For most of us, the call to war is the most enjoyable part of the Bannerlord experience, where chaos and tactics meet in a rush of steel on steel. And while there’s a definite advantage to fielding more troops than your enemy and overwhelming them with numbers, the keen strategist will find a way to win with the least amount of casualties or even win when the numbers aren’t on your side. Essentially, this is how you become a warlord in Mount and Blade: by mastering formations in Bannerlord during fights and pulling them off at the most advantageous time to strike. In this guide, we offer the best formations in Bannerlord for different troop types for the battle scenarios you’ll encounter in Bannerlord.
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About Bannerlord Troop Selection
You can press a number key (1-9) to bring up a specific troop to command, else the default will select all troops. You can press the shift key plus the numbers one at a time to select multiple troops, or you can press an empty slot or the zero (0) key to restore the selection to all troops if you pressed one in error. The default selections are as follows:
- Infantry
- Archers
- Cavalry
- Horse Archers
Bannerlord Formation Commands
After you’ve selected troops (1-4), the (F3) key brings up the formation, you’ll see them listed as such:
- F1: Line – Units form an evenly-spaced line. An all-purpose formation,
- F2: Shield Wall – Shoulder to shoulder, shields up. Good for maximum protection against arrows, and a slow, measured advance.
- F3: Loose – Same as Line formation, except spread further apart. Good for spreading out ground troops to avoid cavalry charges.
- F4: Circle – Form a circle facing outward around a singur point. Good for protecting a single or small group of characters, or for fending off circling horse archers.
- F5: Square – Form rows that are the same across as they are long. A compromise between line and column formations.
- F6: Skein – A formation that resembles a V with the pointed end at the front. A good cavalry formation that minimizes charge casualties.
- F7: Column – Form lines that make the front-facing target only a couple troops with the rest in a line behind them. Good for giving enemy archers less to shoot at.
- F8: Scatter – Every soldier for him or herself. Works for catching the enemy off guard with sporadic movement.
- F9: Return – Cancel the last command and return to the previous formation.
Best Formations in Bannerlord for Infantry
Unsurprisingly, the shield wall is the best all-purpose formation for most infantry troops, since most of them have shields. It’s a good way to advance against enemy archers without your foot troops turning into pin cushions, and to give their shooters something to shoot at while you move your archers into position.
The column is a good formation for a quick advance of non-shielded infantry since the enemy will only have a couple of targets in front that are fully exposed. With the square formation, you can have a sturdier front line for offense and mixed unit tactics- a mix of shielded warriors, spear-throwing skirmishers, and unshielded troops.
All ground troops in loose formation are better suited to deal with infantry since tightly grouped foot soldiers can get trampled a few at a time by a single horseman, but this risks isolating them against other infantry, who can gang up on the strays and shift the numbers against you.
Best Formations in Bannerlord For Archers
Archers are generally fine with the standard line formation if you’re engaging the opposing faction’s ranged fighters from the high ground (which you should be, always). Like the infantry, loose formation is good for avoiding cavalry charges. With archers, though, a choice between loose and line is also offensive. The line formation allows more focused fire on enemy positions, meaning more archers will hit the same targets. Also, more enemies in that group will be eliminated on the initial volleys. The loose formation is more sustainable for long-term fighting, since you’re creating more space for opposing archers to miss, and you’re causing more damage to various targets that other squads can finish off. Obviously, archers are the ideal defenders in a circle formation against circling horse archers, since melee troops will offer protection with their shields but no offense to get out of the trap.
Best Formation For Cavalry
If you’ve ever seen a movie with charging horsemen with their brave leader ahead of the pack. As well as his fellow riders spread out behind him, you have seen the effectiveness of the Skein formation. So it makes sense that this formation is made for cavalry in Bannerlord.
Tactically, the strongest horseman rides in front, and the outward and trailing form of the skein doesn’t allow enemies to recover since they’re being charged in different places and at different times in the same charge. Once you’ve engaged the enemy in melee with horsemen, feel free to initiate a shield wall on these troops.
They will fight defensively if caught in the fray until you can get them clear for another skein charge. Also, they will continue fighting as such while moving about in the same location. They will likely do so automatically. Switching from polearms to sword and shield. But, this command forces them to do it when you order instead of relying on the A.I.
Best Formation For Horse Archers
The skein formation works just as well for horse archers on the initial charge. If you’re using them as mobile turrets, traveling to a spot and shooting from there until you tell them to move. Consider using the standard line formation like you would a ground archer. With this tactic, you can send the horse archers and ground archers to different sides of the frontline. And then, create inward volleys of too many arrows to avoid. The loose formation works just as well for this purpose, though it’s less necessary with horse archers. Who also spread out more naturally. A column formation is an excellent way to move your horse archers past enemy lines. So, making them behave like a mobile line formation that is aiming sideways.
