How To Beat ANY Army With Sturgia - Bannerlord Army Tactics Guide

There are two constants in Bannerlord - Derthert will take your fiefs and Sturgia will get stomped within a few years. In this video, we will go over the best army vs army tactics when going up against ANY faction using Sturgian troops. Don't let Reddit or the forums fool you - Sturgia is NOT underpowered and can easily win heavily-disadvantageous battles!
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0:00 - Intro
0:35 - Sturgia Vs Vlandia: Even Balance of Power
4:26 - Sturgia Vs Vlandia Post Battle Analysis: Even Balance of Power
9:03 - Sturgia Vs Vlandia: Disadvantaged Battle
10:04 - Sturgia Vs Vlandia Post Battle Analysis: Disadvantage Battle
10:30 - Sturgia Vs Empire
11:53 - Sturgia Vs Empire Post Battle Analysis
13:10 - Sturgia Vs Khuzait
14:30 - Sturgia Vs Khuzait Post Battle Analysis
15:24 - Sturgia Vs Aserai
17:40 - Sturgia Vs Aserai Post Battle Analysis
18:43 - Sturgia Vs Battania
19:36 - Sturgia Vs Battania Post Battle Analysis
21:05 - Recap of Important Points
22:37 - Final Thoughts & Wrap Up
Thanks for watching!

[@Strat-Guides]

If you want to see full campaigns, check out the 2nd channel: kzbin.info/door/E_tZVHe5vw6P2wyb5iLtxw So I've been focusing pretty hard on adding some storyline and humor to my guides lately, but I wasn't able to do the same with this video. I spent about 3 days running tests, collecting data, making the new database and analyzing the data. To say my brain was fried is an understatement lol I hope this one doesn't feel rushed, but I figured I would explain what happened here. The info and data is probably better than most of the videos I've put out so there is plenty of value here, but it may not be as fun to watch. Just figured I would get that out there lol! I should be back to normal on the next one, assuming the data doesn't consume my brain :) Thanks for watching!

[@Davonskevort]

this is not very reassuring given i am playing a Sturgia game ATM.... never mind my save file is corrupted and i am stuck in a situation where the game will continue to crash... it was a good run for a time.

[@RooZvonBooZ]

That's a nice head you have on your shoulders! Can only imagine the pain from collecting all the data, just know it was still entertaining and informative at the same time. Too many memes can be distracting, however a few here and there gets the job done, for videos like this. Keep up the great work! 💪

[@decimusdecius7858]

Hi. Could you please write which mods you are using?

[@lucifereldiablo7770]

How do i do Infantry squares on Ps4, whenever i put them into Square they all face the same direction, also cant figure out how to adjust line size and depth using ps4 like you can when i played on pc

[@The_Gallowglass]

Cavary

[@Ch-ew9tm]

This man plays Bannerlord battles like they are Total war battles. Epic

[@lifeunderthestarstv]

It's certainly cool to watch but really uncessary in game

[@tremeloandtriplets]

based checkerboard formation

[@Strat-Guides]

It takes a lot more time to win lopsided battles like this, but it's so much more fun than watching 2 armies smash into each other and it being over in 2 minutes lol

[@Strat-Guides]

Looks like someone didn't watch the AI vs AI battles - F1 + F3 doesn't work when you're outgunned my dude. You have to do more so it is actually necessary.

[@lifeunderthestarstv]

@@Strat-Guides like I said, it's interesting man. But not necessary. All war games like irl, fighting disadvantageous battles means the leaders made errors that led to that battle. Art of war style, ya know. I wish bannerlord had purpose for its strategy like total war having affects on flanking, etc to morale at the unit level. Like it's cool to see you do it man, but come on it's entirely not necessary.

[@turmuthoer]

21:09 - I personally think that most faction weaknesses at this point can be explained by geography, not troop quality. Sturgia's problem is that it's both stretched too thin and virtually all of its land is hit with a movement penalty to armies for half the year (why Sturgians don't have a movement bonus in snow is beyond me). Since they'll usually flip from fighting against the Battanians or Vlandians in the west to fighting the Khuzait in the east, they will often be in a situation where all their armies are on the wrong side of the map when war is declared. By the time they've moved a large enough force to the new theatre of war, they've already lost multiple holdings to the enemy. This then just repeats until they've been whittled down to nothing.

[@NameCannotBeBlank24]

If only their culture have a free reign over snow terrain :(

[@EnglishInfidel]

It's my first time playing Bannerlord and I picked the Sturgians to join without knowing their bad rep. So far though, so good, and I am actually a little concerned we might steamroll the map sooner rather than later. I was given Bakalhand(?) In the East and then managed to take a castle from the Khuzait myself, a bit more south, Ezker or something? I just reached clan tier 4 and had a few kids after marrying the kings son (I'm a female) and am just now feeling like I'm getting the game. I think you're absolutely correct from a newcomers point of view, having that strip of mountains in the North is frustrating when wars are declared, every single time I'm seeing armies form,then take ages to march across the map. However, this does mean it should be a fun challenge helping to defend Sturgia's flank in the East if I've accidentally signed on to defend against the horse archer hordes. Amazing game. Oh, with regards to the movement penalty due to snow, it's not so bad if you grab the scouting perk that mitigates it, and then it actually can be an advantage when defending the homeland. You're right again though, it should definitely be a default trait for all true Stugians and not cost a perk.

[@SC0RPI0NFURY]

@@EnglishInfidel May i ask what difficulty setting you are using? I just started playing this game and i also play as the Sturgians on my first playthrough

[@EnglishInfidel]

@@SC0RPI0NFURY I've read that realistic battle damage settings and the hardest difficulty settings are the only way to play the game, and that seems fine to me it's even far too easy especially if you implement good battle strategies and stick to higher tier troops. From what I can tell the AI is so bad in this game on vanilla settings that as soon as this first campaign is over I will be hitting the mod pages hard in hopes to fix it. As stated, the AI on the map marches armies around pointlessly and you can't even seem to control other parties or request support from allies (without creating an army which comes with all its own problems) and in battles it's about the same, they send units one by one and mill about aimlessly. Last night I took a castle with a 500 strong army against a 200 garrison, auto-resolve lost me 30 men, handling the battle I lost 3 of my own men and 20 of my allies. That's just silly. In fact, again, as a new player, the more I play the more I would actually say it's pretty unacceptable and makes vanilla borderline unplayable.

