Warbanners

Warbanners is a tactical fantasy RPG that focuses heavily on difficult turn-based combat, mercenary management, and careful long-term planning. It clearly draws inspiration from older strategy games that prioritized challenging battles and meaningful resource management over cinematic storytelling or modern accessibility. Instead of overwhelming players with flashy presentation, the game concentrates almost entirely on building a mercenary company, surviving brutal encounters, and gradually developing a squad capable of handling increasingly dangerous missions. While the game suffers from rough visuals, harsh balancing, and some outdated design choices, it still manages to provide a surprisingly deep and rewarding tactical experience for players who enjoy unforgiving strategy games. The story follows the Silver Griffins, a mercenary company led by Roderick, as they become involved in a larger conflict filled with political tension, undead threats, betrayals, and war between kingdoms. The narrative itself is fairly traditional fantasy material involving mercenaries caught in dangerous events far larger than themselves, but it works well enough as a framework for the tactical gameplay. The darker tone fits the brutal combat design, and while the writing may not be especially groundbreaking, the world still feels dangerous and unstable throughout the campaign. Much of the storytelling is delivered through dialogue and mission briefings rather than elaborate cutscenes, which gives the game an old-school strategy RPG atmosphere. The core gameplay revolves around turn-based tactical battles fought across grid-based maps where positioning, terrain, and squad composition are absolutely critical. Every fight feels dangerous because enemies can punish even small mistakes very quickly. Unlike more forgiving tactical RPGs where players can overpower opponents through grinding, Warbanners constantly forces careful planning and disciplined positioning. Frontline units must protect vulnerable ranged fighters, healers need to stay alive under pressure, and special abilities often determine whether a battle turns into a victory or complete disaster. The combat system rewards patience and tactical thinking much more than aggressive experimentation. One of the strongest parts of the game is the mercenary management system. Players recruit characters from different races and classes, each offering unique abilities and combat roles. Humans, dwarves, elves, mages, archers, and heavily armored warriors all contribute differently during battles, and building a balanced squad becomes extremely important later in the campaign. Some units specialize in defensive formations and protecting allies, while others focus on mobility, ranged damage, or support abilities. Discovering strong synergies between different classes becomes one of the most satisfying aspects of the experience because successful teams often rely heavily on cooperation between units. Character progression also feels rewarding throughout the campaign. Units gain experience, unlock stronger abilities, and improve their overall combat performance over time. Equipment upgrades provide additional customization and can dramatically affect how characters function on the battlefield. Some gear grants entirely new tactical options instead of simply improving statistics, encouraging players to experiment with different builds and squad compositions. Over time, players naturally become attached to veteran soldiers who survive difficult encounters and gradually evolve into the backbone of the mercenary company. The game’s difficulty is one of its defining features. Battles often feel tense from beginning to end because resources are limited and enemies can quickly overwhelm poorly positioned squads. Morale systems, terrain advantages, consumable management, and careful movement all play major roles during combat. Victories rarely feel accidental because success usually requires thoughtful preparation and smart decision-making several turns ahead. For players who enjoy highly tactical combat where every move matters, Warbanners can become extremely satisfying. Mission variety also helps maintain engagement. While combat remains the primary focus throughout the campaign, different objectives and battlefield conditions prevent encounters from becoming completely repetitive. Some missions revolve around defending key positions, escorting vulnerable allies, surviving against overwhelming odds, or defeating powerful enemy commanders under difficult circumstances. Environmental hazards and changing enemy formations constantly force players to adapt their strategies instead of relying on the exact same tactics every battle. However, the game is far from polished. The visuals are one of its weakest areas, with outdated character models, stiff animations, and environments that occasionally become difficult to read during larger fights. Certain battlefields lack visual clarity, making it harder than necessary to track units and terrain advantages. While the art style has some charm, the overall presentation feels noticeably low-budget compared to stronger tactical RPGs in the genre. Balancing can also become frustrating at times. The game’s challenge occasionally shifts from rewarding difficulty into outright punishment, especially during later missions where enemy numbers and positioning can feel overwhelming. Losing important units carries severe long-term consequences, and recovering from major mistakes can become extremely difficult. Some encounters feel designed more around punishing the player than creating fair tactical scenarios, which may discourage less patient players. The campaign structure is also fairly linear. While squad-building choices provide some variation between playthroughs, the overall progression path remains mostly fixed. Players hoping for a more open-ended mercenary sandbox experience similar to games like Battle Brothers may find the structure somewhat restrictive. Certain progression systems also lack depth over time, particularly once stronger equipment and preferred strategies begin dominating the gameplay loop. Despite these flaws, Warbanners succeeds because the tactical combat itself remains genuinely engaging. Beneath the rough presentation lies a strategy game clearly built by developers who understand how to create meaningful turn-based encounters. Every battle demands concentration, resource management, and thoughtful positioning in ways that many modern tactical RPGs simplify or avoid entirely. For fans of difficult fantasy strategy games and old-school tactical RPGs, Warbanners offers a rewarding experience filled with tense combat and satisfying squad management. It can feel harsh, visually outdated, and occasionally unfair, but players willing to embrace its rough edges may discover a surprisingly deep tactical RPG hidden beneath its low-budget presentation. Rating: 7/10

