Battle Brothers

is a very difficult tactical game about managing a mercenary company.

So of course I hired the beggars. I hired the “cripples”, the falsely accused servants, and the oddballs. I gave them decent food and a place to belong. Sure they’d all die horribly, etched with debilitating and ever-mounting physical and emotional scars, mangled and torn by blades and bludgeons, screaming themselves awake from the horror of killing for a living. But until then they were heroes.

Crap heroes, for the most part, admittedly. But still.

(more…)

Fantasy merc management RPG Battle Brothers has expanded again, now into pseudo-viking territory with the Warriors Of The North DLC. Unlike the previous Beasts & Exploration expansion, which bulked out the existing world map, this one extends the game up into the frozen north, filled with barbarian tribes and some big hairy monsters. It also opens up the option to play as other factions, including peasants or even cultists. Below, a lengthy developer video, showing off a tough battle between a southern mercenary unit and a barbarian warband. The base game is also half price for one day only.

(more…)

Gritty fantasy merc-manager Battle Brothers is a brutal and uncompromising game, but most of the foes your troops faced were humanoid and predictable – undead at worst. Today’s launch of the Beasts & Exploration DLC changes that, bulking out its world of perils with new places to adventure, new quests to undertake, and a few giant boss-class monsters to get eaten by. This is the first paid DLC released for the game since it left early access in March 2017, and developers Overhype Studios reckon it expands the world by around 25% – lots of new and innovative ways to die.

(more…)

Sound the horns, ye scoundrels. Battle Brothers [official site], the turn-based strategy full of pointless deaths and bad decisions, has emerged from under the pile of corpses that litter the early access battlefield. After almost two years of mercenary mischief, the full release was today. If you re not familiar with the man-hiring and hexagonal tile-based killing of the game, don t fret. They ve got a wee video to show you what s what, which you’ll find down there. … [visit site to read more]

Every Monday we find Brendan sulking in a tavern and recruit him into our brigade of early access mercenaries. This week, the tough, turn-based strategy of Battle Brothers [official site].

The life of a sellsword is not a forgiving one. But don t take my word for it – ask Jos the Dog Whisperer, who has just been pushed into a narrow hole by a gang of heavily armoured Orcs and savagely sliced to bits from all sides. Oh, I suppose you can t. Well, you could ask Fibs O Hanlon, but no, now that I think about it, he was also stabbed until death. Let s see, what about Dietrich With No Surname? Yes, he’s the one without the head. Oh, oh I see what you mean. … [visit site to read more]

Mercenaries are great. I’ve never met one in real life, mind, and don’t think I’d want to, but they’re invariably great when they pop up in games. Perhaps part of the appeal is that their apparent amorality lets us play soldiers without considering politics or aftermath – whatever the reasons may be, I’m usually glad to see a band of guns/swords-for-hire. Whether they’re a shortcut to short-term success in a strategy game or the delightful bastards of Jagged Alliance, the mercenaries of gaming are alright with me.

Now we can add Battle Brothers [official site] to the list of Good Mercenary Games. Currently in Early Access, it’s a very lovely thing indeed.

… [visit site to read more]