Ish Posted November 24, 2019 Report Share Posted November 24, 2019 So... I have a big box of Samurai that I could turn into a Empire of Sonnstahl force easily enough (they were originally collected to be a WHFB Empire army), but like most gamers I am always constantly shopping... and the idea of buying some of Victrix new plastic Saxons for use in games of Saga appeals to me, since I already have a pewter Anglo-Saxons warband for that game. The below list can be made with just a couple of boxes of Victrix, some character models already in my collection, and some Reaper figures. This list comes out to 4,338 Points, so I have some room for magical items or other tweaks. Now, I've never actually played The 9th Age, but I used to play WHFB all the time and the game doesn't seem too radically different. Maneuver your troops, get stuck in, cause enough damage and/or have enough ranks to break the other guy. Repeat. The basic battleplan for the list below would be to send the Jarl, one block of 40x Åsklanders, and the 20x Berserkers into the flank via the Longship Raid rule. The other two blocks of Åsklanders and the block of Huskarls form the center of my lines, with the BSB in the Huskarls and one Wizards with each of the Åsklanders; Warhounds are chaff meant to harass or annoy enemy fast flankers; Ice Trolls and Jötunn are there as counter-punch units for enemy monsters. Hardly the most original battleplan, but despite it's simplicity it should still be reliable... Criticism and comments please? One night, Rudolf the Red said to his wife "Soon there will be a storm." "How can you be so certain?" she asked. "Because, Rudolf the Red knows rain, dear." ÅSKLANDERS 4500 POINTS Characters 200 - Åsklander Chief - Jarl, General, Shield (5), Spear (5), Heavy Armour, Longship Raid (50) 230 - Åsklander Chief - Battle Standard, Great Weapon (10), Heavy Armour, Battle Standard Bearer, Raven Banner (60) 210 - Seidhkennar, Wizard Adept (75), Witchcraft 360 - Seidhkennar, Wizard Master (225), Shamanism Core 490 - 40x Åsklanders, 40x Spear and Shield (120), Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer 490 - 40x Åsklanders, 40x Spear and Shield (120), Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer 490 - 40x Åsklanders, 40x Spear and Shield (120), Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer 95 - 5x Warhounds 95 - 5x Warhounds Special 540 - 30x Huskarls, 30x Replace Shield with Great Weapon (60), Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer 447 - 20x Berserkers, Paired Weapons (60), Champion, Musician 216 - 3x Ice Trolls Legendary Beasts 475 - Jötunn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OreoGolem Posted November 24, 2019 Report Share Posted November 24, 2019 This is my kind of army! I play Orcs and my style is similar. Even the same magic lores, though I go double adept to save points. What I see is similar problems too what I have had. You don't have the most spread of "up punching" units (high Strength; trolls, huskarls, and kind of bezerkers) and you don't have shooting (which is for cowards). Oh and your characters are lean and mean. Expect problems with enemy units that are of high quality. Elf bricks, monstrous cav, ridden monsters, some dwarven anvils. But man you do have so many models it's beautiful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ish Posted November 24, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2019 The only options for shooting are the basic Åsklanders units given bows; I can have as many units of them as I want but up to 60 models in the whole army at 9 Points a model; Alternatively, the basic Åsklanders units can be given throwing weapons, again any number of units but only up to 40 models in the whole army. Huskarls can also be given throwing weapons... And so can Åsklander Flayers, which are a sort of light-but-still-monstrous cavalry option. No cannons, no catapults, et cetera, which really limits the shooting game. I probably should take one of the three 40-strong blocks of Åsklander spearmen and break it up into one 20-strong unit of Åsklanders with bows and then bump the other two spearmen blocks up to 50-strong. Adding throwing weapons to the Huskarls is also a good idea, they ain't great, but it would probably catch a lot of people by surprise. I'll need to double check the rules, can archers shoot "over" friendly units? WHFB waffled on that between editions... Twenty bows ain't great shooting, but its enough to soften up the enemy a bit. If I can park them behind the big spear blocks, they'd prove pretty damn durable (since Battle Focus makes even Åsklander archers pretty tough). My WHFB 8th Edition armies were Tomb Kings and Dark Elves early on before they got their "8th Edition Army books