Вкусно.

Kind of impossible to recommend for $20 when Wesnoth is free, but there is a kind of janky tabletop skirmish game charm here. All of the rules are pretty simple but there's enough of them that the game simulates lots of little things. Lighting can matter. Movement type can matter. Consumables are important. Every creature on the board feels like it could be represented with a pewter model and has some juicy keywords in its statblock. Honestly, I'm in a weird position where if you handed me this as a book, I'd be arguing that it was $20 easy. But as a video game, it feels like it might be more reasonably priced at $5. I think I'd recommend Warbanners to folks who'd play a solo tabletop skirmish game. It is 100% in that wheelhouse. For folks looking for a Fire Emblem or a deeply polished srpg, this absolutely isn't that. Go in expecting a bit of eastern europe, a bit of character sheets and basements, and you'll have a decent time.

Очень интересная игра, Понравилась тактическая часть в особенности карты с осадами. Сюжет сам по себе прост но от этого становится не менее интересным. Для игры такой продолжительности большое количество разных юнитов что радует. Прекрасно что игра от отечественных разработчиков, игру всем советую! Единственный минус замеченный лично мной это то что иногда у персонажей анимации как будто замедляются из-за этого приходится дольше проходить сам бой. А если его ещё и переигрывать то совсем печально... P.S. тем кому понравилась игра, вышла недавно, следующая игра от разработчиков Veterum и в ней всё лучше чем в Warbanners так ещё один плюс в копилку так как у игры есть достойное продолжение.

Warbanners is a retro feeling (and looking) strategy game that still has modern sensibilities. You take your small group of mercenaries through a curated campaign against undead hordes, orc mobs and occasionally elves, humans and dwarfs. The story follows Roderick, a mercenary captain with a troubled past who becomes embroiled in a plot involving an evil cult of necromancers and eventually unfolds into a potentially world ending apocalypse. The gameplay is solid, you get to build your force from a pool of a dozen units with support from non combatants that add various buffs (e.g. instantly killing a random enemy at the start of battle or allowing you to summon an allied, non-controllable unit). You also have three 'hero' units that are unique but offer good versatility without being overpowered. The battles are fair from what I've experienced and there are are a few difficulty setting to choose from ranging from easy to brutal. A smallish 20 hour game that doesn't overstay it's welcome and offers a solid experience for the price. I only had one major bug where the menu buttons wouldn't work properly on the map screen and in order to save I had to move my cursor a few inches to the right+down diagonally to click the buttons.

Очередной симулятор промахов

Me parece entretenido, algunas misiones si te harán recargar partida, lo único malo es que tienes que pensar muy bien que misiones aceptar, por que si aceptas una pierdes la oportunidad de hacer otra, se que lo hacen para meter jugabilidad, pero si no cambia la historia no le encuentro la gracia de volver a iniciar el recorrido

Joguei por 90 minutos. Já tinha jogado por outras formas e estava doido para comprar e ter na minha conta. Mas algo me deixa extremamente frustrado em jogos desse estilo que é a falta de balanceamento de batalha. As unidades são praticamente míopes, elas erram demais, não há nada como um parry ou esquiva No fim é tudo questão de mais e menos se um personagem tiver os status de evasão acima de uma certa quantidade ele fica intangivel? Graficamente falando é coerente divertido e etc. Mas esse sistema de combate não me agradou muito, teve uma hora que o inimigo estava cercado por 3 unidades e ele escapou dos 3 ataques incluindo um ataque a distancia de um arqueiro com experiência e acerto alto. No fim o sistema ser assim torna o jogo muito maçante.

Да, конечно. У меня с 80+ шансом постоянно промахи, у врагов - постоянные попадания. Знаем мы такие игры. Буквально симулятор промахов

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