How to create and move armies in Total War Saga Thrones of Britannia? Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia Guide & Tips
Last update: 14 May 2018
Armies are the backbone of your military might. You can't move single units. Instead, you have to create an army of them that is led by a character or your heir. Province capitals have their garrisons but you can't move them around the map. However, you can control them during battles. In Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia, moving your armies and commanding them in battles are one of the most important and frequent activities.
Creating an army
To create an army, you have to select a settlement or a town and click on the button that allows you to make a new general. That button can be found in the information panel located on the bottom of the screen.
Then, you have to move to a settlement or a town and open the recruitment screen (the button is located in the same place where the general recruitment button is). You can recruit as many units as you want from your overall pool. Remember to have enough gold for recruiting and maintaining those units. Food is also very important. Unlock a specific technology tree to get better units (gray portraits with red icons). You don't need specialized structures to train units.
The game has a limitation - you can recruit only a certain number of units (this is represented by your overall pool of available units). You can recruit only those units that are currently available. Each turn has a certain percentage chance of a new unit to become available, but never above the maximum recruitment limit for a given type of unit. Your maximum limit and a chance of new units to appear can be increased by capturing new provinces and estates as well as by developing certain technologies.
How to move an army?
Select an army to see their range of movement. The game automatically takes into account terrain and roads. Right-click on a place to order your army to move there. Armies need beaches or settlements with ports to be able to board ships. Click anywhere on a water body to order your armies to enter ships or to sail to a given spot. Most of the nations (those who aren't Vikings) don't feel well on sea and their combat abilities are lowered when they fight aboard ships.
If you click on an area that is outside of a current reach, you will add this move to the next turn. You can, e.g. click on an enemy settlement located far away - your army will keep moving there until it reaches its destination. This solution is helpful when you have a lot of armies. On the other hand, you will have to pay attention to what is happening around you (amount of food, are there any enemies nearby etc.).
How to attack enemies?
A red outline informs you about a possibility of participating in a battle. You can use this information to go around an enemy or to bring reinforcements. Move your cursor on a hostile army or a settlement to see arrows from your own armies or town garrisons located nearby. Thanks to that you can call for reinforcements and increase your chance to win a battle. This can be also used to your advantage when you want to attack an army that is near a town. Instead of participating in a siege, you will have a regular battle.
Remember that you can still use remaining movement points after a battle. However, capturing a settlement or a town ends a turn for a given army (regardless of how many points are left).
You can increase movement reach of your armies by assigning generals with movement bonuses or by investing in Quartermaster skill (e.g. it increases a movement reach). You can also use ships and move along shores to perform an amphibian attack. Your army can be moved on land automatically after winning and capturing that location. If possible, end your movement in settlements (this speeds up troops replenishment and it allows you to defend settlements from enemies) or you can stop in towns that are easy to defend or in places that block enemies from moving (e.g. in front of a bridge or on a crossroad).