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Turn-Based Tactics Warbanners - turn-based tactics from the developers of Drums of War

vazha

Arcane
Joined
Aug 24, 2013
Messages
2,063
Second day in, just killed the orc chieftain and I'm... sort of bored. Tactically it's sublime and head and shoulders above of 90% of tacticools I've played, but the setting, aesthetics & art design, writing, rpg mechanics are all so bare-bones, generic and stale that I barely have any incentive to play on. That's why I spent more than one month on Battle Brothers, tactically a vastly inferior game to this - BB had style, bags of it, Warbanners is like that prodigious school kid who excels in math but has nothing else going for him. However, with a proper story, quests and rpg mechanics, and preferably a less generic setting this would be a terrific game for sure.
 
Last edited:

Darth Canoli

Arcane
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Perched on a tree
Second day in, just killed the orc chieftain and I'm... sort of bored. Tactically it's sublime and head and shoulders above of 90% of tacticools I've played, but the setting, aesthetics & art design, writing, rpg mechanics are all so bare-bones, generic and stale that I barely have any incentive to play on. That's why I spent more than one month on Battle Brothers, tactically a vastly inferior game to this - BB had style, bags of it, Warbanners is like that prodigious school kid who excels in math but has nothing else going for him. However, with a proper story, quests and rpg mechanics, and preferably a less generic setting this would be a terrific game for sure.

It certainly lacks immersion (more character development personalization and skills would be nice too ), it's a good game but it's not Fantasy General, let's hope they double down with a Warbanners 2 with an amazing settings and improvements on all fronts, it'd make an epic game, worth playing and replaying for the next 20 years.
 

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

Filthy Kalinite
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Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Bubbles In Memoria
https://steamcommunity.com/games/650440/announcements/detail/1714081669560188372
Warbanners, version 1.2.9
30 December - crasleen_games
Changes:
- Karranak and a pair of orcs received the "Tireless" feature (Unit regenerates 1 extra Stamina every turn);
- all dwarves received a new feature "Tireless 2" (Unit regenerates 2 extra Stamina every turn);
- Fixed a bug that could occur in two missions, if the army had only nominal heroes.

Thank you all for your support, patience and kind words! Good luck in the new year!
 

Edija

Arcane
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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
How does this compare to Battle Brothers? It's pretty discounted at the moment? Deeper? More shallow?

Seems like something that would be right up my alley.
 

Darth Canoli

Arcane
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Perched on a tree
Character development and weapons skills are not as deep but the game is solid and the dev fixed most if not every single issues, even potion abuse (from enemies), i didn't play it in ages though, last time i tried, i edited creatures and units to get rid of the potions altogether but fucked up my saves. :roll:

Well, aside from that, there isn't any generic or procedurally generated content here, as far as i know (maybe the arena, never tried it) there is some big scale battles, siege engines and ladders to climb up the walls, real spells ...

If it seems to be right up your alley, that's because it is. ;)
 
Self-Ejected

Circuit the Short

Self-Ejected
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Sep 23, 2018
Messages
161
How does this compare to Battle Brothers? It's pretty discounted at the moment? Deeper? More shallow?

It's very good, but not really battle brothers, it's more of a that genre of 90s tactics games with mission structure, where you transfer existing units between missions, update them and recruit new ones occasionally. Think of chaos gate, turnbased dark omen or panzer general with more rpg elements
 

Darth Canoli

Arcane
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I started the campaign over, by the way, i think i stopped around battle 20ish last time.

First things first, edit units, vampires potion slots = 0 (just in case)

Ready to go.
 

Galdred

Studio Draconis
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Developer
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Middle Empire
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
I started the campaign over, by the way, i think i stopped around battle 20ish last time.

First things first, edit units, vampires potion slots = 0 (just in case)

Ready to go.
I think Vlad had decreased the chance of opponents having NPC potions a lot.
Anyway, once you get high Magic Res on everyone, AoE potions are not that bad (I raise MR whenever I don't have anything great to pick, and aim to have around 7 on everyone).
 

Darth Canoli

Arcane
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I think Vlad had decreased the chance of opponents having NPC potions a lot.
Anyway, once you get high Magic Res on everyone, AoE potions are not that bad (I raise MR whenever I don't have anything great to pick, and aim to have around 7 on everyone).

To be fair, it was only a problem (but a huge one) on one map; last time i played before the potions updates; a kind of narrow cave (around mission 24 i think) with a lot of vampires and a couple of lichs, you couldn't help but having your troops clustered and vampires were throwing frost potions like there is no tomorrow.

It's probably fixed but i preferred to stay on the safe side and edited them before starting the campaign.

It also seem like these potions were modified to only remove 2 AP while it was a random number that could let your units totally helpless, now, most units can still attack with 3AP.
 

Darth Canoli

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:rage:

I just killed my "first" own swordman with a catapult, 2 annoying zombies in a dark area, i was just tired of the swordmen missing and i thought, what are the odds, less than 15% chances it'll fall on his head ...

