This guide is from before I started publishing guides on Steam: I never knew what do do with it, just that I had to write it, if only for my own sake. So I never published it. To preserve the history and work that went into it, every section below is as written on 2019/12/07, aside from some minor formatting and typo fixes. The final sections contain bonus stuff that for various reasons didn’t make the initial guide (and is correspondingly a little shakier). I will not be responding to comments on this guide, since it’s a little out of date with my thinking. However, it is still a really solid piece of work on the whole, and the world is better off having it late rather than never. All told, it is 3.7k words long. I am releasing other Bad North guides as I get the time and motivation to write them: you can find my traits guide already.

This guide was made for Very Hard mode (unlocked after completing hard) without checkpoints or level restarts. Thus, it should work for any difficulty. Tips are at the bottom, as this guide aims to be inclusive and complete, though you’re advised to check out traits and composition as some of them surprised me on discovery.

Militia
The starting units, they function as shields without shields. All commanders are always Militia, meaning any unit can theoretically beat any enemy with some luck and a lot of attrition. 6 gold is required to upgrade, and this is generally recommended, though since gold is no longer tied to specific commanders, waiting to upgrade as you need things is advisable if your core units are good

Archers
Strong in the mid game as the waves get larger, and mandatory in the late game when Jumpers appear. They are best used very aggressively to thin out incoming waves - even in a non-archer focused strategy it's worth upgrading a set or having enough gold in reserve to upgrade a set, as many (especially flat) islands require archers to be cleared safely.

Pikes
Pikes are directional fortresses - they can hold off almost anything melee when standing at an appropriate bottleneck - steep cliff paths, corners with water diagonally, thin land bridges, tunnel openings, even between houses. Moving or being flanked breaks the unit though, and since they have no protection from missiles they will be ripped to shreds by archers and throwing axemen.

Shields (Infantry)
Shields counter projectiles, but they suffer attrition in melee – and numbers are critical for how they fight. They're vulnerable to flanking fire and large groups of enemies, even if those enemies are archers. They get tougher when upgraded, but you will need to find ways to compensate for their shortcomings. They can, however, move and fight, which means they bail you out when you mess up. On the flipside of that, they will suffer unnecessary attrition by fighting instead of moving.

The tables illustrate the approximate value from 1 to 6 of each trait and relic on each troop type (militia not included, since they don’t stay as militia – Ironskin, Mountain, and Rousing Speeches are the best on them). Energetic (with Warhammer), Heavy Load (with appropriate relic), and Sure-footed can also increase their effectiveness depending on your build plan.

Ironskin allows them to take a single shot from enemy archers without dying. This is great for when you need to thin the bastards out before they land, but can’t quite find a place for shields to kite all the damage – or even if you can’t spare shields

Heavy Weapons lets them knock almost anything off a boat with crazy efficiency

Rousing Speeches is about keeping their squad high strength without them missing too much, as archers need early deployment and benefit from numbers (see Ring of Command)

Fleet of Foot is great for early deployments, though it’s easy enough to do anyway most of the time

Sharp Weapons lets even lower level pikes beat the odds. It makes for less enemies surviving long enough to charge again, which is critical - especially if you need to redeploy them.

Sure-footed lets you deploy them right on the beach to kill foes as they disembark, which can tilt the odds in your favour. It also helps them against the three knockback/stun/launch enemies that hurt you most in late-game

Mountain improves their fighting effectiveness and the unit’s overall survivability (it doesn’t work nearly as well for the other types, as their commanders don’t usually fight)

Ironskin improves their survivability, but it’s better on archers

Energetic is honestly amazing for them, but it’s reliant on Warhammer for it to be a top tier trait

Heavy Load combos well with War horn to give you a unit that has a resupply when it needs one, doubling War Horn’s and Mine’s effectiveness early on

Fleet of foot can really add to the shock value shields bring to a fight, used right.

Collector combos best with Philosopher’s stone (and Ring of command), which means it’s best on units that don’t need other things, especially Pikes early on.

Popular is never bad, but it’s never exceptional. It does stack with ring of command if you want to make a mega-sized unit though.

Skilful is strictly better than nothing but lacks the impact and combos other traits have. Nice visual design though.

Fearless is absolute hot garbage. Flavourful hot garbage but hot garbage nonetheless.

Compositions are given as Archers:Pikes:Shields (A:P:S)

For your starting commanders:
AND- Jabena/Philosopher’s stone, Sharp Weapons (to be Pike)
OR- War Horn, Sure-footed/Heavy Load/Mountain/Popular (to be Shield)
OR- Warhammer, Energetic (to be Shield)
OR- Ring of Command, Ironskin/Rousing Speeches/Heavy Weapons (to be Archer)
OR- Holy Grail, anything
If you don’t have many traits, the only one you shouldn’t start with is fearless, because it’s actively bad. With fearless, you cannot flee an island, which removes a bit of safety net for your operations.

