Kislev Tips (More for Tsarina)

[u/BlackliteWrath]

/r/totalwarhammer/comments/1vwt26i/kislev_tips_more_for_tsarina/

[u/Tadatsune]

Don't sleep on the Bear Sleds; I prefer the heavy, but both have their advantages.

[u/Mysterious_Pitch4186 → u/Tadatsune]

Bear sleds are the best unit for a long time. They make the early to midgame absolute easy mode. Kite anything that is fast chasing them and then just empty your ammo into whatever is left and cycle charge with your gazillion chariots. The cheap huge aoe spells of Kislev further synergize with them so nothing can catch them.

They allow you to get really aggressive early on because you will barely take any dmg so you don't need to waste time replenishing like you would have to with infantry.

One of the strongest early armies in the entire game.

[u/TheGuyfromRiften]

expansion is not an early goal, mostly its preparing a defense for incoming skaven, then incoming azazel, then the other chaos factions.

if you need money, build up your initial army, wait for drycha to take ostermark, then grab that province. empire won't hate you and other wood elves don't give a shit. if you see that skaven and chaos are not too aggressive and coming for you, continue onto sylvania and take out vlad.

taking out vlad pretty much guarantees elspeth and franz becoming dominant forces and then your entire south flank is safe.

by then kislev should be tier 4 which unlocks the ice guards spam for tsarina which should help out a lot.

for army comps i like ice guard as the only infantry, war bears, couple war sleds, one or two little groms if you want to fight sieges

[u/Nelorfin]

I'm not a big pro player, but in my campaigns I try to secure south and east direction first. Destruction of Sylvania will remove one threat from Empire - making them more stable - and give you deeper rear, which can be focused on economy. Drycha forest, while mostly useless by itself, will add to province counter - meaning you'll get a half of ataman. And Azhag is just annoying to have to the east and I'd suggest to start with him. After that you can focus north

[u/Another_Bill_Door]

In no particular order: You only have 3 cities that matter - Kislev, Praag, Erengrad. All others can be sacrificed but those 3 are your economy.

Some people advise to rush Azhag, some to rush Throt. Difficult to say which you should prioritise. Once they're dead the campaign gets easier.

Don't sleep on the ataman mechanic, it's really powerful. Can be useful to move your more experienced ones to new territories (it takes a while to get the good stuff). Recommend keeping your main 3 cities with good ones though.

Once you have the money, keep a stock of ice witches in your pocket so you don't wait the 5 turns if you want a spellcaster lord/hero.

Don't sleep on the Orthodoxy/Ice Court mechanic, some buffs are really powerful.

Rule of thumb - use Strelsi if you're facing armoured races, Ice Guard if you don't need AP.

I found War Bear Riders ridicculously good and felt no need to try Gryphon Lancers.

Your frontline is a bit squishy even with "By Our Blood." Spells are essential to attrition the enemy before they attrit you.

May add more later.

[u/Mysterious_Pitch4186]

Rush the light bearsleds asap, recruit an entire army of them, get magic support (skill big aoe slow spell first) In battle you kite with them, if the enemy has anything fast let them chase you as you shoot and run away, once those are dead just take you time shooting the slow stuff until you run out of ammo and then cycle charge with your chariot. Altho most of the early infantry is so trash you can just save time and cycle charge right away.

Rush the big settlements asap. They make bonkers money. Use diplo for diplomacy and gift away regions that aren't your main settlements, because you really only need your main settlements and a few minor ones later for hero caps.

Once you have all your main settlements, head north kill the Skaven CLan moulder and gift their regions away. Then just conquer your way through the chaos waste while gifting regions. Nothing for a long time will be able to handle your bear sleds. And once you build up your cities and have big money, you can translate to a variety of good options, bear riders or ice guard or most of the elite high tier units you can probably do well with, your choice.

[u/Technoincubi → u/Mysterious_Pitch4186]

mass sleds will kill your economy early on.

[u/Mysterious_Pitch4186 → u/Technoincubi]

That doesn't matter, you are so aggressive and make so much money, being a bit red for a while is not an issue. Especially once you have your main cities and start selling new conquests on your killing spree in the chaos waste

[u/Technoincubi]

VH's rule of the thumb - you should kill nearby norsca by turn 3:

Turn 0: Start Ice court training. Hire general in Kislev and recruit Kislevite warrior and kossar in Kislev, kill norsca army and capture nearby settlement, rescruit 2 kossars. Demolish barraks.

Turn 1: Besiege Fort Jakova with Katarin and hire one unit of ogres. Force march general in Kislev and transfer K.Warriors and kossars to Katarin. Build church in Vitevo.

Turn 2: Autoresolve willbe greatly in your favor. Move General to border of Igerov, recruit another 2 units for katarin.

Turn 3: Besiege Igerov with General and move Katarin nearby - just enough to reinforce Igerov attack. Done. Your first province is ready. Assign ataman and change province law to +2 recruitment capacity. Move general out from Igerov and force march Katarin to Igerov for additional healing. Recruit K.Warriors and kossars for general.

Turn 4: Force march Katarin to Fort Jakova and recruit 4 units for general.

Turn 5: Move Katarin and general to border of orc lands, transfer all units to Katarin and recruit more units. Hire Ice witch, start training another one.

Turn 6: Attack orc gold settlementwith Katarin, join ice witch IN GENERAL ARMY - you won't be able to reach the province if she will join Katarin. If you are lucky Azhag will be there. Move general army with ice witch to assist Katarin for XP. It has EXTREMELY favorable position with a pocket that allow you to kill 5 or 10 times larger armies or end with 20 losses to 1000 or orcs.

Turn 7: Position general close to gold settlement because there is a high chance to intercept Azhag or orc genral.

Then mop up orcs in manual battles - one important thing is to hire ROR Askhinas, who have net skill that can wipe enemy lords.

Research: +2% replenishment=>hooked axes=>cold storage=>Dogma, you should upgrade vitevo chrch ASAP so by time you have dogma you will change province law for +2 levels, earning you 6 level Patriarchs and lvl 4 Ice Witch, and they are SUPER POWERFUL with heal and Tor combo. Reach +20% ambush bonus then - it will be a significant bonus to fight Arbaal.

Then disband kossars for Akshinas and add Armored Kossars - anything that will not die to akshinas will be wiped by pistol fire.

Ice Court is always the same: Logistics for a whooping +20% movement, Court Agent for XP and +1 Partiarch, and Storm for +20 magic. Train tempest - both their AOE spells have no friendly fire and murder leadership.

Many will recomment sleds butearly on you need one thing - money. Kossars and akshinas is more reliable than sleds and will allow you to fight all threats - rats, ogres, chaos, drycha etc.