Screenshots
Watch trailer on Steam ↗Battle Lads
Burning Bagel Games LLC · Published by Burning Bagel Games LLC · Official site ↗
Last updated 3 Oct 2026
We wanted big war strategy without the time commitment. Plan on a turn-based map, fight the battles in real time, and lead tribes like the Synths and Ronin through fast roguelike campaigns.
Action, RPG, Strategy · More free games
Explore fast-paced roguelike campaigns where you strategize turns and fight in real time. Lead diverse tribes across a dynamic map, blending action, RPG, and strategy in Battle Lads.
About this game
The demo of Battle Lads lets you play as the Beastmen, Mad and Synth tribes as you take on the early Crucibles. You'll encounter other tribes, as well as many dangers and power-ups found on the Shifting Isles. This is an early gameplay preview. We would love to build the game along with the community, any feedback you have is appreciated!
We wanted big war strategy without the time commitment. Plan on a turn-based map, fight the battles in real time, and lead tribes like the Synths and Ronin through short, replayable campaigns.
Each tribe comes packed with their own abilities, units, and upgrades.
Bring glory to your tribe by seizing islands teeming with enemies, strange artifacts and game-changing events.
Hack and slash through enemies with devastating abilities while commanding your lads in real-time battles.
Recruit lads and mighty champions to fill up your war wagon. Each comes with their own moveset and random traits.
Every campaign plays out differently with new tribes, new maps and war-hungry island spirits eager to see you fight.
Key Features
⚔️ Fight and Command at Once – Hack and slash enemies with powerful abilities while directing your lads in real-time battles.
🗺️ Conquer the Island – Expand territory, capture outposts, and outsmart rival tribes across a procedurally generated map.
🧙♂️ Recruit Champions – Each tribe has unique heroes with special attacks and traits that completely change how battles unfold.
🏕️ Command Your Villagers – Collect villagers to issue new orders: heal your lads, invest gold, or toss a few lads into the sacrificial pit.
🛠️ Build and Upgrade – Construct gold mines, garages, and trebuchets, then strengthen them to power your growing war machine.
💀 Tribes with Attitude – Pick from Beasts, Ronin, Mad, Knights, Slashers, and Synths. Each has their own abilities, units, and distinctive style.
🔁 Highly Replayable – Short campaigns packed with unpredictable encounters, escalating wars, and upgrades that turn your ragtag army into an unstoppable band of maniacs.
System Requirements
Will my PC run this? →Minimum
- OS: Windows 10 (64-bit)
- Processor: Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 3 3300X
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti or AMD RX 560
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 4 GB available space
Recommended
- OS: Windows 10/11 (64-bit)
- Processor: Intel Core i5-9600K or AMD Ryzen 5 3600
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 1660 or AMD RX 580
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 4 GB available space
Supported Languages
Latest news
Patch NotesOfficial
Rogue Bots Update!
Synths UpdateWe just unleashed the Synths tribe into the Battle Lads demo and wanted to share how they've been doing...Their winrate is sitting at only 20%!Do you have what it takes to beat the Crucible? It's tough out there.More RobotsPlenty of other awesome demos and games to checkout from the Rogue Bots festival. Here are some of my favorites!Read full article on Community Announcements (Burning Bagel Games LLC)Community & EventsOfficial
Synths Invade Rogue Bots Festival!
Invasion of the SynthsRogue Bots is upon us! Check out all the awesome featured games: Rogue Bots 2026To celebrate, we've got a huge demo update OUT NOW! Synth tribe has been unlockedBangin new electronic musicController support added. Controllers are bots, right?Introducing the SynthsThe Beastmen and Mad are aggressive, feral, stupid, inferior. The Synths are harder, better, faster (debatable), stronger.Instead of jumping into combat, they fight from afar using a host of robotic gadgets. They rely on clever combos and controlling the field with slowing chill effects and defensive antivirus fields.Throw a nanite bat Swarm Grenade at enemies and watch it peck away at your foes, then blast it with your Pulse Rifle to unleash a massive explosion. Gain powerful skill runes to upgrade your technology, such as:Multithreaded - Pulse Rifle shoots extra projectilesBotnet - Your team's critical hits have a chance to spawn a Swarm GrenadeReplicate - Swarm Grenades have a chance to fire new Swarm Grenades on impactThere's lots more to discover in the demo!Try the game out on controller now too! This is a first pass on controller support, lots of improvements still to make, but the game is fully playable end-to-end with it.Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think about our new robot friends.- EvanRead full article on Community Announcements (Burning Bagel Games LLC)AnnouncementsOfficial
Gone Mad
Gone Mad!The Mad tribe are insanity to the MAX. They're reckless, expendable, and all about diving into combat head first. Finding ways to drive that feeling home has been a blast.Team CompositionEvery tribe has some sort of unique support character.. except for the Mad. It just didn't feel right. Instead I thought about what would be the opposite of support, and that's how the Boomrats were created. These guys took sticky grenade too literally. Because they tend not to last too long, it's a good idea to spec for Team Replenishment whenever possible.I think of the Mad as the Zerg of Battle Lads. Build a ton of squads, grow the squads with lots of lads, and up your replenishment to get them back the next day. With all this death, it's a great opportunity to pick up artifacts and that trigger when your lads die. You can get a nice economy going with Worthy Sacrifice (Gain gold on friendly deaths), or scale your team's damage throughout a fight with the Gravedigger's Shovel (Team gains damage on friendly deaths).ChampionsGiant Mad armies are awesome, so we needed to make even cooler Champions to make the decision tough. Buzzcut Champion spins around like Taz firing saw blades out in every direction. If he catches a Giant up close he can nuke him in no time.Everyone's favorite skill seems to be the Javelin Jump. Your chief leaps in the air, chucking explosive javelins down and landing at the target location. You can technically use it to get out of danger, but all your lads will secretly judge you for it.There's also the C4 skill which deals massive damage AND causes friendly fire. There are some fun skill runes that capitalize on dealing friendly fire.There's still lots of room to add cool skill runes and artifacts to support new Mad playstyles. For example, they have a pretty big Ignite theme, but there aren't a lot of supporting artifacts yet.Is there anything you would like to see added to the Mad?Thanks for reading, and can't wait for everyone to jump into the demo...Read full article on Community Announcements (Burning Bagel Games LLC)AnnouncementsOfficial
It's a Trap!
Lads and Lasses,Welcome to the battlefield, watch your step!Traps are a big part of how fights spiral into chaos in Battle Lads. They punish bad positioning, reward clever movement, and occasionally turn a bad situation into a very funny one.Check out what the tribes have been tinkering with in their arenas:Boulders – Big. Loud. Unforgiving. Great at flattening tightly packed squads.Wall Spikes – Simple, brutal, and very effective. Grab your best knockback skill, lure some enemies in, and fling 'em.Turrets – Area denial that forces you to move… fast. These sneaky suckers are usually placed in the back of arenas forcing you to fight through the pack to take them out. What kinds of contraptions would you like to see decked out in your arenas?We're hard at work getting the public demo ready. If you would like an early look we would love to have you playtest and give us your feedback and crazy ideas! Join us on Discord to get playtest info.Join us on Discord Thanks,Evan & MindChamberRead full article on Community Announcements (Burning Bagel Games LLC)
