Pre-Battle Tips and Tricks, Volume II: Character Weapon Loadout, Campaign Strategy and More!

Welcome back future Emperors, Khans, Jarls and Sultans, in this episode we continue our series covering some of the pre-battle strategy that is necessary for you to succeed in Bannerlord. I cover several important subjects that will help you with Kingdom, a summary of how I form my army composition, what troops I like, how much of each kind and then a little on army and noble management. I recommend the playlist for those who REALLY want to get better at the game and dominate.
This episode has been refreshed, with better audio, a more in-depth philosophy on everything from how to develop characters and companions, how to designate party members optimally, city management and more pre-battle complexities.
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 five to seven mods:
Time Pass Mod: Realistic Lighting for battles and town scenes(the time CHANGES):
www.nexusmods.com/mountandbla...
RTS Mod(for better unit flag colors/overhead view and using other characters in battle):
www.nexusmods.com/mountandbla...
Immersive Battlefields:
A great mod that adds battle cries, roaring troops and more:
www.nexusmods.com/mountandbla...
Lord Retinue Uptier(Makes the enemy forces stronger, much less peasants and lower ranked troops)
www.nexusmods.com/mountandbla...
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.com/mountandbla...
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.com/mountandbla...
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.com/sharedfile...
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.com/mountandbla...
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

[@joelhall3820]

If you run RBM, download a mod called Better Pikes…it makes troops with spears actually good. One of my favorite tactics is to put one thin infantry line in shield wall to slow down the cav charge followed by a line of spear men to chew the horsemen to bits.

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

The next time I run and narrate a huge RBM battle, I'll do so. Hopefully I get a few practice tries in so I actually know what I am talking about, but you're like the fifth guy to rave about this mod. I love the tactical insight too, you'd be surprised how many tactics I've picked up just from you guys out there commenting. Danke!

[@joelhall3820]

@@HeadlessHorsemanProductions I dislike the RBM combat module and run Warbandlord for the combat damage aspect. It also allows you to run other mods normally w/o having to patch everything for RBM or not be able to play with mods that do not have an RBM patch. But I consider the RBM AI module, Warbandlord, and Better Pikes to be essential mods I wouldn’t want to play without.

[@tolveor]

guess this can be called a series of strategy. Theres only a couple of channels where i like the videos before i watch them. this channel is one of them, because i know i will be entertained

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

You honor me friend, thank you! This series can indeed be seen as a strategy series but it's comprehensive. For newer players, I recommend the ENTIRE playlist of 10 videos because I think there is a wide array of information necessary to really crush it at everything from campaign strategy, logistics, companion build and loadout, city management and so much more.

[@wetworks8]

Fully agree.,consistently great content,commentary and soundtrack.

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

@@wetworks8 Thanks brothers for the support.

[@jamesellis3315]

great video per usual

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

Thanks again!

[@ragnarok6521]

Glad you decided to start sharing your experience and making vids as they are great entertainment as well as informative. Only thing I would recommend is a better mic or fidling some more with the gains etc. if you already got one. Sometimes like in this one its very static and it does sound like one of those headset mics. Pretty much the only thing to really make your vids stellar since you often mentioned you already got that beast rig of a PC. Keep up the great work, already looking forward to these even though I only just discovered your channel a few days ago.

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

Thank you for the encouragement and the suggestions! I am still using a headset Mike and it is actually a few hundred dollars upgrade from my previous poor quality one. I'm hoping I can configure The voice meter to smooth it out enough that it produces good quality audio in the future. If not we'll see, though I don't plan on spending a huge amount of money on equipment for the channel especially since I'm not monetized or sponsored. I hope also you, like others check out some of the previous content I've been at work pretty hard the last 6 months though it is a labor of love.

