How to defend against Bandits and Raiders with a Militia in Manor Lords
Protect your settlement from being plundered by building an army.
As your settlement grows into a flourishing town in Manor Lords, the resources you’re producing will eventually start to catch the eye of Bandits and Raiders. In order to prevent your goods being stolen, you’ll need to take a proactive approach by building a Militia and destroying any local Bandit camps. You’ll also need to defend your settlement against some ferocious raids that can potentially burn down your buildings.
On the game’s standard difficulty settings, you’ll only be given two years before your first raid arrives, so it’s important to start preparing at an early stage. Read on for tips on how to defend against Bandits and Raiders with a Militia in Manor Lords that threaten your settlement.
On this page:
- Manor Lords Bandits and Raiders explained
- How to defend against Bandits
- How to defend against Raiders
- How to fight battles in Manor Lords
Manor Lords Bandits and Raiders explained
There are two different types of outlaw that you will have to defeat during your Manor Lords playthrough: Bandits and Raiders.
Bandits typically spawn from the outset of the game, and will set up camps in the regions surrounding your settlement. They won’t actively attack you - but if these camps are not cleared, Bandits will periodically steal resources from your town.
Raiders arrive every couple of years, and they will directly target your town to pillage your goods and burn down buildings. You do typically receive a countdown to when the next raid is imminent, however, giving you some time to prepare.
The number of Bandits and Raiders you face depends on the options selected when starting a new playthrough, in the Game Setup screen. Certain scenarios, such as ‘Rise to Prosperity’, do not include Bandit camps and Raiders in their template settings - while the ‘Relaxing’ difficulty level can also remove raids.
You can use the Game Setup menu to change:
- the number of Raider-free years at the start of a game
- the frequency of raids
- the initial number of Bandit camps
- the total number of Bandit camps that can spawn simultaneously
You can use these options to create a peaceful paradise, or crank up the difficulty to nightmarish new levels.
How to defend against Bandits
Your settlement will likely be troubled by Bandits at an early point in the game, with Bandit Camps quickly popping up in the regions surrounding your village. Bandits can be a real nuisance if left uncleared, as they will continually pilfer your supplies.
If you’ve stockpiled Berries to last you through the winter, for instance, Bandits can cause problems if they take the whole lot. For this reason, it’s best to ensure you have a diverse food supply.
There are other benefits to clearing out Bandit Camps, the key one being that you receive Influence and Regional Wealth for destroying their bases. Defeating Bandits will also give your troops battle experience, which will make them more effective in fights to come. It’s therefore important to remove Bandit Camps as quickly as possible - and you’ll need to start by creating a Militia unit to clear these out.
How to create a Militia
To create a Militia unit, click on the 'Army' menu at the bottom of your screen, then select the '+' sign to create a new unit.
The best unit to create at this stage is a Spear Militia, as when playing on Manor Lords’ default difficulty settings, you receive a shipment of Spears and Large Shields once you build a Storehouse and five Residential Plots. In other words, you should already have half the equipment for free!
This Militia unit will still require further weaponry and 36 men to function effectively, however, so it’s important to keep growing your population and to start making weapons (or acquiring them through trade).
To make Large Shields you will need a Level 2 Burgage Plot with a Joiner’s Shop extension and a supply of Planks.
Spears can be made with the Blacksmith extension on a Level 2 Burgage Plot with Planks and Iron Slabs. You can either import slabs, or mine ore from an Iron Deposit before refining it into slabs at a Bloomery.
Once you’ve created your Spear unit, a good second unit to make is the Archer Militia. These soldiers require only Warbows, which can be made from Planks at a Fletcher’s Shop (another Level 2 Burgage Plot extension). This unit will, however, need some form of melee support to avoid being trampled by enemies.
How to clear out Bandit Camps with your Militia
Once you have enough resources for a Militia unit, click on the Army menu and then 'Rally' to gather your soldiers within your territory. You can then march your Militia unit towards Bandit Camps, which are marked with a tent symbol on your world map.
