Paganism needs some lovin (Heathen hofs and Odin's warriors)

[Reiksmarshal]

Heathen hofs​

One thing I really feel is missing from this DLC is Heathen hofs in Denmark and Norway. Pagans should have a few of these around in their homeland. Basically a few remote Pagan places of worship that a player can travel to to participate in blót rituals or other sacrifices. These could also act as locations where Pagan Priest and Berserkers (Odin's special warriors) can be recruited from. This would imo really add lot of immersion for Viking players and give them a very good reason to travel back to Norway and Denmark. Not only would you be making sacrifices to the Gods, but you could recruit some awesome unique Pagan troops that you can get at the hofs.

Rituals

This doesn't have to be anything crazy, even just some dialog options would be fine like the Priest at the halls. Though it would be cool if there was a way to represent blót rituals and human sacrifices. It might even be pretty cool if you could drag a lord prisoner to one of the hofs and give them a blood eagle to kill the lord. This would come at a cost, but the option could be interesting.

Odin's Warriors

These would also be a place where the true warriors of Odin gathered and could be recruited, though they should be expensive they would add a nice element to any viking army. 

Pagan Priest - The hofs would offer a static location to recruit them from to guide your men in the pagan ways.

Berserkr - This is one unit I want to see in the game more than anything, they where very real and there is all kinds of information about them littered throughout the sagas. Apparently King Harald Fairhair used Berserker bands as his shock troops and where sometimes ranked as high as royal bodyguard.   

Haraldskvæði saga describes Harald's berserkir:

    I'll ask of the berserks, you tasters of blood,
    Those intrepid heroes, how are they treated,
    Those who wade out into battle?
    Wolf-skinned they are called. In battle
    They bear bloody shields.
    Red with blood are their weapons when they come to fight.
    They form a closed group.
    The prince in his wisdom puts trust in such men
    Who hack through enemy shields.

The Icelandic historian and poet Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241) wrote the following description of berserkers in his Ynglinga saga:

 

His (Odin's) men rushed forwards without armour, were as mad as dogs or wolves, bit their shields, and were strong as bears or wild oxen, and killed people at a blow, but neither fire nor iron told upon them. This was called Berserkergang.

Berserkr would be an easy unit to do since there is a lot of description of them and what they would wear into battle. They could have a mix of wolf and bear pelts with a few helmets in the mix, shields, swords, and one and maybe even two handed axes. I would definitely give them give them a 10 in power strike and maybe even consider making them have a higher athletic skill to represent them being furious. Basically a fast and powerful shock troop that would melt away in a prolonged melee.

Wolf pelt model

Spoiler

Bear pelt + pants model

Spoiler

Anyways I know this is mostly wishful thinking, but I think it could be pretty awesome for this content. 

 

[Sunny Beach]

Neat. Would be a nice addition in my opinion.

 

[florinteal]

Pagan sites would be a good addition, but the absolute last thing pagans need is even more powerful units to recruit. It's already ten times easier to go pagan, tank your rep, raise an army of assorted vikingr and roflstomp all over everything than it is to be a christian lord going from pub to pub begging every mercenary you see to join you.

 

[Reiksmarshal]

That is only if you exploit the game and by doing said exploit it makes it very difficult to create a kingdom that isn't constantly under attack by Christians. I'm not so sure if they would be more powerful overall anyways, they would be more like a glass canon where the vikingr troops are like a tank.

 

[florinteal]

The devs have explicitly stated that the ability to recruit vikingr is one of the key advantages of having a low reputation, so it's not an exploit. And it doesn't really matter if your kingdom is constantly under attack by christians if you have the ability to field a massive army of elite units; no AI lord can compete.

 

[Reiksmarshal]

Wasn't it also mentioned it would be removed or significantly reduced?

 

[florinteal]

No idea. I haven't read that.

 

[Reiksmarshal]

This would be it, not sure if it's still the plan going forward though for 1.04 and beyond. 
http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,322797.msg7621768.html#msg7621768

Back to Berserkr and why I would like see them as an option, I personally like to play fast characters with medium armor and my heavy troops can't keep up with me. I would like to lead my Berserkr on fast flank attacks that the heavier troops can't manage or at least not very well. With the balance changes and fixed slings I think we are going to see some changes to gameplay and maybe heavier and slower will be more punishing than before. Hell my character already has the Berserkr trait maybe I make him a warrior of Odin and run around in animal pelts as well.

 

[mikeboix]

So cool. Where did you find these pelt models and textures? It would be great to see them in VC.

 

[Reiksmarshal]

They are from the berserker models in Rome 2.

As far as Heathen hofs where do you guys think would be good locations for them if they were added. Here would be my picks 

Denmark

Spoiler

Norway (updated)

Spoiler

 

[KaosProphet]

Back to Berserkr and why I would like see them as an option, I personally like to play fast characters with medium armor and my heavy troops can't keep up with me. I would like to lead my Berserkr on fast flank attacks that the heavier troops can't manage or at least not very well. With the balance changes and fixed slings I think we are going to see some changes to gameplay and maybe heavier and slower will be more punishing than before. Hell my character already has the Berserkr trait maybe I make him a warrior of Odin and run around in animal pelts as well.

Haven't played with them much, but Reavers (from the ruffian-brigand line) look at least on the surface like they'd fulfill the light/medium combat role you're looking for.  Also possibly Skirmishers from the Pict, Goidel and Briton lines (plus, the picts even run around half-naked till they hit the Elite tier.)  Course, they don't have 'berserkr' flavor to them - not 'norse' enough (and also not GlassSupercannons.)


Similarily: there is at least one pagan site in game where you can (I believe) even have sacrifices performed.  But again, it's Druidic rather than Norse in flavor.

 

[Reiksmarshal]

Berserkers have already been confirmed by the devs, what the final unit will look like will be interesting for sure. 

 

[mikeboix]

Berserkers have already been confirmed by the devs

Really? Link? 

 

[kalarhan]

Berserkers have already been confirmed by the devs

Really? Link? 

its something related to magic, blood sacrifices on a red moon and lots of mead. No more info for now :XD

serious reply: dev said he could not add new troops without breaking savegames, but they are doing some *magic* to create berseker units.

 

[BrustwarzenLenny]

I don't like furs... 

 

[Reiksmarshal]

haha ... I heard they are hard to make model wise, but it looks pretty cool from what I can see. Maybe if you uploaded a larger image we could see it better

 

[BrustwarzenLenny]

There are some good screenshots of the new stuff in the internet... not here in forum...
But somewhere^^
I know about at least 2 guys here who already found them 
I'm not hiding this stuff, it is visible for public. But I'm not posting it here, as it is still WIP.

 

[mikeboix]

I know about at least 2 guys here who already found them 

WHO?

Kalarhan for sure, he knows everything and he sees everything!! Kalarhan, I need you!!

 

[kalarhan]

WHO?

Kalarhan or sure, he knows everything and he sees everything!! Kalarhan, I need you!!

I know nothing *hides* 

 

[Reiksmarshal]

There are some good screenshots of the new stuff in the internet... not here in forum...
But somewhere^^
I know about at least 2 guys here who already found them 
I'm not hiding this stuff, it is visible for public. But I'm not posting it here, as it is still WIP.

No problem I personally haven't come across anything,  surely you guys are not holding out on your most ardent fans? 

Just kidding,  just finished watching vikings and looking forward to resuming a campaign for 1.04.