Buddy/Ignore List
08-13-2025, 02:47 PM
I recently completed game 5966 as the Nomad, which I won by Rex (five regions). According to Valhalla, this is the first victory for the Nomads - ever! This is a write-up of my thoughts on the Nomad kingdom after the recent balance changes.
Traits
The Nomad has the following traits: Cunning, Feudal, Foreknowledge (two artifacts), Healing, Riders, Ruthless, Secretive, Siege Engineering, Spy Network, and Trackers. This is an excellent list of traits, among the best in the game.
Cunning + Secretive + Spy Network gives the Nomad excellenet agents. Besides the Underworld, I believe only the Pirate and the Gnome have better.
Siege Engineering + Ruthless lowers PC defense by 20% right off the top. They don't get War Machines, however, so this is Siege Engineering-lite, but still a useful perk.
Feudal is a good one, providing the Nomad with a nice influence boost.
Riders and Trackers are good for a military-themed kingdom. Healing is pretty meh, but better to have it than not.
Magic
The Nomad is a tier 3 kingdom. Looking at the spell list, there are some standouts: Wall of Flame, Fire Elemental, and Dispel Dome.
The Nomad gets Wall of Flame at two, which is unheard of. I never used it in my game, but it is a good thing to have in your back pocket.
Fire Elemental summon is a new addition at four. I found these troops to be very good, but also a bit difficult to get into position to recruit, as desert terrain is required. This is more of a map issue than a kingdom issue, but since we have only the single map, there it is. If you get a chance to summon them, then do so, but they likely are not worth going out of your way like Trolls or Hill Giants might be.
Dispel Dome is obtained at three, which is excellent for a military kingdom. Compare to the poor Red Dragon, who has to wait until p-5.
Overall the magic is where it should be for the Nomad - very servicable and teleport army group is only one level past the max. Compare to the Sacred Order who has to spend a ton more gold and go through several coin flips to get a p-8. But I'll complain about that kingdom another time
Troops
Nomad kingdom troops are quite good, and you get a lot of them - three brigades every reinforcement wave. You will be very good in the plains and even better in the desert. I was impressed with how damaging the archery is after the changes. I began fighting the Red Dragon (of all kingdoms) early in my game. On turn ten, we had our first group battle.
I had ten kingdom brigades, three Saurus brigades, a brigade of Scorpions, and three Zamorans. The Red had three Red Dragons, four Wyverns, a Phoenix, and two bats. I had a p-4 and a p-3 with no wizards for him. I stunned his only leader. Yes, I had a substantial advantage, but I was still surprised by the result:
The long range Nomad natural horse and foot archers and the intense fiery breath of the Red Dragon force initiated their attack. The Nomad forces dealt out substantial damage upon the Red Dragon lines, as the Red Dragon dealt out light losses to their enemy.
That was it. One phase of battle! He retreated with 32% losses to less than 1% to me. I pursued his group and did the same the next turn - over 40% losses for him and less than 1% for me.
A more typical battle would be one vs an Underworld army group on turn 17:
Marshal Jakara Oasis Marshal Fafhrd
Marshal Scourge of Vale Marshal Magnum Opus
Major General Shakar Captain Major Varian Stalker
Wizards
Power-4 Cleric of Pel Power-8 Mystirian
Power-4 Valir Power-8 The Spider
Power-3 Drakan
Brigades
6 Nomads Regular 2 Trolls Veteran
10 Saurus Regular 3 Trolls Regular
1 Scorpions Veteran 1 Ogres Veteran
2 Zamorans Regular 4 Ogres Regular
2 Wildlings Veteran
8 Wildlings Regular
Combat Factors
Forged Armor Very Good Leaders
Forged Weaponry
Excellent Leaders
Note this is after he hit me with a Summon Death, shaving off four brigades (three kingdom) and 15% morale. He insta-ported the second p-8 into the group, which likely saved him. He had Elan, while I had a Renowned Standard. I cast a Chaos, forcing the battle all the way down to the wire.
I won't paste it all here, but the net result was 88% losses for the UN and 18.5% losses for me. I believe the presence of the P-8 he added just before combat was the difference between his group surviving or not. Some of the success of this group was due to the ten brigades of Saurus; they proved to be very effective troops and a good addition to the kingdom.
