Model suggestions for Norse Wolves

I am trying to put together a Norse warband based on the rules for Norse warbands in Lustria found in Town Cryer 13. One of the Norse options is to take 0-5 wolves. These wolves are different from the other "wardog" entries seen in Mordheim, in that the wolf stat line allows for 9 movement but a weapon skill and and strength of only 3. Despite what the literature may say, stats like this tend to make me think of these wolves as being a more domesticated (in the "working dog" sense, i.e. Siberian Husky or Alaskan Malamute) animal then a bull mastiff which is breed by witch hunters simply for fighting and killing.

With that in mind, it seems GW has the following models available for use as Norse Wolves:
Hounds of Orien- 15.00 for 2 (US dollars by the way)
Farmer Maggot and his hounds- 15.00 for 3 much smaller hounds, and a farmer that would probably make an excellent civilian in Mordheim/Empire in Flames
Doom Wolf- 12.00 for 1 (not really sure what line this is from, found it through a search)
Vampire Counts Dire Wolves- 12.00 for 2
Wolves- 15.00 bucks for a bits pack that contains 5 wolves. Are these Goblin wolves? That was my guess.

Any thing I missed? I am not adverse to non GW models. I would like to paint and model these wolves so as to look like Siberian Huskies. Check this link for pictures- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_Husky

So far it looks like the best option is the goblin wolves. They seem the most suited model wise, even if they are incredibly large for a domesticated (at least to some degree) dog. I have to admit I am considering Farmer Maggot and his hounds, as the scale of the hounds looks absolutely perfect. Its unfortunate that they are short haired models, and don't look at all like wolves. They would probably make good hounds for the witchhunters though.

Any thoughts?

Thanks
Eric

IMO all of the wolf-like models by GW are pretty ugly and although Orion's hounds are really nice models they probably wouldn't fit into your warband! I'd suggest looking at other manufacturers (not that I'd know which to suggest)

A great choice would be "orions hounds" by GW though they wouldnt look like huskies

Chainmail miniatures made a hyena that might be ok

Reaper Dark Heavens line has some Supurb Bull dog types listed a s Guard Dogs

You could try Reaper 14219 War dogs - they could have potential for you.

But i Think Your BEST option might be tamiya livestock sets
They are relatively inexpensive at about $10 a set shipping included - less if you can find a stockist in your area (Here is the auction number of a set on ebay right now - 280279598198 ) and comes with a german sheppard that could be painted nicely as a husky and would be a well detailed kit. Plus it would leave you with a whole farmyard worth of animals (esp if you are buying multiples to get many dogs) that you could use in scenery or turn around and try to sell back to members of this group for their scenery or back to ebay to make a bit of your outlay back.

Actually, the more and more I think about it I am thinking of using the Farmer Maggot hounds models. For whatever reason, I have this thought in my head of a roaming band of Norsemen making its way to Mordheim, living in tepees during the nights when they aren't marching. I.e. rather similar to the Indian Tribes in North America. I think Maggot's hounds suit this perception more so then the dire wolves.

What is the take on the Norse warband vis-a-vis alignment by the way? Is the actual Norse Warband considered one of the "evil" bands or are they more neutral so to speak?

The most I have read about the Norse in Mordheim has either been in the Town Cryer and the Border Town Burning Supplement. I plan to model the heroes and henchmen as being Norsemen, not chaos marauders, though I will need a box of chaos marauders for all the fur. I suppose that would make them a southern tribe in BTB. At the same time, I had a Dogs of War army in 5th edition that included Beorg and the Bearman, which seems to indicate some of the Norse do extremely well within the Empire/Tilea and the other human realms.

I ask all this because I am planning to add a Kislevite Ranger to my warband from the outset. Roleplay wise, she is the hired guide for a beaten and wounded Norse tribe migrating away from Norsica, and she is helping them relocate from Norsica to Mordheim. Unfortunately, the Kislev Ranger isn't available to the Norse, and since her rules came later, I assume she can't be taken by a Norse Warband. At the same time, the Kislev Ranger can be taken by a mercenary warband.

I assume "Mercenary" means Reikland, Middenheim and Marienburg, and also Kislev, Ostlanders, and Averlanders. I tend to view the Norse (at least some of them) as being a mercenary warband, but I am clearly biased since I want to use the Ranger. Does anyone else support this view? I suppose the counter argument would be Norse in relation to the Mercenary warbands would be like arguing the Bretonians are Mercenary warbands, which would never fly with anyone. But then, Bretonians are much more developed fluff-wise then the Norse.

Thoughts????

Thanks,
Eric

PS- I know I can just house rule it, but I'd like the actual rule first.

The Norse are not necessarily evil chaos servants. They are wild barbarians that live North of Kislev. They even trade with the people of the Empire.

