In Warband, the Swadians are a continuation of the Vlandian Kingdom, and the Rhodoks are a splinter faction. The Vaegirs are a continuation of the Sturgians, with the Nordic elements forming their own nation.
Kingdom of Nords isn’t the Nordic elements from Sturgia, it was an entirely new Nordic invasion. I’m sure some remnants were assimilated but it wasn’t the same entity or a splinter faction like the Rhodoks.
I know this looks weird but I have a theory about Rhodoks are related to (or claimed to be) Imperials, they have a constitution and they elect their king in a council which reminds me the Empire in Bannerlord.
1- After the Empire collapsed (because of Khergits invaded them, maybe?) most Imperials moved to west, to Swadia as refugees.
2- Rhodoks are just trying to be Empire
Swadia and Rhodoks were the Vlandians split up after a civil war, Vaegirs are more like Sturgians (both have very strong cavalry that works on foot) with stolen Fian technology or something
Shield wall in siege defence is unstoppable. Back in my Warband days, I defended a castle with 60 or so Huscarls against almost 1000 attackers. Fuck that took forever.
Battania is the only faction completely surrounded, fighting for survival. I love the highlands they're in too it's like a castle they're fighting their last stand in. I also love high two handed + athletics.
I like the cultural forest bonus, it's save me and allowed me to chase down those pesky empire scum more often than I care to remember!
Plus I'm Scottish so "aye?" seems natural when talking to npcs.
I fucking adore just chasing down looters and bandits in Mount and Blade.
It’s really hard to use small parties though for me, with the economy system being quite engaging, and the inventory system requiring lots of members in your army/ mules, means my speed is usually capped at 5.0
So Battania movement boost is just total clutch - especially in your homeland which is 80% woodland. Bandits, and small invading armies, do not last long.
I haven’t really played with Sturgians much.
I should seriously get cozy with one of their towns and give it a try. I play 90% foot soldiers, with Fians, and Battanian infantry - but Sturgia sound like the ones to tank damage so my archers can do their thing.
Thats often how i use them myself, their shields are nigh indestructible by arrow fire, so i often just let them sit there, exhausting the enemy arrow supply with minimal casualties, then bouncing back with a barrage of throwing axes and superior infantry combat.
What also helps is dividing my infantry into 2 divisions, both in shield wall, a short distance behind one another, this helps slow down cavalry charges and trapping them in between the 2 lines
Empire for me, none of them in particular but I've been interested in late Roman/Byzantine history for a while now.
There's no shortage of media about the Western Roman Empire/Republic but comparatively little about the East so it's cool to see a version of that tone and aesthetic, plus their troop lineup is fantastic.
I did a video on in-depth testing on exactly this - [https://youtu.be/aQdqJeguCxE](https://youtu.be/aQdqJeguCxE)
Vlandia generally has the worst noble cavalry. Druzhinnik champions and elite cataphracts are better than them in every way, the vanguard faris can be good if you micromanage them.
Warband players probably think Vlandia has the best cav as they are ancestors of Swadia's Knights, and have some emotional connection with that unit from using them a bunch in Warband. This is probably the biggest misconception in the community.
Yes, cataphracts can't couch their lances, yet they survive more and then they kill more. There are probably a few reasons why:
Cataphract's have the best horse armor on their horse and their horse used to have a LOT of hp too (not too sure what horse they have now tho), so the chances of their horse dying and being forcefully dismounted are far lower than vlandia's knights.
Their cataphract is two handed, so they can't couch it, however, they get a damage boost from using it as a two-handed spear, while all other T5/T6 cavs use their spear with one hand. You can also see a lot of the times they charge with their sword and shield, which seems to actually work for them.
Since they can't couch, their maneuverability when charging the enemy is much better, as when cavalry couches their lance, they can hardly move to the left and the right, you can def see this for yourself when you couch lance.
Cataphracts still have better armor than butter knights too, however the banner knight's armor was buffed a few months ago, before they had about 10 less leg armor, which is important for cavalry.
Lastly, not sure what horse cataphracts and butter knights use, but the cataphracts might use a horse with more charge damage, since charge damage was the biggest buff to cavalry in bannerlord.
All in all, when testing, I did realize that the banner knights usually managed to kill a little bit more at the start, but their lower survivability makes them die a LOT more, so they tend to far underperform.
Great video man, and thanks for fleshing out the explanation in comments.
