A Warhammer 8th edition rules update to the Ulrican army from Games Workshop's Storm of Chaos supplement (originally written by Gav Thorpe, Pete Haines and Andy Hoare).
In this superbly presented, full colour, Ulrican army book you will find a rich and engaging background, culture, history and army list for the men of Middenland. In short, they are a deeply pious, hardy and warrior-like folk (who despise the weak !)*, as you would expect from those that stand firm against the tides of Chaos from the North (with a bit if help from their Empire friends and maybe a few unmentioned, wandering Nordic Huscarls).
* see the Crush the Weak in Army Special rules (a real benefit against low leadership armies such as Goblins and Skaven).
The book is 46 pages long, about 46meg to download (for FREE) or you can view it online (click the book cover for download links in the Battle Reporter forum).
Once again, Mathias (Battle Reporter forum member name M4cR1II3n) is the genius behind this impressive update - don't forget to drop him a personal message to say thanks or leave your feedback in the dedicated forum thread (click book cover).
The army list features:-
- 10 Lord and Hero choices (including special characters and elector count Boris Todbringer himself who is quite hard to kill - you need him finish him off in one combat round before his wounds restore);
- 3 core units including, of course, the Knights of the White Wolf;
- 3 special units with a wide variety of optional upgrades and the heavily armed and armoured Montrous Winter Warg Knights and
- 2 rare units including the Knights Panther and stubborn Wolfkin skirmishers.
In addition to the men from Middenland, you can also select from a wide variety of Empire Army troops, including some of the non-special characters, most of the Empire core, crossbowmen (as special) and most usefully Greatswords (as special) and the Great Cannon (as rare) along with the Mortar and Handgunners.
It's a wide selection to choose from and allows you to integrate the Middenheim army (Middenheim is the capital of Middenland) on a piece by piece basis into an existing Empire force if you want to begin collecting it.
The Ulric army is predominantly an offensive one but there are enough units (with Empire included) to provide for all gaming styles. The true fighting strength will still lie with the Cult of Ulric units which have some advantages over their Empire equivalents (for instance, the Middenheim state troops "The Swords of Ulric" get +1 to hit in the first round of combat). The Teutogen Guard make for a useful and inexpensive special unit with their Ld 8 and Stubborn rule plus White Wolf Hammers, and full plate and (for one upgraded unit) the Strength of Ulric rule which allows re-rolls of failed to-wound dice.
The cavalry deserves special mention because they are the very heart of the Cult of Ulric Middenland Army. Indeed an army (albeit, not a very balanced one) could probably be constructed of cavalry units alone because Knights of the White Wolf* are available as a core unit, the hardy Winter Warg Knights* as special and Knights Panther as a rare choice.
* both these units wield White Wolf Hammers (+1 strength in combat and +2 strength when charging) and full plate (4+ armour save).
As you would expect from an army based near the boundaries of the human world and in constant struggle against the forces of Chaos, full plate armour and heavy hammers feature prominently throughout!
Magic support comes in the form of Wizard Lords and Battle Wizards, who can use spells from the 8 colleges of magic and Warrior Priests of Ulric who are extremely pious and enraged with hatred !
The Warrior Priests can channel power and dispel dice like a wizard, fill their own troops with hatred and have 3 prayers (bound level 3 augment spells targetting the priest and his unit). The Prayers either increase charge distance, deliver automatic hits on enemy combatants in base contact or cause enemy units in base contact to suffer -1 to hit.
Emil Valgeir is the High Priest of Ulric and a particularly useful character because he's far more likely to "get off" one of his bound prayers and handy for channeling extra dice (on a 5+ not just 6). Not only that but he's quite a nasty piece of of work in combat, 4 str5 attacks (ignoring armour saves), the enemy strikes last and he has a 4+ armour save and 5+ ward save (+1 magic res). Don't think you can take him out with a flame cannon either because he and his unit are immune to all fire based attacks.
Magic Items are represented by Talismans of Ulric and the Ulric Armoury, there are 15 items in total (plus any you include on characters from the Empire Army book. They're not that powerful but a nice addition to add some flavour to your custom characters.I particularly like the Bane of the Craven amulet which prevents pesky units, that like to disrupt your plans, from making a flee reaction to your charge. The Standard of the White Wolf will also ease some of the anxiety you can suffer when facing massed ranks of missile troops or ranged magic missiles, all of which suffer -1 to their strength. I think the Fang of the Winter Wolf will also prove popular in a last ditch attempt to win a combat. It can be used by a warrior priest and effectively ensures that his prayer is "cast" with Irresistible Force.
Is army is for you...
Well, if you're a fan of The Empire army book but you are getting a bit bored of playing with the same units and crave a bit more variety or, if you want to inject a bit more warrior spirit into the army or, branch out into a new theme with new heraldry and white winter bases then this could be your opportunity.
It's would be quite easy to add your favourite Ulric units one at a time and, I guess, that's the beauty of this supplement. You can add piecemeal and easily revert back to your core Empire force or go the whole hog and build up your Middenlanders into a full army in it's own right with a small Empire contingent.
You can still find some of the old White Wolf Knights on eBay (click below) although they are long out of production. GW do however still sell the Empire Grand Master of the White Wolf in Finecast, which is quite a handsome mini to own and a decent center piece for your knights if you decide to go for it
Knights of the White Wolf on eBay![]()
To summarize
What I like - the warrior-like, gritty, determined, independent minded character of the army and it's leaders. The Cult itself really brings the army to life, they feel a bit like the bad guys in the Conan the Barbarian movie - heavily armed and armoured, resolute, a bit scary and tough to kill.
I also like the way you can combine the army with an existing Empire army giving you two forces for the price of one. Building a Cult of Ulric force should prove a lot less expensive for Empire players than collecting a totally new army. It will feel similar on the battlefield to play but should inject enough variety to pique your interest for many more battles. It's also a nice excuse to buy and paint just a few new miniatures without having to empty your wallet on a whole army.
![Warhammer Winter Wargs]( "Winter Warg Knight Unit Art")
What I dislike - nothing major really. It's a very well constructed supplement and a good read. I think it would have been nice if there had been a nod in the direction of the people of Nordland which borders Middenland to the North. Maybe just a little Nordic influence in a unit or two, they must surely share some form of alliance against Chaos. The problem is that the Norse do not have an official army book and don't really exist in Games Workshop's vision anymore so the update would have strayed quite a bit from the original supplement.
All in all, a job well done by Mathias and an excellent 8th edition update - Many thanks Mathias. Please let him know you appreciate his efforts in the Battle Reporter Forum.
Some images are © Games Workshop. All rights reserved. Used without permission![]()
Number 16 of the Master Tactician competitions is all about constructing a completely new, original and exciting character for Fantasy Battle games.
