Bannerlord Tactics: Expert Tactics, Volume III: Know Your Enemy(Kiting to a KillBox)

Welcome back future Emperors, Khans, Jarls and Sultans, in this episode we follow the campaign I'm fighting in a little and then have a rousing, huge battle in which we'll demonstrate some unique tactics from historical battles and use them in real time on the battlefield. This series, part 3 of 8 of our new 'Expert Tactics' series will help players refine their tactics to the point where they will fluidly move troops depending on situations, and win battles like a Legend.
Please comment, like and subscribe if you're interested in more of my ultra-late-game campaign, that may end up ending in utter despair, but that's the challenge of it. Any challenge where success is assured is no challenge at all.
My campaign is an extremely late-game campaign where I am resolved to give no peace to these scum Kingdoms attacking me - seven of the eight have been at war for years, with only Sturgia at a neutral stance. My family of warriors is now large though and with what remaining strength and valor we can must, we stand against the map of Calradia.
Join me on this adventure if you like huge battles, the use of advanced tactical maneuvers and intense Bannerlord gameplay, and subscribe to my channel if you want to follow along. This campaign is very lightly modded:
I use four mods:
Lord Retinue Uptier(Makes the enemy forces stronger, much less peasants and lower ranked troops)
www.nexusmods....
Improved AI Troops(Also makes enemy lords and their armies tougher by giving them a higher daily xp rate. This means you'll routinely face armies with HUGE numbers of the highest tier units, sometimes four or five times the normal amount in vanilla Bannerlord): www.nexusmods....
Death for all: This mod allows you to set the rate at which nobles die more often. I want both a harder challenging late-game but also a more realistic game. If you're cut down with a massive aserai two-handed axe, you shouldn't just be injured 99.9% of the time. It's a very customizable mod so you can just a little more death or set the death rate so high you get several deaths every battle. The number I often like is '10', some deaths but not a massacre of nobles...
www.nexusmods....
I also use the Dismemberment Plus Mod: It's highly customizable and works seamlessly with the new beta(and versions back to 1.28). I thoroughly recommend it if you enjoy carnage!:
steamcommunity...
I've also used Realistic Battle Mod in the past and highly recommend it for Ai and battle realism BUT I find the pace too slow for my taste and the AI is actually rather predictable after a half dozen battles. Still I wanted to put a plug in for it here, it's a GREAT mod and highly configurable. www.nexusmods....
Much of the music and inspiration for this and other videos in the channel are inspired by Epic History TV - probably THE best channel on youtube(and the internet for that matter) covering the Napoleonic wars. With amazing work Epic History TV takes you through the dramatic and incredibly story of Napoleon covering all of his most famous battles. I HIGHLY recommend it.
Epic History TV:
/ @epichistorytv
#bannerlord #war #medieval #bannerlordgameplay #bannerlordmod

[@Strategic-Monk]

I watch these episodes now at work because your content is unmatched for 1. battlefield tactics, I haven't seen anything better on youtube 2. clarity of your battle plan 3. funny comments: a fish ball of terrified enemies acting through primal behavior... Great stuff dude. PS I think I'm f-bombing more after watching two dozen of your vids LOL

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

Thanks brother, I appreciate the high fukn praise! :)

[@Battle-Simer04]

Exactly friend, exactly. all three!

[@chiefsthunder7579]

"I bet they're ready for peace now huh?" Haha, great quote in the vid.

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

Paid me like 5,800 for peace haha! Just had to shorten a few necks.

[@branplaygame8428]

Absolutely love this video! I also enjoy the commentary filled with knowledge

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

Excellent, thank you! I've been spending more time polishing the videos and my craft is definitely improving. I think you'll love the videos coming out as I start to integrate more information, clip scenes, historical context and other added goodies.

[@TravisStevens96]

I’ve watched a few of your videos now and they really changed the way I play. To top it off at the end of the video you said to be constantly improving in life and in games. Instant sub from me!

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

Great to hear it brother, and indeed, what kind of life would we be living if we didn't try and improve ourselves? I'm an old dog now, but in the peak of health, at my mental apex and still trying to improve in everything from muscle tone to being zen about asshole drivers cutting me off on the road LOL

[@landencolomer1395]

Thanks to these videos, I've been trying to push myself out of my comfort zone and trying to tackle parties larger than my own. Just today, I managed to take out three armies (separately) with just my own warband. I've been practicing the horse shield wall technique, using shock troops as my flanking skirmishers, and I even tried the kiting technique in this video. I'm sure part of my success is difference in troop veterancy, since I try to max out my troops for the highest effect, but I don't think I'd be getting away with 5 or 6 deaths per battle with just veterancy alone!