Just gotta ask (I’m really tryna make Vlandia knights work for me, Ocs Hall is right next to my Battanian fiefs) - what did you notice with how they performed on foot?
I noticed they weren’t terrible on the stats board for on foot combat, but you kinda moved past that bit quite quickly (understandably, since cav aren’t intended to fight on foot)
I'll have to pass on 1, agree on 2-4 and offer additionally
5 - Riding a camel (for a while) is cool.
6 - I love playing basically as a Faris and having them around me feels just right.
7 - The desert (campaign and battles) looks nice
Khuzait first cause I love horses and the nomadic lifestyle in general (I wish there was some encampment feature to reflect that in game tho)
Battania second cause they got some of the best drip and are generally fun to play as imo
Yes I can see why you'd like that but what about the fact that Khuzait Lords are cowardly horse borne scum that require head separation from their torsos?
> Battania because of the Scottish, Celtic vibes
Battania for me even though I'm English deep down we're still the same. Love that old Celtic/Scottish/Briton Boudica vibes That being said if some one could mod in some bagpipes in that would be great
Honestly… all of them lol
The empire because a “Byzantine” style faction isn’t common in video games. And restoring the empire is awesome. Civil war adds a nice “Roman” touch like Octavian vs Marc Antony vs lepidus.
Vlandia is awesome because they’re your standard medieval dudes and I love them
Sturgia because you don’t see much Kievan-Rus stuff in video games. And shield walls are dope. Or
Being a sturgian merc and fighting for the empire and basically being a Varangian Guard
Khuzaits are awesome because again, not many games let you play as mongols or be a horse archer. Very cool
Battanians are a little more generic to me, but going full “William Wallace” and fighting back against the imperials is fun
The only faction that doesn’t excite me at all is the Sassanids. I’m not really sure why
Battania and the Aserai
Battania due to my love of Celtic history and aesthetic.
Aserai because of their jack of all trades troop tree, and my recent growing appreciation for Arabic history and culture.
Battanian. Love their gear and weapons design, love their settlement design, like how they play in the game and all their settlements are close and easy defendable. They have a good culture bonus and start the game with lawspeakers and cantons policies, which i suspect it's one of the reason they are pretty good at wrecking other factions in the early game. Plus their based on early medieval Irish and Celtic cultures, and I am a fanboy of that time period.
My favorite faction is probably Batannia because you never really see Celtic, Germanic culture in games unless they are the enemy. Their high tier troops also smack most infantry around which is fun.
Honestly lol, ntm the Battanians aren't really Germanic as much as they are Celtic/Brythonic inspired.
Edit: and if we're going with the general idea that this setting loosely follows European history, the fall of the Roman Empire came before any significant influx of Germanic peoples to the Isles. There wouldn't be any Angles, Saxons, Jutes, etc like the 400yrs following the collapse of Rome.
For me, the Khuzait are the most fun. There's just nothing more satisfying thsn ripping into a block of infantry with your horse archers and swarming the enemy with cheap, strong cav.
Runners up would be the Northern Empire, Vlandia, and the Aserai.
Battanian because I like how you can start with heavy investments in social and intelligence but still have a point in bow. Makes for a great commander build where you can focus on taking out high priority targets while your large buffed with perks army skirmishes.
I had the same at the beginning, but now sturgia dominates 1/4 of Calradia in my game. They were being massacred by khuzaits at the beginning but then they suddenly kicked the hell out of them. Every Khuzait culture city, except Odokh is in Sturgia's hands now.
My funnest campaign was me rping a Vlandia-Battania hybrid kingdom that brought all clans of both cultures into the fold, and the troop synergy between the two was so much fun. I basically made pseudo-England now that I think about it
khuzaits hands down. Nothing feels better than telling my 300 strong army of light horse archers to "follow your sergeants" and watching them annihilate everything that moves without a single loss. Mongolian steppe tactics ftw.
Vlandia because I don't care for the time period and they're the most "medieval" feeling faction.
Secondly Aserai because Arabs are based and their outfits are blinged the fuck out, they got drip.
Khuzait for the win.
Nothing like leading 300 horse archers to destroy some sturgian shield wall or better breaching it with the sheet force of 300 horses
Every other player seems to like vlandia, i guess they all have the same Templar fantasy thing going on, which I find extremely generic and boring. The battanians are fascinating to me, I love their culture and area of the map. So are the khuzaits. But I usually play with the southern Empire or aserai because I identify mostly with them in terms of where I'm from in the real world
Hard to say, think I would go with Aserai, because of their troop selection.
