Vikings in Hell Dorado!

[Balgin]

No, no such news from Cipher, I'm afraid. It's just something I'd like to try out and here's my thoughts on the matter.

I have some good viking miniatures in a similar style & scale that would work perfectly. The viking idea of hell is very cold so they could either be languishing in a very cold part of hell or, when they arrived centuries ago in the firey pits of hell, they thought it was all lovely and warm and decided to stay. Historicaly the vikings were always up for a fight (and while they sometimes fled they generaly fought first).

I appreciate that they might not neccessarily fit the setting too well (since it's going for more of a Conquistadors/French Revolution theme) but I was thinking more of using the rules for a skirmish game than using the setting. Then again you've got the Vinland viking settlement that suddenly disappeared. In the Hell Dorado universe the viking folk wouldn't have been failing to trade with the local american indians and dying out due to a plague so much as battling against the local demons and maybe finding their way into hell itself. They could then have stayed there for a very long time (longer than the Saracens, maybe not as long as the Immortals) and either become part of The Lost or maintained their identity, hunting and attacking the things they chased into this mad underworld to begin with.

There are no bows in Hell Dorado and not many thrown spears.

Some models are on medium or even large bases - Vikings could include Giants! I'd like to aim more for historical vikignr folk than mythological men, giants & monters but a few fun things could easily sneak in.

The Saracens looked like a good set of cards to use but then the armour problem kicked in when I looked at all of them.

The Westerners have too many guns and too much armour.

The Saracens actualy look quite close. They have berserkers and mighty warrior heroes. They also have snipers with riffles 'though and the problem of their basic frontline troopers being really heavily armoured. The more powerful the arabs get, the less armour they seem to have. Historicaly the Thralls and Fyrde would have little or no armour (a helmet and shield at the most) with the Huskarls and Jarls having more armour and better weapons. The Saracens inverse armour (and high faith) don't seem to fit this mold.

The Lost could work. The big dog could be a large demonic wolf like Fenris. The warriors with the throwing discs could be warriors with spears and throwing axes/throwing spears. The Reatrii could be heavily armoured warriors with spears. Bran Carnoth would probably fit in well too (and the wicked witch one could be a shamanic rune priest). The problem with the Lost is that so many of them are on big bases. It wouldn't feel right. Also lots of lost stuff like the wormpile are just too weird to even try to fit in. The names of the Lost have a vaguely celtic feel but the stats and models don't really reflect that very much.

The Immortals could work (with the possibility of giving everyone berserk, high life, high combat stats, almost no armour). The teleportation from Bloodthirsty, the soul bearer and the naga wouldn't work easily 'though (the naga could be a small dragon but then the lemure devourer wouldn't be so reminiscent of Rikki Tikki Tavi, cobra vs small furry things). Also the Immortal officers wouldn't work well for vikings.

Mercenaries: the damned souls are truly pathetic and, whilst they are cheap and have unique ability options, they are just too pathetic to be fearsome warriors. The other mercenary options would probably be available to most other faction forces.

The demons don't feel right, they're just too wrong.

So which faction do people think they would work best as proxies for? The archers cause a big problems. Admittedly there's only 2 or 3 of them in the warband but all the ranged weapons in Hell Dorado are either 1 or 2 shot weapons or have really long reload times.

[cavalierdejeux]

Nice idea... I start thinking about Aztecs

[Odie]

Weren't there some Mayan designs floating around Asmodee, for inclusion into the game at one point?

[Jorgandr]

Funny thing. I just had the same thoughts going through my head this weekend. Vikings in Hell Dorado would be a nice addition. Battered and bloody after such a long time in the underworld, but still alive and kicking.

Since the setting is hell (or Hel, as they would call it) with everything that goes with it, you could try make something out of the viking runes. The vikings thought the runes had some magic capabilities after all.

[B-Loved Wanderer]

I too have thought the norse style would fit this game, but with more of the mythology incorporated. Vikings have been in hell a couple of hundred years longer than the saracens so they are starting to show more hellish elements; trolls, shapechanging wolfmen, lots of beserk warriors.

[Balgin]

Jorgandr, would you be referring to the Germanic 24 rune futhark, the Anglo Saxon 33 rune futhark (too many runes) or the later Norse 16 rune futhark (too few)? I know my stuff .

