Mercenary ArmIes

Unlike normal Levies or Men-At-Arms, Mercenaries are armies from outside your realm that can be hired by rulers for 3 years. The gold cost is paid upon hiring the Mercenaries and there is no additional upkeep cost like there is when Men-At-Arms are raised. At the end of the 3 year period they will disappear from your control and the map if their contract is not extended. The Mercenary army’s rate will be the same as the initial cost of hiring the army.

For every culture there are between one (1) and three (3) mercenary companies depending on the number of Counties of that culture, with each additional company being bigger and more expensive than the previous one. The Mercenary army will pick a County of their culture as their headquarters and will be available to be hired by anyone with a capital within diplomatic range of that County. Range between Mercenary armies come with one or more specific Men-At-Arms regiments, contain a number of knights, and is led by a Mercenary Captain. Mercenary regiments reinforce three (3) times faster than regular regiments.

How to Hire a Mercenary Army

To hire a Mercenary Army to fight for you in a War, Holy War, or Great Holy War you will need to go to Military tab. The Military tab is on the right side of your screen on the vertical toolbar and is represented as the red coat of arms. If you are not sure hover over the icon without clicking and the name of the tab will pop up. Once the military screen pops up you will see two buttons at the top (Raise All Armies & Disband All) these are fixed and will stay with you as you change tabs on the military screen. You will see that you are currently on “Your Armies” tab when the military screen opens. Now click on the one next to it titled “Mercenaries”

From here you will see a list of different Mercenary armies to select from. All Mercenary armies are Duchy-Rank titles and will have different names based on their culture and location. Underneath the name you will see the different Men-At-Arms regiments belonging to the army. In the upper right of each row will show the amount of armies and quality of army next to that number. Below that will show you the amount of gold needed to hire there service.

The amount of gold will be highlighted in red if it will put you into Debt to hire the Mercenary army. If the number is highlighted in red there will be one (1) of two (2) warnings. The first is a yellow triangle that tells you that you will be put into Debt. This warning means you can still hire the army, as you have enough monthly gold (with armies unraised) to get out of Debt within 24 months. The other symbol is a red circle warning. You won’t be able to hire this group as you would still be in Debt after 24 months.

Basically you are allowed to go into Debt for up to 2 years in order to hire Mercenary armies.

Mercenary Army Names

Mercenary armies select a name based on their culture and their location. Below is a table showing the possible Mercenary army names:

