Update and new features/changelog part 2 news - Warsword Conquest mod for Mount & Blade: Warband

Greetings warsword fans

Update:

As of now I have received one of the two remaining model packages which has fixed all the armours which have been giving us trouble for so long. As well as the last remaining new model pack a few small model issues are appearing here and there in testing but fixes are on the way, many thanks to Del for finding the time to help out.

Testing continues but nothing of real consequence found so far. I will post another update once the remaining issues are dealt with.

Dodge:

So far the new combat skills have been well received although some players have expressed uncertainty about the dodge skill and why it is in. First of all it allows us to make more lore friendly troops. In the past I have had no choice but to give high level troops an unrealistic amount of armour or give a piece of armour an unrealistically high armour value just so high level troops are tough enough in the battle to justify their cost. This allows us to create an assassin with really light armour value as they should but also have the right level of survivability. Now it will take roughly 3 hits to kill a black orc boss with a quality weapon through the armour, health and ignore pain, and similarly it will roughly take 3 hits to kill the dark elf assassin; the first two will be dodged and the last will kill it in one. When you read the first announcement of the changelog you will further see why this aspect was very important.

Another reason it is in is that it is a big help to the ai. The player can move out of the way at times but the warband ai is almost programmed to chest bump the opponent and they will try and get in close and sometimes just walk into blows. This dodge simulates the more nimble troops moving away even if they actually cannot. Dodge has only been given to those troops who you would expect to be able to dodge and even if the lack of a dodging animation is not entirely realistic it will not be unrealistic to think ‘that ninja dodged my attack’. Once you know who dodges and how likely they are to dodge you can account for that in your decision making as a commander and a fighter. Like I have said before the troops with an excellent chance of dodge are few and far between.

It also helps the player when being rushed down in certain situations and cannot move well and if you want to be a naked barbarian with a massive 2 handed sword then dodge will allow you to do that and not die so quickly.

Give it a go, if you don’t like it then you can toggle off the combat skills in the camp menu although doing so will nerf the strength of some factions, especially the one I am about to mention.

A late arrival

I am happy to announce that the Wood Elves are in the next release and are fighting to preserve the sanctity of the Forest of Loren against the hordes of skaven and beastmen who long to raise it to the ground through plague and destruction.

An experienced modeller called articcactus has been working for the team and he has created enough models for us to have a fully working faction. Not every model has been completed, a few armours are still from the old warsword, a mount needs to be made and the Treemen will have to come later but the vast majority of the models are new and the remaining ones will appear in later patches/updates.

The faction itself is armoured a bit more lightly than the other elven factions and their dodge chance is higher. The importance of dodge for them comes from the fact that their best troops are the wardancer, blade singer, wild rider and wild hunter. These troops have no body armour value whatsoever (head armour on the wild riders and wild hunters and slight leg armour on each is all they have) but their dodge value and 6+ ward save each means they can survive to cause the same amount of damage as you could expect troops of their level to cause in other factions.

Switching off the combat skills will destroy the ability of wood elves to fight effectively on the battlefield. This is pretty much exclusive to the wood elves; other factions would suffer a bit with them turned off of but not to any real extent.

Note: Just in case anyone wonders if adding the wood elves is what the delay was actually all about that was not the case. The wood elves were ready 6 weeks ago, it is other models which have been the problem. The delay has allowed us to add them in though which is a very good consequence.

Faction by Faction Focus

Empire:

Completely new models from Furok and the Grim age team. There is a new rifle troop after the sharpshooter, the ever dependable Ferlangen Fireloque which is a vital new tool in the war against Chaos. The new armours have led to an increase in the armour value of mid level troops and the warrior priests get a ward save and a chance to heal from Sigmar’s blessing making them without a doubt one of the best troops in the mod.

Explore some new towns as well.

