Battle Realms is a Real-Time Strategy game developed by Liquid Entertainment and released by Ubisoft in 2001. It follows the story of Kenji, one of the sons of the Serpent, as he unites the land under the reborn Dragon clan or becomes a tyrant like his father.

Battle Realm’s greatest strength is the fact that the player is incapable of purchasing any unit. Instead, peasants (the worker of the game) are trained in a variety of schools, getting the unit the player wants. Sending a peasant to an Archery trains them into an Archer, for instance. Furthermore, the unit can usually be trained again. Sending that Archer into either the Dojo will turn them into the melee oriented Dragon Warrior (though they can still shoot using magic) or sending them to the Alchemist Hut will turn them into the Powder Keg Cannoneer heavy siege units. Couple in the six damage types and the inclusion of Battle Gears (BG) which allow a unit to change their damage type or initiate some other effect or change their role in combat period (The humble Archer, alone, can go from an anti-infantry unit into a scouter with a Zen Arrow BG or into a siege unit with Fire Arrow BG) and you have a very complex game.

The Expansion Pack, Winter of the Wolf, is a prequel tale that follows the Wolf chief Grayback as he rises against their clan's Lotus and Serpent enslavers and stops the nefarious sorceress Yvaine from unleashing a blizzard.

A sequel, Battle Realms 2: Lair of the Lotus, was announced by Liquid Entertainment, but later cancelled.

As of 2012, the game can be bought together with its expansion from GOG.com. In 2019, both the game and its expansion were packaged into the Zen Edition on Steam, which added balancing unit weaknesses/resistances, Anti-Frustration Features, and a more helpful "Siege" system to the game.

Tropes found within the game's story and gameplay include:

• Adaptational Context Change: Prior to the 1.58 patch in the Dragon campaign, Tao tells Kenji to "watch where (he) step" shorty after the latter takes out an ambushing Ninja. After said patch, Tao doesn't show up until Kazan walks over to the Ninja's corpse, suggesting that the former's reminder is aimed at the latter (and not at Kenji as initially assumed).
  • The patch also expands the return of Dragon Kenji to Serpentholm. In the original, Kenji and Kazan vow to execute Shinja for his treachery while implying that the reclaimed Serpentholm remains their main capital afterwards. The patch adds a line where Kenji demands to Kazan to burn down Serpentholm to the ground, further proving that Kenji has fully rejected the Serpent ways and embraced the Dragon's teachings.
• Adjustable Censorship: There is an option to toggle the "Violence" option off, which leaves the weapons completely clean and gibbed enemies to simply disappear in a blue mist.
• After the End: The game takes place generations after a mysterious Horde ravaged the land, which was only stopped at great cost by Tarrant, Kenji's ancestor "who broke the world."
• Agony of the Feet: Serpent Cannoneers can lay explosive landmines while Raiders can leave behind a row of spiked caltrops. When used strategically for defense or hit-and-run, these obstacles can weaken a pursuing enemy army while reinforcements arrive.
• Alas, Poor Yorick: The Master Warlock. Some may say that it's the skull who's the Warlock, others say the holder of the skull, and still others claim it's both as a bizarre partnership.
• All Asians Wear Conical Straw Hats: Both Dragon and Serpent Peasants wear them in the field. Kenji wears one in the first third of his campaign.
• Almighty Janitor: If Kenji chooses the Dragon path, he is briefed on the Serpent's geopolitical situation by Otomo. If he chooses the Serpent path, a Bandit who presumably led the attack in the previous mission gives him this talk.
• Anti-Frustration Features: One of the toughest parts in the campaign is hunting for remaining enemy buildings or peasants who can quickly rebuild their town. In Zen Edition, the locations of these buildings/peasants will be revealed after most of the enemy towns have been destroyed, which makes it easier to hunt them down to complete the mission.
• The Apunkalypse: The Serpent Clan reflect a Wutai version of this trope. While its general aesthetic is still broadly reminiscent of the Dragon Clan, it's been heavily warped with scavenged materials and brutal pragmatism taking precedence over any notions of honor or beauty.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: Shinja's atheism grants him high resistance against magical attacks. He constantly rebukes anything magic and dismisses the Serpent's Orb as just a pretty stone, despite the rest of the Serpent and Lotus dabbling in the dark arcane arts such as Warlocks and Witches. Thus, Kenji and Shinja's murderous ways did not get any favors from the Dragon, and Shinja meets the Necromancer and his death magic instead.
