- This article is about the playable faction. For the recruitment mechanic, see The Ice Court (mechanic).
The Ice Court is a playable 
Kislev faction introduced in Total War: Warhammer III. It is led by Tzarina Katarin.
How they play[]
- See Kislev article
Legendary Lords[]
Starting territory[]
The Realm of Chaos
- Kislev, River Urskoy (map)
Immortal Empires
- Kislev, River Urskoy (map)
- Zavastra, Southern Oblast
Something Rotten in Kislev
- Kislev, River Urskoy
Climate preferences[]
- Suitable:
- Unpleasant:
- Uninhabitable:
Faction Effects[]
- Allowed +1 greater Tier difference in Support for the Ice Court before penalties are applied
- Diplomatic relations: -20 with the faction of the Orthodoxy
- Reaserch rate: +15
- Hero recruit rank: +3 for Frost Maidens
- Ice Court training cost: -10%
- Winds of Magic power reserve capacity: +20
Victory objectives[]
The Realm of Chaos[]
Forge of Souls[]
Complete the survival battle for each Chaos Realm and then win the final battle
Immortal Empires[]
Short Campaign Victory[]
- Occupy, loot, raze, or sack 30 different settlements
- At the start of your turn, have at least 600 supporters
Long Campaign Victory[]
- Occupy, loot, raze, or sack 70 different settlements
- Destroy the following factions: Legion of Chaos, Warhost of the Apocalypse, The Ecstatic Legions, The Fecundites
Diplomacy[]
Diplomatic traits[]
The Realm of Chaos and Immortal Empires[]
- Faithful to the Motherland
- Purifier
Starting agreements[]
The Realm of Chaos[]
- War with Dolgan
- War with Ropsmenn Clan
Immortal Empires[]
- War with Baersonling
Strategy[]
In all campaigns the Ice Court's starting settlement is the city of Kislev, an incredibly useful asset that needs to be held onto, particularly in the early game. Kislev the region does not have large cities outside of the big three of Kislev, Praag and Erengrad, meaning that all of your high tier units will have to come from them until you expand beyond its borders - and you'll want to save room for their landmarks, which all have extremely valuable effects. Bear this in mind when you are deciding which buildings go where.
Realm of Chaos[]
In Real of Chaos the Ice Court has a relatively easy starting position, buttressed by friendly factions to the south and west. Once the starting Norscan enemies have been dealt with, it is imperative you first march north to Praag and seize it. It is worth far more than Gerslev, and if it's necessary to sacrifice one for the other then that's a deal you should take all day. Raise a second army to defend Kislev if necessary.
Once you've beaten them a couple of times the Ropsmenn should offer the white flag. Depending on your position at the time this may be worth accepting - your tech tree has many ways to boost relations with Kislevite factions so they're unlikely to attack again, eventually allowing you to confederate them easily (absolutely don't accept it before you've taken Praag, though). The same is true of the Druzhina Collective to the west, cosy up and confederate them before Kostaltyn has a chance to.
Beyond them your biggest early threat is Clan Moulder, but you will have a lot of help wiping them out. Mid-term your best option for expansion is southwards into vampire territory. Ultimately though, once you've claimed the big three cities you can afford to play defensively and wait for those gates to show up in your territory. This fact makes Katarin quite a good pick if you simply want to complete the story campaign - and unlock Boris.
Immortal Empires[]
Starting with both Kislev and Zavastra belies a very tricky start for Katarin that requires careful strategy. On harder difficulties especially it is recommended to manually fight every battle until you're well established. Even favourable auto-resolves will sap you of valuable troops you need to keep the momentum going, and Kislev replenishment is poor without Patriarchs.
You will find that after defeating the starting army, you will not have enough movement left to take Vitevo or use encamp stance. It is highly recommended to use the rest of your turn to force march back to Kislev, build a basic military building there and use the extra recruitment edict. This is because Baersonling have another army in Fort Jakova, and they invariably spend their own first turn moving it across to Vitevo. No matter how well you won the first battle, the fact you will take attrition over the end turn means you will then be faced by a very tough battle without any units or magic that can really carry it for you. It is much better to go back and spend 2-3 turns fleshing out Katarin's army to the point where it can roll the Norscans.
Once you've dealt with Baersonling, almost certainly your first major enemy is going to be Bonerattlaz. One of the reasons to not hang about and try and maintain the integrity of your starting army is because if you finish off Baersonling quick enough, you should be able to catch Azhag's main army before he's able to call a Waaagh!, making it much easier for you to take him out. If you can't manage that then baiting him into attacking Fort Jakova, where you'll have an alright garrison and ideally an Ataman as well to help you out is probably your best bet. It might not be a bad idea to try and get a NAP out of the Wargrove of Woe, simply to spare you more hard fights on this frontier until you have the capacity to cope with it.
From a wider campaign perspective, The Ice Court is not the best choice if your goal is to collect all the Kislevite factions, since she starts with a large diplomacy malus with both The Great Orthodoxy and Ropsmenn Clan, and quite a distance from either of the other two playable factions.
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