The Gothrang Tribe:
Strategy: Wave Attack
Strengths: Very large units. Overwhelming numbers. Good skirmishers. Fight well in forests and mountains due to large amounts of light infantry.
Automatic 15% discount on all units.
Weaknesses:
Possesses very few cavalry units, frequently lacks combined arms. Most hordes are poorly trained and can easily be annihilated if trapped alone.
Lore:
The Gothrang tribe is a goblin confederation of several poor and marginal clans, dwelling along the western edge of the Gray Steppe, east of the Dark forest. They lack a central collective narrative about their origins. Some clans claim descent from Gorru Hammer Fist who long ago, conquered the highland dells and dales of the Great Forbidden Mountains south of the tribe’s current territory. According to this tradition, their ancestors lived in that rich mountain realm for 500 years before the armies of the wrathful goblin Mage King Ragorrun drove them into exile. Other clans claim to come from last and most wretched of their kind to abandon the ancient goblin home land in the frigid Northern Wilderness during the terrible natural calamity known as the All Winter.
The Gothrang are held together by a powerful shaman caste and the cult of Nargu, which is of unknown origin and has no corollary in any other goblin tribe. They do not have hereditary monarchs. Instead kings are chosen by a tribal council, the Herkgoz, composed of clan elders and shamans. The Herkgoz is a often a fractious gathering resulting in frequent assassinations, fatal duels and brawls between clans. Gothrang leadership transitions may be bloody, but they never fail to impress.
When compared to their neighbors and frequent enemies, dwarves, men or other goblins, Gothrang armies are generally not well armed or armored. Their warriors are reckless in battle and raiding is both a rite of passage and the primary means of social advancement. Their military system is based upon warbands whose strength, organization, discipline and ability are entirely dependent upon the wealth, prestige and skill of band leaders. Victory often comes to them by sheer force of numbers.
Gothrang on the Battlefield:
No one beats the Gothrang in terms of sheer numbers. Their rank and file soldiers are the weakest in the game and their training is frequently poor. But their companies are larger, between 75 and 100 warriors in each. Consequently, the Gothrang shrug off casualties that would cripple most armies. 300 dead Younglings? Who cares. There are a couple thousand more where they came from.
Not all Gothrang units are of poor quality, they do possess trolls (but no battle trolls) and several types of specialist warriors who are of higher quality than the mountains of expendable trash they usually throw at the enemy. But those warriors will be covered in more detail in a later dev blog on Gothrang unit types.
The Gothrang's strength in numbers is difficult to ignore, but they have 3 critical weaknesses:
- They lack and good cavalry. And are frequently short on combined arms.
- Most of their soldiers have low fire protection.
- They are vulnerable to strong stacks of enemy heavy cavalry that can quickly encircle and destroy their hordes.
These weaknesses can be offset to some extent. Because of their shortage of combined arms, the +20% combat bonus from leaders is even more important to the Gothrang than any other tribe. And because of their large number of units, the Gothrang can easily encircle isolated enemy units and crush them by attacking from as many directions as possible. Remember, the defender suffers from a -10% combat reduction for every extra hex they are attacked from.
In total the Gothrang tribe consists of 18,092 goblins, divided into 6 clans. There is very little standardization in the Gothrang hordes. Each horde is different and the companies inside often differ significantly. Some of those variations will be discussed in the dev blog on unique Gothrang warrior types. For now, let's take a look at a few of the clans.
Byrgan Clan:
The Byrgan clan embody the Gothrang doctrine of overwhelming numbers. Their hordes are massive, but they possess virtually no cavalry and their fire value is low. They can easily trap their opponents with sheer volume of force.
Drencan Clan:
The Drencan clan are a balanced clan. They have a large number of poor quality infantry, including a large number of defensive spears. They also possess by a fair number of fire troops and a small number of cavalry and trolls to provide some punching power.
Mereswart Clan:
The Mereswart clan possess a little bit of everything, but their true strength lies in their massive fire value. They are capable of concentrating a truly magnificent amount of fire.
Tying it all together:
The Gothrang enjoy unsurpassed numerical superiority, but individual Gothrang hordes can easily be picked apart and annihilated by better equipped opponents. The key to victory as the Gothrang is to lure your opponent into terrain that favors you as often as possible. Keep your leaders alive and use your superior numbers to encircle and overwhelm your opponents in massive overrun attacks.
Original Post on the Forums: http://www.ns2games.com/node/213288