Regarding companions, the Nomad can recruit Great Bats, Scorpions, Saurus and Zealots. In practical terms, they have one - Saurus, this being the new addition. Saurus should be your first option to recruit. As the requirments to recruit them is low (two brigades in Plains, Marsh or Desert) they are always available. Get ten and you are set. Great Bats are not worth the ordes IMHO and Zealots are an option only if you really want to pad out your groups. Scorpions are fine, but the need to have 1) Elite troops and 2) Desert terrain means you will just not have the opportunity.
Overall the Nomad military got remarkably better. Saurus are very strong. The kingdom troops hit MUCH harder in archery and calvary and, as I said above, you get a lot of them. They have excellent movement and are now very effective in Plains, which is a real game changer. The addition of Fire Elementals is a good one, though it can be hard to find a patch of desert to summon them. I will say the Nomads gave me my most powerful group I've yet to see, at least in raw numbers. Towards the end of the game I had a group worth just under 500,000 in the plains, and it was not all my troops, I had two other groups in the 100k range.
Emissarys
Nothing out of the ordinary here. The Nomad is baseline.
Economics
It turned out to be quite nice to have the less impacted summer production. Though I was in the south for most of the game I didn't really feel the impact of reduced production. That being said, I did spend a siginfanct number of orders boostring the economy at my (hidden) capital.
While I had a lot of troops they were not expensive as kingdoms such as the Sacred Order and Ranger (1100 food and gold for NO vs 2200 for SA and RA). They are even cheaper than Amazon troops (1700). Typing this now, I wonder if they are the best deal in the game when it comes to combat ability for gold spent in upkeep.
The extra 10k food and gold from the oasis is a nice perk. Don't be like me and forget to do it for a few turns
Summary
The Nomad has gone from a bottom tier kingdom to one of the better ones. They are fun to play. Very dynamic due to capable and mobile troops and wizards feel capable with reasonable cost to level up. They have some unique perks (Wall of Flame at 2, Fire Elemental, summer production, awesome archers) which gives them good theming and flavor.
That being said, they would benefit from a different map with more contigous desert areas. The companions outside of Saurus and Scorpions should likely be reworked. The Zealots are a holdover from when they had the Devout trait. The Bats feel like something that was thrown in there. In a future where we have a dedicated programmer I'd like to see more thematic elements added, such as Desert Caravans (instead of merchant vessels), Camel Calvary companions and unique spells, such as Sirroco, heated winds that combine Windstorm spell with Firestrike.
Overall great job by Brek and Olorin to improve the kingdom!
Traits
The Nomad has the following traits: Cunning, Feudal, Foreknowledge (two artifacts), Healing, Riders, Ruthless, Secretive, Siege Engineering, Spy Network, and Trackers. This is an excellent list of traits, among the best in the game.
Cunning + Secretive + Spy Network gives the Nomad excellenet agents. Besides the Underworld, I believe only the Pirate and the Gnome have better.
Siege Engineering + Ruthless lowers PC defense by 20% right off the top. They don't get War Machines, however, so this is Siege Engineering-lite, but still a useful perk.
Feudal is a good one, providing the Nomad with a nice influence boost.
Riders and Trackers are good for a military-themed kingdom. Healing is pretty meh, but better to have it than not.
Magic
The Nomad is a tier 3 kingdom. Looking at the spell list, there are some standouts: Wall of Flame, Fire Elemental, and Dispel Dome.
The Nomad gets Wall of Flame at two, which is unheard of. I never used it in my game, but it is a good thing to have in your back pocket.
Fire Elemental summon is a new addition at four. I found these troops to be very good, but also a bit difficult to get into position to recruit, as desert terrain is required. This is more of a map issue than a kingdom issue, but since we have only the single map, there it is. If you get a chance to summon them, then do so, but they likely are not worth going out of your way like Trolls or Hill Giants might be.
Dispel Dome is obtained at three, which is excellent for a military kingdom. Compare to the poor Red Dragon, who has to wait until p-5.
Overall the magic is where it should be for the Nomad - very servicable and teleport army group is only one level past the max. Compare to the Sacred Order who has to spend a ton more gold and go through several coin flips to get a p-8. But I'll complain about that kingdom another time
Troops
Nomad kingdom troops are quite good, and you get a lot of them - three brigades every reinforcement wave. You will be very good in the plains and even better in the desert. I was impressed with how damaging the archery is after the changes. I began fighting the Red Dragon (of all kingdoms) early in my game. On turn ten, we had our first group battle.