[@0292-q3l]

@@EnglishInfidel Sturgian infantry are pretty good, I've completed a run through with sturgia, the only real pain in the ass for me was the imperial menavliaton elites and Battanian Fian Champions... other than that, Sturgia pretty much did a number on most other troops, I dont really go with Strugian archers though, I just go with their infantry as theyre pretty good.

[@youwase]

As a sturgian main i am delightful this is the first video of army tactics.

[@lifeunderthestarstv]

Who is needing these? Superior troops, f1 f3. Tactics are useless in bannerlord. Units don't have angles that affect them more than others like total war.

[@kairuku6552]

@@lifeunderthestarstv spoken like a true mount and blade-r

[@Strat-Guides]

Shield-y boys unite!!

[@skurt3637]

@@lifeunderthestarstv Bro you really want to spam that on every comment ? It’s ok we know, we just want some fun let us feeling like some great Generals

[@patrick24085]

@@lifeunderthestarstv tactics are useful when fighting strong enemies/larger force

[@bombidil3]

Honestly, I love the Sturgian Spearmen as they actually look the part of a late antiquity/early medieval foot soldier. The spear and round shield were basically ubiquitous for field armies at that point, even for the romans. Unfortunately spears are a little meh in Bannerlord as damage is really based only on weapon speed and not force.

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah Sturgia does have a great look to them! Not over-the-top or ridiculous, but very intimidating :) I really like to use them with the RBM mod since they make spears decent!

[@Yanate1991]

RBM mod my guy

[@shyguy6765]

The line breakers are my fav full chainmail and a large 2 handed axe, just so badass.

[@cheesecake7159]

Sturgian spearmen really bad in charge attack they only good in defensive strat like this, if you used line/shield wall>charge they fight like clown, axemen are better for attack strat

[@giftzwerg7345]

I can also recomend the fix the spears mod or others like it. With it shildwall with secure flanks rules

[@SH-hr7iz]

I hope Taleworlds watches your videos. It would be incredible to fight advanced tactics/formations against each culture. Sturgian squares,ult joke flanks of Battanian arches, etc. Like culture-specific formations. Would really change the combat portion of the game.

[@Strat-Guides]

That's what I'm hoping to do with this series! I'll go down the list and try to come up with good tactics for each culture :)

[@SH-hr7iz]

@@Strat-Guides very much looking forward to it! Do you have plans to revisit the sturgians now that the cavalry AI has been fixed (update 1.8.1)? I totally agree that they were severely underperforming as of this video thanks to the imperfect AI.

[@alpha_9997]

@@Strat-Guides if they dont ill spam blocs comments to implement it in a mod.

[@snicit8471]

First thing that popped up in my mind was wanting the ai to try to employ their own tactics. One thing I've noticed about Majority of strategy games it the ai are almost always dumb.

[@_derp]

Honestly i'd be okay if AI worked on ally armies too, not like it is atm...

[@gtafbi1]

As much as being the attacker lets you approach the battles more to your liking with respect to stuff like: pace, setting up formations, skirmishing etc. I think battles in which you are the defender would make more sense to test/prepare for, as those are probably more likely to be the ones you'd need advanced tactics for to overcome the odds. outside of attacking a sieging army or doing a sally out, you'll probably tend to be the one defending when the enemy has the advantage.

[@blakethegreatone2058]

I think that's more of a personal preference. In a more static defense it would be a similar concept but you wouldn't be moving the units forward as much.

[@gtafbi1]

@@blakethegreatone2058 it would make some of the strategies employed invalid, as you wouldn't (always*) be able to exhaust your enemy's ammo or engage their infantry when you want to. *I think depending on army composition the ai will sometimes sit back and fire with ranged troops even when attacking.

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah I agree, I was a bit annoyed that the enemy with a huge statistical advantage wouldn't push. That's why I'm going to redo this using the custom battles and setting up challenges in there. Plus if I set my side as defender, they will charge in no matter what.

[@Strat-Guides]

Good point about not being able to exhaust enemy arrows, but also they wouldn't even use their archers beyond the first couple of volleys since the AI does the whole YOLO F1 + F3 lol

[@blakethegreatone2058]

@@gtafbi1 that's true although the overall strategy stays the same. Multiple blocks of infantry up front with archers and cav as support. The situation might dictate different micro strategies though.

[@Hemdael]

Really facinating stuff, great video! I find it particularly important how the value of 2h infantry is directly tied to your micro. Used carefully Line Breakers are great at line breaking, but poorly they are arrow fodder. As an aside, I think that the geography of Calradia causes Sturgia to suffer; long and thin with forests so moving forces is slow going, leaving the nation vunerable to defeat in detail. I'd say Vlandia has best geography with natural barriers, choke points to their territory, and 'square' rather than 'line' shaped territory, (and it being close enough for ease of defense, but large enough that it avoids the Battannian problem of 1 or 2 major battle loses and then nothing to stop the enire kingdom being sacked).

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you for watching! Great point, I really wish the AI had some line breakers :( I'm going to redo this video anyhow and I'll test them to see how they do. For sure, being attacked by 3 or 4 other kingdoms is rough, let alone taking 4 days to go from one end to the other lol

[@rogertheshrubber68]

This was incredible to watch. I might have to do a Sturgian play through. I’d like to see a video like this for each faction.

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks for watching Jake! I have plans to do that :) Most likely I'll do this in a custom battle so that I can get all the units involved. This one was missing some key ones like line breakers and the noble cav for Sturgia.

