If the Northern Alliance is the vanilla ice cream of an ice cream sandwich, then the Varangur are the dark, sweet cookies that smoosh everything together.
Hello folks, and welcome to the Varangur army review! This is one of the many “theme” lists that can be found in the newly shipped Uncharted Empires book, and I must say that I am excited for this army to see some tabletop action.
The Varangur take the core of their choices from the Northern Alliance, at least from a game standpoint. Based on the lore it’s really the other way around and the Northern Alliance incorporates certain Varangur renegades into their ranks. In fact, it seems that the Alliance itself is rather stratifying to the clans of the Varangur. Either you love Chill and what it is hoping to accomplish, or you are jealous of it and want it burned (melted?) to the ground.
The Varangur are your typical warriors from the North. They are everything that Mantic’s new model range for the NA makes them out to be: rough mountain men who live on snow cones covered in the sweet syrup of their enemy’s blood. They are one of the only races to beat the living snot out of the Forces of the Abyss on their home turf and they did it just because they didn’t like the way the Wicked Ones looked at their god, Korgaan. That’s it, nothing else! They were also the group that decided that they weren’t moving out because Winter decided to dump a couple of snowstorms at their door, despite all the other humans running south with the approach of Winters glaciers. These guys don’t move for nobody!
The fluff for them is rather light (literally only totalling about 4 pages in the book) but it is pretty cool the picture that Mantic has painted of them. The book also hints heavily that they may be the focus for another worldwide campaign as they are literally just angry at everyone and are spoiling for a fight.
They will kick anyone’s trash, anytime, anywhere, because Korgaan feeds off their violence and their base emotions that they dedicate to him while performing said violent acts… Blood for the Blood… erm… never mind.
On the tabletop, though, they have been given some new toys, but I’m mainly going to discuss three, as there are several, but these are the ones that excited me the most, and that are separate from the Northern Alliance list completely.
Overall, the Varangur have a lot of cool synergies upon which you can build your armies. Want a Northern Alliance army that is all speed 7 or more? Check. Don’t want pesky elves finessing up your carnage on the table, but still want the ability to harass your enemy with light cavalry and a nimble dragon like you could in 2nd ed? Check. All of these things and more are possible exclusively in the Varangur list, but I’m gonna start my list with a cool new combo:
Draugr and Magus. It sounds like a bad 90’s cop drama, but it is a cool bonus that works great for this army. The Draugr are just like those pesky zombies you find in the crypts of Skyrim back in the day. They’re slow, weak, and they’re apparently everywhere based on how cheap they cost in your army. A regiment of them is only 75 points, and with a -/14 nerve, it’ll take some doing to take them off, even with a measly Defense of 3+. This is a cool new chaff piece for Varangur players to toy with. But wait! That’s not all!
Magus have gotten a significant upgrade as well! Not only is Famulus now a standard trait, but they have this cool new ability called Transfusion which allows you to do a weird reverse Drain Life on your units. All units with the Bloodbound keyword can be targeted by this ability during the ranged phase of your turn. It allows the Magus to take D2 points of damage from the Bloodbound unit and transfer it to a Draugr unit. If I’m reading it correctly, this isn’t a shooting attack, either, so the Magus is also free to cast Drain Life to further heal a unit, too. There is a lot of potential here.
The next thing that I’m excited about is the return of the Fallen. In a world with drastically reduced Crushing Strength, and where movement is still king, a fast, nimble unit that can be easily buffed and really threaten some flanks is everything you want. I think in this edition the Fallen have hit their sweet spot. The first iteration was too much with all the bells and whistles. There followed a series of modifications that didn’t really fit the 2nd edition universe as smoothly as this version does. While not much has changed in their profile from the last Clash of Kings, the unit is adequately priced, and with Nimble being a lot scarcer in third, especially mixed with Pathfinder, I think we’ve found our Goldilocks moment for this unit.
Lastly, I think the bumps to the Jabberwock are pretty solid too. Now with 7 base attacks, still with the Feeding Frenzy special rule, plus Nimble and Strider thrown in for good measure, this creature reads like the giants of 2nd ed almost and coming in at 165 points with an option for a breath weapon (yes, I know breath weapons aren’t a thing in 3rd, but you know what I mean) add on for only 15 more points, it’s a solid choice for an effective monster coming in under 200 points.
With that being said, I’ve whipped up a 2000 point list with the new rules to showcase one way I think the Varangur can be played.
2 Regiments of Draugr
1 Horde of Draugr
2 Regiments of Reavers
w/Mark of the Reaper (Gives Lifeleech 2)
1 Horde of Fallen
w/Brew of Strength
1 Lord on Frostfang
w/Snow Fox
1 Lord on Chimera
w/ Mace of Crushing
1 Jabberwock
w/Rancid Bile upgrade (Breath Weapon)
1 Magus
Swap Bloodboil [1] for Lightning Bolt
w/Drain Life (6)
1 Magus
w/ Drain Life (6)
w/ Inspiring Talisman
That’s 11 drops at 2000 points. My idea is there are two cores of the army. The foot patrol which is comprised of the Draugr, Reavers, and 2 Magus (Magi?) who will progress up the center. The Draugr can’t be wavered and so will never be stuck in the way because of a lucky shot, and the Reavers are also fearless and so won’t be left behind, either. Meanwhile you have the Magusses… whatever their plural form is… that will be able to heal the Reavers with their Transfusion ability and Drain Life, and once the Reavers get stuck in they’ll be Lifeleeching 2 back in no time.
Meanwhile my Lord on Chimera, Jabberwock, and Fallen can all be moving up a flank to try and force some issues with the fast elements of my opponent, or try and get in the backfield. Typical fast unit stuff. My Lord on a Frostfang is the wild card and can go where I think he’ll be needed most. If the Reavers need more support I can switch him into that position (or the Jabberwock, but I think his height 5 will suit the flanks better). If I think my flankers need more assistance, then I can stick him and the Jabberwock together to create an interesting kill team while the Fallen and Chimera work on getting behind the enemy line.
I am really excited to see what else players come up with for the Varangur. I toyed around with an all cavalry list, and it is possible and also extremely viable as well. There’s also the smash face infantry line that is possible, and now with enough chaff to support the infantry in that long grind, because Varangur are still the punchiest army list in the whole game across the board.
To me, the Varangur take everything that I think is cool about the Northern Alliance list, and add components that I feel the Northern Alliance are missing in certain regards, especially speed. I’m off to start sharpening my axe and lining my cloak with seal fur if anyone needs me, I think Pannithor is about to get really, really cold again.
