In Bellwright, managing your settlements and defenses is a core part of the survival experience. While your personal army is crucial, the militias you can raise from liberated villages offer a strategic layer of defense and support. This guide will walk you through how to unlock, build, and effectively use village militias to protect your territories and support your campaigns.
Prerequisites for Building Militias
Before you can call upon the local militia, you must first establish control over a village. This requires liberating it from bandits or other threats and constructing key buildings to increase its prosperity and military capacity.
- Liberate the Village: Clear any hostile camps and defeat the occupying forces to take control of the town.
- Construct the Village Bell Tower: This is the first and most critical building. It officially liberates the settlement, grants trust and prosperity, and doesn’t cost construction points.
- Gather Construction Resources: You’ll need ample wood, stone, and other materials like straps (crucial early on, often bought from exiled craftsmen) to build the necessary military structures.
Step 1: Increase Village Prosperity
Prosperity is the key metric that determines the size and quality of the militia you can raise. Higher prosperity unlocks more construction points and allows you to build better training facilities.
Best Buildings for Prosperity
Focus on constructing buildings that give the highest prosperity yield per construction point. Based on community testing and gameplay, the optimal early path is:
- Village Vault: Provides a massive 4,500 prosperity points. Building two of these early sets a strong foundation.
- Village Cattle Pen: Adds another 3,000 prosperity points.
- Village Houses & Greeneries: Use your remaining construction points on these to steadily increase prosperity and population. Houses also provide beds for militia troops, which affects their morale.
Pro-Tip: Avoid spending valuable early-game resources on low-yield decorative buildings. Prioritize the high-prosperity structures listed above to reach higher militia tiers faster.
Step 2: Construct Military Training Buildings
Once you have a solid prosperity base (aiming for Level 5, which requires 15,000 points), invest your construction points into military buildings. These directly determine the type and number of militia troops available.
Key Military Structures
- Barracks: Trains and equips additional standard militia troops.
- Archery Range: Equips and provides additional archers to the militia force.
- Training Grounds: Specifically adds more Light Infantry to the available pool.
Each building you construct increases the total militia count shown in the village management screen. A fully developed village can provide a mix of infantry, archers, and heavy troops.
Warning: These buildings require significant resources, including planks and metal. Ensure your supply chains from outposts are established before committing to a major military build-up in multiple villages.
Step 3: Raising and Managing the Militia
With buildings in place, you can now raise the militia from the village management interface. This converts the available villagers into a temporary military unit under your command.
How to Raise Them
- Open the settlement management screen for the liberated village.
- Locate the militia section, which shows the available troop types (e.g., 9 Infantry, 2 Heavy).
- Click the “Raise Militia” button. This will cost a substantial amount of gold upfront (e.g., 2,000 gold).
- The militia unit will spawn near the village bell tower and can be commanded like your personal troops.
Critical Limitations and Morale
Militias are not professional soldiers. They have key limitations you must manage:
- Morale: If the village lacks sufficient housing (beds), the militia’s morale will be low, making them less effective in combat. Always ensure you have built enough Village Houses.
- Strength: Village militias are generally weaker than your personally equipped and leveled companions. They often have basic gear and lower stats.
- Cost: The gold cost is recurring each time you raise them. Don’t keep them raised indefinitely unless necessary.
Step 4: Effective Tactical Deployment
Understanding the militia’s role is crucial. They are best used as a supplementary force, not your primary army.
Defensive Use Case: Slowing Down Attacks
When a Reclamation party (like Brigands) marches on a town, your local militia can be raised to slow them down or harass them. However, as seen in testing, a militia alone is often insufficient to defeat a determined Reclamation force. Use them to buy time for your main army to arrive or to weaken the enemy before your elite troops engage.
Example: A Brigand party is crossing a bridge towards your liberated town of Farnsworth. You can raise the Farnsworth militia to meet them at the bridgehead. While they may not win, they will inflict casualties and delay the advance, allowing you to ferry your main forces via a nearby river dock to finish the job.
Offensive Use Case: Combined Operations
The most effective way to use militias is in tandem with your own forces. Use them as a screening force, a flanking detachment, or to overwhelm weaker bandit camps.
- Raise the militia from a village close to your target.
- March your personal, well-equipped army as the main spearhead.
- Use the militia to engage enemy skirmishers or to attack from a different direction, dividing the enemy’s attention.
Pro-Tip: Use the game’s travel sign and dock network strategically. You can raise a militia in one village and quickly move your main army from another location via fast travel to combine forces rapidly at the battle site.
Step 5: Long-Term Village & Militia Strategy
For a sustainable defense network, consider your village locations strategically.
Centralized Militia Hubs
Choose village locations that allow for rapid mutual support. A village built in a central location on the map, near key bridges or river crossings (where Brigands often march), is ideal. This allows you to raise militias from multiple towns to converge on a single threat.
Example of a Prime Location: The open area centrally located between Herodin and Padto, near major bridges. Building and fortifying a village here lets you intercept attacks moving towards multiple settlements. Constructing a river dock nearby allows for even faster troop movement.
Next Steps: From Militia to Garrison
Once your resource economy is robust, consider transitioning from temporary militias to a permanent garrison system. This involves:
- Stationing a few of your own high-level, well-equipped companions permanently in key border villages.
- Using the village’s militia as a reinforcing force for these garrison commanders.
- Creating a “defense in depth” where enemy parties are worn down by militia and outpost guards before reaching your heartlands.
Remember, militias are a tool of logistics and strategy. They won’t replace your core army, but used wisely, they can be the force multiplier that secures your burgeoning kingdom in Bellwright.