• Arm Cannon: Serpent Cannoneers carry their arm-length cannons with both hands.
• Armor Is Useless:
  • Most Dragon, Serpent and Wolf units and Zen Masters appear to have armor that protects them well against slashing and blunt damage, but makes them extremely weak against magic and explosive attacks.
  • Subverted by the Wolf Clan's Shale armor, which improves their durability from all damage types, especially from magic.
• Artificial Stupidity: Micromanagement of troops is necessary to make full use of unit abilities. Doubly so for healers like Geisha, who will attack by default if there's an enemy to fight unless specifically ordered to heal a unit. A good way to make the most out of support units is to arrange them as a separate control group and Guard a certain unit or Zen Master, so healers would remain tagging along and heal a few critical condition units, then retreat. More useful if those healers are on horses, making this "heal-and-run" tactic easier to pull off.
• Ascended Extra: Sperri (the Dragon Clan peasant) was originally exclusive to the tutorial, where the Geisha acted as a tutor. In the version 1.58, Sperri gains another role in Kenji's journey where, depending on which path the latter takes, either joins up with him (as thanks for saving the village earlier) or is among the villagers kidnapped by Serpent bandits and is made to work.
• Awesome, yet Impractical:
  • Lacking a "super unit", the Dragon Clan has the Dragon Spirit summon. It rains energy meteors for non-elemental damage, but there's a huge chance that it can only whittle down high-tiered units or maybe kill a few weakened one-tiered units from an enemy army. The catch is it doesn't damage any enemy buildings at all. Sacrificing 4 Samurais and 3 Yang points to initiate this flashy attack and barely killing anyone is not uncommon.
  • Monks' Zen Trance gradually heals the monk to 100% health at a rapid rate. However, defense is reduced to zero, and the Monk cannot move nor attack, thus it is not recommended in the heat of combat.
• Bad Black Barf: Unclean Ones launch their vomit from their sling weapons.
• Bad Boss: Budo. His skill forces peasants to work faster and repeated usage may result in their deaths, and that's not getting into what he does to the Wolf Clan in Winter of the Wolf.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Monks and Pack Masters.
• Battle Aura: Kenji, once he embraces the Dragon's Spirit for the final battle.
  • Zymeth, under the power of Tarrant's Orb. Yvaine remains invulnerable while within the vicinity of the corrupted White Wolf Totem.
• Battle Cry: Otomo and Grayback's skill, which increases the damage of nearby allies.
• Beak Attack: Lotus Channelers sacrifice their ravens to heal their allies, or divebomb the birds kamikaze-style to a target enemy.
• The Beastmaster:
  • Pack Masters handle tamed wolves, while Werewolves can tame wild wolves.
  • Dragon hero Garrin can summon wild horses from across the map.
• The Beautiful Elite: Warlocks, unlike other Lotus Clan units, are nigh-immaculate, reflecting how their perverse quest for "enlightenment" has led them to transcend corruption and filth.
• The Berserker:
  • Wolf Berserkers lash their talons with speed and power, and can be blessed to become Werewolves.
  • Guardians with the "Last Stand" Battle Gear. Upon losing all HP, the Guardian becomes invincible, attacking nearby enemy units with increased damage while his remaining stamina depletes like a timer, finally falling dead once it hits 0.
• BFG: Dragon's P.K. Cannoneers, Serpent's Cannoneers, and Wolf's Ballistamen.
• BFS: The Dragon Warriors' flamberge, Garrin's sword-lance and Otomo's huge broadsword.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: Zymeth and the Nightvol in the Dragon Path.
• Big First Choice: The first level in the original campaign determines if Kenji follows the Dragon or the Serpent Clan, by giving him a choice between defending rebellious peasants against bandits oppressing them, or joining the bandits in slaughtering the rebels.
• Bilingual Bonus: Most of the Zen Masters have names from languages other than English (mostly Japanese, but also other Asian and European languages). See the Characters page for individual examples.
