Thrones of Britannia wasn’t as successful as Troy. And even though both are Sagas games, the latter came with more features that made it feel much more like an actual Total War title than the first installment of the series… or the first independent installment at least, as Shogun 2 had the first Sagas as part of the game’s DLC.

1. Total War Shogun 2 Battle Realism Mode
2. Shogun 2 Battle Realism Modes
3. Shogun 2 Battle Realism Mode Xbox One
4. Shogun 2 Battle Realism Mode Shogun 2
5. Shogun 2 Battle Realism Models

In any case, that doesn’t mean that Britannia is unplayable.

It does mean, however, that there’s some room for improvement. And mods are here to help.

General Description Shogun 2 Realism (S2R for short) is a mod that aims to provide numerous historical and realism tweaks to the Vanilla game. We consider these changes to be a marked improvement over vanilla, while still retaining the many great elements and fun of the vanilla game. Realism mode in Shogun 2 restricted the camera even more than Rome 2 does where you can move it rather far from nearest unit and the camera did not lower to the ground as much so in forest battles it could get pretty confusing. Otherwise the modes are nearly identical far as I can tell. What does Battle Realism do? Seen this option in videos, but what does it do? Showing 1-2 of 2 comments. May 22, 2016 @ 9:14pm From prior games, it stops you from being able to pan around the entire map. You can only stretch the camera to the length of your unit's vision range. Total War: SHOGUN 2 - Fall of the Samurai is the story of the war between the Shogun, the military leader of Japan, and the Emperor, the nominal hereditary ruler. Each clan eventually lent their support to one or the other. To turn battle realism mode on, tick the Battle Realism Mode checkbox before starting a campaign or battle.

Total War Shogun 2 Battle Realism Mode

That’s where my list of the coolest ToB mods comes into play. Get any or all of these mods installed and you’ll have access to new factions, better units, and amazing improvements that make the game much more in line with what you might expect from the Total War franchise.

20. Faction Leader East-Anglia

If you watched the Last Kingdom, there’s a good chance that you felt the sudden urge to come back to Thrones of Britannia. Or to try out the game for the first time.

I mean, the series basically creates a giant craving for experiencing anything related to the Viking Era of Britain.

And I think there’s no better way to mix up the best of both worlds than by adding Guthrum himself to the game.

If you were a fan of the series and you want to interlace it with your Thrones playthrough, give this mod a go – you won’t regret it.

19. Bardr Model Dublin

This small mod changes the model of Dublin Bardr for another one.

Specifically it changes his campaign model, as well as his battle model. A small change, but it looks cool!

18. Shields Down While Marching

I’m not really sure why this isn’t a thing in Thrones by default.

But I really appreciate that someone took the time to make all soldiers put their shields down whenever they’re marching out of battle.

There’s just something weird about watching soldiers running from a fight, or flanking an enemy, while also having their shields up. As if they were preparing for an imminent battle.

The creators of the game might know why they did this, but it certainly makes no sense. And regardless, this mod fixes it and puts Thrones more in line with the rest of the franchise.

17. Guthfried Model Northumbria

This is another simple mod that changes the Gottfried model to make his eyes look a bit clearer.

Another small change that simply looks cool – nothing too special, but one that I love implementing in my game.

Also likely pretty darn compatible with the majority of other mods on this list.

16. No Blood Unitcard

You know that annoying blood splatter that sometimes pops up on top of your unit cards?

I know it’s meant to make them look damaged and hurt, but it makes them just annoying to look at.

This mod changes that by removing any blood for the unit cards, regardless of the amount of damage they’ve received.

15. Missiles Reworked

The missile system of Thrones was another one of those game mechanics that leave a lot to be desired.

The way this mod works should make CA hang their heads in shame, as it turns the rather underwhelming missile system into one of the best in the TW franchise.

It reworks missiles to make fire arrows less damaging, tweaks arrow velocity to make it feel more realistic, and even adds a new shooting mechanic that allows your bowmen to shoot above your soldiers to keep your shots from unnecessarily harming themselves.

The mod also adds one change that you might’ve overlooked when you first played the game, but it’s one that’s truly necessary: javelins now cause knockback to the receiver.

Gone are the days of your javelins seemingly penetrating your foe without properly making them flinch.

14. Faction Leader Sudreyar

This is another Last Kingdom mod brought over for Thrones of Britannia, which makes Sudreyar look like Ubba from the series.

Again, another small change. But made by passionate fans of the franchise, so I know there’s other out there who’ll love this one.

13. 12 Turns Per Year

If you’re looking to play a long game, then you’ll want to check out this mod.

It changes the total number of turns to 12 per year, which makes a single game of Thrones last for what feels like decades.

This is one of those mods that you’ll love if you play games to the maximum number of turns always set, much like people who play Civilization and set the game’s speed to Marathon.

It’s not a mod for me personally, but this one is very well made and I know many of you appreciate stuff like this. That’s why it takes a spot on my list!

12. Global Weapons and Armor Upgrade

Shogun 2 Battle Realism Modes

Building forges has always been one of the worst parts of Thrones of Britannia.

One of my friends actually quit the game because they found it annoying that you had to build forges on every region to properly upgrade your units.

I didn’t go that far, but it would’ve been better if the game didn’t force us to spend so much time building forges all over Britain.

