Regular conscripted units, bought with Bronze and unlocked with Honour, have formed the bulk of every army that has ever marched across the lands of Conqueror’s Blade. It is now possible to augment those units with Mercenaries - warriors that fight for profit (rather than principles and the promise of a hot meal) and that can provide useful income and XP bonuses for your whole Warband. For a price!

That price must either be paid for in Silver or Sovereigns via the Unit Tree screen, which gets you a contract to unlock the unit you wish to (permanently) hire without having to spend precious Honour points. You can also purchase Mercenaries for Silver via the War Scholar.

Mercenary units don’t add points towards Era unlocking, but you are required to have unlocked the requisite Era before acquiring them. As a whole, Mercenaries are separate from the main branches of the Unit Tree and cannot be upgraded in the same way. Instead, Mercenary units come with full Veterancy points (Level 20).

Black Dragon Javelineers

Price: 2,900 Sovereigns / 400,000 Silver

Black Dragon Archers

Price: 1,500 Sovereigns / 250,000 Silver

Black Dragon Pikemen

Price: 4,900 Sovereigns / 700,000 Silver

Black Dragon Spearmen

Price: 4,900 Sovereigns / 700,000 Silver

Sea Stag Deathdealers

Price: 2,900 Sovereigns / 400,000 Silver

There are two advantages to having Mercenary units in your Warband. The first is that they equip themselves, which means that you don’t have to worry about resupplying them with unit kits after a battle. The second advantage is that, when a Mercenary unit is picked for battle, you get a 10% boost to Bronze, Honour and XP income, which can be stacked with any Battle XP Card or Premium Account time that you have active. Note however that while you can have more than one Mercenary unit active in your Warband, you will only receive a single 10% bonus.

If you’re reluctant to part with Sovereigns in order to recruit Mercenary units to your cause, the best way to amass Silver is via Field and Siege Battles, eliminating Rebel Camps and completing Free Battles - unlocking Secret Vaults (and receiving your max allotted Vault Keys from Weekly Quests) along the way. Selling any equipment that you don’t need or want will help too.