Northern Alliance (2,000)

Army lists and Tactics
#1

I’m pulling together a 2k Northern Alliance list. Thoughts on the following? I have 65 points to play with right now.

Northern Alliance [1935]

Dwarf Clansmen Regiment
Ice Naiad Horde
Pack Hunters Troop (x2) (with javelins)
Pack Hunters Regiment (with javelins)
Snow Trolls Horde (x2) (one with Staying Stone, one with Hann’s Sanguinary Scripture)
Ice Queen w/ Heal and Alchemist’s Curse (2)
Thegn with Talanaar’s Standard and Boomstick
Lord on Frostfang (x2) with snow foxes
Snow Troll Prime

Total Units: 12 Total Unit Strength: 20
Total Primary Core Points: 1935
(100.0%)
Artefacts Points: 40
Troops & Irregulars: 2
Regiments: 2
Infantry Hordes & Legions: 1
Large Infantry Hordes: 2
Heros: 5

–

The thinking is that the ice naiads plus dwarf clansmen supported by the Ice Queen (with AC2 and heal) form a good defensive block/tarpit that can engage and delay. Alchemist’s Curse gives them a fighting chance against high defense units, and heal plus regen should keep them in the fight.

The Snow trolls plus snow troll prime are the main hammer force, screened by the two troops of pack hunters (which can use terrain and act as shooty, stealthy chaff).

The lords on frostfang hunt for flanks opportunistically.

The remaining pack hunter regiment and thegn with standard and boomstick can support either group, depending on setup. They can provide a bit of plink damage or flyer defense.

Thoughts? What to do with the remaining points?

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#2

Generally, the Snow Troll prime isn’t worth the points, There are better options available, even before CoK. Also, i like the Inspiring Talisman on the Thegn as well as the Standard.

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#3

The Troll Prime is ok now - it and thegn on frostfang are reasonably interchangeable.

Like measured force on something like the naiads, esp as don’t have BC, as it means they can do damage in the grind.

Slashing/crushing up the Lord’s damage, Haste/Madness give them more reach.

Skirmishers boots on one of the pack hunter troops might be useful

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#4

I’m actually a big fan of the STP, lots to like especially with the removal of conditional inspiring.

Rest of the list looks good, nice variety and you’ve got the obligatory Frostlords for heavy lifting :wink:

My recommendations re: the extra points:
(+) Brew of Strength on the Ice Naiads
(+) Chalice of Wrath on one Troll horde, Staying Stone on the other

This leaves 20 points, maybe Blessing of the Gods on the jav regiment? As they benefit both ranged and melee.

I was alternatively going to suggest cutting into the list to add in a regiment of Snow Foxes, possibly the best chaff in the game, as you can easily do it (the Boomstick or the Alchemist’s Curse or so on).

Ice Naiads (Horde) 230
- Hammer of Measured Force 20
Snow Trolls (Horde) 220
- Chalice of Wrath 15
Snow Trolls (Horde) 220
- Staying Stone 5
Pack Hunters (Regiment) 145
- Exchange Shortbows for Javelins 10
Dwarf Clansmen (Regiment) 115
Snow Foxes* (Regiment) 80
Pack Hunters (Troop) 110
- Exchange Shortbows for Javelins 5
Pack Hunters (Troop) 110
- Exchange Shortbows for Javelins 5

Lord on Frostfang 190
- Snow Fox 10
Lord on Frostfang 190
- Snow Fox 10
Ice-Queen 80
- Heal (5) 35
- Library Mindfog (2) 10
Snow Troll Prime 120
Thegn 50
- Talanaar's Standard [1] - Rally (1) 15
-------------------------
Total Unit Strength: 21
Total Units: 13
Target Points: 2000

Something like that! Gives the Naiad’s some offensive tech, preserves the Trolls’ LD tech and has better objective play, at the cost of some ranged options.

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#5

I’d certainly agree with @Boss_Salvage on the boost to the Naiads, especially at horde they are a great anvil then with regen making them punch hard and survive well

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#6

here is an old 2000 points army to compare:
A regiment + a horde of Human Clansmen
a troop of Half Elf Berserkers
A regiment of Ice Naiads
a troop of Huscarls
troop of Ice Kin Hunters,
regiment of Ice Elementals
Reg of Tundra Wolves ( a must have for any army list IMHO)
a Horde of Snow Trolls
Regiment of Frostfang Cavalry,
Ice Kin Bolt Thrower
Lord with Snow Fox,
Thegn with Inspiring Talisman + Talanaar’s Standard + snow fox
Ice Queen replacing Icy Breath with Surge (8 )

It is mainly based on Northern Alliance army and Mega army sets
The points might have changed now,
and as was pointed out, with the CoK updates,the leadership rolls make other HQ options more valid

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#7

Thanks for the advice. For what it’s worth, I’ll primarily be playing against an Undead trash list and an Abyssal Dwarf gunline with lots of immortal guards mixed in. I went heavier on the shooting to try to eliminate some of the trash, which has plagued me in prior games.

