Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord is a strategy-based/action role-playing game which is a part of the stand-alone expansion series to the original game Mount & Blade.
This PlayStation based game launched in 2020 spread amongst gamers across the world like wildfire and quickly became the largest launch of the year on Steam. Today, we present to you a quick walkthrough of the game.
Table of Contents
Story
The events of Bannerlord take place about 200 years before the start of Warband (another part of the series) in the fictional continent of Calradia. The continent is divided into some kingdoms which are more or less based on real life former empires and have similar characteristics to them. The weaponry and architecture of the in-game kingdoms are also inspired from their real-life counterparts. For example, the downfall of the Calradic Empire is similar to that of the Roman Empire.
Kingdoms
There are six (or eight, on further division) kingdoms in the game:-
Calradic Empire
The Calradic Empire is based on the former Greek, Roman and Byzantine Empires of which all had heavy cavalries. This vast empire which finds itself in conflict after the death of its Emperor Arenicos and is further divided into three kingdoms all of whom have their own idea of ruling causing the Calradic Civil War.
- Southern Empire, which is led by Empress Rhagaea Pethros, the wife of Arenicos and the leader of the Pethros clan. Rhagaea believes that Arenicos’ only daughter Ira should rule the Empire.
- Northern Empire, which is led by Senator Lucon Osticos, an aristocrat and the leader of the Osticos clan. He believes that the Senate’s ancient right of picking the Ruler should be restored.
- Western Empire, which is led by General Garios Comnos, a war hero and the leader of the Comnos clan. They believe that the military, of which Garios himself was formerly a part of, should chose the next ruler.
Kingdom of Vlandia
A feudal state based on the Normans (or Norse Vikings) are led by Derthert dey Meroc, the king of the Kingdom of Vlandia and the head of the House dey Meroc. They also specialize in heavy cavalry.
Principality of Sturgia
The Sturgians, led by the Prince Raganvad Gundarov, the head of the Gundaroving clan inhabits the northern woodlands and are lethal axe-men and swordsmen. They are inspired by the Rus’ people of Ruthenia.
Realm of Battania
This kingdom based on the Celtic Empire is led by Caladog fen Gruffendoc, the high king for the realm of Battania and the leader of the fen Gruffendoc clan. They are famous for their marksmanship as archers.
Khuzait Khanate
The Khuzaits are nomadic people led by Monchug Khan. They are a steppe tribe confederacy and specialize in horse archery much-like their real-life counterparts the Turks and Mongols.
Sultanate of Aserai
The Aserai of the southern desert of Calradia are based on the pre-Islamic Arabs. They are led by Sultan Unqid Banu Hulyan, the leader of the Banu Hulyan clan, and are mainly footmen and horsemen in battle.
Gameplay/Concepts
There have been a plethora of improvements in the game as compared to the previous versions of the game including the return of the Multiplayer feature, the Custom Server List and classic game modes such as Team Deathmatch, Sieges and new game modes such as Captain and Skirmish, a class system and an armoury which allows the player to see what each class contains. The fundamental gameplay includes the player building up a party of soldiers and performing quests on an overhead campaign map. Let’s take a look at some of the new concepts of the game and the game modes.
Classes
Unlike Warband, Bannerlord has a class system of which the player can chose any of the seven different classes of each kingdom including infantry, ranged, cavalry and so on.
Party
One of the most important aspects of the game, your party allows you to hire troops within it. The movement speed of the party depends on the morale of the party which can be influence by the number of wars and the result of a war. The morale can decrease if you are fighting against a home nation of nation-based troops.
Skills
The skill grants a character a buff or an ability and its level (0 to 10) determines its power. In total, there are 24 skills in the game. There are three types of skills:-
Party Skill, grants an ability to a party as a whole. Its level is determined by the level of the skill of the player whose level is the highest doesn’t matter if it’s a leader or companion.
Leader Skill, also grants an ability to a party as a whole just like the party skill but only the skill level of the leader can determine the level of skill for the whole party.
Personal Skill, is the individual skill which grants an ability to the leader or companion who has the particular skill and the level also is determined by the individual as well.
Army
An army is formed by assembling together parties and can hold a greater number of troops and can display better coordination and therefore have an advantage. The army leader sets up the army by spending influence (unit that determines the wage and can be spent) and if the leader does not have the necessary influence the army will be disbanded.
Kingdom Laws
In each of the kingdoms there are some decrees and institutions to make them different from one another. These laws often affect characters’ influence and are generally divide into three categories depending on the type of government- monarchy, oligarchy or democracy.
Sieges
A game mode or a method most commonly used to gain control over a fief (a village or town). A siege involves various parts including Assault, Defense, Attacking the Walls, Keep, Strategy (which involves the attacking and defending strategy), with Fire and Sword and After the Siege.
Board Games
Boards Games are introduced in Bannerlord. Each kingdom has a board game of its own which can be played. All the board games have their own set of rules. The six board games are:-
- Tablut, the board game of the Calradic Empire.
- MuTorere, the board game of the Vladians.
- Bagh-Chal, the Battanian board game.
- Konane, the Sturgian board game.
- Seega, the Aseraian board game
- Puluc, the board game of Khuzait.