Warbands following this rather harmless vision of viking-style barbarians can be played using the Norse Explorer list from the Lustria setting. The warband will be released in the BTB supplement with no rules changes, because it fits the BTB setting. What we did do is give them a fitting layout and incorporate the official errata from the following Town Cryer issues (like the missing max profiles), so the BTB release is a convenience version and a tribute for the Norse lovers (this is all due to Stu who talked me into this).

The Marauders of Chaos warband from BTB is a list designed to play "proper" marauders - wicked followers of the Dark Gods. The rules allow playing a Chaos Marauder tribe with an aspiring Chieftain who, if he proves his worth in combat, can become a powerful Chaos Warrior. Representing the career of a lowely Chaos Marauder and providing actualy Chaos flavour is what this list is all about.
You can also choose a Norse tribe in these rules. These Norse represent tribes from further North, who are more tainted by the corrupting Chaos influence.

I think Stu did an excellent job compiling the various sources about Marauders from all sorts of GW sources from Dan Abnett novels to Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay sourcebooks and writing a detailed background chapter for the supplement.

cianty wrote:

The Norse are not necessarily evil chaos servants. They are wild barbarians that live North of Kislev. They even trade with the people of the Empire.

Thanks for the quick response. Any thoughts on the Kislev Ranger being employed by the Norse? I like the idea in my head, I suppose it could be....plausible

Joker2and53 wrote:

Thanks for the quick response. Any thoughts on the Kislev Ranger being employed by the Norse? I like the idea in my head, I suppose it could be....plausible

You know, I'm not a fan of meddling with official rules. There are reasons why certain Hired Swords can be hired by certain warbands. First off, the background should fit. Since Kislev and Norsca are bordering it might be possible that a Kislevite archer joins a Norse tribe. In Mordheim this has not been considered because the Norse are not only not official, but far far away from Mordheim (they're from another setting) so they have not been considered for the "may be hired by" section. I don't know.. I guess it's possible.

Another reason is rules balance. Giving certain warbands access to hired swords who are experts at certain things (close combat, shooting, spell-casting) is an important part of both balance and play-stlye. You can't just mix everything as otherwise games would be reallly boring. Granted, there's always the possibility of re-naming models.. "Kislev Ranger" becomes "Norse Ranger", but I am not a fan of it. It usually destroys the background and game balance.

I would not allow it in my gaming group because I am not a fan of changing rules that do not need to be changed. Aside from that, however, when considering the two points above I don't think there is reason to prevent you from allowing the Ranger for Norse Explorers (not Marauders of Chaos!). From a background perspective it doesn't look too far-fetched and from a rules perspective I don't think the Norse would gain an unfair advantage with the Kislev Ranger, because they have access to bows (ie, moderate shooting) anyways. If the Norse did not have access to bows I'd be strictly against it, because they would then gain shooting they do not have normally. In this case I think it's fine.

Now go and persuade your gaming group.

cianty wrote:

You know, I'm not a fan of meddling with official rules. There are reasons why certain Hired Swords can be hired by certain warbands.

I completely agree

cianty wrote:

From a background perspective it doesn't look too far-fetched and from a rules perspective I don't think the Norse would gain an unfair advantage with the Kislev Ranger, because they have access to bows (ie, moderate shooting) anyways. If the Norse did not have access to bows I'd be strictly against it, because they would then gain shooting they do not have normally. In this case I think it's fine.

I had not really considered this, but I think access to missile weapons does provide indication of balance as to ranged hired swords. In fact, the starting warband I had drawn up had two Hunters with bows. The Kislev Ranger also has a "mere" bow, hardly a longbow or the Elf Ranger's 36 inch Elf Bow.

cianty wrote:

Now go and persuade your gaming group.

And so I shall. Now I just need to figure out how to pay 40 gc upkeep for a ranger and a norse shaman so that I can truly develop a back story.

Thanks
Eric

PS- I am eagerly awaiting issue six of BTB.... this is the second weekend, sometime today please?

Joker2and53 wrote:

PS- I am eagerly awaiting issue six of BTB.... this is the second weekend, sometime today please?

Glad to read that! The file has been uploaded already. The page with the link in it will be updated in 3,5 hours.

To the orignianl post and the original idea of just having to use GW wolves, you could try taking the Warg Bodies from LotR's and the Heads and Tails from the Goblin Wolves. A Chap on Chaos Dwarfs Online did this and the models look actually quite awesome. Lets go find the linky for you...

http://www.chaos-dwarfs.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=3231

There you go, if it doesn't work link wise you are looking at the chaos dwarf online forums, in the army blogs section 2nd or 3rd page back is Geckilan's Blog, and it's the first page some distant then close up shots. And yes those Hobgoblins are awesome and I am stealing that conversion process myself. The Wolves are actually quite sweet.

Luke.