Cad’s Chaos Reavers for Norsca
This mod adds a new unit, the Chaos Reavers, to Norsca.
The infamous and loot-hungry Chaos Reavers of the war-torn north are effectively Aspiring Champions with a sinister and scunner-y twist. They are fast and well-armored for Norscans, and make exceptional anti-infantry damage dealers with their prized (and plundered) dual axes. Not only do they benefit from Rowdy and Vanguard Deployment, but they also possess both Stalk and Encourage—allowing them to get the drop on their enemies and to support other sneaky units deployed far from your frontline. This can make them a nightmare for unsuspecting armies, but for all their strengths, their low unit count and opportunistic morale will quickly crumple against armor-piercing elites—particularly armored ones such as Marauder Champions (Great Weapons) or Greatswords. To sway them to your cause, you’ll need both a Chieftain’s Hall and Trophies of Battle (though as of 5.0, the plunder building line is available very widely on the IE/IEE maps, so this isn’t a huge ask for most Norscan factions), and they’re capped as well. They’re very good at supporting unbloodied raiders and cutting through unprepared enemy ranks, but they’re support units first and foremost.
Is this lore-friendly?
These units are not a direct translation from tabletop, but there are many references made to Norscan reavers and Norscan reavings all throughout Fantasy canon (to say nothing of other mods which expand on the subject)—the famed Black Iron Reaver being one example. I’ve kept canonicity in mind when supplying flavor and tactical minutiae for these guys. My goal with this and with other “Weird Norsca” mods I’ve posted was to help give Norsca more of a distinct flavor and faction identity. I’ve also tried to find a niche for these guys which won’t step on other reaving units added by other mods.
Compatibility
This is a simple unit mod and should be compatible with most other mods no problem. It will work in tandem with large-scale Norsca reworks such as Tribes of the North A-OK, but mods which overhaul the game more generally or add detailed army mechanics (such as SFO and Tabletop Caps respectively) would need their own submods.
Bugs & Balance
These units suffer from some of the same clipping issues which you can find across the Norsca roster (vanilla Marauders and Marauder Chieftains being the most obvious), but mechanically I haven’t encountered any bugs or issues while playing varied Norsca campaigns both with and without popular mods like TotN. I am tempted to make these units a little harder to afford and maintain, though the AI cannot micro as well as human players and might not use them properly if this change is implemented. Either way I am open to balance suggestions.
Speshul Fanks
Roight—I’d be prop’ly zogged if it weren’t for da noggins over on Da Modding Den discord serva. Kunnin’ bosses PropJoe, Calm, Cataph, Cryswar Cryswaagh, and Drazhir ‘ave all given me a ‘elpin ‘and when I’ze needed it. I owe a big zoggin’ fanks ta Cryswaagh yet again fer them moddin’ guides on Steam, and more genrally to the ‘ole community on discord fer such a lootpile of ‘andy rezorces and diss-cussins.