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

That is absolutely music to my ears. When I first started playing and looking for help on youtube I found a good guide or two(Stratgaming), but most were severely lacking in depth and so I struggled at first to win battles, even when I had a good army. There IS a limit to what you can accomplish but like anyone else trying to perfect their craft, we can all get better, continue to develop and crush the enemy. What I am ultimately hoping is that the next step will be subscribers and visitors to the channel suggesting new and outstanding things to try, either things they stumbled on, or tactics from history(like my next episode), where I(and others) can add it to their arsenal. Keep ripping it out there, thanks for the kind words.

[@ranellbeery4941]

Keep going!!! I love your videos and they have helped me immensely. I’m nowhere near as good as you but I have won a few high stakes battles that have allowed me to gain ground.

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

Ranel, bro you're a VIP member man, love you guys. I have some 15 episodes just waiting to be released(every 2-3 days), and I've had some INCREDIBLE battles lately that I still have to process and upload as well. I'm super stoked to hear about guys having more success after watching some of my videos - it keeps me going strong! Goodluck out there.

[@InfinityReptar]

Wow just wow. That's the only thing I can say to describe this battle. I just bought Bannerlord on steam during the winter sale and I am a complete noob at this game, but it's so fun to play. Very informative video, keep up the great work! Also, I'd like to add that I am playing as Sturgia right now and it was hard to watch them get decimated lol

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

Thank you, glad you liked it!(It was fun to fight too lol). A lot of this series will overwhelm the newer player, I remember first playing and I was totally lost - I had a hard time just moving my horse around and timing a spear thrust, never mind moving troops around and giving orders. Looters killed me a lot LOL. That said, when you start commanding armies, check out this series, it's designed to take you from a new commander, to a more experienced warlord: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rH_SmKx8epl6opo

[@InfinityReptar]

@@HeadlessHorsemanProductions I appreciate the help! I decided to play on realistic settings, but it’s getting a bit tedious, so I think I’m going to turn it down to warrior difficulty. Then I’ll have a bit more time to command my troops without worrying about getting one shot by a stray arrow. Lol

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

it's a very hard game! I'd recommend you lower player damage too until you get more comfortable, better armor, higher hps, etc. - we're supposed to be having fun here so if you're dying early in battles, where's the fun in that? You'll learn more too standing upright!@@InfinityReptar

[@arsalabdullah-l2z]

wow one of the most beautiful crane formation which i have ever seen someone implement in any game just epic !

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

Thank you, friend! We're refining our battlefield tactics and adding new things all the time so stay tuned if you enjoyed and hopefully I can demonstrate some more wicked tactics.

[@Heavilyworded]

Ah yes, bright and early for another one.

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

Napoleon regularly got just 2-3 hours of sleep, so we're all just trying to keep up with the master of war!

[@clauseblitz4682]

I'm convinced your are Julius Cesar's reincarnation with all those strategies

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

High praise, thank you, but our channel is also designed to teach others how to emulate these tactics in your own game. Hope you enjoy & learn!

[@ThePoxtops]

Only about halfway through the video but i had to say, your dismantling of that first wave was the most beautiful thing I've seen today.

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

Thank you - glad it's asthetically pleasing, it's certainly fun to perform. We've since refined this tactic in several videos, a friend of mine who's also a tactician has suggested some things to make it nastier, and if you're interested, more can be seen in the playlist labeled 'Killbox'.

[@ThePoxtops]

@@HeadlessHorsemanProductions I'll check it out for sure. Thank you for the suggestion!

[@pcikontakt]

Man, great job. Tactic is one thing, but the speed of making movements and decisions in real time, wow, just wow man !

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

Thank you bud, I appreciate the kind words. When you've played the game too much(me), it becomes rather natural, like typing your email. Still, I appreciate the feedback and compliments!

[@ededandeddy2115]

Dominate in real life and bannerlord. That line got me to subscribe

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

Let's do it friend, and I don't mean it in a bad way, I'm actually a very gentle person, but we might as well crush this 'life' thing right and try and excel in all areas, no? Welcome to the channel!