Jabena is great because some islands can be done with a single pike unit, letting you net yourself more gold without the wave catching you

Philosopher’s Stone also grants more gold, though spending the gold to upgrade it is a massive greed play – if you are using this, Collector is probably better than sharp weapons, but you lose out on having your perfect late-game pike unit.

War horn on Shields can let them clear islands solo without too much worry about casualties. Heavy load increases the effectiveness of the Horn, but any trait that improves a Unit’s survivability is fine

Warhammer with Energetic should let a Shield unit clear islands alone (terrain permitting) but it’s a touch risky and depends on player discipline. As with War Horn, any survivability trait can work with this, but it’s much less reliable. The lone island clearing will scale better into midgame with this option, but it’s weaker in the early

Ring of Command into Archer starts are a little funky, as you don’t want to upgrade those archers until the mid-to-late-game, instead running around with a glorified militia unit. It’s a late-game strategy, but it can be worth it to increase the efficacy of your archers. The main benefit for this would be Ironskin archers that can take one hit from enemy archers or heavy weapon archers that can more effectively knock shields off boats.

Holy Grail doesn’t bind to a commander, so getting one lets you have a relic without having a relic. It’s good when you haven’t unlocked a lot if you get it early on. Notably, it can still appear on the map if you start with it, making it the only relic that can appear twice.

Until you’re a risk from [spoilers]Jumpers[/spoilers], archers aren’t necessary and are weaker than militia. They’ll help dealing with large waves and Giants alongside pikes, but they can’t stand on their own and they aren’t effective as a safety net – they work well as prevention, cure not so much, and when things have landed, we’re onto cure. It’s better to keep militia early on, as they’re better against enemy archers, which are much more threatening when you split the party to maximise how many islands you do.

This in mind, I recommend upgrading shields and pikes in roughly even numbers – counting Jabena as an extra unit. In the mid-to-late-game you’ll want more and more shields, which is one of Jabena Pike’s advantages; you get an extra deployment of Pikes without having to upgrade more militia into them, which makes it easier to field two Shields on islands where you need them without sacrificing early push on islands that Pikes can do alone.

Late-game 1:1:2
One Archer unit is enough to neutralise the threat of [spoilers]Jumpers[/spoilers] (though they need to be t3 to do so effectively unless they have Sharp Weapons or Heavy Weapons) and provide enough tactical flexibility to your operations to handle nasty surprises, especially on flat islands where their damage is consistently higher.

One Pike unit is enough to protect you from most large waves of enemies, two is just excessive unless you’re on particularly bad terrain.

Shields suffer horrific attrition, and you just can’t afford to not have some when you need them. If you’re running a strategy with just one unit of them, it almost must be War Horn with Heavy Load. They’re also capable of dealing with smaller numbers of [spoilers]Jumpers[/spoilers], which means Shields can cover for Archers replenishing. That’s why I favour having two of them.

However, 2:1:1 should be viable with careful planning and selecting the right shield traits, possibly with Rousing Speeches.

2:0:2 might be possible with Heavy Weapon Archers and Energetic Warhammer Shields. Hard to say if this could work.

0:1:3 might even work with Energetic Warhammer shields, enough cliffs, and precise timing

Volley
Works everywhere and against everything, but the timing for it is a pain to get right because it’s slower than plunge. Not worth upgrading most of the time because you’ll only be able to hit stationary targets (though this can be useful)

Pike Charge
Great ability that reduces the threat of being mobbed by large groups of small enemies, and counters [spoilers]Jumpers[/spoilers] by executing them all. Needs a straight flat(ish) line. If you have spare gold can be worth upgrading for unlimited range. Critically, can allow pikes to clear archers with decent efficiency

Plunge
Mandatory as the game goes on to let shields clear out larger groups of archers with minimal attrition (on favourable terrain); it lets them take on groups of almost anything safely. The timing is to select the ability and loose it as the ship makes the faster final push onto the beach or a little later if it’s archers, as they tend to loose one more arrow before exiting the ship.

Militia
Like your Militia, but there’s more of them. In large enough boats these can threaten Pikes without a chokepoint and fighting them using shields will often be risky. Vulnerable to archers.

Shields
Like your Shields. Better than militia but less of them – they pose a lower risk to you shields.

Archers
Like your Archers, but there’s often more of them. They’re a pain to fight, and you lose shields clearing them, mostly because shields do Hollywood sword swings and expose themselves, but also from flanking fire.

Giants
Big, Scary militia that will chew up Shields and Archers in melee, but can be beaten soundly by pikes, and will suffer somewhat from archers at range. If you must engage with shields, ensure you vastly outnumber them, and preferably plunge on them to knock them down. The mountain trait will make a commander that can go toe to toe with one of them. It’ll still chew up the unit somewhat, but you won’t be at risk of losing it.

