3. Bad North: Jotunn Edition Story walkthrough

EASY RUN:

Start a new game with the following settings:

• Difficulty: Easy
  
• Allow level restarts: Yes
  
• Tutorial: Yes
  
• Commander on left/right: Doesn't matter on any run.
  
• Traits/Items: Earned from flags with white backgrounds, on the map, through the game. You have none for now.

This first run is primarily to get familiar with the game mechanics and to acquire traits for the next run. Also one achievement requires you to kill 15,000 Vikings, so you'll get some progress towards that too. I skipped the Tutorial and thought I could figure it out, however I'd recommend you play it just to get a feel for the game. In general, just make sure you protect the houses at all costs.

Zoom out to easily see the direction of the next boat and move accordingly unless you have a perfect choke point. You can zoom using and . will cycle through each commander and position them on the field by pressing on your desired location. When you have succeeded without losing a commander/building press to continue.

On the map you can see your commander's status by pressing . At the moment, they will be fatigued. Press to go to the next turn which will rest your group. The current goal is to beat 10 islands without losing a building. You likely can't upgrade on your first turn, so pick an island with the most buildings on it. Some basic strategies would be to take the high ground, find a choke point or create a barrier wall with more than one commander. If any commander looks like they are losing too many soldiers, retreat and go to the houses to replenish your soldiers by selecting them and using the D-pad to select replenish. The final wave of vikings will be announced at the top of the screen.

Ready for Battle

Purchased an upgrade for one of your commanders

1 guide

After the battle, go to the upgrade screen and select archers for one of your commanders class. Select the next island. I will note that finding a flag on an island will get you a third commander, who is a local commander, until the battle ends. This can be beneficial if used properly. Have melee units protect your archer. If you can get your archers to kill all the vikings in the first boat you will unlock:

Turn Back the Tide

Killed all the vikings in a ship, before it reached the shore

1 guide

You will have plenty of opportunities to do this in the future as well. Enemies may have ranged weapons or shields that can stop ranged weapons at this point. After the battle you should upgrade a second commander to Infantry this time. Hit to go to the next turn. You will see a shadow swallow the island you first conquered and numbers on the map that show where the shadow will end up next. Don't go to an island that will allow you to be swallowed by the shadow. I finished the third island, rested and didn't upgrade. I am waiting to upgrade my archer again. This is practice for the hard run.

Note the ? under Seal Carr that indicates a treasure located on that island. Simply complete the island to obtain an item that is account-bound. Upgrade the archer again when you can and move on to the next island after ending your turn. If you beat this island without losing a building you are 1/2 way there to the next achievement. Hopefully you can upgrade your infantry but if not, upgrade your third commander to melee. After this next island you should have enough to upgrade your infantry. Now save up for an elite archer unit, and its skill and skill upgrades, you will unlock:

Ready for Anything

Fully upgraded one of your commanders

1 guide

You will also hit your 10th island in a row without losing a building and also unlock:

Protector of the Realm

Won 10 islands in a row, without losing a single house

1 guide

You will know if you lost the building if it is blacked out and smoking. Fire doesn't mean you've lost it. You should also reach a checkpoint around your 10th fight. From here on, try to aim for an island with a flag to get a fourth commander if you haven't already. After your 10th win you will no longer have to worry about buildings surviving. You should still try your hardest to keep them all around, for the coins. Also try to unlock every commander you can as this will give you more traits for the hard run.

The picture above shows what a checkpoint looks like. Make sure you go to every flag you find even if you don't need the commander because this is good practice for hard mode. About half way through the game you will have killed 1,000 vikings and unlocked:

Norsebane

Killed 1000 vikings

On the way to completing your first run you should inevitably fight in snow and unlock:

Cold Steel

Won an island in the snow

1 guide

Don't let easy mode get you feeling overly confident. There are tough moments in easy mode which reflects on how tough hard mode can get. Remember to always protect your archers, learn the units faces so that you know what you are facing in each match and don't allow a commander to die. Practice now so you are ready for hard mode and get good at clearing boats before they land. When you get a chance make sure to upgrade other commanders to elite. Since it is an easy run feel free to take the path of least resistance once you've gotten the hang of it. Finally you will know you've reached the end around where the shadow would be at day 46. The last fight will have every enemy you have faced so far in massive waves. Follow the strategy that has gotten you here thus far and you should complete it fairly easily.

I found archers to be the hardest to fight in this battle, and there were a lot of them. After you win you unlock:

A New Home

Completed the campaign on any difficulty

1 guide

2,100 vikings killed, 10 commanders recruited, 10 commanders survived.

This next run is going to be a partial run to go for the 3 wins in one day achievement. Go for the night watch achievement as well, if you missed it.

• Difficulty: Easy
• Allow level restarts: Yes
• Tutorial: No
• Commander on left/right: Pick your favorite
• Traits/Items: Any available

Put on any traits you have earned in your initial run and equip an item if you got one. Start by aiming for 3 infantry units. Use one on each island in the beginning. You may lose some soldiers but you can replenish them. Building survival isn't important. Don't forget, you can always try again if you're soldiers fail. If you have bad luck, start a new game with the same stats above.

My commanders looked like this:

• Varney
• Fleet of Foot
• No item

and

• Jontur
• Heavy Weapons
• No item

For night watch, on your third attack, you should see a screen like the pic below, from the very start of the battle.