[@Battle-Simer04]

Not sure what's more impressive, the complete destruction of this massive sturgian force with so few losses, or the fact that you did it without having fought the sturgians in what you said was a very long time. You're ability to attack and crush the enemy in every situation in real time is unbelievable.

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

Thank you friend, years of military tactical study and months of gameplay help!

[@bulathamidulin6394]

Bro, this is amazing!! Wish u the best and pls keep going! Would also like to suggest to think about adding a tactical view(with map or so), so we could see the whole picture

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

I will start doing this occasionally when I have good instructional videos in the future. I will say though that right now I have about fifteen videos in processing, so even if I started doing that regularly today it wouldn't appear on the channel for a few months. Stay tuned and thank you for the kind words AND the advice. Cheers!

[@vhorizon_z]

i would love to see a character overview! hes a killing machine

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

It's an older episode, in fact one of my first I did with voice over, but I think what you want to see is here, a little character speccing, attribute distribution and some philosophy on character builds. Not perfect, but it works well for me. kzbin.info/www/bejne/npqTg4J3d9SEkNU

[@ericklorenzo7283]

🎉

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

Good morning lol

[@bendover-sz1sv]

why is everybody under the assumption that an aserai army only uses aserai troops and so on? As a player its very strange to only recruit from one culture and neither do npcs do that. Generally you should be getting most of your troops from high level prisoners after you defeat other lords and npcs just recruit wherever they are. This showcase is coll but i don't think it would work as well if you didn't have boosted charge damage on horses from rbm.

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

I must learn more of this: RBM increases my horse charge damage? So right now I have the mod loaded but it's inactive in my game(settings all turned off). Maybe I should just unclick the mod from the startup screen so this doesn't alter the battles? I agree too about army composition, even though I am sturgian in origin, I generally have about 60% non-native troops, especially battanian fian line troops, sword sisters, vlandian cavalry and imperial/aserai infantry. That said, the AI generally seems to have about 70-80% native troops in most of my battles...

[@pereramahinda2909]

Can you do a aserai army tactics

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

Just completed a custom battle of Aserai vs. Empire 450 vs 550. Stay tuned for processing/narration, brother.

[@johnjaeger2968]

​@@HeadlessHorsemanProductionswas that serendipitous timing or was that you being a total bro?

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

In this case, purely by chance, but I LOVE a challenge and do readily take on suggestions for battles from comments. I've even tried taking on Khuzait vs. Sturgia(without as much success) because it's often requested too)@@johnjaeger2968

[@johnjaeger2968]

@@HeadlessHorsemanProductions that's cool, I respect that. I just saw the time stamps and wondered if you did a quick custom battle for him. Gotta appreciate your philosophy of improvement though. Keep kicking ass

[@Arson_Welles]

Used to think I was pretty good at this game.. that was my first mistake. Quick question, though: do you understand how to interpret the 'power level' thing, especially before a battle? I haven't been able to actually find any good info on what it is trying to tell me, specifically.

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

Thank you for the high praise bud. I was doing fine and thought I was pretty good until I started poking around youtube and really started to hone my game. The power level bar is basically an estimate of two main things: The size of your forces(vs. the enemy) AND the strength of your troops vs the enemy. I have been outnumbered by 50% and still had a tiny edge in the power bar because of my better army composition. I've never won a battle when this bar was something like 80% in favor of the enemy. In REALLY long battles though like I fight, unfortunately the power level system doesn't account for coming reinforcements, so these bars basically move around more and are much less reliable.

[@Arson_Welles]

@@HeadlessHorsemanProductions Right, yeah. Well thank you for the reply. See you on the next one. P.S. the reinforcement system is another thing I wish I understood a little better. Seems like chaos, tbh. Thanks again for your time.

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

The reinforcement system is NOT ideal. Basically it sends them in from the spot you came into the map originally, so if the enemy runs to the back of the map and defends, and you attack, your reinforcements will eventually spawn waaay behind you.@@Arson_Welles

[@seiikichi5349]

hello is there any videos of your build? Im new the the game and a bit lost on how to put my attribute to follow your tactics :)

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

See this vid, about 3-4 minutes in. That said, there's a process of character building and if you're low level, it's difficult to emulate what we're doing here. There's an 'intermediate tactics' series that is designed to help newer players, though even that is too much for some folks. Let me know if you still need help!