[@editzbywalt]

Blud is a 5 star general

[@tequilasunsetus8847]

The tactics of Sturgia in a nutshell: small squares hurt the enemy very much :) Great video! Finally, someone made such a video for the current patches. I would like to know your opinion about the composition of the army for Sturgia. How much infantry should I take and what types? For example: 2/3 of the infantry are heavy spearmen, and the rest are heavy axemen. Something like that.

[@seventhsuns3580]

Just from the video, it looked like it depends on your enemy. Cavalry heavy then more spears, infantry heavy then more axemen

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah pretty much! Square for infantry is criminally underrated IMO. It's not a great formation to steamroll other infantry, but it's great at surviving and can really work miracles when paired with a heavy line of archers behind them. Thanks!! It's a tough one to say based on this video because there were some missing units. I want to test out the Noble cav and the line breakers, but one thing I can say is it's incredibly important to have a certain number of T5 infantry to be the meat shield for the other weaker infantry. What I'm trying to accomplish is this - if you only have 2000 denars to spend on troops, what's the best unit mix? All T5 army cost 12 denars each, so you could only have 167 troops. How would that do against 400 Tier 3 troops that only cost 5 each? My guess is that the numbers advantage would win here, but I guess we will see. That said, I think a good mix is important. Some spearman to catch the cav and tank in the front line, heavy axeman to clean up, some line breakers to destroy faces, etc. :)

[@dmknght8946]

Now i'm wondering how many troops should you put into 1 square unit? I mean it should be not too many so it's easy to have multiple units on the battlefield but it must not be too small so Cavs and Archers (or CavArcher) can't break through

[@Strat-Guides]

If it's too few troops, it doesn't work so I would try to stay around 50 at the bare minimum. If the enemy has huge cavalry formations, then maybe less squares but more number is better. OR you could just force move the squares onto the same spot lol I need to try that out.

[@dmknght8946]

@@Strat-Guides I think in theory, if you have enough troops for a very tight square shield wall unit, then you can create gap between units as kill zone. I'm imaging a 2 lines of square shield wall units. So if enemy cav charges, they end up being attacked from 3 sides (unless enemy cav charges from the flank).

[@georgerukhadze9164]

man watching bannerlord from top down is total war on steroids. keep on doing this

[@Strat-Guides]

The RTS mod is really fun to use! I try not to use it for legit campaigns, but it's so much more enjoyable to watch battles playout from above :)

[@DonSaly]

@@Strat-Guides So this is a MOD, I was searching for how to take control of how many units I can field and what units and not get forced to particular unit, saw this and am supper impressed. This is whole other level of game. Have to give it a go once I beat regular game.

[@blazezz1101]

Sturgia's primary strength is that all their units are solid at melee on foot especially the Druzhinnik Champion and Horse Raider (even the Veteran Bowman is not too shabby at melee too if forced into one). The Druzhunnik Champion is very tanky and good on horseback too but the short 1h weapon makes them better dismounted. Meanwhile, Sturgian Horse Raider is equipped with the worst horse armor which makes them very vulnerable to ranged units. I treat Sturgian mounted units as more like dragoons instead of cavalry to quickly reposition and flank from the rear on foot while the foot troops hold the pressure at the front.

[@giftzwerg7345]

Yea, the Raiders are perfect to ride up to archers dismount and then roll them up. This allowes you to then attack with infatrie, and flank with berserks or superior numbers

[@calebweideman2175]

Yeah it's weird though becous in my most recent playthrough Sturgia stomped the green forest men and most of the empire

[@Inderastein]

I love how I can relate all this info to Total War, Napoleon's Masterpieces, Erwin Rommel's Tactics, Funny-Mustache man and Sun Tzu all at once

[@Strat-Guides]

Haha as someone who recently started playing HOI4, I appreciate the funny mustache man comment :D

[@rockpogue]

Why are your guides so good? I actually tried the first set of tactics and I win 4 battles out of 4 on veteran difficulty. I don't like this skill, but by the empire, it's so useful.

[@Strat-Guides]

That's so cool to hear! I'm really happy the video helped you out :D Battles are so much more fun when you get to use tactics like this.

[@rockpogue]

@@Strat-Guides keep on making these videos, you do a good job

[@juicesha85エフゲーニイ]

You open new layers and new possibilities of this game for me again and again. I am extremely grateful to you.

[@Strat-Guides]

I'm so happy to hear that! I'll cover other cultures soon and hopefully I can come up with some fun tactics to try out :)

[@aether3697]

nice guide, and I like the data comparisons! these strategies remind me of my PoP(prophesy of Pendor) days where I am so dedicated on micromanaging my units so hard, I have used all the 12 numeric keys(above querty). Though I'm no longer playing M&B, I'd watch more of these guides and hope you continue comparing stats

[@rhelyputra4680]

Total War II : Bannerlord

[@anja2792]

I've actually had Sturgia do well in my games, but I have been joining them, so that could be it. This is still good info, showing the power of patient squares. I'm really liking these.

[@mortred.lvl565]

Wow, this is such a high quality tutorial. I really enjoyed it. I always was an empire guy, but now I kinda wanna play a campaign with Sturgia :D Again, I love the detail you put into everything here. Thank you :)

[@Strat-Guides]

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@blank2809]

Not even released on console and I’m already learning tactics!! thank you man !!

[@Strat-Guides]

Haha nothing like studying ahead of time! I'm happy to help, thanks for watching!

[@9051team]

This is a fantastic vid. I know these vids take a lot of time to make, and sometimes the views may not seem enough to justify the work. But just know that there is at least one dude who appreciates your vids and the work you put in.

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you!! I appreciate you saying that. I think these tactics videos will do okay... hopefully lol I'm going to redo this one though, I didn't like how defensive the AI was. It's much less of a challenge when they do that.

[@wayneyessir6350]

I love the analysis. Thanks so much. Regarding Calvary, they are hit and run units. The strat your using is going to severely limit their effectiveness. because they are just standing in the rear, vulnerable to arrows. Using them to flank and charge ranged formations then retreat and repeat is pretty effective. Your effectively managing archer threats instead by just letting them run out of arrows, which clearly works, it just leaves the cavs without much to do.

