How to Command, Conquer, and Maintain Power in Mount & Blade II
When your Bannerlord campaign moves beyond skirmishes and starts spanning multiple kingdoms, the rules change. It’s not enough to rely on brute force or speedy cavalry raids. Large-scale wars require planning, logistics, diplomacy, and patience. Whether you’re carving out a new empire or defending your patch against encroaching powers, understanding the deeper layers of the game’s strategic systems makes the difference between expansion and collapse.
This guide breaks down the most effective war strategies for long campaigns in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, built around real in-game mechanics, not exploits or wishful thinking.
1. Build a Sustainable War Economy
Victory in large campaigns starts with economic stability. You cannot wage continuous war without funds for wages, recruitment, and upgrades.
- Prioritise workshops and caravans early. Ideally, establish two to three workshops in major cities tied to your faction’s trade goods (e.g. silversmiths in towns with silver mines).
- Control trade routes by capturing towns that act as junctions. This limits your enemy’s income while strengthening yours.
- Protect your caravans and villages. Losing a single caravan might seem small, but across a war, repeated losses quickly spiral into budget crises.
2. Form Cohesive, High-Morale Armies
In long campaigns, disorganised armies lead to disaster. Your warband must be more than numbers.
- Group elite troops together, particularly tier 4 and 5 units. It’s better to have 100 seasoned troops than 200 untrained militia.
- Use companions as party leaders with skills in Leadership, Tactics, and Stewardship. Assigning them the right perks makes your secondary armies more durable.
- Avoid unnecessary battles. Even a small loss can leave you exposed, and morale drops fast with defeats or prolonged sieges.
3. Target the Right Settlements
Not all cities and castles are equally valuable. Some are logistical nightmares to defend.
- Focus on chokepoint towns like Saneopa, Marunath, or Quyaz. These give access to multiple regions while limiting enemy movement.
- Avoid overextending east or south early. The long supply lines and low prosperity of desert settlements often make them a liability.
- Use castles to fortify your borders, not as offensive tools. They cost food and troops to garrison but serve well in slowing invasions.
4. Use Diplomacy Tactically
Diplomacy in Bannerlord isn’t as deep as in grand strategy titles, but it still matters.
- Buy peace at the right time. If you’re at war with two factions, pay one off using denars or captured nobles. Focus on one front.
- Sign non-aggression pacts and marriages to deter backstabbing. A short-term alliance can buy the breathing room you need.
- Weaken your rivals by encouraging them into other wars. If you’re a vassal, influence your kingdom’s politics to declare war on your terms, not theirs.
5. Time Your Sieges Carefully
Sieges can win or lose entire wars. Picking the wrong fight drains resources and morale.
- Bring multiple siege engines ready-built. Waiting days to construct them on-site can leave you exposed to enemy relief armies.
- Starve out well-garrisoned towns. If the enemy has over 600 troops inside, wait. Eventually, desertions and food shortages will lower their numbers.
- Avoid sieging when enemy armies are close. A surprise 1200-man stack from the enemy’s main force can end your campaign in minutes.
6. Manage Kingdom Policies (If Ruling)
If you’re running your own kingdom, your policies shape your war machine.
- Pass policies that reduce influence cost for armies like Royal Guard or Marshal. These help sustain large warbands without political blowback.
- Balance noble power. If one clan gets too strong, they can turn on you or challenge your rule.
- Keep towns happy. A rebellion in the middle of a war is more dangerous than a full-scale invasion.
7. Exploit AI Weaknesses
Bannerlord’s AI is aggressive but often predictable.
- Bait armies into bad battles by placing smaller stacks in range, then ambushing with a full force.
- Strike when they’re distracted. If a kingdom is fighting two wars, take a vital city and hold. They rarely retake it if pressured elsewhere.
- Keep the initiative. Don’t let wars stagnate or settle. Momentum matters. Take towns, force peace, repeat.
The Seven Swords Takeaway
Running a successful large campaign in Bannerlord isn’t about brute force alone. It’s a balance of military discipline, economic foresight, political control, and opportunistic timing. Those who thrive in these wars are the ones who know when to push, when to hold, and when to negotiate.
If you want to last beyond the first major expansion, think like a warlord, not a knight. Every battle feeds into a longer arc, and every decision has consequences. Keep your forces sharp, your economy solid, and your borders tight.
