Starting a new post on this topic because I'd love to hear some feedback.
The thing that galls me about playing Northern Lords Norse is that Varangian Veterans are death-walking terrors with the strength of ten men who are unstoppable all the way to 1453, and any dipshit single-county chieftain can immediately raise them in 867.
Are they expensive? Yes, although not as expensive as the formerly potent heavy cavalry units that they gleefully cuck in every scenario.
Can you generate arbitrarily vast amounts of prestige by raiding, conquering, and slaughtering whomever you wish with your Viking space marines? Also yes. Your Warmongering vassals may literally rebel if you don't.
Are there any penalties for being in prestige debt, the same way gold works? Not that I'm aware of.
Don't have enough prestige left for a wardec? Raiding is free!
Can you parlay an invincible military force into an arbitrarily high feudal income? More or less, yes.
Is it true that most semi-optimized strategies will trivialize the difficulty of the military game within a generation or two? Yes, but as a backwards-born 9th-century barbarian, I shouldn't view 5:1 odds in hostile territory as nothing but an opportunity to farm more prestige. I certainly don't feel that way in my first lifetime as a feudal count.
Anyway, optimization implies effort. Varangians require none: press button, get Varangians, win every battle. To me, it makes everything that follows feel unearned.
So what would you change, and how?
I really love nordic and viking stuff! And I just discovered that there was a group of vikings who worked as LOYAL guards for the roman empire(Byzantine Empire)! (f#ck you praetorian guard) So... my question is if that there is any mod for Warband or Bannerlord to play as an Varangian Guard? Thanks!
https://preview.redd.it/ozqyfzqckkb81.png?width=508&format=png&auto=webp&s=1d4be7dba6287fca2d986b00e28e199553c033cc
I wanna mix up some ultramarines, and space wolves for a byzantine style chapter. Paint it purple with bronze and gold highlights. Any ideas what models would be good?
Exactly what it sounds like. I'm playing as the dynasty Halfdan Whiteshirt and I've been slowly taking over the British Isles, but out of nowhere a random Scandanavian has come after me with SIX THOUSAND TROOPS. Right now I can field 2k TOPS. How the hell do I fight this?
Like the title says does anyone know the event Id to send a character to be a Varangian in ck3 as I want my heir to be a Varangian
Did they call themselves that or was that from somewhere else?
Where does the word itself come from?
Hi people,
I want to make a Kievan Rus inspired successor chapter. Has anyone seen anything similar I can draw inspiration from? I am thinking of utilizing those Boyar chain veils for my important miniature helmets
The Silk Road had brought exotic goods from China and India through Iran for hundreds if not thousands of years. Unfortunately for the monarchs of Europe, the rise of the Ottoman Empire had essentially locked them out of a large portion of the Spice and Silk trade. The Ottoman Empire’s virtual monopoly on this trade had made them fabulously wealthy, and Armenia wanted a slice of the pie.
Maintaining good relations with Iran had paid massive dividends. In addition to being allied with the most powerful state in the region (excepting perhaps the Ottoman Empire), Armenia could now play middle-man for goods travelling from Persia to Georgia and Trebizond. Unless one was willing to brave the oft-hostile climate and nomads of the Steppe, all trade between Iran and the Black Sea would therefore have to pass through Armenia.
These developments allowed for Armenia to levy tariffs on this trade. The Armenians establish a series of waystations along the route from Tabriz to Yerevan, as well as from Yerevan to Karin (OOC: Erzurum). These waystations were both for the collection of tax and to give traders an easy, reliable route along which they could swap out their horses, sell off excess cargo, and so-on. After passing through Armenia, the goods could be shipped to Georgia or Ottoman-held Trebizond and sent out to sea.
Of course, the Ottoman Empire kept all trade through the Bosporus Straits on strict lockdown. Only Turkish ships were permitted to leave or enter the Black Sea, creating an Ottoman monopoly for trade with Europe. Unable to trade with Europe via the Mediterranean, the Armenians decided on a much better idea: go north.
Old Varangian routes along the Dnieper River led straight to Kiev, and could be reached by travelling through Georgian ports. From there, goods could be brought on land and river barges to Moscow, Vilnius, Krakow, and other wealthy locales. Armenian goods began to show up in the markets of Poland, Russia, Lithuania and Moldova, alongside the precious Far Eastern spices and treasures that European monarchs desired so much. In particular, the Russian nobility’s fondness for Armenian distilled wine was particularly profitable.
[OOC: Armenian traders have begun establishing trade links to Eastern Europe via the Black Sea and Dnieper River, and the Silk Road trade which goes through Armenia is now being taxed in exchange for protection and freedom of movement. 20,000 florins are spent to ensure the tariffs are collected and traders are ab
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Did they use translators or did the guards learn certain words in Greek for simple commands
I’m probably answering my own question here but I would think the latter because by Alexios time the guard was made up of Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians and it would probably be easier than having 4-5 different translators
Another thing what if the emperor wanted to have a conversation with one of his Varangian Guards (for whatever reason of course) how much Greek would Varangians know?
I'm playing as Haesteinn and my first act was to Varangian Adventure into the Mediterranean..... Which was super underwhelming. Let's break this down:
It only got me a Duchy, and I not a full kingdom or "Title + whatever else you capture" like the Kingdom invasion.
It sacrificed Montaigu without even giving me a claim
It gave me 0 extra event troops to help with this adventure
Aaand it cost more than a regular Duchy Conquest!
It's a generation later. I control most of the Mediterranean Islands and the Kingdom of Sicily, and I'm stuck between trying to reform Norse or just converting to Christianity. I'm really wishing I still had that foothold up north that I could use for northern raids and a jumping off point to take the holy sites.
So I ask again: What's the point? Am I using it wrong or missing something that makes all of the costs worth it??? Or does it just exist to appease the viking stans who didn't think conquest CB was enough?
PS the Kingdom invasion CB didn't give me extra event troops either like it does in CK2. Is that not a feature anymore?
After some searching, I could not find any updated damage table or answer as to how the new enemy type reacted to the different damage sources.
After some quick tests I found:
Resistant to Strike (hammer) damage.
That's it. No other reactions. They seem to have no weakness to any of our current damage types.
Which is funny since most of them are in full armor which would naturally be weak to strike damage.
Pretty self explanatory- I’m looking to find out more about Harald Hardrada, as well as the Vikings and other Europeans who went to Byzantium to serve under the emperor. I’m hoping to find some more academically produced stuff if possible, in the realms of Cat Jarman’s River Kings, which I’ve just finished. Jarman discusses both Harald and the Varangians, but it’s just made me hungry for more!
Thanks everyone!
I did the quest from Abigail Rose in Everfall that was the initial quest in the new Varangian quest line. Only problem is after I completed the quest and got the reward Abigail Rose did not offer a follow up quest and there are no new quest icons on the map. Is this only supposed to be one Varangian quest added in today’s patch or is it supposed to be a chain of quests?
I'm having a hard time finding when the Norse first started settling Ukraine, Belarus and Russia and when they were absorbed into Slavic culture; language, religion, etc.
And I know it was these norsemen that were first hired as mercenaries into the Varangian Guard of the Byzantines.
Did they still speak old Norse or old Slavic?
I know that the Varangians recruited from all over Scandinavia and even had many Anglo-Saxon soldiers so how did they communicate with each other?
How Slavic was the guard compared to Norse?
I want to start as a Viking that eventually become Emperor of the Byzantines. I want to start fairly small though and be part of the Byzantines before becoming Emperor. Would that be possible? Like if I start as a Viking, take a duchy, swear fealty, convert, would I then have a chance of becoming Emperor?