Dwarves:

Those who have played before know the power of the dwarves and it will be no surprise that they have been nerfed although they are still a top tier faction without a doubt. The Slayers have a reducution in armour but they get ignore pain, mighty blow and unbreakable. Many other troops in the army have the unbreakable skill as well so you will not see many dwarves fleeing the battlefield. A master thunderer has been added which has an exceptional shot.

In terms of the nerfs the 8 barrel rifle is gone and is now a special weapon you can buy from the wizards. The tunnel fighter has been demoted and given a pistol and pickaxe. The ironbreakers have had their 2 handed axe removed and they now only spawn with a one handed weapon and a shield.

Some new armours and firearms are now included for the dwarf faction.

New scenes included.

High Elves:

All elves get dodge so they will instantly benefit from this but High Elves generally wear a good amount of armour so the average dodge chance within the faction is quite low. There is a new high tier troop called the dragon guard which is an excellent new defensive troop for the armies of Ulthuan. Phoenix guards also get a ward save.

There are many new armours and new scenes for the high elves as well.

Chaos:

All new models from Furok and the Grim age team. High tier chaos troops come with the mighty blow skill and there are new nurgle troops on the tree including the nurgle crusher which is often a decisive troop on the battlefield. The amount of cavalry has been reduced and there are new infantry troops with higher armour ratings in the lower levels of the tree. Armies of demons now patrol the chaos lands and support the mighty horde in battle.

Chaos have some new scenes to explore as well.

Pirates

All the same but the higher level pirates such as the swashbuckler and the duellist have dodge.

Tomb Kings:

They have many new weapons which increase the offensive effectiveness of their troops. The new Liche Priest and High Liche Priest throw balls of black death which weaken and kill all those who get caught up in the darkness. A new crossbow troop has also been added at the end of the ranged line. They are now a trickier foe than they were previously. Mummies have a regeneration chance. All undead is unbreakable.

Khemri has been turned into an original scene by Jargon Darot.

Lizardmen:

Lizardmen Saurus have new models but in terms of the troops nothing has changed apart from a swap in position on the tree for some troops. The removal of the mercenary bandits means that lizardman lords are not caught in an attrition battle in their own lands and with new neighbours as well you will now see some real campaigns if you want to play as them. Saurus troops are unbreakable.

More new scenes have been added for the lizardmen.

Night Goblins:

The night goblins have been moved from bandits and mercenaries and are now represent the main goblin faction on the map. They have new models, armours and new tree of diverse troops including squig, wolf and spider cavalry. They have great shock troops that can be extremely effective under a good commander and their trolls have been given the chance to regenerate in battle.

New goblin scenes to discover as well, including a large and exciting tournament arena.

Araby:

Araby have lots of new armours and weapons which give some of their lower tier troops a nice armour boost. Assassin, hashassins and the corsair troops get dodge which makes them tricky opposition and they have a new shock troop, the Naffatun, which throws deadly nath grenades at the enemy lines to cause chaos before the main infantry hits.

Orc:

Orcs have new armours, new weapons and some new troops which make the orc infantry a match for anyone in the mod. The black orc and berserker line get the ignore pain skill and the black orc boss gets mighty blow as well. There are more 2 handed weapons in the orc tree now and the savage orcs have been moved from the main tree into their own separate tree and are now mercenaries and patrol the orc lands supporting the main armies. Savage orcs get a ward save from their magical tattoos. Orc trolls have a regeneration chance.

Bretonnia:

Bretonnian knights are now unbreakable, have a ward save and the paladin (who is now mounted) and grail knight get a regeneration chance from the blessing of the lady. The battle pilgrim now upgrades into the pilgrim knight who fights with the infantry to replace the paladin who used to be on foot.

Dark Elves:

There are new armours for the dark elves and a few new weapons as well. They all have dodge but like the high elves most of the troops wear too much armour so their dodge chance is low. The shades, bloodshades and assassins however have an excellent dodge chance and are a very daunting prospect for any opposition commander (they go down very easily when hit). The power of the repeater crossbow has been diminished but they get an extra repeater troop in a higher tier.

