My Take on Thematic Army Compositions - Norsca

GoldfishLord#2862

Hello again! Here's the shortest entry yet in the series. Just remember that this is for fun, it's designed for single-player, and I am not a lore expert.

1) Wulfrik the Wanderer

Wulfrik unmounted
Skin Wolf Werekin
Kihar the Tormentor on Chaos Dragon
Marauder Champions x3
Marauder Champions (Great Weapons) x3
Marauder Hunters (Javelins) x3
Marauder Ice Wolves Chariots x2
Maws of Savagery
Skin Wolves (Armoured) x2
War Mammoth (War Shrine)
Soulcrusher
The Great Mawherd of Bloodfjord

I kept Wulfrik unmounted because he's a duelist. The marauder emphasis is not only the singular infantry option but also the obvious choice for the main faction leader. I did add the Skin Wolves units to Wulfrik's army for flavor, but I kept the Fimir out in the hopes of future content giving us a Fimir lord. He boosts mammoths, so they are the heavy-hitters. Wulfrik would probably favor Khorne (the Hound) over the other Chaos gods, but I feel like they changed the names for a reason, and following the Serpent (Slaanesh), he gets a mixed lore spellcaster hero on a Chaos Dragon while also reducing upkeep to increase the amount of armies you can maintain to fight off Chaos and become the true Everchosen!

2) Throgg

Throgg
Shaman-Sorcerer (Death) on Norsan Warhorse
Norscan Ice Trolls x5
Marauder Horsemen (Throwing Axes) x3
Norscan Ice Wolves x3
Beasts of Tashnar
Norscan Giant x3
Frost-Wyrm x2
The Ice-Forged Legion

Trolls as main infantry! You have to; it's the Troll Lord. I went extremely light on the Marauder elements to really make Throgg's army feel unique. If we're treating the Ice Trolls as mainline infantry, then the three Giants are there to act as the "more monstrous" infantry, with the Frost-Wyrms as the big daddies. I also opted for allegiance to the Hound because of Throgg's heavy melee focus. The army can also really use the quick chevrons from the experience boost and ultimately having some artillery to put pressure on enemy ranged units is direly needed if the Marauder Horsemen can't flank due to high-mobility enemy units.

3) Bonus - Marauder Chieftan

Marauder Chieftan, Shaman on Chariot, lots of Chariots and Marauders. Replace with Surtha Ek as quickly as possible, defeat Settra in battle. Ka-boom!

As I said in a previous thread, these lists will likely change considerably once Norsca is updated, but as it now stands, what do you think?

Previous Threads:

Dwarfs https://forums.totalwar.com/discussion/288070/my-take-on-thematic-army-compositions-dwarfs
Vampires https://forums.totalwar.com/discussion/288074/my-take-on-thematic-army-compositions-vampire-counts
Greenskins https://forums.totalwar.com/discussion/288285/my-take-on-thematic-army-compositions-greenskins
WE https://forums.totalwar.com/discussion/288448/my-take-on-thematic-army-compositions-wood-elves
Empire https://forums.totalwar.com/discussion/289912/my-take-on-thematic-army-compositions-the-empire
Bretonnia https://forums.totalwar.com/discussion/290009/my-take-on-thematic-army-compositions-bretonnia

IamNotArobot#8850

nice work, keep doin it!

TheShiroOfDalton

Those are not "thematic" armies, but just generic doomstacks.

Wulfrik for example travels on his magical boat which despite being magical is only the size of a regular longship, so he for one would not bring any mammoths with him. Then he'd also not bring a Slaanesh champion as those could end up dueling the leaders and heroes he himself intends to fight.

An army that would actually be thematic and loreful for Wulfrik would be pretty small and made for hit&run strikes. He'd swoop in, bellow his challenge, fell the enemy hero and then be off to his next target. It would also be mostly infantry.

MiniaAr#5798

Hello there,

Thank you for keeping the topics coming.

My personal take on Throgg is: no humans and as much ice units to represent the fact that Throgg wants to instate a new ice age;

Throgg
Skin Wolf Werekin
Fimir Balefiend - Lore of Shadows (fire doesn't work for the ice theme. Shadow is ok)

6 * Norscan Ice Trolls - the main part of the army. Counts in the ice units theme
2 * Fimir Warriors with Great Weapons - I keep the amount of Fimirs in the army on the low side (2 units + 1 caster)

2 * Armoured Skin Wolves including RoR Maws of Savagery - non-Human cavalry semi-equivalent
2 * Norscan Ice Wolves - counts for the ice theme. Careful with them and autoresolve, it does't help them

2 * Frost Wyrms including The Cold-Voider - Easy to get early: Focus on the monster hunt for the Cold-Voider and you can capture a Frost Wyrm from the first battle in the game (when starting as Throgg). Also counts in the ice theme
2 * Feral Mammoths
1 * The Great Mawherd of Bloodfjord
-> Feral Mammoths for Throgg only, no puny humans in his army

I didn`t take any giants because I don't really like them. But thy could replace the Fimir I guess. I'm feeling a bit low on the antilarge side without them though.