[@SL-mj2eq]

Well lets be honest cav units need to much micromanaging to be effective. I rarely even use cav in any of my playthroughs cos they are just a waste of money. The best thing for them to do is use the horses as an obstacle for enemy cav to get stuck on...

[@mattgopack7395]

Yeah, cav thrives from a disorganized enemy and being able to stay mobile. Empire cataphracts do very well at that I've found - but the bigger engagements make it tougher for cav to effectively punch through/disorganize the enemy on a charge. The archers/ranged component seems like the opposite, where they get better the bigger the battle is/the more of them you have, and seems like the obvious best target for cav (though the AI doesn't really go for them). They just all end up too vulnerable when bogged down.

[@wayneyessir6350]

@@mattgopack7395 ​ Yes the micro can get pretty insane to use them to their full effectiveness.

[@keziah5647]

my man, this is awesome. Haven't seen anyone else breaking it down into detail. Great work!

[@Strat-Guides]

Glad you liked it!

[@gerritvalkering1068]

I actually use similar tactics regardless of which nation's units I play with most. You have given me some ideas on how to improve. And I agree, cavalry is mostly useful as body blockers and to mop up once you've already won

[@artje90]

got to love the nerdy number crunch. is really hepfull and even the devs could use them for balance, cause i eel your analyses are more fleshed out then most dev do on their own games

[@Strat-Guides]

Numbers are my comfort :)

[@Playa001]

Holy shit man I was not expecting something so well thought out. Definitely subbing. Thanks bro 😎

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you for watching!

[@anderseriksson7698]

I think this was your best video yet and I'm only 9 minutes in. Please do this for all factions. Fantastic video, truly.

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks Anders! It certainly wasn't my best editing effort lol I put like 95% of the effort into the testing and data collection and was a bit burned out after day 3 of tables and spreadsheets :P Hopefully this info can be of some use though!

[@anderseriksson7698]

@@Strat-Guides its a big project for sure, to collect and process so much data. Very cool to see such advanced battlefield tactics, more than a little rare. I basically never use anything other than line, loose or shieldwall formation and ever since they changed how to compose your groups (that stupid slider they added) i only have the four standard groups of inf, archers, cav and ranged cav. Might have to change that. Still, super interesting and fun vid. Keep it up

[@anderseriksson7698]

@@Strat-Guides itd be pretty dope if you could make a video like this with just your ideal army comp from all factions, aswell. See how good you could make it

[@barryevans791]

I think that the factions are a lot more balanced now. Sturgia has definately been buffed since full release and imo have the best infantry in the game - especially in shield wall formation. If you play sturgia, go heavy on infantry and if you need archers use Battanian Fians. The cavalry is just ok, but you only get them at tier 4. It is totally possible to use purely infantry tropps for the majority of the early game.

[@TROONTRON]

Agreed. My battanian fian champions, banner knights and Vlandian sergeant army is mincemeat for sturgian ulfhednars. But they eliminate any other faction army four times the size easily.

[@CaporalAPC]

Me I use veteran sturgian archer for more roleplay

[@eveei]

they still get slaughtered in ai v ai field battles

[@comicstripgamer1591]

Gonna have to subscribe. I can't ignore the statistic input you put in every video. You feed my inner nerd with everything I need. Thank you

[@Strat-Guides]

I appreciate the support! Lol to be honest, I'm nothing without my numbers and data :) Math don't lie!

[@comicstripgamer1591]

Can't agree more. I keep a note pad open. Adding down data with most games. Mathematics life hack lol

[@Jager369]

First time I’ve seen one of your videos. Impressive to say the least. Loved the data you provided and the overall analysis was very in depth, very good indeed. That must take some time. Very enjoyable 👍 don’t think I’ve ever paused a video as much as this one 😆

[@stirlingramsay]

You keep the game alive man, keep it up homie

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks!!

[@BrokenOlive]

That was some magnificent commanding, and I wish the AI was able to learn and do things like this, it would definitely make the game much more challenging and fun.

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah I agree, the AI needs a little love lol. RBM helps fix some of these things at least.

[@BrokenOlive]

@@Strat-Guides Which is true, but at the same time, I can dream about a time where the AI will crush the player with ridiculous formations like this. It would definitely make battles much more tense.

[@TheZweric]

but then they need to make it easier to give orders, it's just not fun tying to draw out formations and redoing it 15 times because it's so clunky. f6 enjoyer here. only for disadvantageous battles advance infantry skein with archers and horse archers in the rear. cav to charge their cav or their rear. I'd never bother to have multiple groups for one type of unit

[@Redridge07]

This was fantastic

[@stylller100]

hi from Brazil, If at some point, an open world mountblade mod appears online, I would certainly like to serve with you commanding the army. Great video.

[@Strat-Guides]

That would be so cool! I would love to command an army of subs and earn everyone's respect as a commander :D Obrigado!

[@Dakkalazy]

This was fascinating to watch, I love detailed analysis like this.

[@nihilisticpoet]

I cannot wait for the Battania one(assuming it will come). I am itching for a pure celtic force!

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks for watching! I'm planning on doing a video for each culture :) I'm going to redo this one as well, I wasn't happy with the battles and will setup custom battles instead. I'll be trying several scenarios - the enemy side will hold constant and I'll try to emulate the type of units the AI normally has, but then on the player side I'll vary the army comp. My plan is to set the wage limit for the army and then fill units based on that. So if wages are capped at 2,500 denars, I'll try it once with all T5 units, against with T4, etc. and see which composition is best. I suspect mixing high tier with lower tier is the best bang for the buck, but I guess we will see!

[@МихаилРадулов-й4т]

@@Strat-Guides Sounds great man. Its hard to predict what army comp we all use but i guess its fair to say 70% being t4 and higer for any player party.

[@Strat-Guides]

@@МихаилРадулов-й4т yeah especially in the late game. But I think maybe having more units at lower tier might be better in the early game, so my hope is to advocate for more clan parties early on even if everything is tier 3. We will see!

