Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord

The best defence

As they say, is a good offence.

Hot off the heels of our successful defence of Ortysia last episode, we prepare for a counter-attack by dumping some of our more valuable items into our city's Stash.

Crotor of the Western Empire is the first general to fall to our forces today.

We find the enemy on a large hill, just on the other side of a narrow stream with a treacherous bridge of boulders and detritus for our troops to cross. You'd be hard-pressed to take this location in a fair fight against a competent opponent... but thankfully, with the amount of cavalry I'm able to shove over the bridge before contact, it's not exactly a fair fight.

They dawdled at the start - having spawned closer to this location and not taken it, which is great news for me. Things may have turned out differently if they'd used their cavalry to block the choke initially (xI), moved their spear and pikes up to the back of the bridge and turtled up with a shield wall (xII) which would have given their cavalry a chance to disengage and retreat while their Archers set up on the hill (xIII) with plenty of range to just rip the hell out of my troops on the bridge.

This is one of those times I'm happy that I'm not leading an army against some other player. They don't take an optimal strategy, and my cavalry keep them busy and disorganized on their side of the bridge, while my infantry pours over.

Archers within my company immediately loose into the press of infantry still stuck on the hill - easy pickings - while the enemy's decimated archers pepper a few measly shots into the press of my soldiers.

My archers manage to choke the bridge with a loose formation while my cavalry piles up yet more corpses of enemy archers - we've barely lost any of our men and the Crotor has lost more than half of his available troops. My melee infantry haven't even engaged yet. Poor buggers.

Just like that, it's over. The bulk of my forces didn't even lift a weapon - t'was but a leisurely stroll through the countryside for them.

For our first engagement of the day, this is fantastic.

After selling off some prisoners, armour and a bit of inventory management, we head back onto the campaign trail. Vernon Castle is under siege, and we head up to see if it's possible to help defend it. At first, the task seems too much - but an ally army shows up just in time and we join the attack.

In this fight, the densely wooded terrain provides a bit of a hamper for my cavalry, making high-speed charges less effective and navigation harder. The Empire has fielded an army dense with melee infantry, and losses are heavy at the beginning for us.

Once we can get into their line of archers though, things turn around.

At least, that's the way it's going right up until I get a well-placed arrow to the spine.

I'm out of the fight, but despite this, we secure victory. I manage to alone take out 17 enemies, which I like to think is a solid contribution.

It's definitely time to heal up though before we continue further crushing the Empire, so it's off to a Battanian city for us, with a stop at the smithy while we heal a bit.

82% health is a perfectly reasonable amount to return to active campaign with, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Hertogea Castle falls next, cutting off Lageta and minimizing it's ability to field further troops.

And with that, we're suddenly the proud(ish) owners of a new Castle - Hertogea is provided to us by the King, for our service. I'd rather a second city, but hey. Beggars can't be choosers. (At least, not yet - I'll discuss a way to sometimes cheese your way into getting more desirable locations that are up for grabs).