I had ten kingdom brigades, three Saurus brigades, a brigade of Scorpions, and three Zamorans. The Red had three Red Dragons, four Wyverns, a Phoenix, and two bats. I had a p-4 and a p-3 with no wizards for him. I stunned his only leader. Yes, I had a substantial advantage, but I was still surprised by the result:
The long range Nomad natural horse and foot archers and the intense fiery breath of the Red Dragon force initiated their attack. The Nomad forces dealt out substantial damage upon the Red Dragon lines, as the Red Dragon dealt out light losses to their enemy.
That was it. One phase of battle! He retreated with 32% losses to less than 1% to me. I pursued his group and did the same the next turn - over 40% losses for him and less than 1% for me.
A more typical battle would be one vs an Underworld army group on turn 17:
Marshal Jakara Oasis Marshal Fafhrd
Marshal Scourge of Vale Marshal Magnum Opus
Major General Shakar Captain Major Varian Stalker
Wizards
Power-4 Cleric of Pel Power-8 Mystirian
Power-4 Valir Power-8 The Spider
Power-3 Drakan
Brigades
6 Nomads Regular 2 Trolls Veteran
10 Saurus Regular 3 Trolls Regular
1 Scorpions Veteran 1 Ogres Veteran
2 Zamorans Regular 4 Ogres Regular
2 Wildlings Veteran
8 Wildlings Regular
Combat Factors
Forged Armor Very Good Leaders
Forged Weaponry
Excellent Leaders
Note this is after he hit me with a Summon Death, shaving off four brigades (three kingdom) and 15% morale. He insta-ported the second p-8 into the group, which likely saved him. He had Elan, while I had a Renowned Standard. I cast a Chaos, forcing the battle all the way down to the wire.
I won't paste it all here, but the net result was 88% losses for the UN and 18.5% losses for me. I believe the presence of the P-8 he added just before combat was the difference between his group surviving or not. Some of the success of this group was due to the ten brigades of Saurus; they proved to be very effective troops and a good addition to the kingdom.
Regarding companions, the Nomad can recruit Great Bats, Scorpions, Saurus and Zealots. In practical terms, they have one - Saurus, this being the new addition. Saurus should be your first option to recruit. As the requirments to recruit them is low (two brigades in Plains, Marsh or Desert) they are always available. Get ten and you are set. Great Bats are not worth the ordes IMHO and Zealots are an option only if you really want to pad out your groups. Scorpions are fine, but the need to have 1) Elite troops and 2) Desert terrain means you will just not have the opportunity.
Overall the Nomad military got remarkably better. Saurus are very strong. The kingdom troops hit MUCH harder in archery and calvary and, as I said above, you get a lot of them. They have excellent movement and are now very effective in Plains, which is a real game changer. The addition of Fire Elementals is a good one, though it can be hard to find a patch of desert to summon them. I will say the Nomads gave me my most powerful group I've yet to see, at least in raw numbers. Towards the end of the game I had a group worth just under 500,000 in the plains, and it was not all my troops, I had two other groups in the 100k range.
Emissarys
Nothing out of the ordinary here. The Nomad is baseline.
Economics
It turned out to be quite nice to have the less impacted summer production. Though I was in the south for most of the game I didn't really feel the impact of reduced production. That being said, I did spend a siginfanct number of orders boostring the economy at my (hidden) capital.
While I had a lot of troops they were not expensive as kingdoms such as the Sacred Order and Ranger (1100 food and gold for NO vs 2200 for SA and RA). They are even cheaper than Amazon troops (1700). Typing this now, I wonder if they are the best deal in the game when it comes to combat ability for gold spent in upkeep.
The extra 10k food and gold from the oasis is a nice perk. Don't be like me and forget to do it for a few turns
Summary
The Nomad has gone from a bottom tier kingdom to one of the better ones. They are fun to play. Very dynamic due to capable and mobile troops and wizards feel capable with reasonable cost to level up. They have some unique perks (Wall of Flame at 2, Fire Elemental, summer production, awesome archers) which gives them good theming and flavor.
That being said, they would benefit from a different map with more contigous desert areas. The companions outside of Saurus and Scorpions should likely be reworked. The Zealots are a holdover from when they had the Devout trait. The Bats feel like something that was thrown in there. In a future where we have a dedicated programmer I'd like to see more thematic elements added, such as Desert Caravans (instead of merchant vessels), Camel Calvary companions and unique spells, such as Sirroco, heated winds that combine Windstorm spell with Firestrike.
Overall great job by Brek and Olorin to improve the kingdom!