• Bio Punk: The Lotus Clan seems to be transitioning into this amidst all the Warlock antics. Which could explain the gas masks and pseudo-industrial trappings in some of their structures.
• Blood-Splattered Warrior: If a fight goes on for long enough or kills enough opponents, the units' weapons will be stained with blood (the chances will be increased if an opponent is gibbed).
• Blood Sport: Wolfball is considered a dangerous sport (to the point that only Wolves are capable of surviving. No outsider has ever made it past the first round) - so much so that its players, the Hurlers, are used as units.
• Bolivian Army Ending: The final shot in the Serpent path ending is Kenji, accompanied by Shinja and the Necromancer, facing an army of hordelings advancing towards them (with the intent of showing their true might to them). This contrasts with the Dragon path ending where Kenji, with the might of the Dragon, wipes out the entire hordelings surrounding him.
• Boom, Headshot!: The Musketeers' Sniper Scope can even kill horse-mounted units directly by sheer accuracy.
• Boring, but Practical: Wolf Clan's Shale Armor Battle Gear (unit equipment). A unit cannot simultaneously have this armor and a Blessing from a Druidess, so player has to choose one or the other. Blessings grant flashy new abilities like calling wolves, area-of-effect damage, transformations, etc. Shale Armor passively increases all resistances, especially against magic. In many cases players prefer the Armor to all the other options.
• Bow and Sword in Accord: The Dragon Clan Samurai (katana and shortbow) and the Serpent Clan Bandit (sickle and arm crossbow).
• Bows Versus Crossbows: The Dragon Archers deal a good amount of damage from long range, while the Serpent Crossbowmen lack their counterparts' raw firepower but make up for it through their bolts being tipped with poison or eroding the enemy's armor, making them more useful as support troops.
• Breath Weapon: Lotus Shadow Steeds; Kazan can breathe fire via a toxic brew.
• Calvinball: The Wolf Clan's wolfball. According to what little we glean from it in the manual it involves a pack of rabid wolves, a solid iron ball and a walled-in arena. No non-Wolf Clan player has ever survived the first round and even spectating is supposedly dangerous ("Because a Wolf knows when to duck, you see").
• Cannibalism Superpower: Devouring peasants grants second tier Lotus units a new ability.
• Carry a Big Stick: Dragon's Guardians carry a studded club, while Wildeye swings a mace that doubles as a drumstick.
• Cast From HP: The Shale Lord can grant Shale Armor to any Wolf unit at the cost of his health. See also Dangerous Forbidden Technique for other unit examples.
• Catchphrase: Nightvol: I am the dark and I am always here.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience:
  • When moving the cursor over an enemy to attack, the sword or arrow changes color: bronze means the target will resist and take less damage, silver means the target takes normal damage, while gold indicates this unit is extremely effective against the target. See Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors below.
  • In the main campaigns, each clan represent the Four Seasons through their colors: Dragon is Summer/Light (orange/yellow), Serpent is Fall (red), Lotus is Winter/Darkness (purple), and Wolf is Spring (green).
• Combat Pragmatist: The Serpent Clan, they eschew honor if favor of using underhanded tactics such as firearms and poisoned weapons.
• Command & Conquer Economy: While the game uses the standard "make peasants to build and harvest" mechanic, it features its own take on unit creation, by making military units simply upgrades of the peasants.
• The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Regardless of game difficulty in campaign or skirmish, the enemy AI enjoys certain advantages and can be very relentless, especially to a player's unprepared town.
  • Enemy units tend to build their towns and armies faster, and once their main town has been demolished, peasants run to other rice fields to rebuild. The "Nightvol" AI in multiplayer is particularly nasty, as not only can it replace new units and buildings almost instantly under the cover of fog, it can sometimes even make multiples of buildings you can only usually have one of. Enemy AI also tend to blitz through your ranks to target your healers and ranged units first.
  • In Kenji or Grayback's campaigns, the enemy clans employ monks or ninjas from their Keep even before the corresponding Monks vs Ninjas plot comes up later in the game. Shinja in the campaign can freely use both Dragon and Serpent units at the same time when you're fighting against him.