Be warned that you might face some resistance from brigands, so pay careful attention to your unit’s location and its Effectiveness in battle. Hovering your cursor over the unit will bring up its Effectiveness percentage, while holding ‘Tab’ will give you a detailed breakdown with factors such as fatigue and cohesion. Make sure to give your soldiers a quick rest before starting a battle, as long walks will tire them out.
How to defend against Raiders
Every couple of years, your settlement will likely face a raid event in which Raiders will attack your village and try to steal your resources. The good news is that Manor Lords gives you a year’s warning before a raid, so you’ll have plenty of time to prepare your forces.
These battles are a little bit different to Bandit Camps, and can be effectively countered by:
- Creating a Retinue
- Hiring Mercenaries to bolster your forces
- Fighting far away from your settlement
- Build multiple Wells to quickly put our fires
How to create a Retinue
Similar to dealing with Bandits, you will need armed units to repel enemy invaders. This can take the form of a Militia, but by this point in the game you may well have built the Manor, which gives you access to a Retinue of elite soldiers.
The number of soldiers in your Retinue can be expanded by 12 through adding the Garrison Tower to your Manor using the Castle Planner.
To add more soldiers to your Retinue, click on the unit, then ‘Retinue customization’. You can then use Treasury funds to buy new soldiers or import armor for them. Alternatively, you can upgrade their armor by producing Plate Armor, if you have unlocked the Master Armorworking branch of the development point tree.
Consider hiring Mercenaries to fend off brigands at the border
Remember that if you need to bolster your forces, you can always hire Mercenaries for a monthly fee. This will require you to have funds in your Treasury, which you can accumulate by using the Manor to collect Taxes. Be warned that Mercenaries will arrive at the very edge of the map, so it’s best to hire them in advance of an emergency situation.
When the raid countdown finishes and brigands start to appear on the map, it’s best to quickly Rally your forces so that you can battle the outlaws far away from your settlement. If Raiders reach your village, they may well set fire to your buildings, or they may manage to steal your supplies. It’s also generally more difficult to carry out organised battle tactics in an urban setting, where fights can quickly become chaotic.
Build Wells to counteract fire
In order to prepare for the worst, it’s also a good idea to install several Wells in your settlement. If a building is set on fire, villagers will head to the nearest Well to collect water, so having plenty of these will help with firefighting efforts.
Once your settlement is more established, you can also consider expanding your Manor to build Outer Towers: these are defensive fortifications that provide 10 Garrison space, and allow Garrisoned units to fire projectiles at invaders.
How to fight battles in Manor Lords
While having greater numbers than the enemy is always a good start, there are other ways to improve your efficiency in battle - and your choice of tactics can make a major difference in Manor Lords.
Generally speaking, you’ll want to keep any ranged units at the back, out of the way of enemy melee units. You can draw defensive lines for your troops by selecting a unit, then drawing a line by holding down right-click on your mouse. This way, you can arrange your troops so that your spearmen appear at the front, while your archers fire from the back.
You should keep an eye on the location of your battlefield, as geography has a big impact on your troops’ Effectiveness. Fighting amongst dense trees will result in a penalty, for instance, while keeping the high ground and slowly moving downhill will boost your Effectiveness.
Pay attention to the special commands that you can give to your units: if you’re facing ranged archers, you can prepare your troops by putting them on Missile Alert, which doubles the chance of avoiding projectiles (although your melee defence will be halved). Similarly, if you want your soldiers to defend an area, you can use Stand Your Ground to double their defence while reducing your attacking capabilities.
It takes a little while to get the hang of the combat mechanics in Manor Lords, but winning a fight feels truly rewarding when you’ve been able to control the flow of a battle. Just make sure to start building up troops at a fairly early stage in your game, as this will allow you to quickly deal with any pesky bandits that may appear on the horizon. Don’t let your local Bandit Camps sit untouched for too long - or else you’ll end up losing a lot of your hard-earned resources.
That's everything you need to know about battles and defending your town against Bandits and Raiders. For more advice on how to get started in Manor Lords, read our beginner's tips and tricks guide on what to do first, as well as the best development points to unlock early on.