BattleMaster Basics

This is the rock-bottom need-to-know stuff for your first turn playing BattleMaster, for the impatient player who just wants to get started.

If you have slightly more time, and enjoy reading some roleplaying, we also recommend the introduction, which is less technical but contains other valuable information.

To get the absolute best use out of this page, open it in a separate browser window, and open the game in another window, so that you can switch back and forth.

Creating a character

Create an Account
Create a Character
Select an island

We recommend that you review the Island Descriptions page and select the island types that most appeal to you, and the style/type of island you wish to explore and play. If research is not your style pick an island at random and have fun. Do remember that the first region you start in will be your families home, and that is very difficult to change.

Select a realm

There are several criteria you should consider when choosing a realm. Stability, government type, realm summary, and finally, size in characters, regions and income. The key is to get yourself involved in a situation where you and your character can best flourish. Find the realm that seems to best fit you (here's a fairly complete list of all of the realms) and the idea you have for your character.

Your starting unit - for your first character, either infantry or archers are fine. Infantry will give you more action, while archers will probably survive a little longer.

Your First Turn

BattleMaster is a social game, and people who join a realm but do not speak or ask questions or join in the conversation are likely to be viewed with mistrust. When you joined, everyone got a message letting them know that you're here and you're new, but you still have to introduce yourself.

Note that some types of information are disabled for your first three days of play. So are many actions, including class-change, emmigration, voting, and visiting regions outside the realm. Most of these shouldn't be an issue for you yet, except the last one-- it pretty much means you can't join in a battle outside your borders unless you find a more senior player to escort you. The game gives no indication of how many turns the travel restriction lasts, but it should automatically be lifted after 7 days.

Go to your Messages page, via the sidebar. From all the options there, the one you want for now is near the bottom: all players of your realm. Select it and hit continue.

Let's send an in-character message. Go to the Message Type pull-down box, and select Roleplay. Then type your message. Here are some examples, for a character named Armand, joining Keplerstan. There are lots of styles, and feel free to make use of the limited HTML markup (allowed commands are listed below the message box, under "Syntax Help".)

Sample Introductory Messages

Hello, everyone! My name is Armand, and I've come to join your great realm. I am new, and not sure what to do. Where should I go?

Greetings, fellow troop leaders! I am Armand Broadsword, and I have decided to become a soldier and make my fortunes.

I will serve this realm to the best of my ability. Show me the ropes, and you'll soon find that I'm the best thing that's ever happened to Keplerstan.

A dark figure on horseback crosses the border into Keplerstan, at the head of a small group of armed men, all in uniform and carrying an unfamiliar standard. They travel all night before finally stopping at a local inn.

"Where am I?" the dark figure asks the innkeeper.

"Keplerstan, sir!"

The dark figure looks around and nods. "Good. This realm should do nicely. I think I'll stick around. Send a message to your King, and tell him that Armand Broadsword has arrived, and pledges his loyalty."

How Hours Work

Time in Battlemaster is divided into turns. Two turns run per day, at 6am and 6pm, server time (The server resides in Germany). Each turn, you will get eight hours to spend. You may spend them at any time during the turn, but if you do not spend them, up to four hours carry over to the next turn. You will never have more than 12 hours to spend in a turn.

Most actions cause you to immediately spend hours from your total. Once you have spent all your hours, you must wait until the next turn to get eight more. You will usually not spend all of your hours every turn, especially when travelling.

Free Actions

Some actions can be done without spending any hours at all. These include:

Reading and sending messages
All the functions under Paperwork and Information
A few other things that are unimportant for the moment.

How to Move to Another Region

In order to set travel to an adjacent region, go to the Travel link on the sidebar. There will be a list of links for all the regions you can travel to, the distance to that region, and an estimate of how long it will take. For example:

Neighbouring Regions

travel to...

Brahe (Keplerstan) 71 miles, ca. 7 hours

The distance will always be the same for a given two regions, but the estimated time will change depending on the type of unit you're commanding, how many men you have, how many of them are wounded, etc.

The hours will not be subtracted immediately, because travel takes place at the turn. If you left enough hours unused, then you will arrive in the region on the next turn, and get a message like:

Arrival (just in)

You have arrived in Brahe, a City region (friendly territory).

And you and your unit will be in the destination region. Sometimes it will take multiple turns to travel between two regions, in which case you will spend one or more turns in between regions -- you'll be listed among the region's occupants, but you will not be able to take advantage of everything the region has to offer, such as banking and entertainment. You will also not be as free to scout when you are between regions.

Also note: Even if you have enough hours, you can never travel through more than one region per turn.

How to Find the Bulletins

The four main government positions (Ruler, General, Banker, and Judge) each have a bulletin page, which are linked to separately under Information. It is a very good idea to read these when you first join a realm, to learn the realm's laws, the current military situation, and other useful information.

How to Change Unit Settings

Unit settings are kept on the Paperwork page. There are four options, of which three are important here:

How your men are instructed to act
What row they're on
What formation they're in

Usually, a general or marshal will give unit settings to a group of people, either in a message, in Standing Orders, or in the General's Bulletin. Keep an eye out for orders for your particular unit type. They might be given in the following format:

Infantry: middle, aggressive, box

This means that you should instruct your men to act aggressive, to deploy in the middle, in the box formation.

There are many issues involved with unit settings, but this should suffice for now. Click here for a more detailed explination: Go to the manual, then "Troops and Combat", then "Unit Deployment"

One last point: NEVER EVER EVER!!!!!!!! set your unit to murderous unless specifically ordered to by your ruler or general! I cannot stress this enough. You wouldn't believe how many times realms were on the verge of an international conflict because of one person with murderous settings.

Unless of course you WANT to cause the diplomatic incident... remember, nobles are always allowed their own agendas. The realm might not like it, but still...

And That's It!

Well, not really. BattleMaster is a huge game, and there's lots to learn about battles and realms and equipment. You would be well-advised to read our introduction and to browse the Manual.

You may not receive orders or even get a response your first turn, particularly if you join the realm late in the turn. Look around and see if there's anything which obviously ought to be done. If there are troops in the region from another realm, for example, it might be wise to move to an adjacent region. Check and see whether there are paraphernalia you can hire in the region you started out in -- scouts in particular are quite useful. You might also try to mix with the locals, something that only relatively new troop leaders can do.