Wartales — After Strategy

Wartales Knights of Fardensa: Release Date, Price and Free Mounted Combat

Sat, 07 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Wartales has always marched its mercenaries on foot. Now that horses are finally coming, Shiro Games has decided not to charge for them. Announced on November 4, 2026, horses, the Horseman class and horse breeding will arrive in a free major update, launching alongside the paid Knights of Fardensa expansion on December 9, 2026.

This piece is based on Shiro Games’ official Steam announcement, the expansion’s Steam page and press coverage. Nobody outside the studio has played the Fardensa region yet.

Knights of Fardensa release date, price and platforms

The expansion launches on December 9, 2026 on PC, through Steam and GOG. It is priced at $19.99, with a 10% discount during its first two weeks. Regional prices were not yet showing on the Steam page at announcement.

For context, Wartales first released on April 12, 2023. Knights of Fardensa follows the Fires in the Capital contract and moves up a gear: a whole region, with its own campaign.

Free for everyone: horses, Horseman and breeding

The free half is the part that matters most to an existing company. It breaks down into four pieces.

The Horseman class. It is a Mastery class that sits on top of a companion’s existing class. Once mounted, the unit fights with a lance and builds Momentum by moving during combat.
Dismounting. Some enemies can knock a rider off their horse. The companion then falls back on their original class.
Horse progression. Each mount gets its own specialisation, and challenges unlock new Horseman skills.
Breeding. At Trading Posts, you can cross horses to combine their inherited traits, raise their stats and pick their coat.

The key detail is the class stacking. An archer or a swordsman does not become a different character: they keep their role and gain a mounted option. In a game where you grind the same mercenaries for dozens of hours, that is good news for veteran companies. Dismounting is where the real tactical question sits. If enemies able to unhorse riders are common, the lance becomes a gamble; if they are rare, the Horseman could end up dominating skirmishes.

What the paid expansion adds

With the horses taken out of the equation, the $19.99 mostly pays for story content. Fardensa is a region inspired by Renaissance Florence, full of orchards, vineyards and sprawling estates. The Ald Hertogg family controls the horse and trade monopolies there, and rival noble families want them gone. You pick who to back, and your contracts shape how the regional story ends.

The expansion includes:

A two-act campaign that ends with the title of Knight.
Five legendary horses, found in Fardensa and in other regions.
Armour sets bearing the colours of the noble families.
A legendary character to summon and recruit.
A regional boss and an arena champion.

Selling only the region is a healthy choice. It avoids splitting the player base in two, and it forces the expansion to stand on its writing. The risk is length. Two acts can mean a dense campaign or a short detour, and Shiro Games has not given an estimate.

The open beta runs until November 18

An open beta of the major update is already live on Steam and will stay up until November 18, 2026. You opt in from the game’s Properties, under the Betas tab. It covers the Horseman class and breeding, but neither the Fardensa region nor the expansion storyline.

Shiro Games recommends backing up your saves before switching and not overwriting your main playthrough. For players who follow the community updates, it is a chance to shape Horseman balance before the final release.

What to watch before December 9

First, regional pricing, which was missing from the Steam page at announcement. Second, how mounted combat is balanced after the beta: how often enemies can dismount riders will decide whether the lance becomes a tool or a default. Third, the actual length of the Fardensa campaign.

Worth keeping an eye on if you have a late-game company that has run out of things to do: horses alone may be enough to revive that save. Worth waiting on if you only buy expansions for a long campaign: read the first impressions in December before paying.

Going further

Wartales Community Update 7: The Lair Criminal Hub and Prisoner Rework Land September 7

Sat, 29 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Community Update 7 for Wartales does more than add maps. It grafts a layer of criminal economy onto Shiro Games’ tactical RPG. The Lair, the new location in CU7, gives your company a hideout to offload loot and manage its outlaw reputation, alongside its mercenary contracts.

The open beta has been available since August 5, 2026. The full release is planned for September 7, and the update is free for all players.

Update, October 26, 2026: CU7 launched on September 7, 2026 as planned, free of charge. It also ships personal quests for mercenaries and a new post-battle report panel. A hotfix followed as early as September 8.

The Lair: A Hideout for Illegal Activities

The Lair is an underground location for those who operate outside the law. It is accessible from the start of the adventure, provided your troop has built up enough Suspicion to earn an invitation. Inside, you can reduce that Suspicion, sell stolen items, buy weapons and armor you cannot find at regular merchants, accept contracts suited to criminal bands, and rest.

The place has five characters. The contract broker offers a quest board reserved for criminals: catch and deliver, attack, assassinate. The black-market merchant buys with no questions asked. The Suspicion specialist eases the pressure from the guards. The tavern keeper offers shelter, and the doorkeeper controls the entrance.

So this is not just an extra map. The Lair plugs into the economic loop: loot and criminal contracts feed the company, while Suspicion becomes a resource to manage. The open question is how deep that integration stays over time.

Prisoners Gain Depth

Shiro Games reworks the prisoner system. Each prisoner who joins your troop keeps skills tied to their past and gets a dedicated skill tree. Their needs are clearer, which makes trust easier to read, and hidden objectives influence their behavior.

Escapes now have 3 possible outcomes. An escapee can come back with reinforcements to ambush you, attack your camp while you rest, or end up behind bars. You can also hunt wealthy merchants: a new capture-and-deliver-to-prison bounty exists for that. With skill trees of their own, some prisoners can become useful members of the company if you meet their needs.

End Round and Smoother Combat

CU7 introduces an End Round option that automatically skips your units’ remaining turns. You can switch back at any time to a more deliberate pace and position your units exactly as you like. For players running large companies, that is a real time saver in long fights. The update also improves AI calculations and camera transitions.