Then in a Throgg campaign, I take Mixu's mod for additional Generic Lords to get a Fimir lord, and take them as the other lords in my faction. It's also a monstruous infantry/monsters heavy army. The theme is more about chaos than ice this time, and units that would follow a Fimir Army

Fimir Lord
Fimir Balefiend - Lore of Fire (this times it works)
Skin Wolf Werekin

6 * Fimir Warriors including RoR Mist Stalkers
2 * Fimir Warriors with Great Weapons

2 * Armoured Skil Wolves
1 * Beast of Tashnar - instead of the ice wolves, I take chaos warhounds but only the RoR version as I feel regular warhounds aren't worth it

2 * Feral Manticores - No Frost Wyrms there, more chaos. They are useful in sieges and to take over artillery and archers
2 * Norscan Giants - Included in the Fimir Army

1 * Ice Forged Legion - The unit is too good not to include it in a playthrough. I feel like they're fine in the Fimir army, they are mercenaries after all. If they can go along a bunch of marauders, then they can certainly go along a bunch of Fimirs

Finally, I usually use only marauder-less armies in my Throgg campaigns (with the help of Mixu's mod for the Fimir Lord). But if I were to get a Wulfrik army, I'd go somewhere like this:

Wulfrik - unmounted or on a Horse. No Mammoth
Shaman-Sorcerer - Lore of Metal or Lore of Death. I prefer the Fimirs for Fire, as they can hold there own in melee. But Death is an ok lore to work with.

4 * Marauder Beserkers - Flankers and damage dealers
4 * Marauder Champions - Main line
2 * Marauder Champions Great Weapons - Anti-Large infantry

2 * Marauder Hunters (Javelins) - Some Range options: Really useful in the beginning, I feel they lose in effectiveness as time go by.

2 * Marauder Horsemasters - Some Cav options
2 * Marauder Charriots or Marauder Horsemen (Throwing Axes) - I don't know if I prefer the punch of the charriots or the skirmishing of the Horsemen. Will have to test it.

1 * Soulcrusher RoR
1 * War Mammoth (Warshrine)
-> A couple of Mammoth. I don't want to doomstack them but 2 including the RoR seems reasonable to me. Also one is needed for the siege attacker bonus (no way I'm building siege towers as Norsca)

TL;DR.
Throgg: Trolls and Ice
Fimirs: Non-Human chaos
Wulfrik: Marauders, mainly infantry

With regards to bonuses, I like to simulate somewhat undivided as Throgg and get in this order
- lvl1 Slaanesh: -10% upkeep, too good to pass up in the early game when you're broke (I play on VH campaign difficulty)
- lvl2 Slaanesh: +5 lord recruit rank - I usually get this when I'm recruiting my second army so 5 levels on the second lord is a good thing to get. Also this preserves the Slaanesh lvl 1 bonus when I'm switching to other gods.
- lvl 1 Nurgle: +20% casuality resplenishment is good, also in the middle game I use autoresolve more
- lvl 1 Khorne: +10% WS for all melee units - Those armies are melee heavy, the bonus is good
- I don't go for Tzeentch bonuses as even if Throgg is an intelligent Troll, Tzeentch scheming seems a bit too far


At this point, I continue with Khorne until the end to get the Ice-Forged legion, while keeping at least lvl 1 bonuses for Slaanesh and Nurgle (not too hard to do). If I don't want the RoR, then I think Nurgle would fit well with a vomiting Troll.

GoldfishLord#2862

ShiroAmakusa75 said:

Those are not "thematic" armies, but just generic doomstacks.

Wulfrik for example travels on his magical boat which despite being magical is only the size of a regular longship, so he for one would not bring any mammoths with him. Then he'd also not bring a Slaanesh champion as those could end up dueling the leaders and heroes he himself intends to fight.

An army that would actually be thematic and loreful for Wulfrik would be pretty small and made for hit&run strikes. He'd swoop in, bellow his challenge, fell the enemy hero and then be off to his next target. It would also be mostly infantry.

Keep in mind that my focus for the themes are first and foremost their in-game representation, and then the tabletop's lore. So, in the game, Wulfrik has bonuses for mammoths, and therefore gets mammoths in his army.

I addressed the Slaanesh thing already, but I'll do so more. Tzeentch and Nurgle have sensible T3 allegiance bonuses, but I find Khorne and Slaanesh's to be a bit off. Does magical ice artillery really fit Khorne or Wulfrik? Unless someone has a compelling reason, I think not. And for that reason, in a Norsca campaign, I prefer to treat the gods as just Hound, Crow, etc. and not try to match the Chaos gods to them. Besides, if he aligned himself with the Serpent then he wouldn't have to fit them, and even if he did, Chaos fighting Chaos is perfectly normal.

Now for your third point: Who EVER runs less than a 20-stack with their main army in this game? With only infantry to boot? Nobody does that. There's no argument there.

GoldfishLord#2862

MiniaAr said:

Hello there,

Thank you for keeping the topics coming.