Dark elves have some new scenes to explore.

Skaven:

Skaven have had a significant power increase for this update. Clan moulder troops get ignore pain which increases their survivability and poison wind globadiers have gone from being useless to throwing aoe poison globes which cause significant damage to those who get caught up in the toxic green smoke. Clan eshin also get dodge and with it some of the highest dodge chances in the mod. They go down in one hit but with their throwing stars and potent weapons they are bound to cause damage before they go down. Before when fighting skaven it was a case of defeating clan Skyre and then everything else is a foregone conclusion, not any more.

Skaven Jezzails jump up a couple of tiers so they are now a high level troop and some new Skyre gunner troops have been put in.

The new factions

Kislev:

Kislev are a combination of lightning fast lance cavalry and hard hitting infantry, supported by lots of archers and one rifle unit. Their finest weapons are the bear cavalry, the best of which are the sons of Ursun which ride heavily armoured bears and have incredible staying power.

They don’t quite have the versatility and the tools that the Empire has but if you like the commander side of mount and blade they are an excellent choice as the Kislevite war against chaos is a challenging but rewarding one.

Beastmen:

The mighty beastmen are here and they have completely destroyed Estalia and have claimed the lands for themselves. Their armies consist of two types of troop, ungors and gors. Ungors are relatively weak and make up the lower level and archer troops. The gors are larger and tougher and they all have ignore pain which means the majority of the beastmen army has the ability to shrug off some of the damage done to them.

Beastmen cavalry consists of tuskgor riders and the highest tier troop rides the mighty razorgor. Both of these mounts are incredibly powerful and bully all the infantry they plow through; only the kislev bears, triceratops and white lions can match their sheer brutality.

The beastmen infantry is some the best in the mod. A blood curdling mix of 2 handed axes and hard hitting maces and swords. The beastmen are one of the last factions you want your armies to be in a big scrum with.

All new scenes to discover as well.

Nippon:

Nippon make a welcome return from the preview and have a whole new armour and weapon set courtesy of Phlpp and the Gekokujo team. They are positioned north of the lizardmen and bring some much needed conflict to that area.

Their armies suffer from the fact they have no shields but their troops are full of 2 handed weapons and are highly skilled and fast when using them. Their lower ranks are ashigaru and gunso troops and the mid to high tiers are all samurai class. The samurai class troops have dodge and unbreakable and as well as excelling with melee weapons they are also some of the best archers in the mod.

They are also supported by a firearm troop as well although it is not as reliable as the ones in other factions.

The scenes from Gekokujo have not been added at this point but we hope to do so in the future.

Vampire Counts:

This very popular faction was put in to balance the wars in the north and you will see a great mix of undead creatures on the troop tree. Zombies, ghouls, skeletons, ghosts, wraiths and wights are all present. Ghosts and banshees have dodge to simulate their ethereal presence.

The army itself is very well balanced with very competent lines of cavalry, infantry and crossbow troops. The vampire troops in the faction are quite rare but very powerful and their special troop the blood knight is one of the best, if not the best troop in the game. All vampires have dodge and all undead are unbreakable.

There is a new scene to discover as well.

Wood elves:

The wood elves have returned and now populate the forest of loren like they did in the very first warsword. They are lighter armoured than the other elf factions and have a better dodge chance (apart from a few troops) and their higher level troops (wild hunter, wild rider, wardancer and blade singer) all have no armour at all but have the best dodge chance in the mod and a ward save to balance their survivability.

Their archers are the best in the mod and their cavalry some of the fastest in the game. They rely on dodge a bit more than any other faction which makes them a bit susceptible to ranged attacks but they can hold their own and have strengths of their own they can utilise. Turning off combat skills will completely destroy their chances of being competitive on the battlefield.

Thanks for reading

Nameless Warrior