Space Cowboy: Baersark means Bear Shirt. Berzerkers would often wear animal pelts - typicaly bears and wolves. In a bizarre, Hollywood way, I like the idea of a big naked berserker charging around shouting "I am Beowulf!" every 20-30 seconds (in case the audience has forgotten his name) and wrestling trolls, dragons and witchy demon things with his bare hands. The vikings I'm using all have thick fur cloaks and gloves to fend off the cold. Trolls are tricky. The viking idea of a troll was nearer to what we'd think of an ogre or ogrish human.

I had thought about Hel. Since the Hell Dorado hell is so hot and firey the vikings would probably assume they aren't in a bad place. They might even enjoy the heat. If that was the case I think they'd quickly degenerate into The Lost or even demons.

My current warband looks like this:

Leader: Mail shirt, sword & shield (very heroic looking pose)

Grizzly warrior with two handed axe

Aging warrior leaning on a spear

Woman with mail shirt, hand axe and dagger in her offhand.

Woman with sword & small shield (very aggressive)

Left handed warrior with sword & shield

Woman with bow

Woman with dagger and bow

[cavalierdejeux]

Since the Hell Dorado hell is so hot and firey the vikings would probably assume they aren't in a bad place. They might even enjoy the heat. If that was the case I think they'd quickly degenerate into The Lost or even demons.

Hmmm... Underworld in Hell Dorado isnt hot and fiery all the time
Some places are covered by ice and snow so I think that Vikings should feel like home in those places

They cannot degenerated to Lost and Demons I think, because those beigns are different species than Human. Think of them like fantasy races in other games.

More primitive cultures are more resilent to corruption too. If they afraid of something they fight with it

... And about your warband.
Valkyria type model should be great addition. Exellent fighter, healer and flayer with some Aura.
Plus another model goði (officer-priest/runesmith).
Plus wolf of some kind with Intereception skill.

[Balgin]

Hmm. Thing is, some of the players at my local club get a bit fussy about house rules or making up rules so I'm trying to decide which existing faction I could field them as proxies for. The archers are a problem because there are currently no rules for bows in Hell Dorado at all. Just guns with reaload times so slow they couldn't be justified for archery, or throwing weapons.

It might be possible with "combat archers" who fire a couple of volleys then rush in. That would be done withwestern handgunners and Aidan st James going "spit, tap, drop... my name isn't Sharpe, honest..." So the archers could then fire twice then run in to fight close quarters. But then the westerners have too much armour for this intrepid vikingr raiding band.

As for a valkyrie,m there are already three women in the warband and they look decidedly mortal/human. Wouldn't want to push the gender mix too far. Then again I should probably get a second spearman in there too. I was thinking less godi and more nidstang wileder. That would seem to suit the Hell Dorado theme better.

[Dangerousbeans]

There were lots of ideas floating around during Asmodee's reign of HD. Since time stops in hell there could be companies from any given period. Vikings, Aztecs, Greeks, Romans, Celts (there's argument that Bran is a Celt). Hell you could even have WWII troops given time!

Not to say Cipher will continue this train of thought, sure they've got plenty of other things to wade through in the mean time.

[soltan]

Weren't there some Mayan designs floating around Asmodee, for inclusion into the game at one point?

Yep a Lost sub faction of Aztec gorillas

[bork da basher]

personnally i'd love to see some ancient greeks in HD. greek mythology is jam packed with great stuff to use as inspiration and the scope for awesome minis is amazing. ancient greek heroes, monsters like the gorgon, hydra, minotaur...pegasus. total wishlisting but hey ho id love to see it.

[Barfal]

I don't see how proxies could work really. Since the unit skills and attributes are very specific and all have some kind of game effect, you would have to mix match factions to fit them onto the Vikings and that can't be good for balance. I don't suppose Cipher will hand you the point value keys to create balanced models on your own.

Do you think your vikings will be victorious as long as they fire three rounds a minute?

[pancake ss]

I think its a great idea  but you would have to get really good cards made joke
Vikings rock and would fit HD so well.

[Odie]

There were lots of ideas floating around during Asmodee's reign of HD. Since time stops in hell there could be companies from any given period. Vikings, Aztecs, Greeks, Romans, Celts (there's argument that Bran is a Celt). Hell you could even have WWII troops given time!

As long as the gritty feel and theme were kept intact - get too wacky with different mythologies and time periods, and we just have another HeroScape.

[SirAngry]

Honestly not too sure about some of the suggestions, Aztecs and Vikings I could almost certainly cope with, and would even welcome them to the game. The only problem I'd see with it would be that I'd have more models to buy and not enough money to get them with