  • An enemy Keep in the campaigns replaces monks and ninjas as soon as they get killed from a seemingly-endless pool of Yin or Yang.
• Cool Sword: The Dragon Warrior's flamberge and the Blade Acolyte's Reverse Grip-held grooved swords.
• Cosmetically Advanced Prequel: Winter of the Wolf comes first chronologically, wherein each clan's town squares are upgradeable and new units and heroes can be employed. However, even with the expansion intact, Kenji's Journey does not carry over the said upgrades, units and heroes.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Most ranged units from each clan have very ineffective melee attacks, thus making them very vulnerable to enemy melee troops. Few close-range units like Samurai, Bandits and Dragon Warriors avert this trope by having weaker short-range missile attacks.
• Critical Existence Failure: Subverted units with low health will limp instead of walking and cannot run, but can still fight like everything's fine.
• Crystal Dragon Jesus:
  • The Dragon is a vaguely philosophical, omnipresent, merciful God-like being. The legends of "The Dragon and the Orb are one," and the power of faith mirror Judeo-Christian mysticism and Asian superstitions. Despite Kenji's earlier skepticism in the Dragon Path, Shinja's treachery further pushes Kenji to pursue the way of righteousness, in which the Dragon's spirit boosts Kenji's abilities in the final battles.
  • The Nightvol is similarly depicted as an omnipresent Satanic entity, who "uses the servant against the master" to sow betrayal and discord throughout the land. Even after being destroyed by Tarrant and Kenji, Nightvol still claims "We are always here!", implying that he and his Horde will be back in a neverending battle between good and evil.
  • The White Wolf Totem is the equivalent for the Wolf Clan. It has transported the clan into the lands of the Serpent Empire, where they have been enslaved by its inhabitants for seven years. These years of suffering also made them into incredibly tough fighters. After Yvaine corrupted the Totem to create a blizzard, its destruction vaporized Yvaine, but Grayback came back unharmed.
• Damage Is Fire: Fire-based gear is often useless against units, but very effective against the undead and buildings. See also Kill It with Fire.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique:
  • Battle Gear like Glass Sword kills any non-boss opponent but inflicts critical damage or even death to the Swordsman himself.
  • The Dragon Geisha's Sacrifice completely heals nearby allied units at the cost of the Geisha's life.
  • In-universe example is the Lotus Clan. They are a once-benevolent civilization befallen by greed for arcane power via the Tree of Corruption. The Three Brothers Lythis, Sehk, and Tausil are their ancestors who tend the tree and are revered in the clan's three training buildings. These brothers are embodied by the 1st level warriors: Blade Acolyte, Leaf Disciple and Staff Adept respectively. Only by mastery of these three schools can a unit enter a Rite of Ascension to expel the corruption within and transform into a Warlock.
• Death from Above: The Dragon Spirit summon acts like an area-of-effect Meteor-Summoning Attack at the cost of 4 Samurai and 3 Yang points.
• Defeat Means Friendship: In the Serpent Path, you can permanently recruit Utara or Koril by destroying her keep or after damaging them to danger level, respectively.
• Demolitions Expert: As of the Zen Edition, units are now identified as Siege or Non-siege units, indicating their effectiveness against buildings. A simple fire-based Battle Gear or a building upgrade can enhance these units to raze an unprepared town in moments.
• Demoted to Extra: Longtooth in Grayback's Journey. In the first few missions, Longtooth serves as Grayback's best friend in the mines and second-in-command, but his presence and dialogue diminish once Wildeye joins the party. Wildeye is witty, brash and delivers one-liners and hilarious quips that he easily outshines Longtooth to become Grayback's de-facto Mr. Exposition advisor and right-hand for the rest of the game.
• Determinator: Guardians, with their Last Stand ability.
• Double Weapon: Utara's poisoned double-bladed sword.
• Dragons Up the Yin Yang: The main motif between the benevolent Dragon Clan and malevolent Serpent Clan.
• Dressed Like a Dominatrix: Lotus Overseers are described as pale and voluptuous women, armed with whips and dressed in kinky black bondage gear.
• Dual Wielding: Brawlers, Blade Acolytes and Ronin. Vetkin has a pair of sai, and Shinja notably dual wields poisoned blades.
