After the four new Captains had been decided, Erik decided to overhaul the entire organisation of troops. Until now they had simply divided the men in groups of 50 and let a Captain lead them however he saw fit, but with this last fiasco being the last straw, Erik had had enough.

Norscans, at the best of times, were raucous and belligerent. It takes a strong leader to have them organised and to make them behave. So to instil some discipline in them, Erik decided to first split up all cliques of people that were already friends before the Winter Hunt. He hoped this would force the Marauders to forge new, tighter bonds with their brothers in arms.

Second, in view of the recent losses, having each Captain lead 50 men was no longer possible. Instead it allowed for the formation of smaller, specialised units. These units included two scout teams made up of the best runners, most athletic and stealthy men, an elite strike team with the highest firepower and the best fighters, four units of javelin throwers and the rest would become the frontline, presenting a strong shieldwall to enemies and generally depending on teamwork.

The scouts were in charge of reconnaissance. They would walk ahead AND behind the other units to point the way, scout for ambushes and tailcoats. Another task entrusted to them was to find good targets to Hunt, like beast nests or a lumbering solitary troll.

The strike team became Erik’s personal unit. These were all the individually best fighters among the group, making them more difficult to deal with. But Erik quickly subdued them by ruthlessly beating them up the biggest loudmouths, once more establishing his dominance. And he had to do so again three days later. And two days after that, yet again.

‘Why do they continue to act up like this every few days? Do they instantly forget I can whoop their asses whenever I feel like it or do they need to confirm it that often for their own ego? Or do they have the memory span of a goldfish?’ – Erik became quite exasperated at the continuous challenges.

When Erik wasn’t dealing with his stubborn and rebellious elites, he personally oversaw their training. Correcting a grip here, changing a stance there, the troops’ quality rapidly improved. After all, these men were already formidable fighters but they simply lacked a bit of refined technique.

The javelin throwers made up roughly half of the remaining troops. Norscans disdain the use of gunpowder or bows & arrows, but throwing weapons were an exception to their hate for ranged weapons because it was a ‘simpler’ act relying purely on strength. And a hail of javelins could easily pin down even large enemies like trolls so that the regular troops could safely approach and finish it off.

Each javelin thrower carried at least 5 javelins. In battle they would be in front of the main battle line and throw two waves of deadly spears before retreating behind the shieldwall. From there they would help push their brethren forward, target enemies by throwing their spears over the frontline or move to the flanks and throw javelins into and enemy’s flank or back before closing in with their melee weapons.

The mainline of shieldwall warriors were mad up of, if put bluntly, those Marauders that didn’t have other redeeming qualities. Good fighters joined the elites, fast runners to the scouts and those with some talent for throwing javelins joined the javelin throwers. But this didn’t mean these ‘leftovers’ were bad or useless. They were simply average, and being average is not a bad thing.

These Marauders were the backbone of the troop. They could form an impregnable shieldwall or form the three-cell teams in loose melees. Their purpose was to engage an enemy, be it beast or otherwise, and keep it pinned in place until the other units could deal their deadly blows.

In his mind’s eyes, Erik already envisioned a perfect scenario of the future. The shieldwall holding back an army of Imperial or Bretonian forces while the javelins rained down on them from one flank and the Ice Wolf riding Elites charged into the other.

Of course, this was just a fantasy for now. Erik’s own Ice Wolf King pups might one day grow large enough to ride on like a horse, but the others could not hope to do the same. They would certainly be strong enough, but the regular Ice Wolves would be too small to ride effectively, the rider’s feet would be too close to the ground. Better options would be to have the Ice Wolves charge into battle alongside their masters or to use them to pull chariots, although Erik eschewed the idea of using such beautiful, ferocious creatures to pull those clunky carts.

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Apart from the reorganising of the troops, Erik also finalised preparations for the first blizzard that would soon be upon them. Usually the second storm of the season would be shorter than the first storm, but it could still take well over two weeks for it to abate.

And in these two weeks the now over 400 Marauders would be tightly packed together in the multiple large huts they had built. 400 young, testosterone filled and energetic men that would be forced into weeks of boredom.

This was asking for big trouble, so Erik set about finding things for them to do besides fighting and potentially killing each other. He decided to introduce some games like dice and ‘bottle spin truth or dare’ to keep the Hunters occupied. Other activities like arm-wrestling, regular wrestling or sparring in the roofed training area were also encouraged.

To prevent each team from being isolated, the camp had been built with a main square where each side had a large, low hall built to the side. In the final days before the storm, Erik had then ordered for a simple roof to be built over the square to create the new indoor training area. The roof was weighed down with heavy stones on top of sturdy supports to prevent the blizzard from blowing it away.

Even if parts of it collapsed or were destroyed, Erik hoped it would make it possible to stay in contact with the other halls.

Sufficient food was stored in each hall to feed the 100 people they housed, a latrine was built with triple doors separating the shitpit from the living quarters to keep out the stench and small windows low to the ground could be opened to collect snow through to get water.

At the end, when it could be seen the blizzard was about to set loose, Erik felt assured with his preparations. The men’s loyalty and morale were high, food and shelter prepared. All they had to do now was get through the boredom before they entered the second stage of the Winter Hunt.