[@BloodSteyn]

I work as a Data Analyst and would love to get a hold of your datasheets when you publish them. I just recently started playing Bannerlord (thanks to Game Pass) and your videos have been amazing. I'm "listening" to them while I crunch numbers for my client :)

[@Strat-Guides]

Nice, a fellow data geek :D I publish all of my guide info on the discord for anyone to use! It's using a program called Notion and I make each database duplicatable so you can just copy it for your own use and do as you please!

[@BloodSteyn]

@@Strat-Guides Thank you kindly. I will give it a look see.

[@ruoante7660]

Great Video as always Strat. The results were shocking. I have to try them out now lol.

[@Strat-Guides]

Hey Ruoante! For me, the Aserai battle was the most shocking. I actually tried that one out a few more times and narrowly got beat each time. Mostly due to the numbers advantage though. The Battania battle was SO close lol

[@Stebeway54]

This series of vids was great. I have found amazing success with Sturgian and Battanian infantry, with Battanian archers and vlandian crossbows, with a very mixed Calvary. I try to keep about a 40-30-30 rule for these and found that I can maintain square and shield wall with traditional tactics. It is more difficult against Aserai cavalry, but very effective against Vlandian and Empire armies. Find that a mix of projectile cav and heavy cav are effective against higher tier empire troops as well - need a combination of disruption and lethality.

[@ElectricAlect]

Yeah this seems very easy in the birds eye view to pull off. We are stuck in first person or third person which is very difficult to do using accurate formations

[@Strat-Guides]

It's a little more difficult, you're right. But with a little practice it's very doable! I was able to do something very similar in my Vercingetorix campaign I have running on my 2nd channel - I backed the squared up to a steep mountain and was able to draw the enemy in, quickly moved troops around where they were needed etc. I think it's even easier if you have a good horse and some riding skill. Thanks for watching!!

[@philjohnson1744]

I would love to see a cost analysis of units. This was brill and and engaging!

[@Strat-Guides]

I'm going to make a quick video on how to use the database and I might include some analysis on that OR i'll save it for another video when I test armies with equal number wages. I think it will be eye-opening for a lot of people :)

[@OhGodThatsHorrific]

Looking forward to the Aserai chapter, you can rack up some nuts numbers with the Faris javs with the right kind of micro

[@Strat-Guides]

Me too! Aserai are the perfect culture for the player that likes to play commander. I feel like they excel at the hit and run tactics with both strong horse archers and javelin cav, but some of their infantry are decent enough too!

[@markj2305]

I like the heart formation and the viscous "ahhhhh" war cry, perhaps this was Norse berserker rage we heard? :) . Thanks for the ability for us to check things, but I can't imagine "geeking" as well as Strat, so I'll just keep watching. Great work on letting AI waste missiles at long range. Further research may need unit speed and ability to spread out the enemy, flee, arrive with greater force, and other things speed allows.

[@Strat-Guides]

Hahaha it was a heart felt death rattle from Derthert's boys :D No problem, hopefully some of this was helpful! I'm going to redo it again but in custom battles and try to get more of a challenge. That's a good point, maybe that can be a good use for the cavalry? Maybe they can break apart the enemy formation and force local superiority for our infantry?

[@patrickcharzin3062]

Cav can also be dismounted, giving you another group of infantry that's usually pretty good. Druznik veterans and vlandian banner knights are both pretty damn good on foot

[@Strat-Guides]

That's a great idea, I plan on exploring that some in the next episode when I do custom battles! My main purpose with the cav in this one was to block cav in their place and allow infantry to beat them down, but it might have been even better to just have them in the squares to start with. Maybe they can be their own independent square roaming around :D

[@andersbobson8653]

you and apollo are the two best bannerlord youtubers!

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you Anders! Today's Elongus Dongus episode was a tough one though, I feel so bad :(

[@andersbobson8653]

@@Strat-Guides very true

[@AzoiatheCobra]

HEAR ME HEAR ME, THE VIDEO GUIDE EVERYONE WANTED IS FINALLY HERE!!! THE ONLY THING MISSISING IS TALE WORKS REWORKING THE GROUP SYSTEM!!! Also... Between Axemen and Spearmen... why not both? And Aserai vet infantry is a hidden gem, so dont sweat about it The only problem with these formations: the amount of captains one needs... thank god SaS town training system lets you train your companions (once you are tier 6 or 7). Sadly it doesnt let you choose either which companion (so... everyone trains) nor which weapon (so only polearm and bow training for mellee and ranged)

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol I Know, I really wanted more options for splitting groups up!! I miss the old system. Yeah for sure, having both is the best option IMO, then you cover all scenarios. Good point about captains, I didn't even think about that!

[@TheShyoto]

The number of captains isn't actually that challenging assuming this is a mid-late game setup. Like by year 5 story mode I will generally have brother x2, wife x3 , sister, and with TW having patched the player captain buffs, that's 7 fairly strong captains before you even start with companions and kids

[@AzoiatheCobra]

@@TheShyoto I never count my main for captain because sometimes a good captain perk is in the same level as a good party leader perk. And although family members are good canvas to make captains, by the time i have them is so hard to level them up... and lets be honest, 8 captains, even if your characther is one means 7 time you have to grind your companions... and thats tough.

[@AzoiatheCobra]

@@Strat-Guides also is there any way to make a good use of the throwables of some infantry? because having them in tigh formations like square or shield wall makes htem hold the throwables

[@D1977Spetter]

Wow, you actually did it! You made me wanna play a faction other than Battania! Sturgia campaign, here I come

[@Strat-Guides]

Lol it's hard to get away from Battania! I know the feeling. I'm going to cover all the other cultures too :)

[@D1977Spetter]

@@Strat-Guides Every time I start a new game I promise I will not play Battanian, yet after an hour of playing I find myself running around Battanian lands making a bunch of Wildlings and going wild in the forests. This video has inspired me for a foot troop only Sturgia game though!

