How to form a Manor Lords militia

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How to set up a militia
Militia types
Weapons, shields, and armor

Forming a Manor Lords militia is a vital early step if you want to defend your territory, but you'll need lots of weapons and townspeople ready to fight. The mechanic isn't especially well explained, which can mean defending your land from bandits, or seeing off rival lords if you're pursuing a more expansionist approach, can be a tricky aspect of this city-builder-meets-tactics game to master. Even once you've convinced some armed peasants to fight, you still need to order them around and increase their ranks. I've explained how to set up a militia in Manor Lords below so you'll always be prepared for battle.

How to set up a Manor Lords militia

The basics of setting up a militia in Manor Lords involve having enough people, having sufficient weapons, and simply telling them to be an army:

Build your village until you have at least 36 male settlers.
Click "create new units" using the Army button on your toolbar.
Assess your weapons and shields, then select and form the most relevant militia.
Rally your troops when needed for battle.

To help you get started, you'll get a certain amount of weapons just from your town existing but you'll want to expand and level up aspects of your burgage plots to get more and mount a real fighting force, which I'll explain in more detail below.

Alternatively, remember that you can entirley skip all the hassle of raising armies if you play the combat-free Rise to Prosperity Manor Lords scenario. You can also check out our Manor Lords tips for general helpful advice on starting out.

Manor Lords militia types

There are four militia types in Manor Lords, each requiring specific weapons or shields:

Militia Footmen (sidearms, small shields)
Spear Militia (spears, large shields)
Polearm Militia (polearms)
Archer Militia (warbows)

In order to reach a minimum headcount for your militia you will need high enough Manor Lords approval to get enough people living in your settlement. Then you can rally recruits for battle when you are under attack or wish to challenge rival lords for more territory.

How to get weapons in Manor Lords

How to get Manor Lords weapons — (Image credit: Hooded Horse)

If you see "equipment missing" when you hover over the militia panel in Manor Lords then you need weapons. Every default run of Manor Lords gives you some starter weapons but to get more, or access different types and shields, you must construct a backyard extension on a Manor Lords Level 2 Burgage plot and turn the residents into artisans to make them.

However, you'll first need to know how to build regional wealth in Manor Lords, as some backyard extensions do cost money to begin with. Luckily, most combat-relevant backyard extensions require resources instead of money. These backyard extensions give you more weapons in Manor Lords:

Armorer's Workshop (produces helmets for any militia type)
Blacksmith's Workshop (produces smithing tools, spears, and sidearms)
Bowyer's Workshop (produces warbows)
Joiner's Workshop (produces wooden parts and all shield types)

Note that blacksmiths need raw materials like Iron Ore, as well as a villager assigned to a nearby Bloomery to refine it into Iron Slabs to make weapons. If you're not seeing weapon production once you have things set up, work your way through the production line to make sure that you have all the required industry structures artisans might need resources from, and that everything has a worker assigned.

You can also get weapons by establishing Manor Lords Trade Routes via the Trading Post. You can purchase polearms, warbows, and other weapons if you'd rather not restrict a family to being an artisan-only household, since you cannot reassign families once you turn their Burgage plot into one of the workshops listed above.