Militia in Manor Lords is cheap to raise and expensive to lose — every casualty is a worker who was also doing a job, so the goal is not just winning fights but winning them without losses.
Spears are the entry point. One iron ore becomes one slab becomes one spear, which makes a 100-iron deposit worth 100 armed men. A spear militia held in a defensive stance, standing still and facing the charge, clears raiders and bandit camps with no losses at all — the trick is to hold the line until every attacker has committed, then flip to aggressive.
Armour decides close fights, and armour is gated by housing tier: tier-1 plots supply helmets, tier-2 adds gambesons, tier-3 adds chainmail. A fully mailed 36-man regiment needs roughly 18 tier-3 plots behind it, which is why the food and variety work above is also military work.
Two structural notes worth knowing early: create all six militia groups before building your first manor house, since the manor's retinue otherwise eats a slot; and hire dangerous mercenary companies before contesting a region, because if you don't, the AI will and you may face them instead.
Warfare & Militia
Stand still, defensive stance, face the charge. Once every bandit reaches the line, flip aggressive.
A tired regiment can lose a fight an identical fresh one would win comfortably — factor march time into when you engage, not just where.
The manor spawns a retinue that eats a slot. Pre-created groups let you exceed the cap — you only need to CREATE them, not fill them.
If you don't hire them, the AI will, and you can end up facing 10–15 regiments in a single battle.
The contract fee isn't one-time — disband a company right after the fight to stop the drain.
Running out of local ore stalls all tool production until a new territory picks up the slack — line up capacity there first.
