Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord’s War Sails patch lets you raid villages from the sea

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord’s naval expansion War Sails has just received a major new patch, and the headline feature is exactly the sort of thing you would hope for from a Viking-flavored seafaring update: coastal village raids launched straight from the water.

The new War Sails v1.2 / Bannerlord v1.4 update is available now on PC, with a console release due to follow. Its biggest addition is Seaborne Village Raids, which allow players and AI lords to attack coastal settlements from the sea or rivers. To do so, you will need a shallow draft ship and at least 15 troops, because apparently rowing up to someone’s village and politely asking for their valuables still requires a bit of planning.

Once a raid begins, village militia will judge whether they have a realistic chance of fighting back. If they do, the assault triggers a dedicated seaborne village raid mission. If not, the village yields and the looting begins immediately. TaleWorlds says the system is designed to increase naval activity, give lords more to do at sea, and add new fleet considerations to the campaign layer.

The raids play out across 16 newly designed coastal scenes, giving War Sails players fresh mission spaces rather than simply bolting the new feature onto existing maps.

There is plenty more in the patch as well. Bannerlord itself gets improved hideout gameplay with better stealth options, an overhauled diplomacy system with smarter wars, alliances, and trade agreements, and tweaks to battles and sieges. Armies now require a larger force to form and will disband faster if they are too weak, which should mean fewer useless doomstacks wandering around and more capable forces when trouble kicks off.

On the War Sails side, naval activity has been increased, with enemy nobles now targeting coastal ports and sea lanes during wartime. Naval battles have also been adjusted, including the option to delegate ship control to the crew so players can move and fight more freely during combat.

The update also adds two new naval party roles, three new Nord wanderer types, two new ships, new armor, and nine Nord helmets. The new ships are the Battanian Barlinnger, a sturdier vessel built for larger engagements, and the Nord Battle Knarr, which can carry ballistae and larger crews.

War Sails launched in November 2025, and this update feels like the kind of post-launch expansion that gives its naval systems more bite. Bannerlord has always been at its best when a plan goes horribly wrong in three different directions, and letting players start trouble from the sea should provide plenty more opportunities for that.

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