Warbands
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Found a medieval town, train an army and take guarded enemy camps, from the Village Age to the Castle Age.
A mid-to-late survival mod for Minecraft Java 26.1.2 on Fabric. Beta.
Trailer
What is Warbands?
You start with one block, the Town Center, and a pile of food, wood, stone and gold. From there you build houses and training yards, grow your population, and raise militia, archers, spearmen, crossbowmen, mounted knights and battering rams. A War Horn tells them to follow, hold or attack. Camps of bandits, raiders and warlords stand in the world, guarded and trapped. Beat them to unlock the next age and bring home trophies and relics.
It plays like a small real-time strategy game inside survival. You keep the first person view: you build with blueprints, you swing the sword, and your army fights next to you.
How it plays
- Found a town. Craft a Town Center blueprint and place it on clear ground. A green outline shows where it fits. The illustrated Warbands Handbook, given on your first join, shows the recipe.
- Stock up. Deposit food, wood, stone and gold in the Town Center. Everything you build and train is paid from this stockpile.
- Raise an army. Train soldiers in the Town Center and the buildings you add. Craft a War Horn to give orders.
- Take a camp. Buy a War Map at the Town Center, march to the camp, and defeat its guards and its warlord.
- Age up. Deposit a Bandit Trophy to unlock the Feudal Age, then a Fort Trophy to unlock the Castle Age.
Place a blueprint. The outline shows where it fits.
Command your army with the War Horn.
The three ages
Each age opens new buildings and soldiers. You advance by beating camps, not by waiting.
| Age | You unlock | How |
|---|---|---|
| Village | Town Center, Houses, Militia, Archers | Where you start |
| Feudal | Barracks, Archery Range, Blacksmith, Spearmen, Crossbowmen. Raids on your town begin. | Deposit a Bandit Trophy |
| Castle | Stable, Watch Tower, Siege Workshop, Knights, Battering Rams | Deposit a Fort Trophy |
Your army
Six soldier types, each with a job. Mix them: spearmen stop cavalry, archers and crossbowmen kill from behind the line, rams open the gates.
| Unit | Trained in | Age | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Militia | Town Center | Village | Sword and shield. Fights up close. |
| Archer | Town Center | Village | Shoots from range. |
| Spearman | Barracks | Feudal | Hits like a Militia, plus 4 against horses and their riders. |
| Crossbowman | Archery Range | Feudal | Farther shots and harder bolts, but a slow reload. |
| Knight | Stable | Castle | Your strongest unit, on an armored warhorse. |
| Battering Ram | Siege Workshop | Castle | Breaks doors, gates and fences when ordered to attack. |
War Horn orders
Right-click the War Horn to cycle the order, Shift-right-click to go back. It reaches soldiers within 24 blocks.
- Follow: the army escorts you and answers attacks.
- Hold: the army guards the spot where it stands. Use it with Watch Towers.
- Attack: the army hunts raiders first, then monsters, and moves faster.
Soldiers are yours alone: they never drop gear, so an army cannot be farmed for loot.
Buildings
You place every building from a blueprint item. The outline turns red and tells you why when it does not fit.
| Building | What it does |
|---|---|
| Town Center | The heart of the town. Holds the stockpile, trains the first soldiers and sells War Maps. |
| House | Raises your population limit. |
| Barracks | Trains Spearmen. |
| Archery Range | Trains Crossbowmen. |
| Blacksmith | Researches Forging, Fletching and Scale Armor for every soldier you own. |
| Stable | Trains Knights, each on an armored warhorse. |
| Watch Tower | Post archers and crossbowmen on its roof to defend the town. |
| Siege Workshop | Builds Battering Rams. |
Research upgrades at the Blacksmith.
Defend the town when the raiders come.
Camps, warlords and relics
Enemy camps are the other half of the game. Each one has guards, traps and loot, and the bigger ones have a warlord.
- Camps come in tiers. Bandit camps are the first step, Forts come next, and Keeps are the hardest. Their trophies unlock the ages.
- Themed camps. Poachers' Lodge, Smugglers' Dock, Quarry Stronghold, Witch Coven, Frozen Outpost, Cavalry Encampment, Sunken Crypt and Illager Hall each live in their own biome.
- Traps. Caltrops, alarm plates and horns, portcullises, rigged floors, powder kegs and reinforced gates.
- Warlords. Brakk, Arha and Mos guard the biggest camps. Each drops a signature weapon (Brakk's Cleaver, Arha's Warbow, Mos's Gravebane) and a piece of the Warlord set.
- Relics. Hag's Charm, Frost Sigil, Grave Lantern, Omen Banner and Warhorse Whistle sit on pedestals. Bring them all home for a full reliquary.
Soldiers drop no gear, so the loot you take is the loot you earned.
Learn it in the game
You never need this page to play.
- The Warbands Handbook is given on your first join and is cheap to craft again. It has illustrated pages for every building, unit and rule.
- The Warbands advancement tab walks the whole path, from "Plans in Hand" to "Metropolis".
- Menus and error messages say why something is disabled.
- English and Spanish are included.
Requirements
- Minecraft Java Edition 26.1.2 and Java 25
- Fabric Loader 0.19.5 or newer
- Fabric API (required)
- Required on both the client and the server
Status
This is a beta. Try it in a disposable world and back up any world you care about. Upgrading older saves and performance in very large battles have not been validated yet. Dedicated servers and multiplayer are not tested.
Open source
Warbands is released under CC0 1.0, which means public domain: you can read it, copy it, change it and reuse it in your own projects, with no attribution required.
Warbands is an independent mod and is not an official Minecraft product.
Warbands Team