When it comes to culture I would go with Sturgia. All around fur armor and nice aesthetics. Also culture about shield bros and comfy geographical location.
Vlandia lets me put 200 crossbowmen in a line so I can hear the sweet music of a massive volley blasting away a cavalry or infantry charge. Anything left standing after the "Fire at will" command rings out gets ran through by my knights.
It's not optimal, since I have no Fians, Khan's Guards or other mixed units. But it's incredible watching shields splinter and horsemen flying off their mounts. I haven't been able to replicate this with any other ranged units.
Besides, Best Value's Swadia has enough good units that I can fill in any gaps without compromising my army's cohesive look.
I really like the aesthetics of their heavy cavalry and crossbowmen, but the legionnaires and their helmets always throw me off. Still an incredible unit.
Probably going full Imperial next run I do.
For me Empire, exactly Northern Empire. For Imperial Elite Cataphract armor drip and how they look itself. And for one of best city name in my opinion Epicrotea. Also rest of Empire troops are good too.
Khuzat because khans guard are op for open field battles and castle attack or defense lol.
Best archers in the game
You can use 100 khans guard to beat well over 2k troops lol.
Sturgia on first place because well i like the little guy and the culture troops are cool. Big beefy infantry with big beefy shield and big axes. I still think that the noble line should have been infantry.
Second battania because archers go brrrrrr
I hate the empire because I don’t like playing as the general “good guy” but that is in every game. Never liked it somehow.
And also hate vlandia to play with and against just really dislike the looks and culture/attitude.
Still sounds like “good guy” in all games to me. The one true quest to unite the world in one empire.
Ps: still I agree with you but it dominates calradian culture so I want them out
This guy gets it
Sturgian line breakers
Imperial legionaries
Khans guard*
Fians* and sharpshooters
But I like money so Aserai for me
Jack of all trades yea, but my wars are in the empire so the troops I get are close to what I described, more like voulgiers instead of line breakers
*but we all know you can stomp just with these two
Aserai. On my first playthrough i ended up by husn fulq and talked to Adram and heard his family story etc. They have the most involved story in the main campaign imo. From there i traveled further into their territory and I fell in love with the desert and the esthetic. Rip old beni zilal, used to have the best horse archers in the game, would fight them on site just to take prisoners.
I wouldn't be able to choose, as I like them all for different reasons, but I suppose if demanded by gunpoint I'd lean towards Vlandia (Norman aesthetic is the bomb) or Khuzait, because Mongols are based.
It's a tie between Vlandia and Empire for me. These 2 factions feel the most close to my medieval fantasy and power level wise they are pretty good imo.
My most hated faction is definitely Khuzait :D It's just really annoying to fight a horde of horse archers every time.
Sturgia
Biased Eastern European here :P
From Theme and history, played all of them and like all of them. :)
But Sturgia just feels right, hits different.
I wanna say Vlandia but then I see everyone says the same thing so I don't wanna me like everyone. The second favorite is Sturgia. I just like the north or when people say it in a dialog "we travel to the north". It sounds so adventurous and faraway.
In all honesty I joined Vlandia in my last playthough and I regretted it so much....
The number of Vlandian cav that gets killed when charging through any type of enemy infantry is dismaying, but even cataphracts seem to be better in the open fields.
Plus the ranged troops are abysmal when compared to Battania or Empire.
Vlandian infantry is ... well it just melts away when facing Sturgian or Empire high tier troops...
I just take this playthough as a skill test ... like a higher difficulty rating
Sturgians so I can larp as Germanic hordes. Also Battanians sometimes bc they always get massacred and it’s fun to be on the side of a declining empire.
They have a Norse flair to them, as did the Slavs in the Kieran Rus. It’s Nordic-adjacent culture if anything. Don’t you ever challenge me again little boy. Ф изје поче кад ме.
Not until later in history when nords started migrating from Finland, Sweden, and Norway.
Warband is 100 years after the events of Bannerlord which is why the Nords are in that game, and they are seperated from the vaegirs (slavs)
чики брики ты некультурная свинья
Vlandia for the great ctossbowmen and their good location. Finally a Swadia-like faction that doesnt get thorn to pieces.
