Norsca

[Zer0]

Been playing the game more and trying to experience more factions, I remember reading apparently their monster hunter gimmick was a bit buggy but anyone know if they're fun?

So far I've been loving Malakai and the chaos dwarves, the vampire coast, and enjoyed skaeven once I adjusted to how they played. That being said am definitely a ranged and cannons kind of guy so not sure if Norsca would play in a way I'd like.

[Fendelphi]

Norsca is heavily focused on melee infantry and light cavalry in the early game and has no artillery(except for a Regiments of Renown unit) and no long range units in general.

I will give you a quick run down, and then go a bit more into details for some of them:
1) Melee focused faction.
2) Good Light Cavalry. Dont forget to charge with them, they will fire while moving.
3) Fairly fast monsters and "hounds" type units. The army in general is very mobile.
4) Has access to Lore of Fire, Lore of Metal, Lore of Shadows and Lore of Death.
5) They really like port settlements(massive income). They also want to have access to most of the trade resources(faction wide buffs).
6) For conquest, you want to eventually have conquered Kislev(the settlement), Altdorf(Empire), Couronne(Bretonnia), Castle Drakenhoff(Sylvania), and a few others(far further south) for very strong research bonuses.
7) They can confederate other Norsca factions, if you beat their faction leader. This allows you fast expansion without having to rebuild the settlements you capture.


For infantry, they have some pretty decent infantry. Norscan units are fairly cheap, not well armoured, but get a bonus for being in prolonged combat. Their Champions are quite tough and can stand up to most elite infantry(for their cost). The Berserkers hit very hard for their price and are decently quick on their feet. Great for flanking around.

Their ranged units are good, but they do not have a lot of range. They can do ok in melee when they run out of ammo, of if something pushes up to them/lands on them.
Their ranged Axe Throwers hit really hard with a lot of AP(a single unit of mine removed half the health of an Empire General on a horse as he was charging towards them), but has very low range.
Their javelin throwers have better range and some bonus vs Large target, but less AP(works really well if you can reduce armour of targets through spells).

Then we have their Skirmish Cavalry units, which are also pretty good and fairly cheap(and there is a Throwing Axe version). And the Horsemasters are a stronger melee unit, but still with a ranged attack.
They do not have your typical heavy cavalry. Instead you have Chariots and Monsters to act as your heavy flankers/line breakers.

Use magic to solve problems. Magic is the closest you have to artillery. Norsca is great for punishing units that route, as they have many fast units that are excellent in chasing down fleeing enemies. A lot of their characters also provide a leadership debuff to enemy armies, so stacking that up with leadership debuffs from magic, and then fear/terror effects can make enemy lines crumble really fast(Norscan units hit very hard, which means those on the receiving end takes a high leadership penalty early on in the engagement).

Ports give massive income bonuses. You want as many as possible, even if you do not want to take the rest of the province.
You want to get research going. Norscan research is actually super strong, but you need to use your wizards on the campaign map(steal techonolgy action against settlements) to get it going at a decent pace.

[Revan619]

Norsca is fun. But In the sense you run into the empire and raze everything whilst manically laughing fun.

Their roster is non existent. You play throgg. You spam ice trolls. You research ice trolls. You raze settlements for the crow to get the nurgle lord that gives ice trolls even more physical resistance. Only settle port settlements.

Maybe throw in a war mammoth or two when you get maximum tier in non throgg / nurgle lord army.

Maybe if you don't mind microing their razing stats get serpent and hound to tier 1 for the buffs with tier 3 crow.

[Eminem]

Originally posted by Revan619:

Norsca is fun. But In the sense you run into the empire and raze everything whilst manically laughing fun.

Their roster is non existent. You play throgg. You spam ice trolls. You research ice trolls. You raze settlements for the crow to get the nurgle lord that gives ice trolls even more physical resistance. Only settle port settlements.

Maybe throw in a war mammoth or two when you get maximum tier in non throgg / nurgle lord army.

Maybe if you don't mind microing their razing stats get serpent and hound to tier 1 for the buffs with tier 3 crow.

BRB REROLLING THROGG!!

[Aas]

Originally posted by Zer0:

So far I've been loving Malakai and the chaos dwarves, the vampire coast, and enjoyed skaeven once I adjusted to how they played.

You can also try the Empire, Kislev, Cathay and the Ogre Kingdoms if you enjoy firearms, like I do.

You will however have to adapt for the mostly melee Ogre Kingdoms playstyle of charging in and through infantry to get the backline and disrupt formations.
Ironblaster needs to be driven close to be effective and Leadbelchers are for killing the infantry you don't want to fight in melee, like halberds. Maneaters with pistols are pretty much a unit of handgunners on a mobile Ogre melee platform.

The Empire should play similar to skaven minus most weaponteams, monsters and summons but plus even better artillery and bit more leaderdship and also cavalry. Similar like Cathay and Kislev who both have better leadership. Kislev also uses bows for a change but has less artillery.


Since in your Post you already listed most of my favorite races I will complete the list and raise you slaanesh:
No guns at all but very killy still. You would need to play chirurgical and use your speed to kill seperated pockets of the enemy Army.
In sieges hide your army and with your speed try to reach the least defended part of the city and scale the walls or break the Gate and once inside set up traps in the streets and kill the enemy bit by bit by traping them from two sides.
And in the campaign map use your cultists to attack enemy characters which gives them the mark of slaanesh and gives you more resources for even more cultist and corrupts them. Very nice.

[Tiberius]

Cathay (or tzeentch 😉) prolly suits you better

[Fryskar]

They're slower at progressing their techtree than TK and even dwarfs did on their previous, but they reach insane levels of power yet way too late.
You can gain some early boosts very quick by going for altdorf, then tilea.

I usually play with Wulfrik for better mammoths and cheaper marauders.

Their 2 raiding stances are very important as they reduce their upkeep. Beeing deep in the red incomewise is normal if you don't have most of your armies raiding. Although far less so than in 2, due to massive boosts (think 20% per god and level) to port income.

They play mainly inf/monsters, with a bit skirmish. Their lordchoice is the simplest of them all, a simple yes or no to +1 lord.

[leandrombraz]

IMO it's one of the most fun faction mechanics in the game. The faction needs an overhaul and new units, mainly more lord options, but the little it has is pretty good.

As for bugs, I didn't have any issues. The only bug I'm aware of and that is avoidable is that if you conquer the tower of khrakk before you start the hunt that asks to raid it (the first hunt), you won't be able to progress. Be sure to start the hunt before you conquer it.

[Chiller]

Hmm, not sure.

Originally posted by TWW3:

The Dark Gods' Playthings
Playing as Norsca, win a singleplayer campaign. 1.1%

[Revan619]

Originally posted by Eminem:

BRB REROLLING THROGG!!

Let me know if you had fun using the empire like plaything whilst they all desperately resettle settlements you raze causaing you to max out your dovotion early on with 30%+ resistant ice trolls and insane income from ports lol

[Greymene]

Try the Tribes of the North mod. It really flesh out Norsca and makes it fun to play.

[Eminem]

send your disaster battles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn2DELr3iPs&ab_channel=LegendofTotalWar