Franks (throwing axemen)
Like Shields, but with one projectile each. They can shred Pikes if you don’t kite the axes with shields first, but are generally not too threatening

Jumpers
Kill them before they reach the shore, Plunge on them, Volley them, but try to keep out of their melee reach. They will eat your units more efficiently than Giants, but they are more vulnerable to arrows and with enough of a numbers advantage, shields can take them.

Giant Archers
Archers are bad news: Introducing mobile siege weapons, capable of killing 3 soldiers in a single strike. Relatively weak in melee, but with enough of them they will attrition shields faster than you kill them. Always look to shank them first, and never lose track of them.

First (and second) island - Local supremacy
Especially on very hard mode, inefficient troop placement can kill commanders on the first island. Positioning those first militia close together and charging at the right time, avoiding ship stun, is a critical skill that will be relevant for the entire game with shield use. Never charge down thin hill paths into more than a handful of enemies. Traits that make this easier include Mountain, Sure-footed, Popular, Energetic, and Heavy load. Relics that make it easier include War Horn, Ring of Command, Warhammer, and the other damage relics if used carefully.

Deployment - early
Always deploy at the earliest opportunity. Late deployments lose houses and, worse, they kill soldiers. However, be cautious in not deploying too early – for example pikes must kill what’s in front of them or have shields rush down to deal with it before they can move.

Enemy archers – with prejudice
Hide your units far from them. t1 and sometimes t2 shields can still take frontal losses for standing in line of fire. Where possible, ambush them as they land. This should have them loose a volley before your shields go full Hollywood. T2+ Sure-footed Shields can stand directly on the shore in wait.

Later, you can get shields kiting the damage while your archers take them out before they land. Sometimes this will be necessary to allow pike deployment. Thus, Ironskin is a top tier trait for your archers – it allows them to take one hit without dying, allowing you to position them more aggressively against enemy archers, and save yourself losses.

Philosopher’s stone – upgrade with caution, early
If you’re using it, upgrading it early maximises profit. Just make sure you still have enough gold to upgrade other things when you need them.

Skills – use only when you need them
It’s good to save yourself attrition, but at the same time you might need them before they’d otherwise recharge. Be cautious. Energetic bypasses this somewhat, especially if you have a Warhammer on the unit.

Using Archers – be aggressive
Flatter lines of fire lead to higher efficiency. Getting as close as possible (at least to start) leads to more arrows being loosed. Loose down the length of a boat for shieldless enemies, and into the flank for shielded enemies – the latter lets you knock them off the boats and into the sea (unrealistic, for sure, but effective). Positioning this way is useless from above.

Pike charge against Archers and Jumpers– from max distance
Preferably round a corner, with the enemy charging straight towards you. With luck, you’ll suffer minimal casualties

Combating Jumpers without Archers or skills
It’s possible to take the initial jump on Shields as they retreat behind Pikes. Tricky to do, but minimal attrition if managed

Island selection – path forwards, mitigate risks
To clear efficiently, you must be able to see the terrain and troops of as many islands as possible. All things equal, choose the island that unlocks more new islands, or the island about to disappear. It’s tough but possible to clear every single island. Maybe even to save every single house, though I’ve not quite managed that yet – perhaps finally starting Energetic Warhammer will let me (last relic I unlocked xD), though Mountain War Horn may have allowed it had I not dropped my brain at a key point – never upgrade archers too early.

Worth noting that with two “?” troops on an island, you can know for certain what they are, and doing them will reveal both.

These didn’t make the doc (it’s highly likely they predate Jotunn edition, when there were no traits and only 4 relics: Bomb, Ring of Command, Warhammer, and War Horn), but exist in my supporting spreadsheet from where I initially collected stats a started writing bits and pieces of what would become the Bad North Strategy Guide:

Relics
The warhammer is undoubtably the best relic, as it helps sword units cover for their main weakness (large groups of enemies). After that, the Ring of Command is a solid pick, especially for pikes, as it helps them deal with even the largest waves of enemies, and reduces how much they suffer from attrition. War horn acts as a worse version of RoC, though if you have spare units they can be worth binding. Bomb is a great way to get your best units wiped out - while warhammer can knock your people into the sea, bomb will almost invariably leave you worse off than if you hadn't used it

Compositions (A:P:S)
Earlygame 0:1:1 is the strongest compostion by far. 0:0:2 can sometimes make it, as can 1:0:1, but 2:0:0 and 0:2:0 are prone to failure. Midgame 0:1:2 into 1:1:2 is my prefered approach, though 0:2:2 is more than usable as is almost any strategy with at least one of each. Lategame 1:1:2 seems to be the best, though 0:2:2 can certainly work. 1:2:1 is susceptible to shield attrition, though 2:1:1 might be workable. I doubt anything else is likely to succeed.

preferred levelling


Early on you need to turn a pike block into an immovable object. You'll also need shields to deal with archers, and having two units will really help with attrition. An early warhammer or RoC can boost your chances by helping with these things. once you pick up archers, your strategical flexibility will improve, especially as they get upgraded, but upgrade your swords first so you're less likely to lose them.

Costs