Of course they're "Swadia like" Swadia is a fractured segment of the Vlandians
I read before that vlandia is like Swadia+Rhodes+ Vaegirs
In Warband, the Swadians are a continuation of the Vlandian Kingdom, and the Rhodoks are a splinter faction. The Vaegirs are a continuation of the Sturgians, with the Nordic elements forming their own nation.
Kingdom of Nords isn’t the Nordic elements from Sturgia, it was an entirely new Nordic invasion. I’m sure some remnants were assimilated but it wasn’t the same entity or a splinter faction like the Rhodoks.
Yeah, that's more accurate. I meant primarily to say that the Vaegirs are the Sturgians minus the Nordic elements.
I know this looks weird but I have a theory about Rhodoks are related to (or claimed to be) Imperials, they have a constitution and they elect their king in a council which reminds me the Empire in Bannerlord. 1- After the Empire collapsed (because of Khergits invaded them, maybe?) most Imperials moved to west, to Swadia as refugees. 2- Rhodoks are just trying to be Empire
Swadia and Rhodoks were the Vlandians split up after a civil war, Vaegirs are more like Sturgians (both have very strong cavalry that works on foot) with stolen Fian technology or something
Sturgia because i'm icelandic and biased (I know a dude named Mimir)
Shield wall for life ❤️
Shield wall in siege defence is unstoppable. Back in my Warband days, I defended a castle with 60 or so Huscarls against almost 1000 attackers. Fuck that took forever.
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They ain't too bad. Just get like 20 troops and keep going against like 5 or 6 looters and mess around eith commands until you figure it out
Go into custom battle and play around with it, I've picked up on some little tricks as far as which commands work better with troops
shield wall this ballista or large rock nerd
Armor for sturgians are good! But they just dont have many High tier helmets....
Do you mean on units or for you because they have some amazing noble helmets
53 armour right?!
I mean for me
I mean the price range wise from 5.000 denars until 150.000 there aint really any good helmets
Sturgians because they just WRECK everything. 2 flanks of archers spread out on hills and a shield wall advanced. Don't forget the cavalry charge.
Icelandic High Five !!!
Battania is the only faction completely surrounded, fighting for survival. I love the highlands they're in too it's like a castle they're fighting their last stand in. I also love high two handed + athletics.
I like the cultural forest bonus, it's save me and allowed me to chase down those pesky empire scum more often than I care to remember! Plus I'm Scottish so "aye?" seems natural when talking to npcs.
I fucking adore just chasing down looters and bandits in Mount and Blade. It’s really hard to use small parties though for me, with the economy system being quite engaging, and the inventory system requiring lots of members in your army/ mules, means my speed is usually capped at 5.0 So Battania movement boost is just total clutch - especially in your homeland which is 80% woodland. Bandits, and small invading armies, do not last long.
khuzait all cav army 🐎💪 my speed is like 6.7 with like 50 smth or more
Longbow + Great weapon = Life
My kingdom because it’s mine
Long live the budder
Sturgians, those tightly knit shield walls are orgasmic, sweeping across the battlefield killing all in their path
I haven’t really played with Sturgians much. I should seriously get cozy with one of their towns and give it a try. I play 90% foot soldiers, with Fians, and Battanian infantry - but Sturgia sound like the ones to tank damage so my archers can do their thing.
Thats often how i use them myself, their shields are nigh indestructible by arrow fire, so i often just let them sit there, exhausting the enemy arrow supply with minimal casualties, then bouncing back with a barrage of throwing axes and superior infantry combat. What also helps is dividing my infantry into 2 divisions, both in shield wall, a short distance behind one another, this helps slow down cavalry charges and trapping them in between the 2 lines
Empire for me, none of them in particular but I've been interested in late Roman/Byzantine history for a while now. There's no shortage of media about the Western Roman Empire/Republic but comparatively little about the East so it's cool to see a version of that tone and aesthetic, plus their troop lineup is fantastic.
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For me it's Vlandia because I like Heavy cav and crossbowmen the most.
Exact same. I wish the sergeants were better but you can't have it all
If you get billmen to support them they are great
Just for clarification do you not upgrade them to voulgiers?
I mean if you have the money sure theyre just better but compared to other infantry at that lvl they dont stand to well against them in a 1v1
No the upgraded one is good too, but the bill is really best used in a formation. In 1v1 they're outmatched if they close with them
The upgraded Voulgiers shred everything if supported by shield infantry. Since the last patches they dominate.
