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Norsca: True Champions of the Dark Gods

This is my attempt, in lieu of an official overhaul, to create a mod that brings Norsca as a whole on level with the other factions in Warhammer II and III. It is intended specifically to do two things – Firstly, to bring the faction as a whole up to the same level as my Lord Mortkin LL mod, and secondly, to create a framework in which my future LL mod projects (which will be revealed in the third game) shall operate within.

Key Features

1. New Units:

This mod adds in a number of new Heavy Infantry, Ranged Infantry, and Monstrous units to all Norscan factions:
• Norscan Huskarls: In Shielded, Great Weapon, Halberds, and Dual-Wielding variants. Norscan Huskarls are highly powerful heavy infantry units that in terms of battlefield role are a composite between Chosen and Hammerers (think along the lines of the Black-Iron Reavers from Lord Mortkin). They are less heavily armoured than Chosen and with a lower melee defense, but better attack, weapon strength, and charge bonus. They benefit from the Norscan Battle-Fury skill which increases their charge bonus so long as their leadership is above 50%. They also benefit from all technology and skills that benefit Norscan Melee Infantry generally and the Marauder Champions in particular.

• Norscan Whalers: Whalers are a heavy ranged infantry unit with anti-large that truly embodies the hybrid-infantry role. They are highly damaging at range and can comfortably take on other factions’ heavy hitters in melee combat. They have the same basic range as Marauder Hunters, but with their durability and damage, they fill out a useful support role in battle.

• Marked Warshrine Mammoths: War Mammoths can now be taken in Khorne, Nurgle, Tzeentch, and Slaanesh dedications, each with their own specific bonuses and battle-field role. For example, the Khorne War-Mammoth provides a constant WS and MA buff to all units near it, while also having incredibly high melee stats and benefits from Berserk, while the Nurgle War-Mammoth has increased physical resistance and a healing ability.

2. Revised Rage and Berserk:

Rage and Berserk have both been heavily revised by this mod. As the primary faction battle mechanic underpinning Norsca, I felt it needed to be much more impactful than nothing at all. Rage and Berserk now give high, progressive bonuses to WS along with MA, and refresh the unit’s vigour the longer the rage goes on. Stage 3 of both passives is now permanent for the duration of the battle as well.

3. Revised God-Devotion Mechanic:

God Devotion is the key campaign mechanic for Norsca, and I felt it needed some adjustments to remain truly impactful in the late game. In addition to more weighty enhancements in battle, like WS from Khorne, they will now give thematically appropriate campaign benefit, like increased global recruitment and recruit rank. Achieving the final rank of devotion will also provide game-changing Army Abilities, such as Fist of Khorne, which functions akin to Vaul’s Anvil, or a myriad of Vortex spells from Tzeentch. Razing also provides income.

4. Improved garrisons:

Norscan primary buildings now provide an increasing number of Huskarls and Whalers to beef up your defenses.

5. Complete Lord overhaul:

All Norscan LL and normal Lords have been given a complete mechanic and visual makeover. Wulfrik in particular is the melee beast his lore makes him out to be, with massively buffed melee stats and a personal skill tree aimed at making him even more lethal as a duellist. His Seafang skill can also be upgraded to become even more devastating in combat, and his Hunter of Champions can still be upgraded to become a root that makes the opponent even less capable of withstanding him just as it can in the base game. He also has a Fleet mechanic and access to a unique army ability.

As for the Marauder Chieftains, their personal skill trees based around the 4 Chaos Gods have been massively extended into full on individual yellow trees all their own, each culminating in a massively powerful ability or passive that allows them to inflict terrible amounts of damage on the battlefield. Additionally, you are no longer locked out of the other trees when spending a point; instead, the lock will only occur when you have fully committed to being a Champion of that specific god by purchasing the final skill. This will allow you to mix and match the abilities and bonuses from all the Chaos Gods to hopefully come up with creative and engaging builds. As a short summary:

* Khorne: Heavy melee damage, lord and hero killing.
* Nurgle: Tanking, regeneration, poison.
* Tzeentch: Activated spells, long-range damage, debuffing.
* Slaanesh: Speed, armour-piercing, vigour regen.

6. Factionwide Unit rebalancing:

Marauders, Hunters, Marauder Champions, and Berserkers have all been rebalanced across the board to become more powerful. The idea being that the Norscans are some of the strongest fighters in the Warhammer setting, so their in-game stats ought to result in basic melee units that can comfortably take on other factions’ mid tiers, mid-tier infantry that can take on other factions’ elites, and elite infantry that is the highest available quality. Though it is not the aim of this mod, the WoC have also been buffed across the board and have been given a faction-wide trait called ‘Favour of Chaos’ to make them more dominant on the battlefield. In essence, Norsca is reimagined more as ‘heavily armoured Viking warriors’ and as ‘less tanky WoC with very high DPS’ as opposed to ‘beast tamers’.

7. Unique Norscan Landmarks and Legendary Units:

Unique landmarks are now scattered throughout Norsca, once secured, they will impart various significant bonuses to your campaign, and allow you to recruit incredibly powerful units out of legend – such as the Axemen of Hrafn Untam, incredibly potent Huskarls dedicated to Khorne, or the Scions of Akhara Varg, blood-blessed Skin Wolves whose claws tear through armour as readily as through flesh. Grydal, Scourge of the South, legendary hero and chieftain of the Snaegr tribe of western Norsca, may also lend his mighty axe to your cause.

Complete list of Unique Landmarks and their effects:

* Icedrake Fjord - Wolf Forest - +10 MA to all units recruited in the Ice Tooth Mountains province. Allows for Champions of the Wolf Forest (Marauder Champions) to be recruited.

* Doomkeep - The Doomkeep - +40 Relations with all Norscan factions, +bonus to Public Order faction wide. Allows for Axemen of Hrafn Untam (Norscan Huskarls w/ GWs) to be recruited.

* Varg Camp - Hall of Daemonaxe - Frenzy attribute for all units recruited in Mountains of Naglfari province. Allows for Scions of Akhara Varg (Armoured Skin Wolves) to be recruited.

* Bjornlings Gathering - Hall of the Snaegr - Allows for the recruitment of Daemonkin of Snaegr (Marauder Champions w/ GWs) and Grydal, Scourge of the South (Legendary Hero).

* Tower of Khrakk - Icefang Keep - +10% Physical Resistance for all units recruited in this province. Allows for of Icefang Berserkers (Marauder Berserkers) to be recruited.

* Gianthome Mountains - Defiled Hall of the Dragon's Hold - Massive melee bonuses vs. Dwarfs factionwide, subsistence economic bonus (+1000), -100 relation with all Dwarf factions.

Future Plans:

Plenty. Visual tweaking, unit balance tweaking, new abilities, new favour rewards, buildings, etc. This mod, along with Lord Mortkin, will be ported into Warhammer III and will remain supported alongside future projects.