Also first time i shoot a catapult with a friendly unit possibly in the landing area ...

He was squashed like a bug, OS ... Poor thing he wasn't even that wounded, like 60-70% health ...

It's really refreshing to replay Warbanners after Battle Brothers, these hand-made encounters are pure love, fuck procedurally generated ****.
 

Galdred

Studio Draconis
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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
My swordsmen never hit anything. My real killers were the hallberders you place behind (or crossbowmen).
 

Darth Canoli

Arcane
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Perched on a tree
But they do usually, just not in the dark, poor things.
Well, their job is mostly to keep mages and archers safe i agree and i never had more than one halberder, very good indeed but it's a pain to use if you have too many, besides, with all these mages and archers, i'd rather have a shieldwall around.

I find quite interesting to diversify, having one of each but dwarves (i'm probably going to pick one or two at some point though) and i really like the dancer, these strategic units; like the fencer in battle brothers; area real treat when you succeed in using them properly.

My favorite is probably the minotaur though, i wish tactical "RPG" had more of these fantastic units, like Fantasy General (or the Shining Force series)
 

gogis

Scholar
Joined
Jun 9, 2018
Messages
100
Hey, what I am supposed to do in Scapegoat mission to open the gate? I've been slaugthering adds for 30 turns already, where is my sworsdman with cold hands?
 

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

Filthy Kalinite
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Messages
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Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Bubbles In Memoria
https://store.steampowered.com/news/?appids=650440
Warbanners version 1.3.2. Spanish and "to-hit chance"
Warbanners - crasleen_games
Today I have two important news at once.

1. Many players complained that units miss too often. Now it's over! In the options added the ability to change the "To-hit chance". Note that during the battle can not be changed.

2. Translation into Spanish is complete! It was launched even before the release of the game (almost 2 years ago!). Five people participated in the work on the translation (if I forgot someone, please write):
Gino Ariel Orsini, Javier García Martínez, Paula Sifredi, José Rodríguez Gil, Tegga21. Thank you very much!!!

Thanks to all players for their support!
 

JarlFrank

I like Thief THIS much
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33,052
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KA.DINGIR.RA.KI
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
these hand-made encounters are pure love, fuck procedurally generated ****.

Preach it brother!

I really enjoyed Warbanners. Played through it a while ago. Loved the interactiveness of the environment (burning down bushes, felling trees, setting fire, digging ditches, etc). Most encounters were challenging but fair. Good game.
 
Self-Ejected

Thac0

Time Mage
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Messages
3,292
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Arborea
I'm very into cock and ball torture
This is a very fun game, and has been my favourite from my last 14 game Steam sale haul. I actually bought this once years ago, refunded it and forgot about it. I can see why I did that, the early game certainly is a bit bland with very low unit choice. As this game goes on however it really starts kicking.

Warbanners does one thing very well, massive battles with 30-50 units on the board in which you slowly grind out the enemy by escalating small advantages in positioning and stamina management into massive leads. Particularily if you play on hard you will always be outnumbered, but the throngs of enemy orks, undead and soldiers will break upon your well positioned ranks.
In this version of the game I have also found every single unit to be worth using, with maybe the exception of the generic swordsman. Archers, knights, priests, mages, pikemen, even the dancer, if you know how to use a unit it can pull its weight. Ironically only the story witch who you are forced to use in your party is complete garbage, because she has only 4 AP.
I have not found the progression overly stale yet, between buying powerfull advisors who give you permanent advantages like starting the battle with a catapult or all enemies poisoned and relics which you can equip to your units for potent effects like regeneration.

The Battle Brothers comparison is quite obvious, but for me these games scratch different itches. Battle Brothers is for starting up a Warband on Ironman and seeing how far your merry band of cripple can go before they are wiped out. This is for experiencing a string of well made hand crafted encounters and then being done with it.
Overall the game feels closest to a slightly more low magic and more tactical Age of Fear. And as I like Age of Fear a lot that certainly is a compliment.
 

Galdred

Studio Draconis
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Developer
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Messages
4,346
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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
This is a very fun game, and has been my favourite from my last 14 game Steam sale haul. I actually bought this once years ago, refunded it and forgot about it. I can see why I did that, the early game certainly is a bit bland with very low unit choice. As this game goes on however it really starts kicking.

Warbanners does one thing very well, massive battles with 30-50 units on the board in which you slowly grind out the enemy by escalating small advantages in positioning and stamina management into massive leads. Particularily if you play on hard you will always be outnumbered, but the throngs of enemy orks, undead and soldiers will break upon your well positioned ranks.
In this version of the game I have also found every single unit to be worth using, with maybe the exception of the generic swordsman. Archers, knights, priests, mages, pikemen, even the dancer, if you know how to use a unit it can pull its weight. Ironically only the story witch who you are forced to use in your party is complete garbage, because she has only 4 AP.
I have not found the progression overly stale yet, between buying powerfull advisors who give you permanent advantages like starting the battle with a catapult or all enemies poisoned and relics which you can equip to your units for potent effects like regeneration.