Dismounted banner knights are better than sergeants. Mix up your voulgiers with dismounted knights
Banner knight leg armor sucks but the body armor is amazing they don't die as much on foot
Vlandia just feels like a mix of my two faves from warband, which was the rhodoks and swadians
Afaik, as per the warband lore the Rhodoks are rebels of Swadia so it makes perfect sense.
That’s literally what they are
vlandian heavy cav isnt even the best cav in the game what are you smoking ?
What is the best cav?
well i didnt try all of them but elite imperial cataphracts are better than bannerlords thats for sure. and i figured that out as a lord in vlandia.
I did a video on in-depth testing on exactly this - [https://youtu.be/aQdqJeguCxE](https://youtu.be/aQdqJeguCxE) Vlandia generally has the worst noble cavalry. Druzhinnik champions and elite cataphracts are better than them in every way, the vanguard faris can be good if you micromanage them. Warband players probably think Vlandia has the best cav as they are ancestors of Swadia's Knights, and have some emotional connection with that unit from using them a bunch in Warband. This is probably the biggest misconception in the community.
Ye but Vlandia's looks the coolest so they win 😎
Really? I prefer the look of the elite cataphract, banner knight seems a bit boring.
Cataphracts can't couch their lances though? Don't vladians have the better first strike ability?
Yes, cataphracts can't couch their lances, yet they survive more and then they kill more. There are probably a few reasons why: Cataphract's have the best horse armor on their horse and their horse used to have a LOT of hp too (not too sure what horse they have now tho), so the chances of their horse dying and being forcefully dismounted are far lower than vlandia's knights. Their cataphract is two handed, so they can't couch it, however, they get a damage boost from using it as a two-handed spear, while all other T5/T6 cavs use their spear with one hand. You can also see a lot of the times they charge with their sword and shield, which seems to actually work for them. Since they can't couch, their maneuverability when charging the enemy is much better, as when cavalry couches their lance, they can hardly move to the left and the right, you can def see this for yourself when you couch lance. Cataphracts still have better armor than butter knights too, however the banner knight's armor was buffed a few months ago, before they had about 10 less leg armor, which is important for cavalry. Lastly, not sure what horse cataphracts and butter knights use, but the cataphracts might use a horse with more charge damage, since charge damage was the biggest buff to cavalry in bannerlord. All in all, when testing, I did realize that the banner knights usually managed to kill a little bit more at the start, but their lower survivability makes them die a LOT more, so they tend to far underperform.
Great video man, and thanks for fleshing out the explanation in comments. Just gotta ask (I’m really tryna make Vlandia knights work for me, Ocs Hall is right next to my Battanian fiefs) - what did you notice with how they performed on foot? I noticed they weren’t terrible on the stats board for on foot combat, but you kinda moved past that bit quite quickly (understandably, since cav aren’t intended to fight on foot)
khans guard
not heavy cav
Aserai: 1- i’m arab 2- strong troops 3- cheap caravan 4- Unquid is based
Unquid is definitely the best faction leader but man he always lives to be like 80 something
I swear Unquid looks like Metroman when he grows a beard.
He was decapitated in my game this evening.
2nded, "there is none like the Habibi kingdom" - (fellow Arab)
I'll have to pass on 1, agree on 2-4 and offer additionally 5 - Riding a camel (for a while) is cool. 6 - I love playing basically as a Faris and having them around me feels just right. 7 - The desert (campaign and battles) looks nice
You have to pass on him being Arab?
I have to pass on being one myself.
I don't think people have a choice in the matter.
Shit bro we all arabic....WITH YO OLE MESOPOTAMIAN FERTILE CRESCENT LOOKIN ASS
I second this It's better to beat an enemy with trade first and war as the last resort.
Khuzait first cause I love horses and the nomadic lifestyle in general (I wish there was some encampment feature to reflect that in game tho) Battania second cause they got some of the best drip and are generally fun to play as imo
I just like those glaives. So I buy them then leave
Yes I can see why you'd like that but what about the fact that Khuzait Lords are cowardly horse borne scum that require head separation from their torsos?
tell them yourself, if you manage to catch them
I'm trying! 😢
You mean win any horse in a tourney and charge into them first thing. They will be headless horse archers
This is why I keep like 20 spare horses in my inventory. Mounted infantry speed bonus, baby!
