- For the With Fire & Sword version, see Rebel.
- For the Bannerlord version, see Deserter (Bannerlord).
Deserters are tiers-two-to-four bandit troops in Mount&Blade and Warband.
Tactics[]
The biggest difference between them and the more common bandits is that Deserters are usually stronger and have much better equipment - this is because their gangs mainly come from regular factions. Sometimes appearing in big high-tier groups, they will never spawn as tier-one recruits or as tier-five (six for Nord Huscarls) elite troops. If they interact with the player, they will demand a bribe amounting to a percentage of the player's current denars.
Deserters are soldiers who have left their kingdoms to live as "free brothers". The player can encounter them anywhere but they are more common in border regions where conflicts have occurred. They usually come in medium-sized parties of a single troop type (e.g. 20 Swadian Militia). Due to their parties' higher troop quality, Deserters are often more hostile than similarly sized Looter parties and will usually drop much better equipment than other bandit-type parties. Low-to-mid tier infantry Deserters are good targets at early levels, as they usually have decent gear to be looted, provided you are mounted and have a lance of some sort or a powerful ranged weapon. Most Deserters will lack any kind of ranged attack or weapons long enough to counter a solitary rider gradually tearing away at their flanks. A particularly skilled player, even during early game, may choose to attack higher-tier infantry or even cavalry, as enemy riders often cannot compete with the more intelligent maneuvering of a human rider.
As Deserters that split off from a lord's party will always be made up exclusively of a single troop type, unless they have freed prisoners from another party, specific strategies can usually be devised on how one wishes to deal with them. Infantry and archers can usually be trampled by groups of cavalry with little worry while heavy cavalry should usually be lured or chased into favorable terrain before they are engaged in order to minimize friendly casualties. Light and skirmish cavalry can be dealt with by holding firm in a deep formation or simply crushing them with heavier cavalry.
If the player's party's morale has reached a certain low point and they do not have enough money or food to sustain the party, half its members will be randomly selected to defect and form a band of Deserters, which will immediately engage the remainder of the player's party without giving them a chance to escape.