The Battle Brothers comparison is quite obvious, but for me these games scratch different itches. Battle Brothers is for starting up a Warband on Ironman and seeing how far your merry band of cripple can go before they are wiped out. This is for experiencing a string of well made hand crafted encounters and then being done with it.
Overall the game feels closest to a slightly more low magic and more tactical Age of Fear. And as I like Age of Fear a lot that certainly is a compliment.
The very early version had peasants instead of pikemen. I think the change made quite a big difference, because peasants were borderline useless.
I found swordsmen usable avtually (I had 2 in the end of the campaign).
What I really liked were the activable props on the battle field:
catapults, castle gates, and ladders. There are very few games that make use of these.
 
Self-Ejected

Thac0

Time Mage
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Apr 30, 2020
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Arborea
I'm very into cock and ball torture
The very early version had peasants instead of pikemen. I think the change made quite a big difference, because peasants were borderline useless.

:salute:! That makes a lot of sense. I remember now kicking all peasants last time I played it now, and with only swordsmen and archers early the game is quite boring. Even a single pikemen adds quite a lot, with slow attack, reach and giant killer he really makes positioning matter.

catapults, castle gates, and ladders. There are very few games that make use of these.

There is a reason I immediatly bought a catapult advisor after seeing a catapult in action on one map. Cool as fuck.
I think however that the game could stand even without interactible props. Morale, stamina, facing, the fundamentals are rock solid.

What I like the most is the advisor system actually, being able to use the accumulated money to buy expensive permanent perks for the entire army is a really cool way to add some personalisation and makes every penny feel valuable. Just today I finally got my Karma to 12 and bought the elf advisor, so I can hire the really cool elven troops. I am also aiming for the advisors that poison and curse all enemies, and the one who summons an allied velociraptor looks cool aswell. It is like an infinitely improved version of the Battle Brothers camp follower system.
 
Self-Ejected

Thac0

Time Mage
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Arborea
I'm very into cock and ball torture
I finished this game yesterday night. 22 hours, difficulty hard, zero fights in the arena done.
The game kept throwing surprises at me up until the final battle. I had to do a double take when on one of the final maps a lich casted his darkness spell for the first time, changing the time to night, and obliterating me as I paid no heed to light placement before the battle. There could have been a tiny bit more variety in the final five maps or so (almost all of them open field fights against large hordes of undead or humans), with more sieges or maybe even a mixed human/undead army. Overall however the map design and enemy balance stayed high.
To say something negative about the game for once, the writing was pathetic. I pursued a Lightbringer (16 Karma) playthrough and romanced the witch, and the dialogues between the final few fights were complete garbage. Well you can't have everything I suppose, they were easy enough to skip.
The hard fights were all exclusively against undead. The hardest fight was the first time I met vampires, the second hardest the one with four liches. That might have been because I was too cheap to buy potions, including liquid fire, up until the final confrontation.
Overall I highly enjoyed this game, and might even D1P the sequel Veterum if it comes out.

My final army was:
Roderik
Delia
Paladin
3-4 Singing Blades
One replaced the minotaur who died of aids before the final battle. Can he be saved somehow?
2 Archers
2 Mages
2 Dancers
1 Pikeman
1 Knight
1 Priest

I was generally happy with this lineup. I could have built the knight better, he had too little accuracy to deal damage so he was a pure tank, and maybe use a second pikeman over the fourth singing blade, but overall this team made the game smooth sailing.
Singing Blades are pretty nice on this patch, they are a sidegrade to the swordsman on a treeless map, having +1 damage, +3 accuracy, cleave for a tradeoff of -1 evasion, -3 health, -5 evasion against arrows (assuming that formation is active all the time). Also I prefer bleeding on hit to digging waterways.
Dancers are underrated, all of the steam forums are crying about them being underpowered, but they butcher squishies once you get them past the enemy lines. Backstabbing mages twice for 10 damage each in a turn and then seeing them die of bleeding and poison is crack.
I did not use any dwarves, because 4 AP is annoying on the witch in the early game already, but I think the runesmith is very strong. He has the best mage spell coupled with the potent aoe melee attack.

Off to the orc DLC for now, all I can say is kudos to @Vlad_Konung
 

Darth Canoli

Arcane
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Perched on a tree
The DLC is quite short but it's good and dirt cheap (even cheaper with 15% off right now on the complete edition, 1,24€ the DLC ...) and supporting the dev is worth it.
 

Galdred

Studio Draconis
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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
The DLC is quite short but it's good and dirt cheap (even cheaper with 15% off right now on the complete edition, 1,24€ the DLC ...) and supporting the dev is worth it.
Yes, I had great fun with the DLC because orcs play totally differently. Humans were about finding a few chokepoints and holding the line. Orcs are about rushing in, because your ranged options are nowhere near as good as the humans (from what I recall, but maybe there were other reasons).

It felt a bit short, but after the very lengthy human campaign, that felt refreshing too (but I ended up playing quite a few area battles because of it).
 

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