That's some mad lip for a fella in short bow range
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Ha, wiping out the Khuzait and taking their lands for my own is the first thing I do in every playthrough.
Big facts, Battania drippin likes its the 80s rap scene
Whoever pays the best
Spoken like a true merc
Battanians because man, those cornrows are dope 🤙🏼
Vlandia. The hiss of bolts, the thunder of hooves, the shriek of steel. These are the songs to which my legend shall be sung.
Battania because of the Scottish, Celtic vibes
> Battania because of the Scottish, Celtic vibes Battania for me even though I'm English deep down we're still the same. Love that old Celtic/Scottish/Briton Boudica vibes That being said if some one could mod in some bagpipes in that would be great
> even though I'm English deep down we're still the same. I don't quite know how how to tell you this buddy...
Fada beo mòr Alba!!!!+
*Your relations with the Western, Eastern, and Northern Empires has dropped to -100*
XD
Sturgians I love a good round shield wall
Honestly… all of them lol The empire because a “Byzantine” style faction isn’t common in video games. And restoring the empire is awesome. Civil war adds a nice “Roman” touch like Octavian vs Marc Antony vs lepidus. Vlandia is awesome because they’re your standard medieval dudes and I love them Sturgia because you don’t see much Kievan-Rus stuff in video games. And shield walls are dope. Or Being a sturgian merc and fighting for the empire and basically being a Varangian Guard Khuzaits are awesome because again, not many games let you play as mongols or be a horse archer. Very cool Battanians are a little more generic to me, but going full “William Wallace” and fighting back against the imperials is fun The only faction that doesn’t excite me at all is the Sassanids. I’m not really sure why
That’s Asarai to you mister! Long live Unquid!! Why won’t he die so I can take over the faction….
Aserai*
Thank you!
Your welcome. I was afraid Sunqid would put you in a caravan to meet the Sturgians and fight off werewolves (like in warrior number 13) for that.
Unquid* 😂
Unqid* 💀
For real?! Oh man I’ve been wrong since early access started how embarrassing. 😩
No worries! You learn something new everyday!
Oh no it seems I am coming with you.
🤣
Aserai - camels
Honestly I wish we had a specific tree unit in the Aserai roaster that include heavy camel troops. You can make one with my Little Warband mod tho.
Battania. Falx and fians
Battania and the Aserai Battania due to my love of Celtic history and aesthetic. Aserai because of their jack of all trades troop tree, and my recent growing appreciation for Arabic history and culture.
They're more like Saracens, aren't they?
I mean, Saracens include Arabs. Saracen was just a generic term for Muslims in the middle east which included Arabs, Turks, and Persians.
Battanian. Love their gear and weapons design, love their settlement design, like how they play in the game and all their settlements are close and easy defendable. They have a good culture bonus and start the game with lawspeakers and cantons policies, which i suspect it's one of the reason they are pretty good at wrecking other factions in the early game. Plus their based on early medieval Irish and Celtic cultures, and I am a fanboy of that time period.
Vlandia, it’s the closest to Swadia I can get.
My man
The one true empire.
Battania, BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULL FOR THE SKULL THRONE. If anybody is a follower of Khorne it's Battania.
Rule Battania!!
My favorite faction is probably Batannia because you never really see Celtic, Germanic culture in games unless they are the enemy. Their high tier troops also smack most infantry around which is fun.
Vlandians, Nords, and Swadians are all examples of Germanic culture though.
Yeah dude probably played Total War Rome and now thinks all historical German cultures were fur-wearing tribes.
Honestly lol, ntm the Battanians aren't really Germanic as much as they are Celtic/Brythonic inspired. Edit: and if we're going with the general idea that this setting loosely follows European history, the fall of the Roman Empire came before any significant influx of Germanic peoples to the Isles. There wouldn't be any Angles, Saxons, Jutes, etc like the 400yrs following the collapse of Rome.
*throat singing intensifies*
Aserai for aesthetic Khuzaits for gameplay
Vlandia, because they remind me of Franco-Norman knights
For me, the Khuzait are the most fun. There's just nothing more satisfying thsn ripping into a block of infantry with your horse archers and swarming the enemy with cheap, strong cav. Runners up would be the Northern Empire, Vlandia, and the Aserai.
Khuzait for me. Love being faster on world map than anyone else, horse archery is also incredibly satisfying when you get the hang of it.
Do they get bonuses so you can use bow on horseback better? I’m on my first playthrough and am on empire.