• Easter Egg: If you place buildings on the exact area of a map where a cutscene takes place, those buildings will appear in the cutscene. Shinja's crossroads, the Ninjas' Soul Flame, the Monks' Monastery, and the plateau of Serpentholm's capital are prime examples.
• Education Through Pyrotechnics: Alchemist Huts train units with explosives and similar magics, deploying the Chemist and Musketeer.
• Eldritch Abomination: The Nightvol IS the dark.
• Elemental Nation: The Dragon is associated with Summer, the Serpent with Fall, the Lotus with Winter, and the Wolf with Spring.
• Enemy-Detecting Radar: Monks can detect a scouting invisible Ninja and attack him immediately.
• Epic Flail: Maulers and Enforcers wield repurposed ball-and-chains and a metal-tipped chain whip respectively.
• Everything's Better with Samurai: Complete with katanas and shortbows.
• Evil Sorcerer: The Lotus Clan is ruled by Zen Masters with various arcane specialties: weather, ice, matter, space and time. Their elite units consist of a cabal of Warlocks, Master Warlocks, and the Brothers: the three avatars of the Tree of Corruption.
  • The Serpent Clan has Witches who can turn into flying Demonesses.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture:
  • The Dragon Clan is modeled on an idealized version of medieval Japan and China, à la the Heian and Genroku Periods.
  • The Serpent Clan is reminiscent of Japan's Darker and Edgier Sengoku and Edo Periods, reflecting the less romanticized parts of the era. The heavily tattooed Enforcers, Shinja, Vetkin and Serpent!Kenji also evoke the Yakuza.
  • The Wolf Clan's story has much in common with various enslaved peoples rebelling against empires throughout history and borrows elements of Roman-era Celtic peoples, as most units are redheads (a stereotype associated with Celtic peoples like the Irish), one of the units carries a ballista (a Roman invention), and another unit is the druidess (a female member of the Celtic clergy). Which, coincidentally, fits their backstory of being a displaced tribe.
  • While the Lotus Clan has no clear real world analogy, many of its thematic motifs resemble a black magic perversion of both Buddhist monasticism (with the Lotus achieving "enlightenment" through successive corruption and spiritually deviant philosophies) and Japanese Kirishitan (the use of Christian terms like "acolyte", "disciple" and "brother", and their "divine trinity" with the Three Brothers).
• Fertile Feet: Gaihla. This also works for your food supply if you place her near the rice fields.
• Flechette Storm: Lotus Leaf Disciples; Powder Keg Cannoneer's Shrapnel Keg blasts an area with huge fletchettes for wide-area damage.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Zen Masters "die" in campaign missions, but they are often "revived" in the Keep. But if the death of the Zen Master is part of the plot or cutscene, that hero/villain remains dead for the rest of the campaign.
• Gatling Good: Teppo's Dragon Gun strapped on his back fires salvos of five explosives at a time.
• Genre Refugee: The Wolf Clan, after a fashion, with their a Celtic-esque tribal aesthetics and culture clashing with the Dragon and Serpent. Justified, however, in that their forefathers were displaced from an entirely different land.
• Golem: Soban creates up to 3 small golems out of mud, acting as free peasant units (but cannot use horses). Each golem has an explosive Suicide Attack if struck by the enemy.
• Good Old Ways: By the time Kenji's Journey takes place, the original Dragon Clan has technically been gone for a long time, having since turned into the Serpent. This didn't stop Otomo from rebuilding it, looking back to (and learning from) the Dragon's ways as the best path forward.
• Guns Are Worthless: Zig-zagged. Musketeers, Cannoneers and P.K. Cannoneers use gunpowder weapons. They're not particularly more damaging than their non-gunpowder using equivalents, nor cheaper or easier to train. On the other hand, Musketeers never miss when using their normal attack or Sniper Scope.
• Happy Ending Override: Those who played Kenji's Journey before Grayback's would know that the Wolf Clan would not be celebrating their freedom from the Lotus Clan for long. In Kenji's Serpent campaign, Kenji and Grayback eventually come to blows that end with the Serpent Clan completely wiping the Wolf Clan out and Grayback goes out taking out the Nightvol, leaving Kenji the sole victor. It's downplayed in Kenji's Dragon campaign, though, where the Wolf Clan ends up getting defeated by the Lotus about 2/3 into the story but Kenji is willing to take the Wolf survivors in, implying that the clan could still survive and thrive again. However, Grayback is nowhere to be found in this campaign, leaving his survival ambiguous.