and they had stupidly broken shooting and magic due to the quirks caused by the change in editions. Then I switched to Empire. In all three armies, I tended to run lean-and-mean characters with minimal magic items and XBAWKSHUGE blocks of rank-and-file Core Unit infantry. I've always found that given a choice between a 100-point sword for a hero or 100-points of basic grunts, the basic grunts tend to be more useful. I see characters as force multipliers rather than offensive units in their own right... If I'm reading the stats right, the Åsklander Chief has pretty mediocre offensive/defensive stats and the Åsklander Seidhkennar the standard issue "squishy wizard." So, even if I did load them up with the Sword of Nuclear Armageddon +3, Armor of Indestructible Spikey Bitz +6, and the Helmet of Super-Duper Speed +9, they're still going to get curb-stomped by damn near anyone else's combat lord. The Åsklander Chief should do okay against other "mere mortals" like Sonnstahl Marshals or Equitaine Dukes, but I don't have any illusions of him taking on dragons and demons. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valourunbound Posted November 24, 2019 Report Share Posted November 24, 2019 11 hours ago, Ish said: I'll need to double check the rules, can archers shoot "over" friendly units? Yes, sort of. Bows have Volley Fire, which allows the whole unit to ignore intervening Standard sized models if one model in the unit can see the target. So if you run the archers ten wide and the spears five wide, you'll usually be able to see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrewgeddon Posted November 25, 2019 Report Share Posted November 25, 2019 So I know almost nothing about Asklanders, but someone won the event that @valourunbound, @TheBeninator, and I went to down to in CA with them. Here's the list: Asklander Chief (385) -Jarl -Shield -Shield Breaker -Dusk Forged -Gunagr's Armor -Harp of Bragi -War Dais Asklander Chief (580) -BSB -Eyratoki -Wasteland Behemoth Seidhkennar (370) -Wizard Master (Shamanism) -Potion of Strength Marauding Giant (345) -Big Brother -Monstrous Familiar 49 Asklanders (689) -Great Weapons -Full Command -Raven banner 20 Asklanders (190) -Paired Weapons 10 Asklander Horsemen (265) -Light Lance -Standard 24 Huskarls (384) -Full Command 8 Common Trolls (530) 5 Wargs (395) 5 Flayers (190) -Light Lance -Skinning Lash -Shield 5 Flayers (175) -Light Lance -Throwing Weapons -Shields Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBeninator Posted November 26, 2019 Report Share Posted November 26, 2019 I like your idea of having a Jotunn @Ish. Its one heck of a monster that requires a pretty heavy hammer to deal with. Big blocks of spears, and a guaranteed ambush is pretty awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ish Posted November 26, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2019 ÅSKLANDERS SECOND DRAFT --- Characters --- 200 - Åsklander Chief - General Jarl, General, Shield (5), Spear (5), Heavy Armour, Longship Raid (50) 230 - Åsklander Chief, Great Weapon (10), Heavy Armour, Battle Standard Bearer, Raven Banner (60) 210 - Seidhkennar, Wizard Adept (75), Witchcraft 210 - Seidhkennar, Wizard Adept (75), Shamanism --- Core --- 490 - 40x Åsklanders, 40x Spear and Shield (120), Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer 490 - 40x Åsklanders, 40x Spear and Shield (120), Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer 210 - 20x Åsklanders, 20x Bow (4+) (40) 95 - 5x Warhounds 95 - 5x Warhounds 210 - 20x Åsklanders, 20x Bow (4+) (40) --- Special --- 660 - 30x Huskarls, 30x Throwing Weapons (4+) (120), 30x Replace Shield with Great Weapon (60), Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer 447 - 20x Berserkers, Paired Weapons (60), Champion, Musician 216 - 3x Ice Trolls --- Legendary Beasts --- 475 - Jötunn --- Total --- 4,238 So, second draft. Same basic theme of running with mostly big blocks of infantry and less reliance on big scary monsters. The Jötunn is really big and scary, true, but I see him working more as an “anti-monster monster,” who will mostly be there to put pressure on the other team’s big guys. Likewise, the trolls are meant more for defense than offense. The standard idea is still to use Longship Raid on the Jarl and Berserkers; plop the Spearmen blocks on either side of the Huskarls (with the BSB); and then just fight it out as a good old hammer and anvil. Still have room for 250+ points of magic items and other upgrades. Probably the Harp of Braggi for the Jarl (for a big leadership bubble) or a magic weapon (because hitting harder is never a bad thing). I’m also wondering if one (or both) wizards would benefit from a chariot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.