Announcing the War Sails Expansion & Base Game Plans!
Greetings warriors of Calradia!
We’re thrilled to announce a major expansion to Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord. War Sails will be arriving on PC and consoles (PS5, Xbox Series X/S) on the 17th of June, 2025!
Watch the announcement trailer to get a first look at the intense naval warfare and epic battles that await.
Wishlist now to stay updated and be ready to set sail on launch day!
Sail the high seas, lead mighty fleets, and forge your legacy in War Sails, the epic single-player expansion for Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord. Bringing naval warfare to Bannerlord for the first time, War Sails lets players command powerful ships, engage in thrilling sea battles, and master maritime conquest.
Embark on daring naval adventures with new mechanics, territories, and challenges. Customize your fleet, conquer settlements, and carve your legend on the high seas!
MEET THE NORDS, A NEW VIKING-INSPIRED FACTION
Chart your course to the Northern Kingdom, home of the fearless Nords—legendary seafarers and masters of close-quarters combat. Explore a land of jagged peaks, vast taigas and freezing fjords, where scattered settlements rise like ships from the sea. A bold adventurer may trade their goods, recruit their warriors, join their ranks or challenge their rule. Will you join the North or seize its riches?
MASTER NAVAL WARFARE
War Sails introduces a unique and immersive naval warfare system that has been inspired by accounts of actual medieval sea battles. Featuring realistic wind and water physics, ship-to-ship combat lets you board enemies from multiple points, ram them, or attack from afar.
Captains can seize opportunities by boarding already engaged ships, prepare for an incoming attack by creating a floating fortress or take a risk to tie down several enemies at once - giving their allies an edge elsewhere. They may ram an enemy ship to sink it - or at least throw men off board, shatter oars and compromise buoyancy. Well-placed arrows and ballista fire can also tear through sails, further crippling mobility.
EXPLORE AN EXPANDED WORLD
Calradia has been reimagined with a northern region, a settled island, coastal waters and open seas. The dynamic weather system was also refined to include storms and trade winds. Ships move faster when riding the gales, but beware—attrition can unravel even the best-laid plans.
The naval systems and Nord faction integrate into Bannerlord’s world, reshaping trade, warfare, and diplomacy. Ship production and new trade goods add regional variety. Coastal towns may grow rich from this — if they can fend off pirates and naval invasions.
Sieges have also been adapted to naval warfare. Armies will have to bring along a fleet and set up a blockade, if they want to stop supplies and reinforcements arriving over sea.
BUILD YOUR FLEET
Players can choose from 18 ship types modelled after historical vessels, each with unique handling, shaped by realistic wind and wave physics. They can be customized with siege engines, cargo holds, sails, rams, and more. Shipyards build and stock vessels based on their town’s culture and development. Players can also capture ships and figureheads in battle.
EXPAND YOUR ARSENAL
The character system has been extended with Nord hairstyles, beards, and tattoos. Three nautical skills were added that enhance navigation, tactics, and stewardship. There are also many new items including spears, swords, axes, shields, and armor.
Troop trees now include mariner troops that are more effective at sea. Players can also recruit new companions with maritime backgrounds.
LEARN THE ROPES
A new questline introduces players to the seas of Calradia through cinematics, scripted missions, and classic Mount & Blade gameplay. Learn how to command your ship, then take it into battle against a pirate confederacy. Lead a growing fleet of newfound allies as you face a range of nautical challenges.
ENHANCED AUDIO
The sounds of the sea come to life with new Mediterranean and Nordic-inspired musical tracks. Experience rich soundscapes with piercing winds, crashing waves and creaking ships. Feel the heat of battle as steel clashes and sailors cry out.
You can also check out the following FAQ Page for more information.
Base Game Plans
We also want to give you a general update on Bannerlord - what we’ve been doing and what is yet to come.