In my view, you’re getting def5 13/16 nerve with 5+ regen for 120 points. I’m viewing it as an inspiring pool of nerve. The 5 attacks aren’t great, but nimble, cs(2), vicious, and wild charge(1) help make the most of it. I originally had Hrimm in the list, then swapped him out for prime plus 140 points to play around with. I also thought about the thegn on frostfang as an option.

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#8

What do you use as flyer defense? I’m debating using a mounted lord to deal with enemy flyers. Other ideas?

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#9

@Cartwright you might consider Tundra Wolves or Snow Foxes, rather than a mounted lord. The foxes are cheap ,fast nimble and stealthy as well as having Pathfinder and vicious and all for 80 points a troop. yes they aren’t great in a fight with Melee5+ and defence 2+ but at 10 attacks, they are likely to inflict one wound and keep the flyer on the ground. Wolves are slightly more expensive, but still nimble and fast and a regiment of them can really mess up someone’s day with Me3+ and Defence 4+ and thunderous charge. Depending on the battlefield, you might want a magical boost to give them Pathfinder . An alternative is Elf Clansmen with the recent upgrade to Ra4+ and def3+ with 24" range and elite,(ranged) they can sit back and defend while still making a nuisance of themselves

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#10

Ultimately the best anti flyer defence NA have are Ice Elementals and an Ice Queen!

Mounted lord, an ice blade or Orlaf can all do a pretty decent job given 360 charge options.

A back field wolf unit will also ground most flyers, and aren’t something you really want to hit you in flank/rear

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#11

I’ve thought about that, but that’s probably an entirely different build. I suspect I’ll experiment with that more this year. I was planning to tweak my list to add in some snow foxes (better chaff), as well as testing a regiment of huscarls. I’m not completely sold on them but want to give them a shot.

Expert players get a lot of value out of lords on frostfang, but I think I need more experience to make them worth their points right now. Dropping one to beef up US.

Here’s what I’m currently looking at:
Dwarf Clansmen regiment
Ice Naiad horde
Pack Hunter troop
Pack Hunter regiment
Snow troll horde (x2) (chalice of wrath; staying stone)
Snow fox regiment (x3)
Ice queen (w/ shroud of the saint & heal)
Lord on frostfang w/ snow foxes
Snow troll prime

Three inspiring sources, heal(7), more/better chaff. Bump from 12 drops/20 US to 13/24 for better scenario play.

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#12

Nice list, appreciate the move to more units and more US. My one recommendation might be bane chant on the Ice-Queen instead of the 2 extra pips of heal from the Shroud, as you’re down a hammer and have several no CS units that could use the boost (Ice Naiads in particular).

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#13

Yeah, the Ice Naiads are nasty if you bulk a horde up with a bane chant equivalent. For me, the Ice Queen is synonymous to the Ice Elementals, and Surge to boost them. She’s not much use in a fight and her spells aren’t that great.

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#14

Any strong feelings on pack hunters vs ice kin hunters? In which situations would you use one over the other?

#15

The ice kin hunters are clearly a better bet for a shooting unit - elite, steady aim and ice tipped arrows - but are fragile for what you pay and are really vulnerable yo counter shooting.

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#16

The buffs to Ice Kin Hunters makes the regiments really attractive, I’d say two of those make a nice shooting / scoring / counter-charging core. Even one could be a good fixer / scoring unit. Two troops is a lot of shots as well, if a little less capable of scoring or surviving counter-shooting.

Troops of Pack Hunters with javs seem like decent shooting chaff. Stealthy to survive, pathfinder to get into position and push for objectives, TC(1) and P(1) so they can get work done. I don’t love the regiment, but the stealthy + pathfinder is cool on a ‘firebolt’ style shooter regiment.

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#17

I ran two troops of ice kin hunters in my last game. They performed well, but I think I’ll upgrade to regiments to increase their survivability. They’re solid shooters with elite and a 24" range. Against lower defense units they do well, but the lack of piercing hurts them against de5 or better.

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