  • The Wolf Clan seemed to have a falling-out during Kenji's campaign. The Pitch Slingers' carelessness in the mines is burning Gaihla's forests, forcing her to join Kenji in the Dragon path. Meanwhile, Longtooth hires Utara in the Wolf swamps of the Serpent path (the same Utara who kidnapped and tortured Gaihla in the prequel), so Utara betrays them to join Kenji.
• Headbutting Heroes:
  • Otomo and Shinja for the Dragon/Serpent clans during Kenji's Journey — Shinja views Otomo as weak for protecting the peasants, while the latter chews out the former for his ruthlessness and robbing the townspeople of their belongings.
  • The Lotus has Koril and Issyl. In Winter of the Wolf, the player must take advantage of the rift between the Archmages of Space (Koril) and Time (Issyl). Upon beating either one, failure to destroy the remaining archmage within the time limit causes him to seize control of the other faction's army.
• Healing Factor: The Wolf clan can recover health to full by standing still, to compensate for the fact that the Druidess (their support unit) doesn't heal allies, but rather entangles enemies to keep them in place.
• Healthy Green, Harmful Red: Unit health bars start out green when full or near-full, turn yellow around the halfway mark and turn red when at quarter health.
• Hellish Horse: The Lotus Shadow Steeds, which can also set buildings ablaze with their fire breath.
• Hero Must Survive: Kenji and Grayback in their respective campaigns, until you unlock the keep.
• Hero Unit: Each clan has four heroes, plus one more in the expansion pack.
• Hidden Agenda Villain: The Black Ninja is introduced as early as the Swan's Pool mission in Kenji's Journey. The ninja later steals the Serpent's Orb and hands it to Zymeth/Grayback depending on Kenji's path. Despite working like a henchman, this ninja has obvious machinations and a very dominant tone when talking with the clan leader, even Zymeth. It's not until the end of the campaign that this Enigmatic Minion is the Nightvol, an ancient evil that forced Tarrant to use the Serpent's Orb which broke the continent two centuries ago. Nightvol thrived behind the scenes through bloodshed and betrayal, using the Serpent's Orb as leverage for the power struggle amongst the Clans, knowing that the true power that can vanquish him is not the meaningless orb, but someone who embraces the Dragon's Spirit.
• Hostile Weather:
  • Rainfall plays an important factor in the game, giving circumstantial (dis)advantages during combat. Rice grows faster, burning buildings are doused, and Lord Zymeth becomes even more powerful when it is raining. Therefore, assaulting your opponent's camp with burning weapons won't work too well during rainfall.
  • Played straight with Winter of the Wolf. Once Grayback gets out of the Shale Mines, the Wolf clan has to contend with a blizzard instead of rain. During a snowstorm, rice growth rate is diminished and units gradually take small damage (circumvented by the units' natural Healing Factor).
• Idle Animation: All units have them, and some are actually beneficial. The Kabuki Warrior's is a juggling act that entertains peasants and speeds up their work, while the P.K. Cannoneer's is a sumo wrestling style salt-throwing ritual that temporarily increases allies' defense.
• Improbable Weapon User:
  • Issyl's weapon is a giant hourglass with spikes on both ends.
  • The Wolf hero Grayback uses a pickaxe. But then, most of the Wolf clan use the very tools during their enslavement as their prized weapons.
• Improvised Weapon: The Wolf clan in general have taken and refashioned the very mining tools they were forced to use in captivity into arms symbolizing their defiance.
• The Infested: The Lotus Clan's Infested One allows his body to become a breeding ground for maggots that he can then use to attack enemies with in close combat.
• I Owe You My Life: The majority of heroes who join Kenji and Grayback are recruited this way, as long as these newcomers don't die on the stage they join you or the mission will end or (worse) they just won't appear in the Keep in subsequent stages.
