TaleWorlds released Warband in March 2010 as a standalone expansion to Mount & Blade, and sixteen years later it is still the reference point for directional melee on horseback. You start as a nobody with a sword and a horse in a Calradia carved up between six kingdoms, and you can finish as a bandit, a mercenary captain, a marshal, or a king with your own vassals. Multiplayer runs up to 64 players across Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Conquest, Battle and Siege.
Starting Mount & Blade: Warband can feel overwhelming. This guide tells you exactly what to focus on during your first hours so you don't waste time on things that don't matter yet. For the full progression path, see our walkthrough.
What Kind of Game Is This?
Mount & Blade: Warband is a rpg game built around Directional melee blocking and Mounted combat and couched lances. The core loop involves mastering these systems to progress through increasingly challenging content.
What to expect: Time investment in learning mechanics, experimentation, and gradual mastery. The game rewards patience and knowledge.
Choosing Your First Build
| Build | Beginner Rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Swadian Knight heavy cavalry | Good (but demanding) | Hold the knights back while your infantry pins the enemy line, then charge the rear or flank at full gallop and pull out wide to come around again. |
| Nord Huscarl heavy infantry | Good (but demanding) | Form up on high ground, let enemy cavalry break itself on the shields, and throw axes into the charge before contact. |
| Rhodok Sharpshooter crossbows | Excellent for beginners | Hold them on walls or behind a spear line, order hold fire until the enemy has closed, then let them volley into a packed formation. |
| Vaegir Marksman archers | Excellent for beginners | Deploy on a hill behind infantry, hold them at maximum range, and pull them back the second any cavalry slips past the front line. |
| Khergit Horse Archer | Situational | Keep distance and circle the enemy line. On the world map, use that speed advantage to pick every single fight you take. |
Our recommendation: Start with Nord Huscarl heavy infantry. Huscarls carry great axes, throwing weapons and heavy armor, and they beat any other infantry in Calradia in a straight fight. The Nord tree has almost no cavalry, so a Nord army is a wall that wins wherever it decides to stand.
Avoid Khergit Horse Archer as your first pick. The entire Khergit tree is mounted, so a Khergit army outruns everything on the world map and can refuse any fight it does not fancy. Once you're ready, check our classes guide for all options.
First Session Step-by-Step
Step 1: Learn Directional melee blocking
Attacks and blocks come from four directions and your block has to match the incoming swing. Feinting by starting a strike from one side and releasing from another is the whole skill ceiling of the combat, which is why Warband duel servers outlived the game's own sequel launch.
This is the foundation. Spend your first 15-30 minutes getting comfortable with how Directional melee blocking works before worrying about anything else. Our combat guide breaks this down further.
Step 2: Head to Kingdom of Swadia
Central plains ruled by King Harlaus from Praven, holding Uxkhal, Suno and Dhirim alongside it. Swadia is the only faction with genuinely strong troops in all three categories, and the Swadian Knight is the benchmark every other cavalry unit gets measured against.
Clear the main content here before moving on. Everything teaches fundamentals you'll need later. See our maps guide for all locations.
Step 3: Get Your First Upgrade
Look for Two handed weapons: it's the most accessible early upgrade. Great swords, long axes and mauls trade the shield away for reach and damage. Nord and Rhodok top tiers use them well because their armor absorbs the hits a shield would otherwise have caught.
Step 4: Understand Mounted combat and couched lances
Horse speed adds directly to weapon damage, so a lance strike at a gallop kills troops who would survive three swings on foot. Couched damage needs a long lance and enough speed to trigger it, and that single mechanic decides most open field battles.
This is the system most new players overlook. Invest time here early. It pays off throughout the entire game.
Step 5: Push to Kingdom of the Vaegirs
The northeastern kingdom centered on Reyvadin, with Curaw, Khudan and Rivacheg. Vaegir Marksmen out-shoot every crossbow unit in Calradia and Vaegir Guards are excellent shock infantry, though the cavalry sits a step behind Swadia's.
Essential Mechanics Explained
Directional melee blocking
Attacks and blocks come from four directions and your block has to match the incoming swing. Feinting by starting a strike from one side and releasing from another is the whole skill ceiling of the combat, which is why Warband duel servers outlived the game's own sequel launch.
Mounted combat and couched lances
Horse speed adds directly to weapon damage, so a lance strike at a gallop kills troops who would survive three swings on foot. Couched damage needs a long lance and enough speed to trigger it, and that single mechanic decides most open field battles.
Troop tree upgrades
Village recruits climb a faction-specific tree by earning experience in battle and then costing denars to promote. Swadian Recruits eventually reach Swadian Knights, Nord Recruits reach Huscarls, and Rhodok Tribesmen branch into Sergeants or Sharpshooters.
Faction relations and fiefs
Every lord, town and village tracks a relation number with you, and lords vote on who receives captured fiefs. Raiding villages funds an early army but costs relation you will badly want later, and that trade is the central tension of the mid game.
