Hálftroll Víkingar

It's been almost a year since we restarted our monthly battle host releases, but that doesn't mean we're resting on our laurels, counting our chickens or measuring the drapes - because October is upon us already, fellow Miercenaries, and that means it's time to unveil the next battle host for all you Darklands lovers!

This month's incredible release is the first for the Norse for some time - and that means it's about time they had a release! The Jötunheimr realm gain a goodly number of hálftroll reinforcements in October with two new commanders in Sigundr and Guntrún and nineteen new warriors in three units, the great axe Trolls of Gorheim, the two axe Trolls of Rusheim and the lightning-shooters the Trolls of Vartheim, as well as a unit of three watery sjøtrolls in the Trolls of Hafheim and last, but certainly not least, a mighty jötunn, Baugir!

A mighty jötunn of the tallest mountains, Baugir is a powerful addition to any Norse host but is especially nasty when combined with their smaller cousins... as the brute on his base has found it!

Physical Miniatures In Stock

Like all of our releases now, the miniatures from the Hálftroll Víkingar battle host are in stock and ready to ship!

You can purchase the miniatures within each unit singly, as units or as the battle host itself - and while these physical hosts give you a great discount, typically around half the price of purchasing the miniatures within individually, they will be strictly limited edition each month to ten sets only. So get them now if you want them!

60/30% off until Monday the 5th of October

Head over to the New Releases page to grab this month's host as physical products, and remember - for the first week of so of a battle host release, the individual miniatures are set at 50% off (for resin miniatures like Carawn) and 25% off for Grey Wulf resin miniatures (all the battle host). That means if you just want a couple of these awesome new warriors or units, rather than all of them, you still get a nice little discount.

Thanks to the End of Summer sale though, you get 60/30% off resin and Grey Wulf, so now's the chance to get these guys individually. But don't worry - the host is still better value.

Subscribe Now for Digital Miniatures!

To get hold of the thirteenth of our battle hosts in our new digital era, head on over to the Darklands Digital page, where you can purchase the Miercenary Digital Battle Host Subscription item and be assured of getting a new battle host each month as STL and LYS files to download, print and play!

Hálftroll Víkingar

The jarls of jötunheimr know that the strength of that mountainous land lies not just in the might of the jötnar, for they are few in number and often ill-tempered; unreliable allies at the best of times, they keep their own counsel, and only when it suits them do they venture forth from their gorges and valleys. No, the jarls know that the thursar, less mighty maybe but structured and warlike, intelligent, even - are the difference between survival and prosperity. While they are poor farmers, these trolls and the hálftrolls, perhaps because of the land itself, their knowledge of ship-building and their lust for raiding and pillaging is matched only by the men of the lowlands, who they readily accompany on their sailings across the whale road in search of plunder.

This month's battle host, sculpted brilliantly by Rafael Callegari and Bob Plociennik, contains:

• Great Axe Sigundr, Hálftroll Jarl
• Two Axe Sigundr, Hálftroll Jarl
  
• Guntrún, Hálftroll Hag
• Guntrún, Hálftroll Hag [Pin Up]*
  
• Trolls of Gorheim, Great Axe Hálftroll Unit (7x warriors w cmd)
• Trolls of Rusheim, Two Axe Hálftroll Unit (7x warriors w cmd)
• Trolls of Vartheim, Leiptroll Unit (5x warriors w cmd)
• Trolls of Hafheim, Sjøtroll Unit (3x warriors w cmd)
  

*The pin up loyalty rewards are only available if you subscribe through our webstore

The hálftroll in charge of the víkingar is Sigundr, a jarl of some renown. Armed with either great axe or two axes, and wearing a bit of armour for his sins, he's just the thing for leading a host of little green men. (Yes, hálftrolls are green).

Now Guntrún is an oddity; a hag of the hálftrolls, such creatures are not normally seen in hosts of the Norse - they're usually at home, clearing up the murreins or cooking up some broth or other to treat nasty wounds. Even so, sometimes their magicks are useful on the battlefield, so Sigundr thought he'd best bring one!

The real meat of the Hálftroll Víkingar host are the hálftrolls themselves, of course. Armed with great axes, the Trolls of Gorheim are excellent shieldwall-breakers...

...and the Trolls of Rusheim excel at attacking lighter-armoured enemies with two rather nasty axes!