My personal take on Throgg is: no humans and as much ice units to represent the fact that Throgg wants to instate a new ice age;

Throgg
Skin Wolf Werekin
Fimir Balefiend - Lore of Shadows (fire doesn't work for the ice theme. Shadow is ok)

6 * Norscan Ice Trolls - the main part of the army. Counts in the ice units theme
2 * Fimir Warriors with Great Weapons - I keep the amount of Fimirs in the army on the low side (2 units + 1 caster)

2 * Armoured Skin Wolves including RoR Maws of Savagery - non-Human cavalry semi-equivalent
2 * Norscan Ice Wolves - counts for the ice theme. Careful with them and autoresolve, it does't help them

2 * Frost Wyrms including The Cold-Voider - Easy to get early: Focus on the monster hunt for the Cold-Voider and you can capture a Frost Wyrm from the first battle in the game (when starting as Throgg). Also counts in the ice theme
2 * Feral Mammoths
1 * The Great Mawherd of Bloodfjord
-> Feral Mammoths for Throgg only, no puny humans in his army

I didn`t take any giants because I don't really like them. But thy could replace the Fimir I guess. I'm feeling a bit low on the antilarge side without them though.

Then in a Throgg campaign, I take Mixu's mod for additional Generic Lords to get a Fimir lord, and take them as the other lords in my faction. It's also a monstruous infantry/monsters heavy army. The theme is more about chaos than ice this time, and units that would follow a Fimir Army

Fimir Lord
Fimir Balefiend - Lore of Fire (this times it works)
Skin Wolf Werekin

6 * Fimir Warriors including RoR Mist Stalkers
2 * Fimir Warriors with Great Weapons

2 * Armoured Skil Wolves
1 * Beast of Tashnar - instead of the ice wolves, I take chaos warhounds but only the RoR version as I feel regular warhounds aren't worth it

2 * Feral Manticores - No Frost Wyrms there, more chaos. They are useful in sieges and to take over artillery and archers
2 * Norscan Giants - Included in the Fimir Army

1 * Ice Forged Legion - The unit is too good not to include it in a playthrough. I feel like they're fine in the Fimir army, they are mercenaries after all. If they can go along a bunch of marauders, then they can certainly go along a bunch of Fimirs

Finally, I usually use only marauder-less armies in my Throgg campaigns (with the help of Mixu's mod for the Fimir Lord). But if I were to get a Wulfrik army, I'd go somewhere like this:

Wulfrik - unmounted or on a Horse. No Mammoth
Shaman-Sorcerer - Lore of Metal or Lore of Death. I prefer the Fimirs for Fire, as they can hold there own in melee. But Death is an ok lore to work with.

4 * Marauder Beserkers - Flankers and damage dealers
4 * Marauder Champions - Main line
2 * Marauder Champions Great Weapons - Anti-Large infantry

2 * Marauder Hunters (Javelins) - Some Range options: Really useful in the beginning, I feel they lose in effectiveness as time go by.

2 * Marauder Horsemasters - Some Cav options
2 * Marauder Charriots or Marauder Horsemen (Throwing Axes) - I don't know if I prefer the punch of the charriots or the skirmishing of the Horsemen. Will have to test it.

1 * Soulcrusher RoR
1 * War Mammoth (Warshrine)
-> A couple of Mammoth. I don't want to doomstack them but 2 including the RoR seems reasonable to me. Also one is needed for the siege attacker bonus (no way I'm building siege towers as Norsca)

TL;DR.
Throgg: Trolls and Ice
Fimirs: Non-Human chaos
Wulfrik: Marauders, mainly infantry

With regards to bonuses, I like to simulate somewhat undivided as Throgg and get in this order
- lvl1 Slaanesh: -10% upkeep, too good to pass up in the early game when you're broke (I play on VH campaign difficulty)
- lvl2 Slaanesh: +5 lord recruit rank - I usually get this when I'm recruiting my second army so 5 levels on the second lord is a good thing to get. Also this preserves the Slaanesh lvl 1 bonus when I'm switching to other gods.
- lvl 1 Nurgle: +20% casuality resplenishment is good, also in the middle game I use autoresolve more
- lvl 1 Khorne: +10% WS for all melee units - Those armies are melee heavy, the bonus is good
- I don't go for Tzeentch bonuses as even if Throgg is an intelligent Troll, Tzeentch scheming seems a bit too far


At this point, I continue with Khorne until the end to get the Ice-Forged legion, while keeping at least lvl 1 bonuses for Slaanesh and Nurgle (not too hard to do). If I don't want the RoR, then I think Nurgle would fit well with a vomiting Troll.

Nice! Thorough lists. I know that there are some really good mods out there that can add a lot of depth to thematic armies, but I myself run unmodded apart from some unit testing stuff. It pained me to exclude Fimir from my lists because they're my favorite Norscan units. I'm holding out for more content! I appreciate you contributing to the thread. Obviously I don't consider my lists to be the only viable options, and I enjoy seeing others put up their armies.