The Hyborian Age - Total War

[Helgi]

Bwain was working on this for Rome total War, until he got swamped with metal mayham

I hope this Project does not suffer the same fate as did Bwain's attempt to bring us The Hyborian Age - Total War

Looking foward to this mod

[Taranaich]

Cheers mate. I've actually been in contact with Bwian, who has been very helpful and informative to me over this. He's even very kindly given his permission for me to scavenge from of his models from Warhammer, though to be truthful I'd rather make my own attempt at modeling before using other people's stuff.

Continuing with the barbarians, here come the Aesir!

The Aesir are proving pretty difficult, as it's hard to give them big flowing beards and horned helmets without having to delve deep into modeling, which is a worrying prospect. I have all the tools and some tutorials, but it's finding a good starting point that's the problem.


Oxmen (Axemen)
Every man in Nordic society knows how to wield a shield and axe, and when times are grim kings will summon these farmers and craftsmen from their homes to defend their land. They are not particularly well trained nor well equipped, but very well motivated to battle, and they can use their trusty household handaxes to good effect so long as they are not committed to the hardest fighting.


Hirdmen (Swordsmen)
Hirdmen are the sworn companions of mighty Nordic chieftains – great fighters loyal to the death to the nobleman they serve. They are stalwart warriors in either attack or defense, but excel in the dense and almost unbreakable shield-wall. Like the Huskarls, these men are handpicked veterans given the best that their lord’s generosity can provide.


Huscarls
The Huscarls are the elite forces of the great Nordic kings and athelings. Veteran warriors, hand picked, given the very best equipment and fed from the lord’s table. They swear the mead-bargain with their lord, giving loyalty to the death in return for mead, wealth and land. It is considered the greatest disgrace to live if your lord dies, and such men will be condemned to live as exiles. As a result, these units have exceptional morale, and will fight to the death rather than retreat unless their lord orders it.


Berserkers
Dedicated to Ymir, the Frost-Giant of Nordic mythology, these men are an elite among the Nordic warriors, set aside for war. They protect themselves with little other than animal pelts and an unshakeable belief in their own invulnerability, hurling themselves against the enemy line in reckless fury. They are best used to shatter enemy defensive lines before the warbands pour in behind them, for they can rarely be held back long enough for any sustained defense.


Jarls
Jarls are the closest thing the Nordheimir have to a nobility: the chiefs and sons of chiefs who commit their tribe's forces to their local King's army. They are the most well-equipped of the Nordheimir, and act similarly to a general's bodyguard. They wear heavy scale mail, the heaviest armour available to the barbarians at the start of the game, but through conquest or alliance can gain access to plate mail in the campaign.

And a look at the first campaign map, providing I can get a handle around making the darned thing:


Sadly it looks like the Zingarans won't be making an appearance, since extending the map further would encroach on Koth, Corinthia and Argos, and that's probably too much for the first build.

The Vanir are pretty much just the Aesir with red beards, but I'm trying to give both sides unique units so it's not like playing the Scipii/Brutii/Julii.

The Aquilonians & Nemedians are pretty much done too, just need to figure out the bump maps. Hyperborea's also shaping up, and since Howard says very little about the nation I've been given a bit of creative leeway.

[Gurkhal]

Great work. Although I'd like to ask about one thing:

Dedicated to Ymir, the Frost-Giant of Nordic mythology,

would it not be more sensible to simply name Ymir the patron of the Aesir and Vanir? Do they (Vanir and Aesir) even have any other gods except Ymir?

[Taranaich]

No others are mentioned, but there's no reason to assume Ymir's the only one. I will be taking the absence of evidence = evidence of absence approach though, unless I find another Nordic god in the books. Perhaps "Ymir the Frost Giant, god of the Aesir and Vanir" or something.

[Gurkhal]

I think Ymir is mentioned as the patron of the Aesir and Vanir peoples in the story "The Frost Giant's Daughter". He is also called the Father of Giants, if memory serves.

[ninjahboy]

wow looking really good so far keep up the good work! Will there be new voice acting or will it just have default sounds :P

[Taranaich]

I'll generally be keeping as close to Howard as possible on the mod, and because there is so much conflicting stuff in the pastiches (sometimes conflicting with Howard too) I'd prefer to fill in the gaps with my own stuff drawn from Howard's design, though I will use pastiche references if there is no clash with Howard (such as city and region names).

Hopefully there will be some voice acting (it wouldn't do to have the Cimmerians praise God or St Andrew now would it?) as well as the usual fluff like new loading screens. I'm also making some new opening movies: nothing spectacular, mostly montages of units and scenes with some suitable excerpt of Howard's writings as narration.

Work hasn't begun on the in-game map yet, I'm going to try and finish the skins and icons before the map, since that's what I'm most familiar with.

Anyway, here's the first civilized kingdom, Hyperborea!


The Hyperboreans are very mysterious, with very little mentioned of them in Howard's writings. All that is known is that their warriors are tall, big-boned, gaunt, slow of speech and with violent temperaments, and that their castles are of an awesome scale. I've based them on the Russians, since the land is geographically close, and a few tidbits left here and there, plus the proximity of the Aesir, Kozaks and Hyrkanians (Vikings, Cossacks and Mongols) means they can have an interesting and diverse range of units.


Militia
Like the more advanced Hyborian kingdoms, Hyperborea relies on its peasants for the more mundane duties such as garrisons and patrols.


Having been born in the harsh northern wastes, Hyperborean peasants are hardier than other Hyborian peasants, made strong through a life of toiling frozen fields and herding horses. They wield strong work axes used for a variety of purposes, but suitable for relieving enemies of their heads.


Raiders
After the overthrow of Hyperborea the Elder's ruling classes by a group of roving Aesir, Hyperborea adopted a strong Nordic influence, especially in the upper class warriors. These warriors are the descendents of those Aesir invaders, ironically now defending Hyperborea from outside invasions.


Spearmen
Like all Hyborians, the infantry of Hyperborea's army consists of poorly armed and low-morale spearmen to protect their archers and offer a defense against cavalry. They may not be ideal spearmen, but their large shields offer them more protection than their southern brethren, adopted after attack from both Hyrkanian arrows and Aesir axes.


Knights
Apart from Aquilonia, all the Hyborian kingdoms have a great gap in quality between infantry and cavalry. Hyperborea is no different, their heavily-armed and disciplined knights are far more effective than their barely adequate infantry apart from the Raiders. They start off in classic Nordic-style armour, but the very elite units can afford lamellar armour which offers protection against arrows and heavy weaponry equally, and some even wear plate.

I expect I might get a bit of flak over Hyperborea from those folk who liked DeCamp and co's White Hand Hyperboreans with their sorcerers and purple alien dudes, but after a discussion I had with other Howard enthusiasts I decided a more realistic approach would be best. Besides, it's not as if Hyperborea will be boring: because of their position they'll have a good variety of barbarian-style heavy axemen and Hyrkanian-style horse archers as well as classic Hyborian armies. Let's leave the sorcery to Stygia and Zamora, having too many sorcerous kingdoms would lessen the impact of sorcery in mod, which is meant to be earth-shattering and change the course of a game.