The 9th Age/Tactics/Asklanders
For when you wanted to play Warriors of the Dark Gods but wished they had more vikings. The 9th Age has you covered with the Asklanders.
Tactics
The tactics are current as of .205.1
Army Rules
Battle Fever Gets to reroll die rolls of 1 for charging. Not a huge boost, but makes your 6 to 9 inch charges much more consistent.
Armory
Round Shield Works like a normal shield. In a unit with most units with round shields and at least 2 full ranks, all models gain +1 armor against shooting attacks and during the first round of combat. You should plan on crushing enemy units on the first round so a first round defensive boost is great.
Hereditary Spell
Frostbite Gives a friendly unit +1 armor or an enemy unit -1 armor for one turn. A wizard master can reasonably 1 dice this spell, so go ham.
Unit Analysis
Characters
Asklander Chief An incredibly cheap character for his power. His main downside is his mediocre offensive/defensive skill, good luck trying to duel any other race's character, but he is quick and strong. He will reliably wound enemy troops and his great weapon choices make him very flexible. For your general make him a Jarl, he'll get the Discipline to support your hordes of barbarians and extra attacks to boot. Take the Longship Raiders, being able to ambush in on turn 2 with no randomness with 60 odd models to boot will make your opponent shit their pants.
Seidkennar Your spellcaster and he is cheap, the same cost as a naked chief but it is more plausible to run a naked mage. Even kitted out, your seidkennar will be under 400 points. Vikings have the best magics.
Character Mounts
Shadow Chaser You take this for the fast. 10" advance is amazing and gives your chief a huge threat range. Be careful with the low armor.
Black Steed Good armor, speed, and is a strong viking horse. A strong choice.
Dark Chariot Take all the good parts about the horse, boost your HP, Res, and take some impact hits while you're at it. Be aware that you can't hide your character on these, expect a lot of focus fire. Only mount available to the Seidkennar.
War Dais Gives your chief more HP and attacks and boosts their discipline. Useful for a general to boost their commanding presence.
Chimera A great fast monster. Go hard and stomp fast. Will not help you with living except for +1 hp.
Wasteland Behemoth You're option for a big monster mount. Has decent speed and lots of hp and attacks. Be careful where you put him, you're enemy will want to shoot at him from turn one.
Core
Asklanders Buff viking men. Give them the round shields always, it will win fights. They can be tricked out as melee fighters or be given bows for ranged support. You can give them throwing weapons and bows if you want to make them scarier at close range.
Warhounds A bit expensive for what they are, which is meat shields. Drop a few units to dominate deployment, but don't expect them to do anything in game.
Special
Flayers Incredibly fast but will drop dead if anything looks at them funny. They have options for ranged support and skinning lash, which utilizes their speed to avoid and damage enemies.
Asklander Horsemen Has the stats of an Asklander riding an Asklander. Take paired weapons for stacked infantry or great weapons to open up elite infantry or heavy cavalry. Up to 2 units of at least 8 models may count towards core.
Warriors WDG warriors who returned home to visit mom. They are a welcome brick in an otherwise low armor army. You can't trick them out with favours, but 3+ infantry is all you need from them.
Wargs What warhounds wish they were. Faster than a horse and 4 attacks per base makes them scary flank chargers.
Trolls Chunky monstrous infantry that can slap some medium infantry or barf on stronger units to make them cry. Has 4 variations: Common, no changes. Cave: gets magic resistance and a 4+/4++. Bridge: gains distracting and river strider. Ice: Flaming attacks have to re-roll successful wound rolls against it. Keep your general nearby, they will just be stupid if not.
Huskarls They are Asklanders with +1 armor. The best part is they have Bodyguard for chiefs, so take at least one unit for your general. They are more consistent with their throwing weapons, so if you want to it won't hurt.
Berserkers A great switcheroo unit. Has 5+ armor and swiftstride, but once you get close make them get naked and mad to dump truck in melee.
Legendary Beasts
Kraken A big scary monster with pretty good defenses for what it is. Poisoned attacks won't do too much with only 4 attacks, but those multiple wounds (d3) is amazing.
Marauding Giant It's a giant. Has an option for monstrous familiar, giving your army some much needed magical support. Tribal Spear makes your giant a decent monster hunter and force multiplier.
Jotunn The giant's big brother. Has only 3 attacks, but at str 7!!. That's not why you take him though. Freezing Mist, enemy units in base contact suffer -3 agility, -1 armor, and -1 AP. Support charge with your Asklanders and watch as they shatter your enemies.
Special Equipment
Weapon Enchantments
Bjargfylli Take a spear, make it awesome. Divine attacks, lethal strike, and lighting reflexes is scary on anything, and on your chief it makes him a duel monster.
Eyratoki hand weapon only, makes it auto-wound. Won't help you dig through armor, but you have other tools for that.
Symbol of Slaughter +2 attacks and agility, but +1 to be hit by enemies. If you're planning on winning first anyways, double down.
Armor Enchantments
Gunagr's Armor the bearer is fearless and cannot be wounded on rolls better than 4+. Your high resilience chief just got that much harder to open up.
Banner Enchantments
Raven Banner The bearer's unit gains fear. Fear isn't that strong, but will make your opponent more likely to break.
Artefacts
Norn's Bones wizard only. Can select any spell it wants from the chosen path, instead of like how an adept or apprentice normally would. Usually pass, your low wizards don't want spell 6 anyways and high wizards get to do what they want.
Harp of Bragi The bearer's commanding presence or rally around the flag distance is always 18". Makes your Jarl bubble huge, great for any army.