After the full release in October of 2022, we published a number of updates that not only addressed important issues across the various platforms but also introduced additional features such as weather and weather effects, fog of war, sally out ambush, formation targeting, warehouses, alleys, and many more. Much like during our early access period, we’ve continued to expand and refine the game with your feedback and support. We’re truly grateful to have such a dedicated community, who’s been with us every step of the way.
As we mentioned in our post-release plans, we were open to exploring DLC as one way of introducing additional content. And while that remained true, we realize that our communication has not met the level you had grown to expect from us. The naval battle system being introduced with the newly announced War Sails expansion proved to be a technical and gameplay challenge. We had also been working on another project that was planned as a more story-driven DLC. While this was an interesting new approach, it ultimately didn't meet the quality we aim for. Rather than talking about and releasing something we weren’t happy with, we made the tough decision to cancel its launch. These hurdles caused a delay in our communication and we sincerely appreciate your patience during this time. The good news is that instead of shelving the work, we will be repurposing the new gameplay mechanics from this canceled project as content for the base game.
This involves the introduction of a robust stealth system that will allow you to infiltrate dungeons and hideouts, rescue prisoners, and dispatch enemies without ever raising alarms. The enemy AI will now detect sound and motion, becoming alerted by your actions through progressive levels of cautiousness. To succeed, you will need to not only carefully consider your position and movement, but also your environment - utilizing the elevation, darkness of the night, and natural cover to achieve your goals covertly. While these may be enough in some cases, you’ll find other stealth tactics like distractions and concealing corpses just as useful. Honing your effectiveness will further be possible through gear and the roguery skill. We’ll be sharing more stealth details in a future deep dive so stay tuned!
Stealth kill
We are also working on several features that we're planning to bring to the base game alongside the War Sails expansion. For one, we want to improve our trait system so that players will be able to better develop their characters. To this end, we are working on a feature that will prompt you with random events during your journeys. Ideally, this will not just offer a new avenue of character development but add further life to the world of Calradia.
Random events
Town and castle projects will also undergo changes. These adjustments will improve the balance between projects with impactful effects and those with limited or situational effects and add new types. This should allow for better control over the management of your fief.
Another point of interest is the passage of time and the cycle of life in the game. While we think that Bannerlord manages to achieve a happy medium between this progression and not rushing players… we also feel that additional choice in this regard would make for a rather fun alternative to the vanilla experience.
We’re also making it easier to communicate with nearby enemies by introducing the Parley feature, allowing you to enter into a conversation without getting your head cut off!
Parleying with an enemy from a distance
The community-requested Character Import & Export feature is in the works, allowing you to adjust various aspects like equipment, perks, skills, attributes, name, culture, gold,... by editing the character file in the Game Saves folder and importing it via the console window cheats.
Alongside these, we continue to work on the combat experience, which includes the addition of new weapon types like slings. Spear bracing is being refined with better targeting, smoother animations, and spearmen using their spears by default - making them more effective against cavalry charges.
New Weapon Type - Sling
A variety of AI enhancements are also being added such as more accurate usage of melee weapons, improved pathfinding and reduced zig-zag movements for mounted AI, improved ranged AI accuracy against moving targets, and increased firing rate through better avoidance of friendly troops. Beyond that, we’re addressing various siege AI issues, preventing archers with a targeted order from getting too close to the enemy, and more.
We’re likewise working on a number of adjustments to support our modders better. This includes allowing attack while crouched (looking at you - mods with guns), further opening up the AI agent attack and weapon selection decision-making processes, making the interpolated mission atmosphere moddable, providing audio modding support for FMOD Banks and Events, as well as opening up campaign time to customization. To make modding even more accessible, we’re creating an XML Editor, removing the need to manually edit XML files to add, remove, or modify items, heroes, factions, settlements, and more. Those that will prefer to continue doing it manually, will also see that process simplified, where using the XSLT system will no longer be necessary.
And that brings us to the end of today’s announcement. On behalf of everyone at TaleWorlds, we want to express our heartfelt thanks for your incredible support and dedication over the years. We can’t wait to share even more in the coming weeks. Until then, stay tuned and take care – we'll see you soon!
