Warhammer: Norsca 1.1 (beta) out now!

Been 5 long years since the last update, so quite a few changes throughout. One of the major changes is a bit of a shift from Oldhammer Norse to Middlehammer Norse, meaning they have shed most of their old lore of worshipping Olric and are instead leaning more towards the Chaos Gods. This has only meant a minor rewrite in terms of lore; most of it is untouched. It's still possible to have a Norse army that is neutral, it's just wording that directly references real Norse gods that have been cut and/or replaced with the Norse names for the Chaos Gods. I have also rewritten/edited a lot of the old lore about Norse history and the geography of Norsca so that it aligns better with the more recent Warhammer World. 

Many thanks to Stefan Wolf who once again stepped up to the plate and helped out writing most of the new special characters and a large part of the updated Land of Norsca chapter!

Oh, and in case it was not obvious: the book is called Norsca now instead of Norse, so it's more aligned with the other human faction names. 

The book will be in a beta stage for a couple of weeks to weed out bugs as well as collect gameplay feedback. The proper 1.1 version will be posted after that.

 

This update contains the following changes (as well some I've probably forgot to list):

• Bondsmen may replace shields with bows for 2 pts.
• Norse Horsemen Musician costs 5 pts.
• Thralls may have full command.
• Norse Hunters may not have standard bearers.
• Removed Half Giants.
• Whalers may not have standard bearers.
• Renamed Giant Wolves to War Wolves.
• New Special Unit: War Wolf Chariot.
• Fenrir Wolves can be taken as a special unit. Have Ice Attacks.
• Huscarl shieldwall only works against missile attacks to their front.
• New Special Unit: Skin Wolves.
• Berserkers have Devastating Charge, do not have Blood-Crazed or Feel no Pain. Are not skirmishers by default. Have shields by default, can swap to additional hand weapons for free or great weapons for 1 pt. Have Unit size 10+. Cost 11 pts.
• Shieldmaidens do not have light armour by default, have Berserkergang and I4.
• Bondsmen, Marauders, Reavers and Norse Horsemen may take Magic Standards worth up to 25 pts.
• Berserkers may take Magic Standards worth up to 50 pts.
• Norse Hunters have Berserkergang, costs 11 pts.
• The Battle Standard Bearer can have a magic banner with no points limit. However, a model carrying a magic standard can only carry other magic items up to a total 25 points.
• Frost Drake has Fly (8), Ice Attacks instead of Frost Aura.
• Snow Trolls have Ld6.
• Frost Giant has T6. Can no longer throw rocks. Can take shields, great weapons or additional hand weapon. No longer has Hill Strider.
• Giant Wolves renamed to War Wolves. Cannot take champions.
• War Mammoth have W10. Updated rules to be on par with Warrior of Chaos Chaos Mammoth.
• Vikti costs 165 pts.
• Drenok Johanssen does not have Feel no Pain, costs 140 pts.
• Styrmir Rimefrost does not have Throw Rocks, costs 465 pts.
• Snow Trolls cost 45 pts.
• Valkyries are characters. They are not Ethereal, do not cause fear, do not have Valkyrie spears. Have T4. Costs 60 pts.
• Frost giant costs 175 pts.
• Ice Drake costs 200 pts.
• Norse Kings/Jarls have S4.
• King costs 105 pts.
• Jarl costs 60 pts.
• Clarified Counter-charge: "A unit where the majority of the models have this special rule can declare to use Counter-Charge as a charge reaction if they are charged to the front by an enemy that is more than its Movement value away from the Norse unit."
• Added Fur Cloak as an equipment option for most units. A Fur Cloaks gives the wearer the Natural Armour (6+) special rule against missile attacks.
• Ulfwerenar are War Beasts. Do not have Blood Thirst. Are not skirmishers by default.
• Reavers have LD8, cost 7 pts.
• Marauders have hand weapons by default, cost 5 pts.
• Ice Trolls have Ice Breath: Ice Breath: Instead of attacking normally, the whole unit can choose to breathe ice on the enemy. Each model inflicts one automatic Strength 4 hit with the Ignores Armour Saves and Ice Attacks special rule, distributed as hits from shooting.
• New Special Unit: Ice Wolves.
• Removed Einherjar.
• Removed Sons of Tor.
• Removed Lore of the Seidr.
• Added Sagas; special upgrades that characters can take in addition to magic items (still counts towards magic item allowance).
• Ice Breath is a Breath Weapon Attack. Hits are resolved at Strength 3 with the Ignores Armour saves and Ice Attacks special rule. Any hits are distributed as hits from shooting.
• Removed Sleipnir and Fenrir Wolves as character mounts.
• New Rare Unit: Werebeast
• New Rare Unit: Cursed Ettin
• If Styrmir is included in your army, you may take 1-2 Frost Giants as a single Rare choice.
• Kings may ride War Mammoths.
• Renamed Berserkergang to Blood Rage.
• Shieldmaidens may re-roll failed Parry saves.
• Shieldwall: All models with this special rule gain an additional +1 to their armour save against missile attacks to their front and sides from their shields.
• Ulfwerenar and Skin Wolves have the Counter-Charge special rule.
• New Special Character: Bragi Sturluson
• New Special Character: Sigrun Lothbrok
• New Special Character: Njal Troelson
• New Special Character: Fenrir Wolfclaw
• New Special Character: Floki 'Lostson'
• Drenok Johansen's Ice Fang Axe gives him the Multiple Wounds (D3) special rule. Costs 135 pts.
• Bjorn is a Monstrous Beast.
• Sturmjarl uses spells from the Lore of Heavens or Lore of Shadow.
• New Hero: Beastmaster
• Messenger of the Gods: A Valkyrie counts as having the Inspiring Presence ability with a range of 6".