[@Bwakcmo69]

I always go khuzait full horse archers

[@Romans-10v9]

21:05 - this is exactly what I'm here for how to win! Best troop compositions and tactics in realistic conditions.

[@Strat-Guides]

Nice, I'm glad this video could help! Thanks A M, I appreciate you :D

[@JayTraversJT]

Why have a castle when you can BE the castle?

[@Gaiden-Shinji875]

I actually had no trouble with the Khuzait at all. If anything we always decimated them. In fairness, my personal forces consists mainly of Sturgian infantry, Vlandian cavalry, Battanian archers amd Zhuzait horse archers. I've thrown in some Vlandian Crossbowmen for stopping power when a cavalry charge is interrupted and their shields help in a skirmish. I also have Sturgian noble cavalry to help harass enemy reserves with the horse archers, or to antagonise enemy cavalry into charging. Great video, definitely a major help in dealing with different cultures

[@fendelphi]

Having cavalry being a reserve force(or in the case of skirmish cav, a harass force in certain situations) makes a lot of sense to me. Their strength is mobility and shock damage(or in the case of skirmish cav, to break enemy formations and chip away at flanks). And unlike shielded infantry, their mounts are very vulnerable to concentrated range fire, deep infantry formations and spears. Which means you should never use them early in the battle, where all those elements are at their peak. Keeping them back behind the archers allows them to block enemy cav and respond to flanks, without needing to ride into the enemy infantry formations or getting focused by volley after volley of arrows or bolts. Once the lines(and attention) is focused on the infantry phase, they can swing around and harass enemy archers, cut down retreating forces(can be important, if you are causing a lot of morale damage) or crash into the rear of the enemy infantry(hammer and anvil). Historically, there are very few "glorious charges" from cavalry, and they usually only occured due to desperation(more often than not, such attempts ended in disaster for the cavalry). They were a heavy investment and an important tool of war, so it was not something you would throw at the enemy the first chance you got. But used effectively and with good timing, they helped decide a lot of battles. Even the poor AI in this game was using the cav fairly effectively in the Battania battle(although the target priority could have been a bit better, the pincer maneuver was sweet).

[@mattgopack7395]

Frontal cavalry charges were a thing, but they'd struggle against enemies that stood their ground (or horse archers that pulled back). An example being the initial crusaders, who'd pretty heavily rely on cavalry charges to win battles. But if you know the enemy is going to stand and fight, a cav charge from the front is not going to be the most effective a lot of the time - and that's what we have in Bannerlord. Though they do perform pretty well in smaller scale battles I find - just that the bigger ones they don't scale as well

[@agentike6500]

Dope video Strat! taking a little break from banner lord but that doesn't stop me from watching your content!

[@Strat-Guides]

I appreciate that :D Hopefully next month they will hit us with a huge patch and tons of new stuff to tinker with :)

[@agentike6500]

@@Strat-Guides We can dream can't we?

[@Joachim_Meyer]

Can you do a video like this for every kingdom as a series? I like to roleplay and try to keep all of my units the same culture and I think it would be cool to see the different fighting styles that fit best with each one (as you just did for Sturgia).

[@Strat-Guides]

I had planned on that originally, but then these other tactics videos (using IRL historical tactics in game) took off so I'm trying to keep up with that. I'll definitely get faction tactics guides done in the future, it's high up on my list!

[@Joachim_Meyer]

@@Strat-Guides Okay cool! I’m loving your real life tactics videos as well!

[@marco0445]

You should do one of these vids for every culture!

[@Strat-Guides]

I was planning on it, but I might not have time right now :( I'll see what I can do!

[@MarksmanGamingPk90]

Can't wait for my main battanians but no i am not talking about op champion but oathsworns ,

[@tobiaswiest]

Oathsworns used to be awful, what changed that?

[@Strat-Guides]

I was really shocked at how well the Oathsworn did! I use them a lot as well in my campaigns, but they just stomped the Sturgian troops. It's a good thing they didn't have too many of them. I also wish Sturgia started with some shock troops but for some reason they didn't.

[@dukx5164]

We need more of these videos!! I had alot of fun watching it. Cheers!

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you! I'm planning on doing this for each culture :)

[@dukx5164]

@@Strat-Guides Looking forward to that ;)

[@TheAsj97]

I have a suggestion for an interesting video idea. Now that you have so much data about unit performance, what if you tried creating the perfect custom units with a somewhat balanced mod like My Little Warband, where you can customize everything from the gear they have to skill points? I think it'd be incredibly helpful in learning exactly what makes a good unit, is skill more important than gear or vice versa? And then what makes the best army composition with all these different types of units?

[@Strat-Guides]

That's a great idea! Once I finish covering all the cultures, maybe that can be a final - bonus episode :) Great idea, I'm adding it to the list. Thanks!

[@lamelime1]

it would be cool if you made a video like this for every faction, I would really enjoy watching that

[@Strat-Guides]

I'm going to start that series soon actually!

[@lamelime1]

@@Strat-Guides Thats nice man! i really apreciatte that you reply to new comments in older vids

[@JoshuaAndres]

As a sturgian player with real life Viking ancestors, I thank you

[@Strat-Guides]

I'm glad you approve! :D

[@mama4ke]

this video is the best demonstration ever of how competitive Bannerlord multiplayer in RTS style could be 👍

[@Cheese-Grater]

I wish you could actually do stuff like this on console but when you try to tell one group to do something, the entire army does it which is really inefficient and annoying

[@Cheesemonkey231]

@@Cheese-Grater I don't know what it was like a year ago, but you can select specific units by pressing down on d pa

[@Cheese-Grater]

@Cheesemonkey231 yeah they improved it now :)

[@z34rk79]

Morale of the story, Never auto Battles if you can be in them, unless your overwhelming and can't be bothered

[@tolveor]

rewatching this video and hearing talk about cultural bonuses etc makes me think: Alot of players set up their armies with mixed cultures, maybe we need a malus for units that are not of your culture, so if you are a sturgian commanding fians, they have lower morale or something like that, or maybe even desert mid battle if you are fighting battanians and join the other side. That would be interesting :)

[@giftzwerg7345]

Conquered Land should be confertible into your culture

[@Tenirix]

Battanian archers with Sturgian infantry, and any fast cavalry to distract, has worked wonders for me

[@Quicksilver_Cookie]

My only issue is that this playstyle entirely relies on an RTS camera mod, since executing these tactics while being on an actual battlefield would be very difficult. I really don't have an issue actually playing Sturgia when I join them. It's just when left to AI's own devices they usually fall behind.