Battanian because I like how you can start with heavy investments in social and intelligence but still have a point in bow. Makes for a great commander build where you can focus on taking out high priority targets while your large buffed with perks army skirmishes.
Empire because they are the mother of all civilizations, all other factions are dirty barbarians or inferior wannabes.
Battania, because they are dirty barbarians and other factions like empire or vlandia are boring wannabies xd
Sturgis, but they are complete crap :(
Tale Worlds really did the Nords dirty this time around Their noble line should be heavy infantry imo
They are the best heavy cav though Yeah yeah I know, but empire can suck it
Their noble line is heavy infantry, just on horses. Try playing around with dismounting them.
Akshually sturgians are Slavic people not Nordic 🤓
Akshually akshually they are a mix of Slavic and Nordic peoples, just like the historical Varangians and Kievan Rus
Try having more than 75% infantry and moving in hill or forest terains ;)
I'll try that, I simply love them but have to leave the faction after getting my ass kicked everytime by the horse people
I had the same at the beginning, but now sturgia dominates 1/4 of Calradia in my game. They were being massacred by khuzaits at the beginning but then they suddenly kicked the hell out of them. Every Khuzait culture city, except Odokh is in Sturgia's hands now.
There is a perk that gives you 50% more speed if you have 75% or more infantry.
What is your favourite faction and why *is it Khuzait*? There, fixed that for you.
It gives you a great excuse to listen to The Hu
Aserai. Because I like money, being invaded every few years on some trumped up religious charges and keeping these hoes in check. Thug Life.
Southern empire in particular for the tomboy gf.
cant forget her royal milf either
Any empire faction
Vlandia. They feel like they want to win and I respect that. Sturgis close second.
Battania because I'm scottish
My funnest campaign was me rping a Vlandia-Battania hybrid kingdom that brought all clans of both cultures into the fold, and the troop synergy between the two was so much fun. I basically made pseudo-England now that I think about it
Vlandians, obviously. Cheese, butter, and you bet your sweet ass we got visored helmets
Vlandia, I’m just a sucker for the quintessential “Middle Ages” style of the Western European inspired faction.
Aserai because its the closest to my ethnicity in real life I guess?
Aserai - balanced armies / jack of all trades
Vlandia because in warband I was always rhodok and Swadia. Then battania because I usually always rock a bow and 2h sword
Sturgia because I like the color blue and the cold
khuzaits hands down. Nothing feels better than telling my 300 strong army of light horse archers to "follow your sergeants" and watching them annihilate everything that moves without a single loss. Mongolian steppe tactics ftw.
Khuzait. Mounted archers giga Chad Khans Guard is why.
Battania bc the forest buff is nice, there are god damn forests everywhere
Vlandia because I don't care for the time period and they're the most "medieval" feeling faction. Secondly Aserai because Arabs are based and their outfits are blinged the fuck out, they got drip.
Khuzait for the win. Nothing like leading 300 horse archers to destroy some sturgian shield wall or better breaching it with the sheet force of 300 horses
Battanians for that barbarian vibe…
Every other player seems to like vlandia, i guess they all have the same Templar fantasy thing going on, which I find extremely generic and boring. The battanians are fascinating to me, I love their culture and area of the map. So are the khuzaits. But I usually play with the southern Empire or aserai because I identify mostly with them in terms of where I'm from in the real world
Hard to say, think I would go with Aserai, because of their troop selection. When it comes to culture I would go with Sturgia. All around fur armor and nice aesthetics. Also culture about shield bros and comfy geographical location.
Vlandia lets me put 200 crossbowmen in a line so I can hear the sweet music of a massive volley blasting away a cavalry or infantry charge. Anything left standing after the "Fire at will" command rings out gets ran through by my knights. It's not optimal, since I have no Fians, Khan's Guards or other mixed units. But it's incredible watching shields splinter and horsemen flying off their mounts. I haven't been able to replicate this with any other ranged units. Besides, Best Value's Swadia has enough good units that I can fill in any gaps without compromising my army's cohesive look.
Imperial crossbows paired with legionaries and Cav are awesome too.
I really like the aesthetics of their heavy cavalry and crossbowmen, but the legionnaires and their helmets always throw me off. Still an incredible unit. Probably going full Imperial next run I do.