Culture/ Culture GroupNames
DefaultCulture adjective Band of location
Akan GroupAshanti Band, Company of the Volta, Followers of Akwei
Arabic GroupMamluks
BedouinWanderers, company of location
MashriqiSarkans of location, Company of the Oasis, Desert Brethren
EgyptianHost of the Nile, Keepers of the Lighthouse
MaghrebiUnion of Swords, Army of the Senator
AndalusianAlmogavars of location, Mawali Band, Treasurers of location
Baltic GroupBaltic Band, Riders of the Coast, Company of the Deeplands
ButrArmy of the Crossing, Location Band, Riders of the Mountains
BaranisFollowers from location, Company of location
Burman GroupArakan Band, Company of the Valley
BurmeseCompany of Irrawadd, Burmese Host
MonSadhuim Company, Mon Host
Byzantine GroupManglabites, ten thousand
GreekVarangian Guard, Herules, Hoplites of location
GeorgianVeterans of Chaldia
Central African groupSahelian Band, Company of the Chad, Company of Gambra, Followers of Bayajida, Followers of Sundiata
PictishWoad Raiders
WelshLawgoch’s Followers, Band of the Horn
BretonCompany of Bretons
CornishBodyguards of Gwendolen
SaxonTeutonic Brotherhood, Saxon Steelbearers, Hansa Guard, Sons of Widukind
FranconianGreat Company, Franconian Company, Thuringian Blades, Rhenish Band, New Franks
SwabianSwabian Band, Alsace Fighters, Alemannic Sellswords, Helvetic Guard
BavarianBavarian Band, Austrian Company, Tyrol Warriors, Sytrian Panthers
DutchCompany of the Brabancon Wolf, Flemish Band, Company of the False-Earl
German Great Company, Veterans of the Marches, Swiss Guard
Dravidian GroupVelaikkarar of location, Company of the Tiger, Tungabhadra Gang, Dreamers of the Jog, Company of the Ghats, Guards of Rama Setu, terrors of Tamilakam, Company of Koyil
EthiopianGe’ezan Company, Tigrayit Band
NubianNoba Company, kushite Band, Company of Meroe
WelaytaCompany of the Leopard, Gondershe Band, Guardians of Almnara
DajuArmy of the Crossing, Beja Place band, Riders of the Mountains
East SlavicKievan Band, Varangian Host, Raiders of Caspia, Company of the Rus, Followers of Oleg
FrenchTard-Venus de location, Band of location, Routiers of location, location Band
NormanBand of the Black Monk, Iron Arm’s Company, Normas of Drengot
OccitanRoutiers of the Archpriest, Host of the Viscount, Marchers of Wasconia,
IrishBand of Kerns, Madhmann’s Company, Company of Shield and Scian
GaelicGallowglasses, Redshanks
Iberian GroupAlmogavars of location, Almogavars of location
BasqueNavarrese Company
CastillianSlaughterers, Band of the Brigand Emperor
Catalan Great Catalan Company
PortugueseCount’s Exiles
GalicianSlaughterers, Band of the Brigand Emperor
AsturleoneseSlaughterers, Band of the Brigand Emperor
AragoneseSlaughterers, Band of the Brigand Emperor
Indo-Aryan GroupTigers of location, Apabhransa Band
BengaliCompany of the Delta, Bengal Host
OriyaOryia Band, Company of Odisha
HindustaniCompany of Many Colors, Hindustani Band, Company of the Ganges
GujaratiCompany of the Great Rann, Band of the Nilgai, Company of the Stone Anchor
PunjabiCompany of the Punjab, Host of Sangala
Rajput Rajaputra Band, Company of the Exile, Followers of the Priest King
SindhiCompany of the Dead Men, Harappan Band
MarathiCompany of Rou Kings, Servants of the Vatandar, Badami Companions
KashmiriCompany of Kashmir, Host of Kashmir
SinhalaCompany of the Staff, Rice Grain Band
IranianGhilman, Warriors of Zaranj, location Cataphracts
PersianBand of Medes, Immortals of location
SogdianCompany of Sogdiana, Sogdian Warriors
TocharianBand of Tokharoi
KurdishBand of Sermaj
AfghanKhorasani Band, Company of Shahids
BalochCompany of Makran, Westwards Band
DaylamiteDaylamite Company, Band of Sermaj
KhwarezmianCompany of Khwarezm, Khwarezmian Warriors
TajikCompany of Bukhara, Dehqan Warriors
Latin GroupCompany of the Bull
ItalianCompany of the Star, Black Band, Italian Condottiere Band
CisalpineCompany of Saint George, Company of the Star, Company of the Hat, Company of the Rose, Cisalpine, Condottiere Band
Sardinian Sardinian Band
SicilianSicilian Condottiere Band, Sicilian Band
LombardLongbeard Band
Magyar GroupBand of the Fields, Band of the Arrow Rain, Company of the Saint
Mongolic GroupLocation Horde, Army Under the Sky, Riders of Mongol location, True Khan’s Faithful, Company of the Yurt, Steppe Dancer’s Band, Chastisement of location, Band of the Father, Company of the Goad
North Germanic GroupThinglith, Army of Kylfingar, Company of Jarl Landless, Huscaris of the Sea, Band of Firesmoke, Queen’s Hird
SwedishGota Band
NorwegianBirchers of location
DanishBorder Reaver’s Band
Sahelian GroupSahelian Band, Company of Awkar, Followers of Kayamagha
Senegambian GroupSahelian band, Company of Gambra, Followers of Sundiata
SomaliCompany of the Leopard, Gondershe Band, Guardians of Almnara
BejaArmy of the Crossing, Beja Place Band, Riders of the Mountains
AfarCompany of the Leopard, Gondershe Band, Guardians of Almnara
South Slavic GroupStratioti of location, Wayfarers of location, Band of location Stratioti
BosnianBitter-Winter Band, Knezevi of the Road, Forest Wolves
Serbian Allemannic Guard
VlachSheperds of the Romans
BulgarianCompany of the Skull Cup, Brothers of Bayan
Turkic GroupLocation Horde, Army Under the Sky, Turkic Riders of location, True Khan’s Faithful, Company of the Yurt, Steppe Dancer’s Band, Chastisement of location, Band of the Father, Company of the Goad
West AfricanSahelian Band, Company of the Gambra, Followers of Sundiata
EnglishWhite Company, Hawkwood’s Band
Anglo-SaxonRetinue of Hengist, Wake’s Guard, Band of Horsa
ScotsBorder Reivers, Warband of the Great Hall, Company of the King’s Son
West Slavic GroupCompanions of the Woods
PomeranianOder Free Company, Company of the Dog
CzechFree Lances of Branys, Army of the Ore, Company of the Cruel Hand
PolishDruzynan Host, Free COmpany of the Pospolite
PolabianBand of the Fallen Knez, Company of the Stout Horse
SlovienFreelances of Velehrad, Army of Morava Bend, Company of the Faithbearers
Yoruba GroupYoruba Band, Company of the Niger, Followers of Oduduwa