How to play Northerners2

WORK IN PROGRESS!

Northerner units

Orcish Archer is one of two ranged units of the northerners. While weak, orcish archers might use both classic pierce and fire damage.

• good defense in mountains and hills, but low hitpoints
• chaotic
• strong vs drakes, horsemen and undead; weak vs ulfserkers, mages and ghouls...
• weak melee attack (blade), strong ranged attack (pierce AND fire)

Orcish Assassin is another ranged units, but very specialised in high defense and using of poison against his enemies.

• great defense in mountains, forests and villages, but low hitpoints
• chaotic
• strong against all living targets; weak against skeletons and ghosts
• weak melee attack (blade), weak marksman and poison ranged attack (pierce)

Orcish Grunt is the cheapest strong unit in Battle for Wesnoth, that can be recruited right away. Strong melee unit that costs only 12 gold.

• good defense in mountains and villages
• chaotic
• strong vs mages, woses, outlaws; weak vs nobody, useful in every match
• strong melee attack (blade)

Wolf Rider is very fast, moving quickly in hills. Good for capturing villages and as a support fighter. Not vulnerable to pierce attacks like other cavalry unit.

• good defense in mountains, very fast in hills
• chaotic, can be upgraded into 2 useful units (pillager with fire and slow or strong cavalry)
• strong vs retreating wounded units; weak vs multiple targets and in 1v1 battle
• weak melee attack (blade)

Goblin Spearman is level 0 unit, so you do not need to pay him gold. Cheap, but weak. Can collect villages if they are not far away.

• good defense in mountains, but low hitpoints
• chaotic, can be upgraded into 2 stronger units
• strong against drakes, cavalry and mages; weak against almost everyone
• strong melee attack (pierce), weak ranged attack (pierce)

Troll Whelp is a small troll with high HP, but poor defenses, that can heal itself.

• good defense in mountains, but with a lot of hitpoints
• chaotic
• strong against skeletons, spearmen, saurians; weak when fighting multiple enemies
• medium melee attack (impact)

Naga fighter is a warrior and scout connected with water.

• good defense in water (50-70%)
• chaotic
• strong on maps with lots of water and swamps; weak on maps with small amount of water
• strong melee attack (blade)

Starting troops

(only 73 gold)

Add one Rider on maps without much water

Add one Naga Fighter on maps with water

Northerners does not have many good leaders. Troll can be easily killed in battle, but regenerate out of combat. Slayer with good defence and poison might be useful and you do not need to recruit too much expensive assassins. Against undead, Slurbow is very good choice with ability to destroy sketelons, ghosts and ghouls.

General Northerner Strategies

In general, Northerners will win by mass. Northerners are the cheapest faction and need to utilize that advantage. Poison will be a crucial strategic element as Northerners have the only ranged poison at the beggining of the game. Grunts and Whelps will be the meat of your army, but make sure to recruit Grunts or Assassins to hold villages, as Whelps do a poor job of this with 40% defense.

Northerners level quickly on the whole compared to other factions, so try to level any unit as they all grow in power quickly. Nagas upon level actually fare rather well on land, and Trolls will double their damage. Levelling Grunts gains you a great number of hp, but they are a tad slower to level than the other units at your disposal. Wolf Riders also do well as Pillagers to slow your enemy, and Assassins become better than Grunts at dealing melee damage. Try to focus your xp alotment to gain an advantage.

Your lack of ranged combat will mean you will be vulnerable to ranged counter-attacks. Plan accordingly and have some Assassins nearby to help defend against retaliation. Trolls are good for frontline blockers for their Regen, but keep them in hills or mountains where they have decent defense. Your archers are cheap and very good against some enemies, so it is a good idea to combine them with even cheaper and stronger grunts.

Villages

Use goblins or wolf riders to get villages. Defend them with grunts, they are your best unit for this. When not facing someone with magical attacks, use assassins. If assassin is defending a village and he poisons enemy unit, that enemy will have to run a long way to other village, or lose HPs very fast.

Northerners vs Drakes

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Drakes are fast and lawful. Your opposite. It is very likely, that they will attack first. Orcs are strong and resilient - and what is very important, you can have a lot of them. Orcish Grunt cost 12 gold, while for example Drake Burner 21 gold, almost double. When fighting drakes, make sure your reinforcements are coming to the frontline as soon as possible.

Be careful about villages. Drakes love them and you must use your wolf riders to get them. Drakes are stronger than your wolves, so do not fight them and try to get another village. Drakes can take a lot of hits, but they will quickly move to villages.

Hunt in packs. Good orc party is a good match for few mighty drakes. Combine your units, because drake player can use both drakes and saurians. What is good against one is strong against the another. Drake player does not have enough gold to make a lot of the same unit (with exception of saurians).

Against drakes: Use pierce melee and ranged damage (goblin spearmen and orcish archer), poison (assassin) and do not let them take villages (wolf rider). If you do this well, you can expect a lot of saurians.

Against saurians: Saurians are fast, but not very dangerous to your units. Kill them with whelps and grunts. Also, your naga fighters are good in fighting them in marsches and water hexes. Saurians are also vulnerable to the fire arrows from your archers. Remember, that saurian healers are very weak. So weak, that you can kill them with combination of assassin and wolf rider (or with two wolf riders).