[@Strat-Guides]

It actually does not, I used the RTS camera for the video, but I regularly just tactics like this is my campaign where I don't use the RTS camera function. It's certainly a lot easier using the mod, no doubt about that but it's very doable without it :)

[@Quicksilver_Cookie]

@@Strat-Guides I suppose it depends on a player. I just about manage microing one formation per troop type, before it devolves into chaos. Also, I assume this square formation is some sort of custom formations mod? Vanilla game unfortunately doesn't let me do this. I suppose this tactic doesn't exactly work without mods. Although, you can make it work on some maps where you can just close a tight passage with a regular shieldwall and become literally an impassable mountain.

[@maregondrako]

@@Quicksilver_Cookie f2-f5 is square formation

[@MrMcMuggel]

This shows so many nice Taktiks man, as allways thank you for your work :)

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks for watching! Hopefully some of this info is helpful :)

[@MrMcMuggel]

@@Strat-Guides yeah, it was helpful showing me, that i suck as a troop general :)

[@forrestmeader4412]

what the mod or option you're using to zoom out and command the battle from a birds eye view like that? almost feels like total war. thats sweet

[@youwase]

RTS camera

[@tobiaswiest]

Where do you go to install mods?

[@МихаилРадулов-й4т]

@@tobiaswiest When you download the mod its probably a zip file or winrar file doesnt matter. You extract the "folder" that is inside and put it into the folder named "Modules" in your game directory. A quick google search will give you all the info step by step its rather quick and simple.

[@Strat-Guides]

It's a mod called RTS Mod and you can find it here: www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/mods/355 If you need help installing the mod, you can check out my install video - kzbin.info/www/bejne/i4Con36fp69sf9k

[@alega752]

This vid improved my Sturgia gameplay so much, ty

[@MarksmanGamingPk90]

sturgia should have infantry noble troop cuz there is no noble infantry in whole game ,dont know why

[@Strat-Guides]

Agreed! I really like the True Armies of Calradia because they get T6 infantry :)

[@MarksmanGamingPk90]

@@Strat-Guidesohh great

[@luxato5789]

The noble line for Stugia is better on foot anyways, so just think of them as really good infantry, that bring their own horses to maneuver and dismount.

[@burkolata]

Masterpiece! I love it, thanks to you for sharing this huge information pieces. Keep it up! 🧠

[@Strat-Guides]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! I'm redoing all the tactics videos this week because 1.9 changed so many things, but I'll start pumping more of these videos out soon.

[@ApexBovine]

Wait.. so there’s other tactics besides f1-f3??

[@NateSchoemer]

Awesome video! Do you plan on making an episode like this for each faction? Cheers!

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks for watching Nate!! Yeah I'm going to redo this one as well - I was pretty bummed they didn't have any heroic line breakers or noble cav in the AI noble parties so I'll redo it in custom battles. I'm going to use the database to balance the armies out based on wages and have both mid and high tier units.

[@MarinoFrana]

One thing that makes the cavalary not a waste of space is that speed when you need to reposition to support other troops. You need cav to counter cav when they are flanking towards your archers, infantry can't move fast enough. You need cav to go around their main line to suppress their archers. Cav is a wildcard, force multiplier, not the main killer. You don't need them to be top killers just to be useful. You use cavalary to control the battlefield, infantry does the work.

[@Strat-Guides]

Yeah they can be useful in that sense, I just feel like having more infantry would have been more useful. Maybe for the next one I can test it both ways - with and without cav and check the difference?

[@MarinoFrana]

@@Strat-Guides Oh, that would be amazing.

[@Badewaschl]

recently found your channel and was immediately hooked on multiple very well produced videos. I am happy to have subbed you and I am confident you are going to be the next successful game-content youtuber, if you keep doing what you already are :) best of luck to you.

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you for the support! I'm glad you enjoy my content :)

[@ilyasdgv7924]

Always quality content here, if only devs had your level of passion for the game

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you! I'm hoping they have something special saved up for us next month (more than just a console release lol)

[@LeatherCladVegan]

I don't think it's quite fair to imply that the devs don't have the same level of passion for the game - they are the ones making it, after all.

[@stefthorman8548]

@@LeatherCladVegan "they are the ones making the game, so they have the same level of passion"

[@LeatherCladVegan]

@@stefthorman8548 That's not what I said.

[@enochszeto1220]

Uhh idk for a small game studio they seem to be working hard

[@unhackerthelaziestbastardo6083]

Strat: Now here's the statistics Me: I like your funny words, magic man!

[@rakeemnasim7390]

Is there a way for doing battles like this on console? (Birds eye view)

[@Strat-Guides]

I don't think so - you need mods for this (RTS Camera Mod)

[@Manpigeon]

This is a brilliant video Strat. Excellent job. I think Sturgia just cant reinforce themselves well and thats really it.

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you!! I had a lot of fun testing out different things for this one. Yeah Sturgia has a lot of issues - I think some of the bigger ones come from how the map is laid out. Life's not fair though lol

[@Paulunatr]

My experience suggests Sturgia's frequent failure card gets punched more often because the dumb overworld AI conflicts spectacularly badly with their geography- truly plumbing the depths of dumb NPC's. Over the course of three days I fought repeated wars as a Sturgian mercenary against Vlandia, Northern Empire, and Battania, and *every single time* I ran around putting out fires while Raganvad and friends formed massive armies and faffed about on the Revyl peninsula for weeks and weeks. It literally would've been more productive for them to leave everyone in their garrisons. *Edit- I think they perhaps thought declaring war was an invitation to party, in which case there was an awful lot of "REVYLRY" going on. God, I'm so fucking funny.