The Trolls of Vartheim are leiptrolls - literally, lightning-trolls - which are often seen within the hosts of the hálftrolls and indeed mixed in with the units around them. Imbued with incredible power, their ability to shoot bolts of lightning from their hands is nasty enough - but when combined with those wicked cleavers, they are a unit you can't afford to leave behind!

The Trolls of Hafheim are sjøtrolls of the rivers and fjords, lakes and seas (and under bridges). They are often the first heralds of danger for the jötnar, living where enemies can raid; but their amphibious capabilities are very useful upon raids with other trolls, enabling them to flank the foe and hunt the largest of monsters from behind.

Who Are the Norse?

The Norse are the northmen, the straw-haired and red-bearded vikings, come to plunder the soft lands of the west by longship from their home in Scandinavia. Whilst the earliest recorded viking raids are said to have occurred some one hundred and fifty years after 650AD, parts of northern England were under the control of Norse kings in the Darklands setting: which means the Norse were plunderers and settlers even before they became known as a direct threat to the islands to the west.

The Norse are a Germanic people similar to the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, hailing from close to their origin in Norrland, Daneland and Svealand, and elsewhere in Scandinavia; and they are also shape-changers, although they change once only - when they are born, taking the honoured shape of Odin's conscience, the hrafnar, and man. It is for this reason that the hrafnmenn and their kin are held in great awe by many amongst the Norse.

Primarily raiders - marauders and slavers that land on the coasts of the lands of darkness to plunder, pillage and destroy - a few amongst the Norse settle peacefully in these new lands, leaving infertile fields and bleak mountains behind them forever; but the ravages caused by their brothers mark them as untrustworthy and savage, and it is not long before the warriors of the land they settle come for them. Such hall-burning and child-killing serves to increase the ferocity in turn, and the Norse then sail for revenge: bringing troll and jötunn and hrafn in the name of Thor and Týr and Odin.

Whatever the reasoning for their raids - and the Norse raid all around the lands of darkness, from the ice sheets of the far west to Alba and the coasts of Britain and Germania, from the beaches of Frankia and Eriu to the volcanic islands of the Atalantes and Khthones - they can be utterly devastating, for some sackings leave no witnesses but the broken, burnt frames of dwellings to the barbarity and wanton destruction of the hate-filled Norsemenn. This ensures few townships on the coasts or upon the wider rivers are without protection, and so the cycle of violence continues ever on, and none know when it will end.

Jötunheimr

Of all the realms of the Norse only one - Jötunheimr - could be said to be free of the influence of the Skilfings: and yet the jötnar and the thursar throw in their lot with the humans of Midgard anyway, for the bleak mountainous landscape of their land offers little besides merely existing amongst the frost-shattered peaks and the high valleys.

The norsemenn are ever abroad and those of Jötunheimr learned long ago that to sail with the humans upon the whale road ensures that the joys of battle unrestrained are theirs for the taking, both in victory and defeat, for whilst the folk of the soft lands of the south and west may be weak they employ ferocious allies and the trial of arms they provide is something the grimthursar and the sjøthursar and the jötunn and the bergrisar desire more than all else; aye, even more than plunder; for the thought of valhalla closed to them is their greatest fear.

You can learn more about the Brythoniaid on the Mierce Miniatures webstore and in the Lands of Darkness kindred guide!

• More Norse STL files
• Norse Kindred Muster
• The Lands of Darkness kindred guide

How Does the Digital Subscription Work?

All you have to do is visit the Miercenary Digital Battle Host Subscription page and purchase the item there. Regardless of what day of the month you purchase this item, you'll be charged again on the 1st of the following month - and a couple of days later there'll be another battle host to download!

When you purchase the item you will receive an e-mail with a download link; make sure you follow the e-mail instructions and off you go!

Pin Up Loyalty Rewards

You will ONLY receive the Pin Up loyalty reward by subscribing to the Miercenary Digital Battle Host Subscription on our webstore; you will NOT get the loyalty reward if you subscribe on MyMiniFactory.

Bear in mind, too, that NONE of the Pin Ups will be available digitally separately from the monthly subscription. You'll have to subscribe to get them - or purchase them as physical products, of course.

This month's Pin Up is the suitably horrible hag Guntrún!

November's nastiness...

Next month it's the turn of the Khthones, who have also been waiting ages for some new releases. Watch out for the many-eyed, many-limbed aliens of the lískar in November!

What are you Waiting For?

Grab those New Releases now!