This mod allows you to upgrade and recruit forge-bound units by simply building a single forge in one of your controlled provinces or regions. You won’t need to build many – one does the trick.

11. Seasonal Effects

The time of the year and the season should have a direct effect on the game’s mechanics… which is exactly what this mod does.

Seasonal Effects make seasons have effects on income, unit movement, land development, and more.

Basically, it makes the British Isles feel much more realistic. And makes the gameplay more challenging than vanilla.

10. Cinematic Battle Mod

Cinematic Battle Mod changes the animations of the game to make them more suitable for a proper cinematic battle.

As such, 1v1 fights feel much more intense and the battles themselves will also last longer thanks to the new animations and their runtimes.

The creator of the mod also made a gore-friendly edition, just to maximize the amount of blood that you see on the battlefield.

But I’d suggest you take a look at the Bloody Aftermath mod instead (it’s listed a bit further on this list!)

9. Minor Town Garrisons

Shogun 2 Battle Realism Mode Xbox One

Now this mod allows every minor town in the game to come with a pre-determined garrison of two units, which you’ll be able to upgrade as the game goes by.

It really adds much more depth and usefulness to small towns, who usually don’t come with any units, and are easy to take.

But beware – you’ll also have to face your enemies’ minor towns having garrisons of their own.

The mod adds much more drive to the game’s campaign, and makes you think twice before attacking a minor town without any proper army on it. You’ll have to deal with the garrisons, and they’re equally as strong (or stronger than!) as some of your units.

8. Unlimited Governors

If you’re one of those micro-managing players who simply cannot appreciate the game without having absolute control over all of their cities, you’ll want to get your hands on this mod.

Unlimited governors allow you to have as many governors as you want, which serves a great purpose as the game advances and you reach the vanilla governor cap of just 10.

It’s a simple mod that alters a single data file in the game. But those who love properly managing their cities will need to take a look at this one.

7. Immersive Shields and Armies

Now this is one of those mods that you first look at and think “damn, this is useless”.

But nope – as far as visual mods go, I have to say that this is my favorite one out of all the graphics mods I came across for ToB.

The shields become much more accurate to the age where they were made, and the armies all have better outfits than the ones that come with the base game.

You’ll also get a ton more variety to the armies of Thrones, which makes it more playable if you’ve been starting campaign after campaign since the game came out.

Shogun 2 Battle Realism Mode Shogun 2

6. Shieldwall Overhaul: + THE SAXON UPDATE

Shieldwall is a fantastic overhaul mod that makes the game all that more difficult by adding new units and rebalancing the game’s rosters for every single faction.

Shogun 2 Battle Realism Models

I mean, I could go over all of the things that this mod changes, but we’d be here for days.

They’ve rebalanced the entire game and kept it fair, while also making it more difficult and (in a fun way) more challenging in the process.

A fantastic work done by an amazing ream of modders – give it a go!

5. Radious Total War Mod

No Total War Mod list could be complete without a Radius Total War Mod.

These are the best overhaul mods that you’ll find in the community for any title.

If you’re thinking of downloading a single mod and you’re unsure which to get, you’ll want to take a look at this one.

It truly makes the game feel unique by adding a whole bunch of new units, tweaking the game’s mechanics, and rebalancing some units that came with the game but didn’t feel fair (for bad or for good).

There’s a lot of other minor tweaks too so it’s really a mod that has to be experienced to appreciate.

4. Historical Cities and Landmarks

I’ll admit, this doesn’t really add new cities or landmarks, as they’re already incorporated into the base game.

Instead, with this mod you’ll be able to enter each city’s description and discover some facts about it, as well as bits of information that’ll get you more immersed into this period of history known as the Age of Vikings.

As the creator of the mod states, this mod will let you get a new feeling of appreciation towards the work put into creating the most accurate representation of the Viking British Islands in the history of video games.

3. Loyalty+

Even though this is a bit of a cheating mod, we all know that one of the main issues with Thrones of Britannia is dealing with loyalty.

I mean, it’s part of the game mechanics.

But it’s as annoying as things could get, and no one really likes it.

As such, Loyalty+ allows you to have all of your troops on max loyalty through the entire campaign.

You won’t have to fear any treacherous fools anymore. Kill and conquer without one of the game’s main mechanics playing a role against you.

2. Bloody Aftermath

Bloody Aftermath makes me remember that “Gore” DLC that was added to Shogun 2 back in the day.

18-year old me absolutely loved it.

This one is arguably more violent than its Shogun 2 predecessor, though. Bloody Aftermath doesn’t just make blood splashes far more common, but it also makes it so Blood is permanent on the battlefield.

You’ll find yourself swimming in a sea of blood once you get this mod installed. For those who love gore and the sight of blood painting the battlefield, or just want more realism in your gameplay, then you’re going to love this piece of art.

1. Better Camera Mod

None of my Total War mod lists would be complete without a mod that updates the way the camera works in the game.

This has always seemed to be one of the main issues with all TW titles.

Better Camera Mod gives you more enhanced control of the game’s camera, allowing you to improve gameplay and even get some sick cinematic shots, all without the excruciating pain of having to move the camera with the mouse wheel up and down countless times.

This is the best camera mod for Thrones of Britannia – hands down. A must-have.