Heroes

Wardsmith – if the Wardlord stands to the Runelord, then the Wardsmith stands to the Runesmith. Low effort , but mandatory.

Grubark Varr-Captain – can be set up for melee or ranged combat, with options for the army standard or the wind-vane of the Ghazan-harbark. This Hero can also join other naval units and hand out some leadership buffs – aye aye Varr-Captain!

Thunder Thane – sorry, but I got completely hooked by the name. Thunder Thane just sounds too good. Not sure yet if he should be a heroic alternative to the Father of the Frostborne, but he’s much more likely a Norse version of the classic Runesmith: a warrior-priest. His abilities would focus on stormcalling/stormsense and lore-wise it makes total sense for him to be frequently embarked on ships, serving as protection against bad weather. Maybe there’s room for a Dwarfen counterpart to the Kislevite thunder-god Tor here (the barely hidden Warhammer reference to Thor). Hammer as the default weapon, obviously.

Dragon Slayer – the same approach used for the Daemon Slayer, but for the Hero choice. So there will be other options – Merwyrm Slayer or Winterbeast Slayer – but in terms of stats and special rules, it’s basically the classic Dragon Slayer.

Timberwright – think of him as a sort of Engineer, but with an incredible mastery of woodcraft. The Timberwright focuses far more on enhancing wooden weapons and war machines: crossbows, bolt-throwers and ships. A cog hammer is just too vanilla…steam chainsaws and throwing axes are just so much better. That’s the good timber-stuff.

Runemon Master – this is probably even more extreme than the Frostborne, but I really wanted a Hero similar to the Dark Elf Beastmaster, considering the offensive potential of Norsca’s wildlife. Yes, Pokémon and 90s culture definitely did some damage here…the idea is of a “Binder of Monsters” who subjugates through runes of command. Specializations almost write themselves: frozen wasteland creatures (snow trolls), big game hunter (mammoths), wavetamer (The Gargantuan?!) or like Hiccup from the Dragon Trainer movies, with dragons (surprisingly enough) or maybe northern griffons, to unlock flying units.