in addition to its normal 2 actions, just can’t volley twice, and can shoot at the unit he’s engaged into combat with too giving a much higher damage potential. Also means that he can move, aim, and shoot, or move twice and then shoot, etc etc the options are vast for this guy.

Ice Jotnar

Easily the coolest of the Jotnar options, and the most expensive, this guy is an ice wizard (level 5). Coming in at a hefty 250 points and only being available to a Konungyr’s warband makes him a little harder to field than the other too, but worth it every time. He hits even harder than the other two with 14 attacks standard, Cleave 3, and Unstoppable to help make sure he makes it into combat.

Much like the Sea Jotnar, he gets to make a free additional spellcasting action in his activation, giving incredible flexibility in how you manoeuvre and attack with him. The three spells he has access to can give himself +1D for the turn, slow down nearby enemy units, or just cause outright damage. Rime Storm is by far the one you’ll be using the most, with attunement 3 and causing 2 hits to the enemy per success you can reliably get 6 or 8 hits per turn with that, and unlike the Sea Jotnar’s shooting will cause Resolve tests after wounds suffered. I’ve never been disappointed in my Ice Jotnar and there’s a very good reason this is a staple unit for most Nord players: it’s very good.

Sample List

Let’s take a look at what you can expect a 2,000 point list to look like, using models that are fully available to purchase at the moment.

=== The Last Argument of Kings ===

== Konungyr [215]: Wolf, Eagle, Raven Messengers, The Broken Blade,Mistcaller’s Raiment, Tactical 1, Tactical 2

* Huskarls (5) [295]: Standard Bearer, Skald, Thegn

* Ice Jotnar (1) [250]:

== Blooded [160]: Dragon, Wolf, Rjóða, the Red Bringer, Tactical 1, Tactical 2

* Trolls (5) [320]: Standard Bearer

* Ugr (3) [150]:

* Bow-Chosen (3) [210]:

* Mountain Jotnar (1) [170]:

== (Warlord) Shaman [95]: Sacrificial Lamb, Arcane 1

* Raiders (3) [120]: Captain

Your game plan with this list, like with any Nord list, is to get on and across the table early and quickly to score objectives as early as possible and take a lead over your opponent that they’ll struggle to come back from.

The Shaman Warlord is a must for me, those units making Vanguard moves is just far too powerful to give up and those Raiders are going to choose to be a Medium unit for some extra scoring.

That Blooded runs with the brick of Trolls, helping them stick around slightly longer with Indomitable before they heal back up and giving the block a chance to clear Broken status so that they can heal when they activate so they can regenerate.

Support Konungyr joins a brick of Huskarls that want to hunker down on an objective while staying a threat to any enemies that want to wonder too close. I’ve added an additional Trove Find though to make his unit less susceptible to shooting attacks, forcing enemies to re-roll 1’s during a volley action against them. Those Raven Messengers are going to be huge, especially when near your Jotnars and Ugr to help keep them around that much longer.

Bow Chosen can plink off wounds from heavily armoured units as they come down the field, Ugr can work as counter-chargers or go after otherwise weaker enemy units on the table to clear them off. The Jotnars do what they do best, destroying objectives with relative ease and causing massive issues for your opponent by getting in the way, being more difficult to take down than they maybe should be, and killing off enemy units where they can.

 

Off to Raid We Go!

Overall the Nords strike fast, hard, and don’t stick around long at all. They have some of the widest choices aesthetically for models and a vast army list that lets you play a few different ways. If you want to go with multiple Blooded warbands full of a menagerie of monsters, brutes, and cavalry you absolutely can. For the more human-only way of playing we’ll be waiting a little bit for units like Bearsarks and Steel-Chosen to come out as models but once they do it will give the army a slew of new army list options.

If you like glass cannons, monsters, and beasts of all sorts then come and join the raiding party, you won’t be disappointed!

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