Hired Banners Wishlist
A ragged free company marches under a torn crimson banner, smoke and fire behind them.

Command soldiers. Turn them into heroes.

Lead a ragged free company from the bottom of the realm's fifty-banner ladder to Grand Company.

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Coming to Steam Early Access. Store page soon.

The Bannered Lands have not known a year without war, and every war needs hired swords.

You lead a free company at the bottom of the Heralds' rolls: eighteen soldiers, a hundred gold and a banner nobody has heard of. The realm's fifty companies are all after the same contracts. Take the work, fight it out round by round, bury the ones who fall, and see who still stands under your banner at the year's end.

A Sergeant asks for orders - Hold, Advance, Attack or Outflank - while the squads clash on a painted field, the turn bar above.

I · Command

Every squad waits for its order

Squads act down the turn bar in the order their Sergeants' Leadership sets. When it's one of yours, the Sergeant turns to you: Hold, Advance, Attack or Outflank. Then every blow is rolled: a d20 against armour, initiative, morale, the ground underfoot.

  • Attack or defend: attackers must reach the enemy before the Heralds call the field
  • Rivers, fords, woods, mud, ruins and palisades, each with its own rules
  • Skirmishes, small jobs and grand battles of three companies a side
  • Rival commanders with doctrines: the Bowmaster, the Bloodthirsty, the Ironclad
A soldier's record: portrait, life story, character traits and a career of battles, kills and wounds.

II · Create heroes

Every soldier has a name, a past and a record

A home, a former trade, a life story, and traits you only learn when they show in battle. Five kills or maimings and a soldier earns an epithet that stays with them for good. Nobody hands out heroes here: you find them in the ranks.

  • Brothers-in-arms forged by fighting side by side
  • A nemesis for every enemy who cuts one of yours down
  • Wounds that last; the dead go on the Roll of Honour
  • Painted duel cards for the blows that matter
The year's end: the Heralds read the rolls, the tier table and who rises and falls.

III · Climb

From rabble to Grand Company

Fifty companies across five tiers. Each year the top two of every tier rise and the bottom two fall. Between battles you run the company: recruit, pay wages, face the Pay Review, buy kit from an armoury of some sixty weapons and armours, and winter in the Iron Truce.

  • Contracts from five realms, each with its own politics and purse
  • Recruit from the tavern, the garrison levy or a rival's ranks
  • An endless campaign: every company you lead joins the Hall of Banners
  • Ironman, if you want every loss to stand
A painted view of the Bannered Lands: smoke rising from burning hills, a castle, and a column of banners on the road.

The Bannered Lands

Five realms pay for the fighting: the River Duchies, the Sable Republics, the Ashen Remnant, the Highland Holds and the Marches. None of them can field enough swords of its own. That's where you come in.

Fifty banners, one ladder

Every company in the league is a real rival with its own banner, commander and record. You start at the bottom with the Sellsword Rabble.

Grand Company the realm's finest

Banner of Note

Sworn Company

Hedge Company

Sellsword Rabble where you start

Made in the open

How Hired Banners is made

Hired Banners is made by one person, with AI tools, and says so up front.

Design
Every rule, every playtest, and every call on what goes in and what gets cut is made by the developer.
Code
Written with Claude, Anthropic's AI coding assistant, working to that design.
Art
Portraits, banners, paintings and the battlefield were generated with Recraft, then chosen, edited and put together by hand.
Sound
Sound effects, ambience and the narrator's voice were generated with ElevenLabs.
In play
Nothing in the game is generated by AI while you play.

The build is documented as it happens, mistakes included, in devlogs on YouTube.

Questions

When is it out?

Hired Banners is heading for Steam Early Access. There's no date yet. Wishlist it on Steam or join the Discord to hear first.

What platforms?

Windows first, with Steam Deck and Linux. Mac comes later.

What kind of game is it?

Turn-based tactics with company management. You don't control single soldiers: you give your Sergeants orders and the dice and your soldiers do the rest. The combat rules are built on tabletop d20 rules.

Is there a story?

The campaign is endless, and the stories come from your soldiers. There is a narrated tale of the realm, and years of service open a final chapter you can choose to end on.

Can I play it now?

Not yet. A small group of playtesters is playing alpha builds. Join the Discord to follow along.

Follow the company

The Steam store page is on its way. Until then, follow the build on YouTube and Reddit.

Press, creators and everything else: contact@hiredbanners.com · Press kit