The Norse
húskarl was, like the Byzantine Varangian Guard, an elite corps of bodyguards hired by the king for protection, but would also be deployed as a military battalion if necessary. The were the strongest men the king could hire, and those employed by Cnut were said to wield two-handed Danish axes capable of cutting a man in half at the torso through mail. We could allow the Danes to build them
if they hold England. On the other hand, since huskarlar were employed until the end of the 13th century (well after the English spawn), we could treat them as hirdmen and allow them to be built
as long as the Norse hold Norway. I actually found art for this one
here and
here. The first looks better, but both were treated as swordsmen and don't wield the mighty two-handed Danish axe. These would make great sword/longsword replacements with defensive bonuses.
As for the others I mentioned in the prior thread, embryodead actually made a
Varangian Guard unit for SoI (axeman, bottom left). I'd be happy with giving Justinian the chance to build regular Berserkers with boosted bonuses, but these units look great.
I've looked around for the last hour looking for something suitable for the Hakkapeliitta, but nothing really works (in a perfect world, we'd have a light cavalry fire pistols for the first strike then swing its saber for its attack). The first (British) cavalry posted
here at least looks similar to the hakkapell image on the
wikipedia with a similar uniform and tricorn hat, however, the Brit cavalry is wielding a rifle, which is out of character. Further down the Finnish version of the
wiki page are some reenactors wearing crested helms, so I'm not sure aesthetics are as important as locating a pistol or sabre cavalry in general period-appropriate garb. So far I'm stuck on finding one, though (too bad the Sipahi from Civ 3 wasn't carried over - a good artist could reskin that quickly, and it's animation would work perfectly). I'll keep searching for one that could work, but the forum search function here is less than useful.
(Another note for the Hakkapliita - Finland should receive a horse resource if this feature is implemented - I suggest placing it pretty far east to encourage Sweden to truly control Finland. The reason the Hakkapell was so fast is because it was a physically small animal - pony sized - and could only be used as light cavalry as it couldn't support heavier armaments; the Swedes adapted their tactics to their resources. Vasa and his officers rode taller horses imported from the continent, but the cavalry ranks had to use native Finnish horses, at least until they could upgrade to bigger horses captured in battle.)
. 