Nightwatch

Won an Island at nighttime

1 guide

Aim for the first flag you see. Rest that turn after acquiring your third commander. Conquer three islands without pressing . I suggest using your upgraded commanders first so the coins you earn can help upgrade the others before their solo match. When you succeed in taking over 3 islands, without pressing to end you're turn, you will unlock:

Split the Party

Won 3 islands on a single turn

1 guide

Unless you see a flag with a white background, I suggest starting another battle and letting all your soldiers die. This will carry your kills over to prevent the kill count from being lost and your bar would then stop moving. Before you ever start a new game I suggest ending the one you are on.

I now suggest a quick 2 runs through easy mode. Fine tune your skills and get some kills/traits. You really want fleet of foot and heavy weapons to make your hard run a fair bit easier. Heavy weapons for sure. This is why I say it will take 4 runs through the game. At least 3 on easy for items/skills and then the 4th on hard. You may want to run more, it is up to you.

Vikings killed 292 (2,392 total) 2nd run/short run

The next few runs I got used to the strategy of using 2 squads of commanders. 1 elite archer and 1 elite infantry for one squad. 1 elite archer and 1 infantry for the second squad. Pikes are awesome at times but I rarely used them after a full run with one. They make quick work if placed right. At times I would use both archers together to handle half of the wave and my infantry/pikes to handle the other. I used the archers to kill the vast majority of enemies before they landed. I found it useful to keep the archers on the beach with Infantry behind them. When the boats got close to landing I would use the archer to select the spot the infantry was standing and they would switch spots but the archers also kept shooting. Elite archers with heavy weapons looks like a must for hard mode. Found my first item that transfers to the next run and took a picture for people to see what it looks like on the map.

Vikings killed 1,508 (3,900 total) 3rd run/ speed run

HARD RUN:

Some tips before you begin:

• You MUST collect all commanders AND keep all commanders ALIVE. If you miss a commander, no achieve. If a commander dies, no achieve. These are the only parameters. If you didn't collect them they are auto dead when the shadow reaches them so it makes sense.
• There are more soldiers on each map and they will do more damage. You must replenish and time it well.
• Look at battle tips in the hints/tips section for attack/defensive strategies.
• If you lose a battle, no biggie. Repeating the exact same actions MAY have a different result. I learned this while spamming levels with the same army in the same place and ending every time with different amounts.
• Heal one troop at a time. You need to use some strategy here or your buildings will be gone before they return. You may rarely require two at once. This is usually a bad omen to your viability.
• If a battle seems impossible, move on in a different direction if possible.
• Take a break before trying again. The hardest unit is the brute archers. I found it useful to just hide from them and rush them with all my units. Ambush from around a corner if possible. I would then heal if needed afterwards.
• Houses aren't as important as commanders.
• Do to the random nature of each game, some hard runs will in fact be harder than others. It may be advisable, if you get stuck, to start a new game. This would obviously be recommended only if you see no other choice.

Set up:

• Difficulty: Hard
• Allow level restarts: Yes
• Tutorial: No
• Commander on left/right: Pick your favorite
• Traits/Items: Any available but I strongly recommend Heavy Weapon for an archer

I did this with not so great stats and did fairly well on my run. Sharp weapons didn't do much for me and I wouldn't recommend it. Do not hit extra areas for gold when you start fighting twice a turn, utilizing my noob commanders, just to stay ahead of the shadow. The last fight I lost 3 times before beating it and still got my achievement so restarts are allowed as long as all commanders are present and alive in the end.

Started with:

• Gemma
• Heavy Weapon (elite archer = shotgun)
• Bomb (from start and big mistake because ring of command would have worked better here)

and

• Fianna
• Sharp weapons (elite archer)
• ring of command (found)

Got during hard run:

• Lesley
• Mountain (elite infantry)
• No item

and

• Blythe
• No trait (elite infantry)
• No item

and

• Varney
• Collector (started as elite pike)
• No item

When you finish you will unlock very hard mode and :

Folk Hero

Completed the campaign on hard, recruited all commanders and kept them alive

3 guides

Vikings killed 2,208 (6,108 total) 4th run/ hard mode

Note: I am at 47% complete which tells me that the level retry kills count as long as you eventually complete the level and move on. I always hit a checkpoint or beat the game to make sure the score counted.

The final step can be done in multiple ways. You can play the game over and over to get the kills you need. You can play a level in the middle of an easy run (around day 36-40 on easy) but retry the level over and over until you get your kills. If you choose the 2nd option then I suggest completing the level and reaching a checkpoint/endgame before turning off the game because I don't think it saves the data otherwise. Also, I suggest doing this even if you don't plan on quitting because this game, and many on Xbox One, can "randomly" crash. Wouldn't want to be at 98% and have to grind 40%+ again or something like that, especially if you are on WiFi. I had this game crash on me twice in the making of this guide. I suggest finding one you can AFK after a quick set up. When you've slaughtered 15,000 vikings you will unlock:

Here is a video of a spot I farmed for my remaining 40% (by the time I found a good one)

Bathed in Blood

Killed 15000 Vikings

2 guides

Congratulations on your latest 1,000. I hope you enjoyed the game as much as I did and that you played it while it was available on gamepass. I'd like to thank LLAMAP0CALYPSE, MuffinMICHI, Krushner20, HighLandur and I Argonaut I for all their solutions which helped me to write this and ensure it is all correct. If you found this guide useful, please consider volunteering to write a walkthrough for trueachievements.com

Thank you for using my walkthrough!