Party Size and Morale: Commanding the Masses

Managing a warband in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord is a balancing act. You want a massive army to crush your enemies, but a large army eats more food, moves slower, and requires strict discipline to prevent desertion. This guide covers how to safely expand your party limit and keep morale high.

How to Increase Party Size

Your party size limit determines how many troops you can field before suffering severe penalties to morale and speed.

Increasing your party size is essential for late-game conquests.

1. Clan Tier (Renown)

The most consistent way to grow your party is by increasing your Clan Tier. Gain Renown by winning battles, winning tournaments, and completing quests. Each tier significantly bumps your cap.

2. Steward Skill (Quartermaster)

This is the single biggest factor. Assign yourself or a companion with high Steward skill as the Quartermaster in the Clan screen.

• Every skill point in Steward adds roughly 0.25 to your party size.

• A level 300 Steward can add 75+ troops alone!

• See our guide on Steward Skill Leveling for tips on grinding this fast.

3. Leadership Skill

The Leadership tree has several perks that flatly increase party size, such as Leader of the Masses.

• Read more in our Leadership Skill Leveling guide.

4. Kingdom Policies

If you are a King or an influential vassal, vote for policies like Noble Retinues (+40 party size for Tier 5+ clans) and Royal Guard (+60 for the ruler).

Understanding Morale

Morale is the "health bar" of your party's discipline. It fluctuates based on recent events, food, and payment.

Keep an eye on the morale tooltip to catch issues before troops desert.

Why Morale Matters

1. Battle Performance: Troops with low morale flee faster when the battle turns against you. High morale troops fight to the death.

2. Map Speed: High morale grants a small but useful speed bonus. See Party Speed Explained for more details.

3. Desertion: If morale drops below ~20, troops will start leaving during the night.

How to Boost Morale

• Food Variety: Do not just feed them grain! Each unique food type (Grain, Meat, Fish, Cheese, Butter, etc.) adds a morale bonus.

  • Check out Food, Morale & Wages Management for logistics tips.

• Winning Battles: Victories provide a temporary but massive boost.

• Leadership Perks: Many perks in the Leadership tree give passive morale bonuses or reduce morale loss from party size.

Invest in perks that keep morale high to sustain long campaigns.

Conclusion

A massive army is useless if they run away at the first sign of trouble. Balance your expansion with your ability to feed and pay your men. Prioritize the Steward skill early to unlock the capacity for a true legion.