Manor Lords: Army Combat Guide - Militias, Retinues, And Mercenaries (2024)

By Jason Rodriguez on April 29, 2024 at 2:07PM PDT

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Manor Lords has you primarily focusing on growing your settlement into a prosperous village. Still, there are times when plowshares must turn into swords. Threats might await in nearby territories, and it's up to you to meet them head-on. Here's our Manor Lords army combat guide to help you with your militia, retinue, and mercenary units.

Manor Lords army and combat guide - Militia, retinue, and mercenaries

Depending on your game setup/difficulty options, you might not even experience a single battle despite hours of playing. However, if raiders, bandit camps, and/or AI adversaries are enabled, then you best be prepared to go to war. Our Manor Lords army combat guide discusses how each unit category is recruited and how they fare in battle.

Army recruitment panel

Press the "V" key or click on the Army icon in the bottom portion of your screen to open the panel. This shows active units that you have access to. Here's a quick summary:

• Press the plus (+) symbol to create a new unit.
• You'll see the "Form Militia" option that allows you to select troops of a particular type.
• The icon of the hand with coins is for the "Hire Mercenaries" option.
• Retinue units, meanwhile, become available once you've built a Manor.
• When selecting a unit, you can click on the rally point. Your troops will move to that location and you can give them orders.
• When a battle is over, you have to move your militia and retinue units back to any region that you own. That's the only time that you can disband them.
• And it goes without saying that, prior to fighting battles, make sure you have enough of the Treasury resource to cover the costs.

Militia units

Your Manor Lords militia units form the backbone of your army. These soldiers are actually part of the male population of your settlement. Here's what you need to know:

• There are various troop types, such as Militia Footmen, Spear Militia, Polearm Militia, and Archer Militia.
• Militia weapons come from those that have been crafted in your settlement. Basically, the Burgage Plots (i.e., houses) you build have room for backyard extensions. Certain backyard extensions allow artisans to craft equipment for villagers:
  • Fletcher's Workshop - Creates warbows.
  • Blacksmith's Workshop - Creates spears and sidearms (i.e. swords).
  • Joiner's Workshop - Creates wooden parts and shields.
  • Armorer's Workshop - Creates mail and plate armor upon unlocking the prerequisite development/tech.
• If you have enough of a particular equipment, then that militia troop type will have its full complement of fighters.
• Since your militia comprises male villagers, some of the work processes may take a while to finish due to a lack of manpower.

Retinue units

Your Manor Lords retinue becomes available upon constructing the Manor building. It requires you to have a Small Village (settlement level), as well as 5x timber, 20x planks, and 15x stone.

By default, you have five members of your retinue, but you can add more and even customize some of them. This is done by selecting the retinue unit card and clicking on the "Retinue Customization" button (i.e. paintbrush icon):

• Recruit Men-At-Arms - Adds another member of the retinue; costs 50 Treasury.
• Upgrade Armor - Import - Import an armor set for a soldier; costs a variable amount of Treasury.
• Upgrade Armor - Buy Locally - Purchase from local artisans; costs a variable amount of Treasury (cheaper than importing).
• Warriors in your retinue also come in different troop types.
• You can change the designs and color schemes of their equipment.

Mercenary units

The mercenaries in Manor Lords cost Treasury to recruit. This amount is paid upfront for each month of service. Note that mercenary groups consist of two or more units that are predetermined. It's also worth noting that not all of them appear in your village immediately. Instead, some squads might spawn in other regions, so you must wait for them to arrive at the target location.

Battle commands

Once a force has been mustered, you can click on units to see the commands that are available. There are those that provide boosts, with some corresponding penalties:

• Balanced (default) - No bonuses or penalties.
• Give Ground - Slowly pushes the formation line backward, enticing the enemy to follow.
• Missile Alert - Doubles the chance of avoiding or blocking arrows, but halves melee defense.
• Stand Your Ground - Doubles defense stat but halves attack frequency.
• Push Forward - Soldiers will push forward with their full force.
• Shoot At Will (archers only) - Aims directly at enemies; increases accuracy when a target is nearby, but decreases accuracy when at half the maximum range or more.

That's everything you need to know about mercenaries, retinues, and militia units in Manor Lords. We hope you achieve glory on the field of battle.

Manor Lords is currently an early access game. As such, some mechanics and features may change in due course. In the meantime, you can take a look at other tips and strategies in our guides hub.

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