The content is rounded out by 6 new battle maps spread across several regions and 3 new armor sets that can be stolen from wandering merchants.

What to Check on September 7

The big question for CU7 is this: does The Lair really fit into the flow of the game over time, or is it a place you visit once and forget?

If Shiro Games has managed to tie the criminal economy to the rest of the loop, with resources, Suspicion and contracts, CU7 could give Wartales a dimension it did not have yet. If The Lair works in a silo, interest will fade fast.

The Fires in the Capital update showed that Shiro Games knows how to densify its game without overloading it. CU7 tests whether the team can do the same with a permanent economic location.

To try the beta: right-click Wartales in Steam, open Properties and then the Betas tab, and choose the Open Beta branch. Back up your save before you start.

Going further

Wartales: Contract Fires in the Capital — Urban Warfare Comes to the Imperial Capital

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Edoran Is Burning — Wartales Enters Urban Warfare Territory

Wartales, Shiro Games’ open-world medieval tactical RPG, has sent your mercenary band through forests, coastlines, and misty archipelagos. With Contract: Fires in the Capital, the French indie studio takes a new direction: the city. Specifically, the imperial capital of Edoran, torn apart by an internal rebellion your company must suppress before the whole district structure collapses.

Released on April 30, 2026 on Steam and GOG for $12.99, this DLC marks a clear shift in Wartales’ design formula. Fewer journeys between open regions, more cobblestone alleys, angry crowds, and decisions with immediate consequences on urban stability.

Type: Story DLC (Contract)
Setting: Imperial capital of Edoran
Central mechanic: The Chaos system (civic stability)
Price: $12.99 / €10.99 / £12.99 — Steam and GOG

A New Arena: The Capital of Edoran
The Chaos System — the DLC’s Mechanical Core
New Mission Types: Guile, Diplomacy, and Coercion
New Companions and Urban Gear
Quick Verdict

A New Arena: The Capital of Edoran

Previous Wartales DLCs sent your company to rural or maritime settings. Fires in the Capital changes the scale: you arrive in a large city divided into districts with independent tension levels. One side of the capital can be in open flames while another district barely holds together.

The urban environment is built to react to your decisions. Every choice — arresting a ringleader, protecting a supply convoy, or spreading counter-propaganda — ripples through the city’s atmosphere. The game’s usual freedom of movement is channeled through the capital’s dense geography, which creates a new kind of pressure even for series veterans.

The Chaos System — the DLC’s Mechanical Core

The standout mechanical addition is the Chaos system, which tracks civic stability district by district. In practice:

Each district has its own Chaos index
Successfully completed missions reduce local Chaos
Failed or skipped missions increase it
Unchecked Chaos can render a district uncontrollable, triggering chain riots

This forces your company to prioritize. You cannot handle everything at once — sometimes you have to let one corner burn to properly stabilize another. It adds a strategic tension layer that previous DLCs did not provide, and alone justifies the purchase for fans of the base game.

New Mission Types: Guile, Diplomacy, and Coercion

Fires in the Capital introduces several mission types designed specifically for urban warfare:

Hunt brigands through alleyways before they can destabilize a neighborhood
Destroy propaganda posters to cut off rebel factions from their ideological grip on the population
Disguise as bards to shift public opinion without drawing steel
Escort supply convoys through burning streets
Rescue civilians caught in the crossfire

This range breaks from Wartales’ classic formula. Infiltration and social manipulation take as much space as direct combat. For players who found the base game sometimes too combat-forward, this is a welcome shift in pacing.

New Companions and Urban Gear

The DLC adds two unique new companions with their own unlockable traits, designed for infiltration, coordination, or counter-intelligence roles. They integrate into your existing roster without displacing established specialists.

On the equipment side, Shiro Games has added ten new accessories suited for urban combat — light armor, distraction tools, stealth-oriented gear. No new character class, but a genuine expansion of the base game’s already deep customization options.

Quick Verdict

Contract: Fires in the Capital is a well-tuned DLC for players who know Wartales and want a fresh challenge in a radically different environment. The Chaos system delivers genuine strategic pressure, the urban mission types refresh the formula without betraying it, and the two new companions add to the roster without bloating it.

At $12.99, the pricing is consistent with Shiro Games’ previous DLC policy. Expect between 8 and 12 hours to complete the main content if you explore the decision branches.

For fans of tactical medieval strategy who want to dig deeper into Shiro Games’ catalog, our Northgard complete guide covers the studio’s flagship RTS. And if turn-based tactics are your thing, our Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era early access review is worth a read.

The game’s latest update is covered in Wartales Community Update 7, with the Lair criminal hub and the prisoner rework.

Fans of party-based tactical RPGs may also like Expeditions: Samurai, now in Steam Early Access in feudal Japan.

Another long-awaited party-management release is Darkest Dungeon’s The Fire’s Edge, its first paid DLC in six years.

Wartales — After Strategy

Wartales Knights of Fardensa: Release Date, Price and Free Mounted Combat

Knights of Fardensa release date, price and platforms

Free for everyone: horses, Horseman and breeding

What the paid expansion adds

The open beta runs until November 18

What to watch before December 9

Going further

Wartales Community Update 7: The Lair Criminal Hub and Prisoner Rework Land September 7

The Lair: A Hideout for Illegal Activities

Prisoners Gain Depth

End Round and Smoother Combat

What to Check on September 7

Going further

Wartales: Contract Fires in the Capital — Urban Warfare Comes to the Imperial Capital

Edoran Is Burning — Wartales Enters Urban Warfare Territory

Table of Contents

A New Arena: The Capital of Edoran

The Chaos System — the DLC’s Mechanical Core

New Mission Types: Guile, Diplomacy, and Coercion

New Companions and Urban Gear

Quick Verdict

Sources