Battle Brothers

Battle Brothers is a turn-based tactical RPG in which you lead a mercenary company through a procedurally generated world. With old empires in ruins, the dead rising, Greenskin hordes gathering, bandits roaming and Nobles preparing for war, people turn to mercenaries for help. You decide where to travel, which contracts to accept, whom to recruit and how to equip your growing company.

The world and its contracts

Explore varied landscapes in real time, visiting bustling settlements and strongholds, encountering wandering beasts and finding points of interest. You can visit taverns for respite and rumors, recruit fighters, buy equipment at markets or speak with local lords about their troubles. Settlements and Noble Houses offer dynamically generated contracts of varying difficulty and reward; your choices and the way you carry them out affect your relationships with factions, as well as your company’s renown and reputation.

Contracts are one way to earn wealth. You can also trade between settlements or search crypts, camps and ruins for loot. As time passes, crises can reshape the world and bring new opportunities and stronger enemies: Nobles may wage factional wars, the undead may rise, or Greenskins may launch full-scale invasions.

Tactical battles

Combat takes place in turn-based battles across terrain where elevation, rough ground and obstacles can affect your tactics. Equipment matters: spears and shields can hold beasts at a distance, maces are effective against skeletons and their armor, and daggers can target gaps in a bandit’s protection to preserve valuable armor as loot. Your formations and loadouts can change to suit the fighters you have and the enemies you face.

Initiative and action points shape each fight, while fatigue limits how much your warriors can do. Powerful attacks and abilities tire them faster, especially when they wear heavy armor; enough fatigue can even make movement difficult. Morale matters too: your troops may flee under pressure, while enemies can break when the battle turns against them.

Injuries can be temporary or permanent, from a broken arm that heals with rest to a damaged elbow joint that permanently reduces combat attributes. Other injuries can make a warrior tire more quickly or move more slowly. You can keep fighters in reserve and camp to recover over time, while managing their salaries and your limited rations.

Recruit and develop your company

Your fighters come from varied walks of life and grow through experience. Recruits are procedurally generated, and their backgrounds affect their starting equipment and attributes, likely traits, and the events that may occur within your company. Retired Soldiers, Crusaders, Beggars and Graverobbers are among the possible backgrounds. Cultists may convert other brothers, Thieves can attract the law’s attention, and Monks can prevent Hedge Knights in the party from dueling. Backgrounds can also combine to create unique events.

Physical and mental traits further distinguish each warrior. Athletic fighters tire more slowly, Brutes are skilled at striking enemies’ heads with certain melee weapons, and a brother with a Deathwish will not waver when hurt and can bolster his companions’ morale. You must keep your company fed and paid, train its members according to their strengths, equip them and use tactics to protect them.

There is no fixed class system. Each brother has eight attributes, a background and traits that can develop over time, all of which help determine the roles they suit. Individual inclinations can guide how you develop them, while a perk tree lets you shape each fighter and the company. For example, Fast Adaptation improves a warrior’s hit chances after a miss, while Recover helps a heavily armored brother reduce accumulated fatigue quickly.