Norse Build Update

Back in 2011, I started putting together my Norse army.  Since then, I have pretty much assembled all the models I want to play with.  Recently I decided to make this year the one that I bring my Norse army to the Ordo Fanaticus Club Challenge, so lately I have been diving into trying to get them painted while at the same time, playing several games with the army to try and finalize an army list.  I'm keeping photos of my build and painting progress in this album, but here I would like to share some thoughts on what I've learned about how the army plays from my recent games.

Norse vs. Tomb Kings

A couple weeks ago, I got a game in against some Tomb Kings, led by Wiley Kinyon.  While I was able to do pretty decent against the big bad Sphinx's I had to deal with, it was hard fought battle and I just pulled out a tie thanks to a golden opportunity I got to crumble the general near the end of the game.  In this game it was glaringly clear that I am still having trouble getting used to "normal" leadership rolls instead of Lizardmen leadership rolls.  I let a casket cast go off that could have stopped that ended up jumping to my Ice Drake and causing 4 wounds.  I was lucky to roll well on the Valkyries it hit first.

Speaking of Valkyries, I probably should have done worse than I did, but luck was on my side it seemed whenever the snakes' magical shooting attacks came at them.  I was also quite lucky to see little damage from the screaming skull catapults.  All this luck did not overcome my learning curve though.

In a later game against a new Warriors of Chaos army led by Josh Baughman, the army was wiped out.  In the picture below, you can see the beginnings of my slow demise.  The Ice Drake in combat with a chariot it eventually loses to, the horde of marauders with a Daemon prince in one flank and a Chimera in the other.  Valkyries in stalemate against small units of Chosen, and Norse Hunters about to be pummeled by knights.  At least I held it together until turn 6 or near to it, unlike another game against a different Warriors of Chaos list with two Daemon Princes.  But we won't talk about that!

Norse vs. Warriors of Chaos (Daemon Prince and Chimera)

In a later game against another Warriors of Chaos army led by Ben Sathrum, I learned how to lose a little less badly!  I switched over to using Lore of Beasts for my Vitki (level 4 mage), and I really like how that works with the army.  I think I used my units well for the most part, but Ben is a master of maneuvering, so I couldn't help but get in some situations I didn't want to be in.  In the end, I got away with a minor loss.  I could not get any help in for my marauders to stem the tide of death that ensued when Ben's large unit of Chosen started doing what they do best.  That combat is near the center of the table pictured below early on.  That chariot getting in their flank the turn after the picture was taken helped seal that deal too.

The main thing I learned from this game is that I should be more careful with my Valkyrie units.  One of the units I was careless with and let it get charged by some marauder horsemen which held them back from doing something useful.  Eventually they even died to the horsemen by a fluke combination of my forgetting to reform off the flank and getting run down.  The other unit of Valkyries I played well and used them as critical support to help my Reaver unit break some Chaos Warriors and move out of the way of my marauders which saved them getting charged by the Chaos knights.  When playing against such superior troops as Warriors of Chaos in combat, supporting units in flanks are a must to win.

Norse vs Warriors of Chaos (Chaos lord and big chosen unit)

I'm almost starting to think I might get the hang of this army soon.  I'm looking forward to some more games in the near future to see how that goes.  I started out thinking the Norse list is quite under-powered when pitted against other armies, but that thought may have been exacerbated by my learning curve.  Although they may be inflexible with their lack of any kind of war machine, combat cavalry or very elite rank and file troops, perhaps I will learn to use their special abilities and strengths well enough to start winning with them here and there.