First Impressions: Northern Alliance Update

If you’ve been living in a cold, dark cave for the last month you may have missed the exciting news. Mantic’s coolest army is getting an update and reinforcements in the form of a new unit and new plastic kits. Don’t believe me? Check out the announcement at the Mantic site here. Don’t worry, this article isn’t going anywhere whilst you feast your eyes on those sweet new miniatures.

All caught up? The question on everyone’s lips is ‘What does this mean for the Northern Alliance players?’ Lucky for you I’m just such a player and have sat down to throw my knee-jerk reactions and untested opinions onto the internet. Read on and see what you think…

New Rules

What would an update be without new rules to increase the complexity of the game? Please don’t answer that, it’s clearly salty and rhetorical.

Chilling Presence: In the movement phase, after this unit has completed its order, all enemy units within 6" of this unit are given the Frozen special rule.

Previously we have seen ranged units and spells convey the Frozen special rule as a means to slow enemy movement. This is an interesting new development as it is both an aura capable of impacting multiple units and designed to take full advantage of the next new rule we will examine. It’s interesting to see a synergy that depends on applying rules to the opponent for activation rather than being a core part of your own army. I’m interested to see how it pans out in play as it will take a little work to get operational. Rather than the army benefiting from the synergy at deployment.

Tundra fighters: Vicious [Melee - vs units with the Frozen special rule only]

A melee buff for an army that can hit accurately and hard is nothing to be sniffed at. It will ruin someone’s day. It does require you to put the Frozen rule on your opponent’s units but there are aura sources for that now. Does it excite me? Not really, but I trust the rules committee know what they are doing.

New Units

Frostclaw Riders

This is what I’m talking about! Access to flyers that aren’t a huge, three-headed doggo with a temper. A huge gap in the Northern Alliance arsenal is being filled here with a 20″ threat range and a heck of an initial impact on the charge. They also have the option for a ranged attack with a whopping 18″ range and steady aim. I’ll figure out how best to use them over time but to begin they’ll sit behind my horde of Ice Naiads to hurl bombs over their heads before getting a sneaky flank charge somewhere. 10/10, S++, already got my pre-order in.

Tribesmen

Imagine having the opportunity to completely change the name of a unit and fucking it up this badly. TribesFOLK, TribesPEOPLE, Tribal WARRIORS, you get the point. It’s not even like the models or lore supports the use of a gendered name for this unit. Do better guys.

If you haven’t guessed, these are the updated Clansmen. A unit that was intended as an army core and… wasn’t. There were always so many cooler and more effective choices available to many of us have had these models languishing on our shelves for a few years. The Hearthguard upgrade is replacing the Huscarls unit which is a beloved staple for many Northern Alliance armies.

What is my initial reaction? For now, I’m going to stick with my Ice Naiad horde for the regen, Ensnare, and synergy with Serakina’s aura of life. The 3+ to hit and 5+ defence combined with the Nerve may sway me by providing a solid anvil unit to bully my way forwards. A pitiful 12 attacks from the regiment will mean I won’t run them below Horde size. C grade I guess.

Ice Elementals

I’m happy with this. The 12″ range on Ice Shards is incredibly welcome after their conversion to a shooting attack took away my counter to Stealthy units. I’m also grateful there isn’t a points tax for Chilling Presence. They continue to be an A-grade unit.

Frost Giant

5pts for Fury. Ooooh, I’m listening. Maybe I’ll look at popping the Frost Giant back into my list after the Cavern Dweller took his place? Mantic have been taking steps to ensure their Titan units actually are Titan units and it shows with the additional love here. Does it make the basic Frost Giant a more attractive alternative to Hrimm if you want a big boi on the side? Assuming Hrimm also gets the Fury and Chilling Presence upgrades then no, the Legendary option is still the better choice. I have to do some thinking here as I might just stick to the Cavern Dweller and use the spare points to buy an extra magic item. Currently unsure how to grade this one.

In conclusion

Birds are good, Ice Elementals are good, and everything else maybe. Things may change for these initial previews so keep an eye out for further analysis with the full release. I look forward to seeing how this plays on the table.