War Sails takes Bannerlord to sea. The expansion launched on November 26, 2025, adds the Viking-inspired Nords and their Northern Kingdom, 18 ships you can buy, capture or upgrade, a naval combat system built on wind and water, three new seafaring skills, and a Custom Naval Battles mode for jumping straight into fleet fights. This guide covers only what TaleWorlds has officially confirmed about the expansion, and marks what is still unconfirmed instead of filling it in.
At a glance
Expansion: War Sails, for Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord
Launch: November 26, 2025
Launch list price: $24.99, with a 10% launch discount that has since expired
Platforms: PC (Steam, Epic, GOG), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
Requires the base game
New faction: Nords, in the Northern Kingdom
Ships: 18, buyable, capturable and upgradable
New skills: 3 seafaring skills
Also: Custom Naval Battles mode, and mariner troops for other factions
What War Sails adds
The headline is naval warfare, fully integrated into the campaign rather than bolted on as a separate mode. Calradia expands for the sea: a northern sea, islands, rivers and open waters, with the new Northern Kingdom sitting in a land of jagged peaks and icy fjords. You can trade with the Nords, recruit from them, or fight them, and the same campaign map now has to be read with coastlines, ports and sea lanes in mind. At launch the expansion also marked a milestone for the base game, which passed 6 million units sold, according to TaleWorlds announcement on launch day.
Getting to sea: ships and ports
Ships are the expansion unit of power. The 18 ships can be bought, captured from enemies, or upgraded, and ports can be upgraded as well. That gives you three routes onto the water: pay for a ship, take one in battle, or build up what you already own. What the launch material does not spell out is a full ship-by-ship stat table, so this guide does not invent one: pick ships by the role you need them for, learn their handling on the water, and upgrade the ports you actually sail from.
Buy: the straightforward route when you have the denars and a port that sells what you want.
Capture: a battle prize that costs you a fight instead of denars.
Upgrade: improve the ship you own, and upgrade the port behind it.
Naval combat: wind, water, ramming and boarding
Sea battles run on wind and water physics, not on land-battle rules with a blue background. Position matters through the wind, and a fight moves through stages: ranged exchanges first, then the close fight, where you can ram an enemy ship or board it outright. Ships can be crippled without being sunk: shatter their oars, tear their sails, or sink the hull, and each kind of damage takes away a different capability. Losing sails costs speed, losing oars costs manoeuvre, and a sinking hull ends the argument.
The practical lesson for a first-time captain is to fight the wind before you fight the enemy. A ship caught without wind or way is a target, and a boarding action launched from a bad approach hands the enemy your crew. Learn one ship handling in open water before you stake a campaign army on a sea battle.
The Nords and the Northern Kingdom
The Nords are the new faction of the expansion, a Viking-inspired people in the Northern Kingdom, and the north is built to feel different from the rest of Calradia: jagged peaks, icy fjords, and a coastline that rewards sea power. Other factions are not left on shore either: the expansion adds mariner troops to the existing factions, so the sea war is not a Nords-only affair. If your campaign is built around a non-Nord faction, you still get a navy; you just do not start in the north.
The three seafaring skills
War Sails adds three new seafaring skills to the character system, supporting sailing, ship handling and naval combat. The official launch material confirms the count and the theme, but does not publish a full perk-by-perk table in the sources used for this guide, so no perk names or exact effects are listed here. Open the skill screen in game and read what each skill actually changes before you plan a captain build around it.
Custom Naval Battles: fleet fights without the campaign
Custom Naval Battles is the expansion fast route to sea combat. It lets you set up and command a fleet engagement immediately, on River, Coastal or Open Sea maps, with no campaign progression required. Use it to learn ship handling, test a fleet composition, or settle a what-if, and take what you learn back into the campaign.
Should you buy it, and what to check first
You need the base game. War Sails is an expansion, not a standalone game.
Launch list price was $24.99, and the 10% launch discount has expired. Check the store page for any current discount before you buy; this guide does not quote a live price that may already have moved.
Single-player first. The expansion is a single-player campaign expansion; this guide covers the campaign game and only mentions multiplayer in passing.
Unconfirmed at check time: whether an existing campaign can sail into the new content without a restart, and the full ship stat table. Both are marked as gaps below rather than guessed.
FAQ
Do I need the base game for War Sails?
Yes. War Sails is an expansion for Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord and requires the base game.
How many ships does War Sails add?
18 ships, which can be bought, captured or upgraded, with ports that can be upgraded as well.
Can I try naval combat without a campaign?
Yes. Custom Naval Battles lets you set up fleet fights on River, Coastal or Open Sea maps with no campaign progression required.
Which platforms is War Sails on?
PC via Steam, Epic Games Store and GOG, plus PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
Is the launch discount still available?
No. The 10% launch discount has expired. Check the store page for the current price before buying.