[@_Makanko_]

Excellent video. Can't wait for the Battania one, just get some noble archers, falxman and oathsworn and roll up all enemies. I wonder how Aserai does, I almost never play them in campaign. Cheers!

[@Strat-Guides]

Battania is my favorite culture so I've got some pretty OP tactics for them lol Aserai is a tough one, it requires a lot of micromanagement but that also makes them fun!

[@hobokingbilly]

I wish i was so clever and meticulous. Great data and presentation. Thanks.

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you for watching! It's a blessing and a curse sometimes lol

[@thescruug2222]

There's alot of mis-edits in this video, like for instance when you were talking about the Heavy Axemen, the title would instead say ''Heavy Spearmen'' in multible occasions, and at 21:00 it says ''Battanian cavalry'' when you were talking about the Sturgian, still a great video showcasing your tactics :D

[@Strat-Guides]

Ah shoot, I must have missed them in my final revision edit. I was pretty burned out from the data analysis for this one tbh - not that it's an excuse or anything lol but yeah my brain was on "get it done and move on" mode :P

[@denstuff3166]

Yes! My fave faction first. I love stacking hp and armor reduction bonuses through captain and vigor perks in my elite sturgian infantry. The early captain perk shield bash works well i think with shieldwall charge

[@Strat-Guides]

That's a great point - if we used captains here, the results would have been even crazier lol Sturgian troops with tons of HP is a scary thought...

[@maxkirk944]

Please make more of these for each faction it would be great to know how to use each of them

[@Strat-Guides]

Coming right up!! I'm going to be using custom battles from now on so I can make them with higher tier units. I felt like the AI sitting back was a bit too cheesy, so hopefully I can get some different tactics that help against an aggressive AI. Thanks for watching Kirk!!

[@pariah9996]

I've been waiting too long for this series 🔥🔥

[@Strat-Guides]

It's finally started!! I'm going to redo this one using custom battles though, I wasn't happy that the AI was so passive. I guess this would be good for the offensive battles, next we can focus on the defensive side. Thanks for watching!

[@pariah9996]

@@Strat-Guides I appreciate your dedication towards this so much. Keep it up, I love the bannerlord content

[@Jonnyblacknell]

You didn't lie my friend!! Excellent video 👍👍

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks for watching!!

[@Jonnyblacknell]

@@Strat-Guides looking forward to the other civs, keep up the great production man you'll grow in no time!!

[@shionnevymerimerisdaymore]

"The squares of doom march onward" would be a quite good title for this video

[@asoldier3229]

I really like how you used the historically accurate Roman Testudo formation to play to the Sturgian strengths.

[@Strat-Guides]

The barbarians are learning... :D Thanks for watching!

[@DestroyerOfOgis]

@@Strat-Guides Barbarians? Battanians didn't learn this yet.

[@megadeddslavicinvader]

Duuude I believe you gave several hundreds of hours played but still this content and knowledge is strong

[@bchurchill49]

love to see this for every kingdom

[@acherest2768]

I can only dream of having such good control over my units, amazing job

[@jonnyterk]

Now this is the kind of video we need more of.

[@TheMazer912]

Great video Strat, I would be interested to see this style of video while using the realistic battles mod!

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks for watching! I do plan on making an RTS video soon with side by side comparisons. It should be a fun one, I love RBM so much :)

[@MatejVelican]

May I suggest you try one thing? Cavalry, push it slowly all the way around the enemy lines. Play like you dont even have them. And when your squares get attacked hand to hand, come from behind. Giggity

[@tomasferraz7655]

Love this channel, Soo much work and dedication

[@Strat-Guides]

Thank you Tomas! I appreciate you saying that. I do spend a lot of time on these :)

[@Hrorikr]

Yes the square formation are awesome. I've done this tactic in all my big battles, where i would split up the army and form atleast two square formations (depending on my army size, however no more than 4 squares, just like the guy is showing in the video, and also it is very important to tell your groups to look in a certain direction, so they do not turn the entire formation whenever a cavalry circles around them) And then simply let the enemy infantry attack. After the enemy have bashed on the sturgian shields for about 5-10 seconds (timing is important, and should not take any longer than this), and the enemy have basically split up their army formation in a frail attempt at surrounding the square formation, then i tell my sturgians to charge, and that is where you see the sturgians truly shine as they devastate the enemy infantry, ultimatively ending up surrounding the enemy from all sides. This is a OP tactic and should be the only way one should utillize the sturgians. One doesnt need archers or cav or any kind of reserves even though they are nice to have. The infantry will do just fine on their own. I use similiar tactics in sieges aswell, where i will keep these small groups in shieldwall or square formation, move them up the gate as fast as possible (i only tell them to go in formation when they are were i want them positioned, so they move faster) And place them as close to the walls as possible to avoid them being wrecked by artillery, and then concentrate on bringing down the gates, works everytime like a charm. Guess that rambles it up, just do the square formations in either 2, 3 or 4 groups. It works with other factions as well, but Sturgians are definitely the best at it.

[@Strat-Guides]

Great explanation! It's so satisfying to watch the squares open up and push the enemy back so easily :) I agree regarding the cavalry and archers, the main reason they were there is because I was using noble party units to simulate a real battle (not the player made min/max army that wins almost no matter what they do lol). Thanks for watching!

[@Tarnished_Lord96]

Thank you for this 😭😭 been using this tactic and I’m steam rolling everyone 😂

[@NewbieTuwbie]

I commend the effort you've put into this!

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks!!

[@Discalle112]

Amazing video strat. Thank you!

[@Strat-Guides]

Thanks for watching Carl! I'm planning to redo this in custom battles with my new database and probably some more balanced armies. The AI at the start has a lot of trash in there. The unfortunately part is I didn't realize it until I spent 30 hours working with the data, recordings, etc. lol but I guess it needed to be done to realize it :)