This article describes how battles play out in the The Banner Saga.
Battles in Factions share a lot of common aspects with the single-player game so, in the end of each section, the differences of the two games will be highlighted and discussed.
Assemble Your Heroes
Whenever a battle is about to be engaged, you are firstly directed into the 'Assemble Your Heroes' screen. Here, you can select the characters you are going to field in the imminent battle. You can select 1-6 characters, displayed in the top row of the screen. The portraits of the currently available characters are displayed in the second (and third) row of the screen, where the greyed-out ones are already in your active roster. Using drag-and-drop you can add/remove characters or change their acting order; the first character to act is the one on the left.
When you are done, click on the 'Ready!' button to proceed to the battle itself.
Notes/Tips:
- The Rank of your characters is shown in the red-circle, on the bottom-right corner of their portraits.
- The golden-ring displayed on the bottom-left corner of some characters' portraits means that they have an item equipped.
- Characters that were knocked-out in previous battles might carry injuries. If you choose them for this battle, they will suffer a Strength penalty equal to the number of days left until their full recovery. In the picture above, Gunnulf will start at -2 Strength from his nominal.
- In some special battles you cannot remove certain characters from your team. There are few instances where this happens, and is triggered by story-related events.
- The 'Assemble Your Heroes' screen resembles to the 'Heroes' menu, accessed through the Camp/Town/Village interface. However, here, you cannot check your characters' stats, neither promote them, nor change their equipped items. With the enemies upon you, time is pressing and only minimal changes can be made! It is advisable that you perform the above actions right after each battle, so that your team is ready when a new fight is joined.
- In all battles you are always given the first turn, so your leftmost character will be the first unit to move and attack. This can give you a significant first-hit advantage. If your style is aggressive, you would want to use a high Strength warrior in this slot, like Gunnulf or Hakon.
Factions
In Factions, you prepare your team in the Proving Grounds and there are no such features as injuries or items. Also, restrictions apply for the number of units you can bring in your team:
- Exactly 6 units (not less).
- No more than 3 Archer-class units.
- No more than 3 Raider-class units.
- No more than 2 Varl-race units (Warrior- and Shieldbanger-class units)
Finally, a Power is applied to each team in Factions, which equals the sum of the Ranks of the six units and ranges between 0-18. For fairness' sake, the game's Matchmaker usually pairs you against a team of equal power.
Initial Deployment
After you have selected your heroes and passed through the loading screen, you are transferred into the battle field. The enemy-unit positions are revealed and you are required to deploy your units anywhere you want on the zones marked with the blue-tiles. Click on any ally unit (or on its portrait) to select it, and then click on a valid blue-tile to place it. When you are done positioning your units, click on the Ready! button (top of the screen) to proceed to the Battle.
Notes/Tips:
- The initial deployment stage is a very important part of the battle. You should generally spend some time devising your engagement plan, considering also the order of your units, while you position them.
- The figure on the right presents some of the most typically encountered deployment zones. They are presented in approximate order of difficulty, with the top-left (bottom-right) considered the easiest (hardest). The criteria to assess the deployment zone difficulty is, firstly, the number of available tiles for deployment and, secondly, the neighboring sub-zones where you can deploy your units in robust formations.
- You can view any unit stats by clicking on them. However, movement ranges are not shown, so you will have to memorize them, or keep a safe distance.
- Most importantly, you do not know the enemy unit initiative order. This should be taken into account when positioning low-Armor allies close to high-Strength enemies. Having a zone-control unit, like a Skystriker, in the first turn-slot of your team is a good idea.
- In general, it is advised to place your units closely together (so that they can 'cover' each other) and far from clusters of enemy units.
Factions
These are the difference of the deployment phase for Factions (compared to the Saga):
- The deployment zones in Factions are much less varied and all resemble the "Sides" variant displayed the figure above.
- Deployment is timed, giving you 60 seconds to decide where to place your 6 units; you can always click on "Ready!" when you are done.
- The units of the enemy player are hidden during the deployment phase; a lot of "metagaming" is involved with this phase!
- The player who acts first depends on the map; for all five maps currently available, the player to act first is the one who deploys on the top side (NE or NW).
Battle
Description of the HUD
- Turn queuing / Normal and Pillage Mode
- Unit stats
- Active effects / Ability descriptions / Equipped item descriptions
- Movement-ranges
- Horn
- Settings / Toggle Stat-Banners / Toggle Descriptions-Help
Possible unit actions in their turn. Brief description of basic game mechanics
- Blow Horn
- Move / Waypoints / Confirm
- Use Ability / Select target unit or tile (if applicable) / Select Rank / Confirm
- Attack / Select target / Choose between Strength and Break / Increase damage with Willpower / Confirm
- Rest (or Terminate turn) / Confirm
Aftermath
- Renown earned
- Promotions earned
- Knock-outs and injuries
- Wars: Caravan casualties / Second waves / Chance to find items
Strategies
References to tactics, strategies and other helpful material. For example: Guides:Tactical Strategies