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I put my hobbies on hold for a bit because of not feeling it, and then I bought a new video game, Total War, Warhammer I and II. I am really liking the Norsca faction. I found my Warhammer book I bought for $20 brand new so I believe this would be 8th edition? Has a Warhammer with two flames coming out. and red background. Would this book give me back ground information about Norsca, if so where should I look?

This has reinvigorated me to restart my original play for Age of Sigmar when it started but I never really did. So if I want to do a Norsca type army where would I look? I have all the allegiance books but I guess they are out of date but at least it could be a good start just for modelling. I love the winter theme going on, and also have Beastclaw Riders but it doesn't seem like the Norsca outside of the winter theme and mammoths.


I am guessing Chaos and Beastclaw Riders is what I am shooting for, but I can't remember if I can't combine allegiance factions so no chaos and destruction or can I?.

What would the best way to go? If I can't combine them, but still want to use the minis I have and need to go Chaos way, what books should I be looking into, and what can I use as "counts as" so I can still use some of my Beastclaw Riders minis as well.

Slaves to Darkness.

You cannot combine chaos and beastclaw raiders unless you are divorcing yourself from matched play constraints, which 99.99% of people I encounter do not do, so I assume you also will not be.

If you are ok with playing narrative or open play you can mix them freely and do what you want.

Alternatively you can play beastclaw raiders and ally in destruction forces that you use chaos models for and are proxies for destruction models like ironjaws or what have you.

From a viability standpoint, if you don't care then you can ignore what I'm about to say but beastclaw raiders will struggle to hold objectives (the primary type of mission in matched play) because of their low model count and slaves to darkness / chaos are the poster boys for garbage-tier in terms of power level.

Slaves to Darkness are rumoured to be getting a new Battletome this year. Meanwhile Beastclaw Raiders and Gutbusters don't have a new Battletome as yet.

Slaves to Darkness are major enough that they are a pretty safe investment in that the army is unlikely to have revolutionary changes via removing things (losing models) and any change of a large nature would likely be the addition of more models.

Beastclaw Raiders are a bit more of a question mark since their actual model variety at present is quite low and the share a lot of similarities with Gutbusters. GW has recombined several factions as of late, however Beastclaw and Gutbusters have no hints at new tomes coming as yet.


We know this year is big for AoS in terms of new Battletomes (already this year we've had 3 - Gitmob; Skaven and Flesh Eater Courts - and we've got Khorne coming next likely within weeks/month or so); but we've no massive long term understanding of what specifically is coming

I would wait for a new Slaves to Darkness battletome. Alternatively, and hear me out here, Beasts of Chaos. I've played Norsca in TW and their deal is infantry backed by monstrous infantry, monsters proper, and some chariots. Beasts of Chaos is exactly that. What you will want to do is run marauder-type infantry counts-as for Beasts. The degree to which your opponent will be OK with this can vary, however. Your basic marauder infantry equivalents will be Gors, while Bestigors are a great approximation for marauder champions. You can find/convert chaos trolls or skin wolves for counts-as minotaurs, and there are a wealth of monster options.

Thank you so much all. That has helped a lot. Greatly appreciate the tips everyone. Ah, now I remember part of the reason for my long delay. Some people are sticklers and don't like using "counts as".


I will have to go one day and go to the club and see if people are willing to play against "counts as" and see if anyone is open to non matched play games.

I have found the degree of counts-as acceptance goes down the stronger and less themed your list is. People don't like counts-as when it's just being used as an easier means to make a cheese list. When there is a clear theme most people get it. But ymmv.

 Overread wrote:
Slaves to Darkness are rumoured to be getting a new Battletome this year. Meanwhile Beastclaw Raiders and Gutbusters don't have a new Battletome as yet.

Slaves to Darkness are major enough that they are a pretty safe investment in that the army is unlikely to have revolutionary changes via removing things (losing models) and any change of a large nature would likely be the addition of more models.

Caveat here: since the Darkoath/Godsworn folks keep popping up (warqueen, chieftain, Shadespire warband), I'd say it is actually VERY likely that the Slaves to Darkness will have significant changes, and the terrible marauder models will be purged without mercy. Well, the horsemen are pretty decent, and may survive (and are still a relatively decent value), but the janky old foot marauders are only fit for the pyre. Given the limitations of the chaos warrior kit (monopose bodies, weapon/shield or dual weapon only), its disappearance wouldn't shock me either.

Lore is very hard to work with when it comes to predicting future models. The writers have to stay within the IP, but at the same time they do have freedom to do their own thing. Skaven, as a good example, will often have loads of unique weapons and tools at their disposal in stories that never make it to the table.

A recent story about Sylvanath featured undersea serpents and nyaids aiding the land battles. Forces that might hint at a future product line; might be the author being creative and might be the author trying to influence and spark inspiration in the creative team.

That sounds like Idoenth...?

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
That sounds like Idoenth...?

Nope they were most certainly not Idoneth, it was a totally separate species. Basically it was akin to undersea branchwraiths and treemen, so taking the land tree elements and putting underwater equivalents.

Ohh those have been mentioned before I think. There are also undead Sylvaneth. I think it is for people who want to do themed armies. But yeah, there is lots of stuff in the fluff that could be models someday. My general rule of thumb is if it has a name drop in a battletome or is mentioned but never seen it may get a model.

Agreed, plus stories can go into way more world depth than the game ever could simply because adding things to a book costs nothing whilst adding things to the model like is a big investment.