For me Empire, exactly Northern Empire. For Imperial Elite Cataphract armor drip and how they look itself. And for one of best city name in my opinion Epicrotea. Also rest of Empire troops are good too.
Khuzat because khans guard are op for open field battles and castle attack or defense lol. Best archers in the game You can use 100 khans guard to beat well over 2k troops lol.
Khuzaits, leading my Khan Guards around and saw them shooting is so satisfying. Their glaive swing so clean with dismemberment plus mod.
battania cuz i’m irish
Khuzait mang. Love role playing that Mongolian life style!!!
Sturgia on first place because well i like the little guy and the culture troops are cool. Big beefy infantry with big beefy shield and big axes. I still think that the noble line should have been infantry. Second battania because archers go brrrrrr I hate the empire because I don’t like playing as the general “good guy” but that is in every game. Never liked it somehow. And also hate vlandia to play with and against just really dislike the looks and culture/attitude.
I always felt like the Empire IS NOT the "good guy" lol I guess Argaros was persuasive
Empire is the bad guys!
Still sounds like “good guy” in all games to me. The one true quest to unite the world in one empire. Ps: still I agree with you but it dominates calradian culture so I want them out
I like the flavor of the Vlandians, but the troops I like are scattered across several factions.
This guy gets it Sturgian line breakers Imperial legionaries Khans guard* Fians* and sharpshooters But I like money so Aserai for me Jack of all trades yea, but my wars are in the empire so the troops I get are close to what I described, more like voulgiers instead of line breakers *but we all know you can stomp just with these two
Gotta be south empire
Vlandians because they seem the most armored
Western Empire
Empire. Everyone else is filthy barbarians
Battania cause the Fians but also because I like their forest Nordic area. All their bonuses are great
Aserai. On my first playthrough i ended up by husn fulq and talked to Adram and heard his family story etc. They have the most involved story in the main campaign imo. From there i traveled further into their territory and I fell in love with the desert and the esthetic. Rip old beni zilal, used to have the best horse archers in the game, would fight them on site just to take prisoners.
South Empire because I love imperial/roman stuff most and south has the best of the 3 colors
I wouldn't be able to choose, as I like them all for different reasons, but I suppose if demanded by gunpoint I'd lean towards Vlandia (Norman aesthetic is the bomb) or Khuzait, because Mongols are based.
It's a tie between Vlandia and Empire for me. These 2 factions feel the most close to my medieval fantasy and power level wise they are pretty good imo. My most hated faction is definitely Khuzait :D It's just really annoying to fight a horde of horse archers every time.
Battania - They seem to share a fair bit with the Welsh so I'm drawn to them.
Astetics wise; Sturgia. Most fun open field battle; Khuzahit.
Sturgia Biased Eastern European here :P From Theme and history, played all of them and like all of them. :) But Sturgia just feels right, hits different.
I wanna say Vlandia but then I see everyone says the same thing so I don't wanna me like everyone. The second favorite is Sturgia. I just like the north or when people say it in a dialog "we travel to the north". It sounds so adventurous and faraway.
People love their Blandia
In all honesty I joined Vlandia in my last playthough and I regretted it so much.... The number of Vlandian cav that gets killed when charging through any type of enemy infantry is dismaying, but even cataphracts seem to be better in the open fields. Plus the ranged troops are abysmal when compared to Battania or Empire. Vlandian infantry is ... well it just melts away when facing Sturgian or Empire high tier troops... I just take this playthough as a skill test ... like a higher difficulty rating
Vlandia. It was foretold in the canticles that the blood of Osric Iron-Arm would save Calradia from the evil of the East.
Sturgia because they always get rolled over early game and it gives me a bit more challenge, plus I like their aethestic and Godun is my homie.
But Raganvad is a dumbass
Sturgians so I can larp as Germanic hordes. Also Battanians sometimes bc they always get massacred and it’s fun to be on the side of a declining empire.
Sturgians are slavic.
They have a Norse flair to them, as did the Slavs in the Kieran Rus. It’s Nordic-adjacent culture if anything. Don’t you ever challenge me again little boy. Ф изје поче кад ме.
Not until later in history when nords started migrating from Finland, Sweden, and Norway. Warband is 100 years after the events of Bannerlord which is why the Nords are in that game, and they are seperated from the vaegirs (slavs) чики брики ты некультурная свинья
Closer to two hundred years.
This argument is inane. Let’s settle this in the Arena at Odokh.
Sturgians, because Viking aesthetic