If you weren't quite taken with the armies of the Dark Elves, High Elves, Lizardmen or Skaven in Creative Assembly's upcoming Total War: Warhammer II game, then perhaps a fifth, pre-order exclusive race will tickle your fancy. They're called the Norsca and are a powerful race of snow-coated mammoths and mountain men, with big muscles, big beards and a will to stomp anything that gets in their way.
In the debut trailer for the race, we see a cinematic take on the Norsca people and hear of how they search for monsters in the world, driving themselves towards ever greater glory as they slaughter their enemies in droves.
Mechanically they look set to offer a mix of Dwarven and Chaos armies, with strength and resilience at their core, but with new, exciting monstrous creatures to bring to bear, as well as tough, axe swinging Infantry. Massive War Mammoths will play a core part in the forces as shock creatures of the Norsca battle lines, festooned with chains, spikes and howdah's packed with magic wielding sorcerers. Ice-trolls and cyclopean Fimir make a return from very early versions of the Warhammer Fantasy tabletop game too.
Two headed ice dragons will also make an appearance on the battle lines, as well as wolf mounts for lords and wolf units for light cavalry. The Norsca hit hard and hit fast, though their armor should keep them in the fight longer than most.
To play as the Norsca in multiplayer battles and in the upcoming, larger campaign mode, you'll need to pre-order Total War: Warhammer II, though the race will no doubt go on sale after the game has been released.
