TaleWorlds Entertainment hit the gaming community with a surprise on March 30, 2020 when it released Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord on Steam. However, the game is an Early Access title and is, therefore, in a glorified beta state. Despite its incompleteness, the game has garnered a plethora of attention from series veterans, Medieval warfare enthusiasts, and RPG fans. While the game does suffer from repetitive quests, countless bugs, and missing content, it is an entertaining experience with several hours of immersive gameplay available.
As a game that focuses on conquest and expansion, Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord gives players the opportunity to rule over a kingdom (or pledge allegiance to a preexisting, AI-controlled one) and stake claims in many fiefdoms. The issue, however, is the game offers only one tutorial that only explains how to move the player-character (PC) and learn combat mechanics. Thus, players are forced to learn how to create their kingdom without much guidance from the game itself. This may change later, when TaleWorlds implements more patches, updates, and brings the game closer to a more polished product, but for those who wish to know how to create their kingdom now, the process is not as difficult as one may believe. It is, however, lengthy and somewhat tedious.
Locate Nobles in Mount & Blade II
Step one involves progressing the main questline. Specifically, players will need to seek 10 specific nobles located around the campaign map and speak with them. These nobles tend to be the leaders of different kingdoms or clans in the game.
The issue, however, is that these nobles love moving around the campaign map, traveling to different settlements or marching into battles and besieging castles. Worse, they are not marked on the map, meaning players cannot simply zoom out and discover their location. Another frustrating flaw is that the quest does not provide the names of these nobles, forcing players to do some investigating. It isn’t until the PC happens across one of these nobles while traveling that gamers will notice a light blue exclamation point next to a given noble.
The most efficient way to find these lords is to ask lesser nobles within cities (specifically, in a city’s keep, if the PC has enough currency to bribe their way inside) or traveling in parties on the campaign map about the quest on which players find themselves. When asked about this quest, these lesser nobles will mention one of the lords to whom the PC should speak. Once given a name, gamers can search that name in Mount & Blade II’s in-game encyclopedia (default ‘N’ key) and see where that lord was last spotted. From there, players can search that location in the encyclopedia, click the ‘track’ button for that place in the encyclopedia, and journey there on the campaign map.
Note, however, that the lord being sought will likely have moved to another location by the time the previous one is reached (depending on how far one must travel). If that is the case, pull up the encyclopedia again and repeat the process until the lord is encountered on the campaign map (look for the aforementioned blue exclamation point next to parties or armies encountered along the way). Rinse and repeat these steps until all 10 lords have been found.
Also, be aware that if the lord one is seeking is taken prisoner by another faction, players will not be able to speak with them while they are in a dungeon. If this occurs, find another lord or find other ways to stay busy (fight battles, complete side quests, etc.) until the lord is released from captivity. Check the encyclopedia periodically to see if the lord’s location changes. If it does, they have likely been released.
Locate Something Important in Mount & Blade II
Once the 10 nobles have been located, players will be tasked with speaking to two individuals, both of whom will require the PC to locate two fragments (one each) of something important. Once the PC agrees to perform this objective, the individuals will direct them to a bandit hideout near each individual’s respective location. Once gamers travel to these hideouts and clear them of enemies, they will receive a fragment as a reward.
With the fragments, gamers then return to the quest givers, at which point players will have an important decision to make. Which option players choose is irrelevant in terms of creating a kingdom. The decision is story-based.
Embark on a Journey in Mount & Blade II
This is where the process becomes a bit lengthy and tedious, though, a lot of it can be accomplished (or at least progressed) during previous steps. This next quest will require players to recruit 100 soldiers, own a settlement, and have a level three clan.
Recruiting 100 soldiers is the simplest part of this step but can be hindered by the party size limits into which players may run based on their clan’s level and what passive skills they have unlocked for their character. Increasing maximum party size is another lengthy process and is influenced by the PC’s clan level and skill unlocks that provide passive bonuses to party size limits. Once the gamer’s party size limit exceeds 100, recruiting soldiers is as easy as traveling to different villages and cities and gathering them from the “Recruit Troops” tab, provided one has enough currency to purchase them and maintain their upkeep.
Owning a settlement can be a somewhat difficult prospect, especially given Bannerlord’s Early Access state. Capturing a settlement is best done after one has obtained over 100 troops, as sieges take time, and players will often have to fend off both the city or castle’s garrison and any allied armies that come to reinforce it. Since the AI can rebuild its armies at ludicrous speeds and return to drive the PC’s party away and dash their siege to the ground, this can be an infuriating, time-consuming endeavor.
One of the easiest ways to complete this step is to locate a settlement under siege by an AI army, wait for the siege to end with the attacking army being victorious, and then swooping in afterwards to finish the weakened AI off and lay claim to the territory. Note, however, that one must be at war with that faction to take advantage and attack them, and so far, the only way to declare war in the game is to either raid a village belonging to that faction or assault their army on the campaign map. Hopefully, this and the AI’s ability to rebuild armies almost instantly will be tweaked in future updates.
Finally, increasing one’s clan to level three is easy, albeit laborious. To accomplish this, players will need to gain renown, which is done by completing side quests, competing and winning tournaments located in cities, and winning battles. The most efficient method is to win battles. Victories against larger armies with multiple generals offers the most renown. Players can earn upwards of 60 renown points in a single battle, sometimes much more depending on the size of the enemy’s force.
With a level three clan, 100 troops, and a settlement under the PC’s direct control, gamers’ kingdom will automatically be created, opening more diplomacy options, the ability to combine multiple parties to create an army, and more.
Expanding The Kingdom in Mount & Blade II
Expanding one’s kingdom is straightforward in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord’s Early Access condition. The primary means to expansion is through conquest. Besieging opposing factions’ castles and towns and claiming them for one’s new kingdom serves as the only efficient means to growing one’s number of territories. The primary obstacle to this is the size of opposing factions’ kingdoms and the funds they possess to combat the PC’s military. Managing owned towns and castles and constructing their infrastructure is crucial for players’ ability to maintain a decent army.
Moreover, forming an army is something else that isn’t explained in the game’s menus and tutorial. Armies can only be created once a kingdom is formed. Until then, players will have what is known as parties. Parties can be a decent size, essentially function as single-general armies. However, once a kingdom is formed, players can create an army by combining multiple clan parties into a single entity led by multiple heroes (companions).
To do this, players need only to press the Kingdoms key (default ‘K’), select the Armies tab at the top of the screen, and click Create Army on the left. From there, gamers can choose which parties they wish to combine into an army, thereby increasing the number of soldiers at their command, which is particularly useful when a town or castle with a high number of defenders and nearby reinforcements needs to be conquered.
Be warned, though, that an army’s cohesion deteriorates over time, making them less effective and running the risk of troops deserting. Disbanding the army so that the individual parties of which it consists become separate again will avoid the desertions and loss of morale.
An additional method of expanding one’s kingdom comes in the form of diplomacy. When one’s kingdom is formed, players should have the option to trade fiefdoms (territories) with other factions (provided they are not at war, unless the trade is part of a peace agreement). However, this option is rarely successful, as having the financial backing to make the trade worth the AI’s time is a difficult proposition until much later in the game, once enough territories have been acquired and one’s daily income is sufficient given proper management of towns. For now, military conquest is the most efficient and simplest expansion method.
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord released in Early Access on March 30, 2020 for PC and is available on Steam.