Trade and enterprises
Goods carry local prices, so buying grain where it is cheap and selling it where it is not funds an army faster than looting ever will. A Wine Press in Uxkhal works because Swadian grapes are cheap there, and it pays weekly with no risk of dying in a field.
Common Beginner Mistakes
1. Mashing attack in melee
Warband rewards holding a swing to feint and matching your block to the incoming direction, so players who click as fast as possible lose duels to anyone who learned the four directions.
2. Ordering a full charge on turn one
That throws your archers into melee where they die, and scatters cavalry into single fights they lose. Hold ranged, hold infantry, send cavalry wide.
3. Fielding one enormous army of low tier troops
Sixty Swadian Recruits lose to twenty Swadian Knights and cost more in wages, because damage in this game scales sharply with armor and weapon quality.
4. Raiding villages of the faction you plan to serve
It funds the early game, then the relation loss follows you, and lords remember it when they vote on the fief you wanted.
5. Ignoring world map speed
Party size, terrain and cavalry ratio all change how fast you move, and being slower than the Khergit party chasing you is how a promising campaign ends.
First 5 Hours Checklist
- Understand Directional melee blocking and Mounted combat and couched lances
- Choose Nord Huscarl heavy infantry as starting build
- Clear Kingdom of Swadia main content
- Acquire Two handed weapons or equivalent upgrade
- Reach Kingdom of the Vaegirs
- Fight the tournament in every town you pass through during your first ten in-game days. Betting on yourself pays better than any early quest, and the renown lets lords take you seriously months before you can afford a real army.
- Put your first skill points into Power Strike, Ironflesh and Riding. Trade, Leadership and Prisoner Management matter later. None of them matter if a Sea Raider knocks you off your horse in week two.
Tips for New Players
- Fight the tournament in every town you pass through during your first ten in-game days. Betting on yourself pays better than any early quest, and the renown lets lords take you seriously months before you can afford a real army.
- Put your first skill points into Power Strike, Ironflesh and Riding. Trade, Leadership and Prisoner Management matter later. None of them matter if a Sea Raider knocks you off your horse in week two.
- Buy a shield before you buy better armor. Arrows kill unarmored characters fast in Warband, and a shield blocks arrows passively while it is on your arm, which is a change from the original game.
- Blunt weapons take prisoners. A war hammer knocks lords unconscious rather than killing them, and ransoming a captured lord through a ransom broker pays more than a whole battle's loot.
- Recruit from villages that actually like you rather than the nearest one. Village relation rises from completing their quests and from not raiding them, and a friendly village hands over more recruits per visit.
- Send infantry up the ladders last in a siege. Order archers to clear the wall first, then push, because troops climbing a ladder arrive one at a time against an entire garrison.
- Build enterprises where the input is cheap. A Wine Press in Uxkhal earns because grapes are cheap there. The same building somewhere else pays a fraction and takes just as long to break even.
- Do not declare your own kingdom until you can hold two fiefs. Right to Rule, garrison wages and the war every neighbor immediately declares all cost more than they look like they will, and most first attempts fold inside a month.
- Companions dislike each other. Several of the sixteen will walk out if forced to travel with a specific rival, so check the conflict pairs before you fill every slot, or run eight carefully chosen ones instead.
- Keep your army under your Leadership cap. Every soldier over it drags party morale down, and a low morale army bleeds troops to desertion between battles, which costs more than the extra bodies were ever worth.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Warband still worth playing after Bannerlord?
Yes, and it is still the version most modders target. The directional combat is tighter, kingdom management is easier to learn, and total conversions like Prophesy of Pendor and 1257 AD have no real equivalent on the newer engine.
Which faction should I join first?
Swadia if you want cavalry, the Rhodoks if you want to defend, the Nords if you want infantry that wins outnumbered. Swadia is the gentlest starting point because its troop tree covers cavalry, infantry and crossbows without borrowing recruits from anyone else.
How many factions and towns are there?
Six factions and 22 towns. Warband added the Sarranid Sultanate and its four towns on top of the original game's five kingdoms, taking the total from 18 towns to 22.
Can I create my own kingdom?
Yes. Back a claimant and rebel, declare independence outright, or simply take fiefs and swear to nobody. Each route needs Right to Rule, a garrison you can pay for, and companions you can promote into vassals with lands of their own.
How does multiplayer work?
Up to 64 players across Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Conquest, Battle and Siege. Equipment is bought with money earned during the round, so everyone starts a match equal and survival is what buys you the good gear.
More Mount & Blade: Warband Guides
- Mount & Blade: Warband Mount & Blade: Warband Overview
- Mount & Blade: Warband Best Builds
- Mount & Blade: Warband Tier List
- Mount & Blade: Warband Walkthrough
- Mount & Blade: Warband Tips & Tricks
- Mount & Blade: Warband Weapons Guide
- Mount & Blade: Warband Combat Guide
- Mount & Blade: Warband Boss Guide
- Mount & Blade: Warband Maps & Locations
- Mount & Blade: Warband Crafting Guide
- Mount & Blade: Warband Classes & Characters
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