Warlords and Barbarians

Camps

• A camp's defenders rise onto the camp tile the first time a unit comes for it, and never leave it.
• The early game has two phases, timed by the difficulty level. First, after a short delay, the camps raise raiders: one at a time, and a party patrols close to home while it grows. Then, at the grace turn, the borders open to them.
• Until the grace turn the raiders will keep out of every civilization's borders. They will fight units outside them.
• Raids grow with the camp: its first party is a single unit that sets out at once, and each party after waits for one more unit than the last, up to the setting's largest raid. A party sent out before the grace turn roams and hunts in the open; from the grace turn it raids.
• A raid marches on the nearest city within the camp's raid radius on the same landmass, or, with no city in reach, on the improvements near the camp. The camp then begins raising the next one.
• A raid in the field goes for what it can see: an enemy stack in the open within 3 tiles that it can beat comes first, then an undefended city or an improvement to burn, and only with nothing closer worth fighting does it carry on to the city it set out for. A stack that gets away is not chased out of sight.
• Raiders charge the city they were sent to whatever stands on it; it is an undefended city or an open improvement in sight that pulls them aside.
• A camp claims the tiles around it: you cannot found a city on or next to one until it is cleared.
• The Great Wall shuts barbarians out of its owner's territory: raids never target anything inside it, no path leads them in, and completing it puts out every barbarian unit already inside.

Barbarian settings (chosen at game setup)

• No Barbarians: no warlord camps at all.
• Passive Barbarians: the camps defend themselves but never raid.
• Normal Barbarians: 20 grace turns; one raider every 8 turns; raids grow from 1 unit to 4 units; raid radius 10 tiles; at most 10 raiders alive per camp.
• Raging Barbarians: 0 grace turns; one raider every 3 turns; raids grow from 1 unit to 6 units; raid radius 14 tiles; at most 18 raiders alive per camp.

Taking a camp

Kill the garrison and move a unit onto the camp. What happens next is an event drawn for the camp's tier: tribute, a captive, a hoard, a vault. Spare the warlord and they may join you with their unit; other choices pay gold or hand over an artifact.

Garrisons at Governor: easier difficulty levels field fewer troops in the same camp, harder ones more.

• Warband (difficulty 1): the warlord and 2 x Clubman.
• Stronghold (difficulty 2): the warlord and 3 x Spearman.
• Fortress (difficulty 3): the warlord and 3 x Spearman, 2 x Archer.

Camp events

• The High Ground (difficulty up to 1)
• To The Victor Goes The Spoils (difficulty up to 1)
• Who Needs Enemies... (difficulty up to 1)
• All That Glitters... (difficulty 2 and up)
• That's Right... A Slaver!' (difficulty 2 and up)
• The Man Trap (difficulty 2 and up)
• A Beautiful Mind (difficulty 3 and up)
• The Clubfather (difficulty 3 and up)
• The Cultists (difficulty 3 and up)

Warlords

Garrick, Ragnar, Zoe

Ruins and tribal villages

The map is also dotted with ancient ruins and tribal villages. Move a unit onto one to see what it holds. Ruins are looted on the spot; a tribal village puts a choice to you, and some choices cost gold or turn hostile. See Ruins and Tribal Villages.