[@ragnarok6521]

@@HeadlessHorsemanProductions That is very understandable. In case you use OBS for recording, you generally wan't the peak of your voice to be in the yellow and not higher, but you are already at a good level here it sounds like. This I imagine would probably apply to most recording programs. There are some good mics out there not costing a fortune like those mostly mentioned by KZbinrs, streamers etc. I am absolutely trucking through your videos as they are really good and you narrate them very well and as a fellow history buff, I appreciate how you sprinkle historic battles, tactics etc. into the videos from time to time and as your inspiration like the "Peasant Revolt" series. Don't push yourself to hard on pumping out videos all the time, as it shines through how much you enjoy the game, which could be lost if you burn yourself out. Nice steady pace of enjoyment. :) Anyways, its all positive from here, just figured I would mention the mic, as its the only drawback. Also its only on some of the videos it goes static, most are fine. 👍

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

@@ragnarok6521 I appreciate ALL of this feedback - I'm a brand new youtuber of course, and an old dog to boot, so it's old dog/new trick stuff, but I listen readily, know when I am wrong or making mistakes and try to fix them. I'll take a peek at mics, but do you have any suggestions for a quality, reasonably priced mic? The stream of the videos will slow soon as I get outside more for Summer, but I have a nice cache built up, some 15-20 videos just waiting to be published, but I appreciate the sentiment...(me burning out, and the warning)

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

@@ragnarok6521 AND I'm flattered and thrilled guys like you are out there with such an appreciation for my craft, it's been fun sharing it!

[@Weltsly]

Thank you brother, needed this

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

Very glad to help and I appreciate the comments and support.

[@the_farrow9549]

great video

[@arrgylerawrgyle3784]

Or greatest video?

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

Thanks!

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

I hope not, there have to be better than this haha!

[@jefmorard5923]

On my way to make poles arms, axes for my nexts sons daughters

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

F**k yeah, lay waste my brother!

[@Taemoco]

I did some challenges for myself as only playing on foot, but this proof to be way harder game then being mounted where you can do something about cavalary. Btw. if you put the Jareeds one more up in the Weapon slot for your Charakter you can compare it with the one you got in your Backpack or Town Trademenu.

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

Thanks for the tip - and NO question one of the most important reasons to be on horse is to deal with the enemy horseman, ESPECIALLY if you're badly outnumbered, you kinda have to do some work or your troops are going to take a beating. Similarly, it would be nice if enemy horsemen were more lethal, aka horse archers who don't attack with melee unless they are out of ammo, etc.

[@wetworks8]

Really liked this video,particulary the character break down. Dis you know Zuvan is the ancient Iranian God of time and fate?

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

I do now! That's awesome, I'll have to consider how to reference that in battles and the peasants revolt :) (and thanks!)

[@wetworks8]

@@HeadlessHorsemanProductions Tbh I googled that as I was curious but quite apt I feel. I also renamed my kin. Clan banner is a green background with a horizontal black thumbnail/crescent moon which reminds me of an eclipse. This strongly influenced the names given with references to Game of Thrones (book nerd) Echai Eye of the moon ( white scarred eye) Tosuii Dark sister Urdrusiii Thunder hoof Sandoriv Dark sun Mesuv Furiosa Belwasix Black moon Daughter in laws Gunefer,Idruna and Deasore are all Sand sisters. Huuktu ruler of the khuzaits was totally made up but when I Googled that the closest reference is Hutukhtu...a Lamanist dignitary believed to be an incarnation of buddha,specifically the spiritual ruler of Mongolia. True story and spookily coincidental. Those that know GOT will get the references and if you can spot how i remember in what order they were born I salute you.

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

@@wetworks8 How do you name your children? Is there a mod? Your banner sounds sick and love the RP'ing you're doing...

[@wetworks8]

@@HeadlessHorsemanProductions No mod..on xbox unfortunately.. If you go to the clan page and members there should be a feather beside the name,a quill i guess..click on that and rename there.

[@Roickt]

I'd watch a twitch livestream of ur campaign and pay for a subscription, could be worth considering

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

You honor me pretty greatly with that comment but I am curious why would you pay for something that's free right now? I understand people subscribing so they see new content but I still don't understand the monetization process. All that said I may start a new campaign this fall and if I do it will probably be streamed somehow someway

[@arrgylerawrgyle3784]

100 = 1 meter?

[@HeadlessHorsemanProductions]

That could be too, though a '200' length polearm seems to swing longer than 7 feet (and SHORTER than 16 feet LOL, if it were inches).