A while back after attending the South Oxfordshire Armada event I was inspired to print off a new fleet and after what feels like a long time they have finally been completed.
Wanting something a bit different from my current fleets I went with the Viking themed Northern Alliance/Varangur models. The plan is to use these alongside my Kingdoms of Men army when we next do an Kings of War/Armada campaign. I'd put off the start of painting the fleet to await the arrival of the Army Painter flexible triad paint set so this was also my first outing with those.
Not really knowing what fleet composition would be best I went with printing off two of everything apart from the XL. Not being a fan of fliers I didn't print off any of those so did save myself a small amount of effort. In general the NA ships pack a good number of Heavy and Close guns generally backed up by a reasonable amount of crew strength. I'm thinking they want to get in close to soften the enemy up with shooting and then finish them off with a boarding action. They also have a couple of Indirect options to shoot on the way in to further soften up the enemy.
The faction specific upgrades (Dwarven Ale & Naiad Ensnarers) are defence orientated as they add nerve and reduce incoming boarding damage respectively. Whilst the fleet also benefits from the Glide rule which could potentially add 1" or 2" onto a movement step. I think Glide could potentially be useful in a number of scenarios so it will take some practice to make the most of it.
First up we have the XL which in common with all XL's is a bit of a beast. It packs a fearsome broadside and a good number of combat crew so cannot be taken lightly. It's nerve is perhaps a little low but that can be boosted by both dwarven ale and sturdy construction if you can spare the upgrade slots.
The fleet only has one large ship option, the Serpent. Again packing a decent number of guns on the broadsides with a decent crew strength these can put out some shooting pain. They also have a special ability (Ice Blast) that lets them potentially reduce the speed of enemy ships, so this could be useful for slowing an enemy ship for boarding or other reasons.
The Draakar is a true glass hammer, it's the fastest ship in the fleet and has very low nerve and structure points but does pack a mighty 7 crew strength. It's not cheap and is unlikely to survive much shooting or combat against a strong foe but it is capable of wrecking similar sized ships in quick order.
The Ice Breaker is a much more sturdy ship with above average nerve and decent broadsides and crew strength. It feels like this is the safer option between the two medium main battle ships and probably the more sensible choice.
The first support option is the Snekkja which adds to your indirect weapon options. It's not fast or tough and doesn't want to fight up close but they reasonably cheap. You could also double their firepower with an additional forward weapon though that would increase the price to 22 points.
The Skeid is a nice model but I'm struggling to see the value in it's special rule and it's not really quick or tough enough to be an objective grabber so I suspect I won't be putting any on the table.
The last option is the Karvi squadron which allows nearby ships to count as having grappling hooks. The squadron auras are a nice idea but I've generally found them to be too slow to actually use them when needed, so it's probably better to just put the item on the ship that needs them.
It's taken a while to get these all done but I'm glad I've got them all painted up and ready to use, hopefully the South Oxford guys will have another Armada event I can take them too.
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