Mercenaries! news - Echoes of a Bygone Age mod for Mount & Blade: Warband

In Echoes of a bygone Age, Mercenaries will work a bit different in native. For one, there are quite a lot more of them, but they also have their own troop trees. You can find any troop on the tree in a tavern like normal, but they upgrade on their separate trees. There will be mercenaries for just about every kind of army, and will be hailing from different areas within the world the mod takes place in. Below are a list of the different kinds of mercenaries that will appear for certain, more may be in later.

Not from any place in particular, outremers are soldiers from foreign lands. They wear equipment purchased in Impartara, which gives them an edge over some other mercenaries. Outremer mercenaries come in three major kinds: Swordsmen, Halberdiers, and Knights. They are highly effective against enemy infantry and can be quite good against enemy cavalry. Their weakness comes when facing enemies equipped with firearms, as they have no real counter. Their tactics against firearm wielding troops will likely be somewhat similar to those of Daenlan.

Hailing from the Kholkian lowlands, these mercenaries are skilled infantry, though at disadvantage quite a bit when it comes to technology. The modern inhabitants of Kholkia are made up of the natives and a large group of Impartaran colonists who traveled there in a great expedition over a thousand years before the collapse of the Empire. They have not made much new technology since then, which makes them perhaps the least technologically advanced soldiers in Impartara today. Still, they are deadly in combat - especially against cavalry. When Kholkian troops are assembled in a phalanx, they can eliminate just about any cavalry who would make the mistake of fighting them. Against ranged enemies and infantry in close quarters they are a severe disadvantage, given their lacking equipment. Their ranged units are archers, who will highly skilled, can be quite effectively dealt with by Line Infantry.

After the Empire collapsed much of the equipment and weapons were passed on to the next generation, some would keep them only for when needed, but others would set out into Impartara to fight for gold. These troops, perhaps the last example of the Old Imperial troops, are highly prized mercenaries, as it gives those who lead them some legitimacy. Imperial Remnant Mercenaries have also developed a reputation as highly skilled and deadly warriors, some legends even saying that they cannot be killed with any normal weapon. In truth they are quite capable, but they die like everyone else. Commonly armies will place them just behind the first line in a formation, to allow them to be easily noticed, but avoid them fighting if at all possible.

The closest you could hope to get to an Old Imperial army is an army of the Imperial Remnants, who wear the same equipment once worn by the Legions of the Old Empire. All that being said, their name is somewhat deceiving, as they are not really Remnants of the Empire, but the descendants of them.

The Ab'yahnnan Sultanate is the largest nation in the Great Desert, and is situated around the Fahmid and Achel rivers, which hold in between them a large, lush valley. Many who live outside of this lush region have come to Impartara as mercenaries, hoping to secure wealth. Ab'Yahnnan mercenaries are more advanced than the Kholkian or Outremer mercenaries, but are not as advanced as the Imperial Remnants. They focus on pike and shot tactics, making use of weapons purchased in Impartara. They are fairly well equipped, though not the most skilled with their weapons. Ab'Yahnnan mercenaries are commonly used as cannon fodder, as there are lots of them and most Impartarian leaders are not terribly concerned about the death of a bunch of mercenaries who follow a different religion.

That's all on mercenaries for now, in the near future I'll be showing off some pictures of more of the mercenaries, and be detailing more information on them.