• Item Caddy: A Clan-wide example, Serpent units and Heroes are mediocre in combat, but compensate with very powerful and game-changing Battle Gears. A Serpent unit without Battle Gear is virtually only about half as effective than they could be.
• Katana Superiority:
  • Given the setting, many Dragon and Serpent units and heroes use Oriental sword variants as melee weapons.
  • Subverted with the Ninja, who is armed with a ninjato (melee) and shuriken (missile). Barehanded Monks will still Curb-Stomp Battle the Ninja in 1v1 or in groups.
• Kill It with Fire:
  • Subverted; since almost all units are resistant to fire, except the Necromancer, Werewolf, Zombies and Shamblers, who are extremely weak against it.
  • Played straight with buildings. Along with hit-and-run tactics, upgraded siege units that deal fire (Raider) and explosive (Pitch Slinger) damage are guaranteed to set a camp ablaze within seconds.
  • Certain units that deal magic (Dragon/Kabuki Warrior) or explosive (Chemist) damage from afar can now light up buildings upon repeated hits.
• Lampshade Hanging: All clan peasants are armed with lowly hand sickles for harvesting rice. If ordered to attack the enemy, the Dragon Peasant may comment "Attack? With this?! Uh, okay..." and "To our doom!"
• Large and in Charge: The enemies in the final battle only consist of black Hordelings who walk on fours. Once you see something big, scary, and walking on twos, you know that it's Nightvol.
• Laser Blade: The Dryad from the expansion employs a magical blade from thin air as her basic weapon.
• Leave No Survivors: Most missions in the campaigns are this. Averted in Skirmish and Multiplayer if the game mode is set to "Razing" (destroy all enemy buildings) or "Kill the Keep" (destroy all enemy Keeps) as opposed to "Survival" (destroy all enemy signs of life).
• Leitmotif: Each clan has its own distinct soundtrack with several music pieces, each having two variations: one for "peaceful" times, the other being the Battle Theme Music once combat starts.
  • Dragon and Serpent themes mirror each other: Dragon has more meditation style music, while Serpent reflects the rowdy and cunning nature of the clan. Both soundtracks alternate throughout Kenji's Journey.
  • Wolf themes have war drums and barbarian-style rhythms; while Lotus have ominous music related to rituals, decay and corruption.
• Light/Fire Juxtaposition: Downplayed. Yang-aligned Zen Masters like those from the Dragon and Wolf Clans disappear into light when killed, while their Yin-aligned counterparts burst into flame when they are killed. Notably, Kenji himself disappears into light even on the Serpent path until the final third of the campaign, when he finally fully embraces the Serpent ethos.
• Lightning Bruiser:
  • The Shale Lord, despite his size and the fact that he's made of shale, can run really fast, easily hurt men and buildings and is highly damage-resistant.
  • Kenji has good strength, speed and selection of resistances, a ranged attack in his second and third forms, and his battle gear allows him to One-Hit Kill most non-hero units in the game. Since you lose the campaign if he dies early on, employing him becomes a high risk/high reward type of affair.
• Ludicrous Gibs: Units with weaknesses to blunt, explosive, or magic damage often end up like this.
• MacGuffin: The Serpent Orb aka Tarrant's Orb.
• Made of Plasticine: Because of how magic, explosive, and blunt-type damage works, there is a chance that a unit will explode into body parts if they are weak to it. This also means that a Monk (who fights barehanded), or a Musketeer (whose rifle bullets deal explosive-type damage), can reduce a person (or a horse) into pieces if they are weak to it.
• Mad Scientist: Soban. Other than being described as such and actually showing a bit of his skill know-how with the golems, he's also responsible for turning the Shale Lord into what he is.
• Magic Feather: Tarrant's Orb, also known as the Serpent's Orb, is the mystical item linked with the Dragon that the clans fight for. Kenji seeks it to heal the damage his clan has done, the Lotus want to use it to free them from the Tree's corruption, while the Wolf wish to use it to be transported back to their homeland. As the Dragon reveals, the Orb is meaningless: it only unlocks a hidden power within the user(s), as their faith on it gives it life. Since Serpent!Kenji never meets the Dragon due to his evil ways, he dismisses the Dragon and the Orb as a myth.
• Mana: The game employs stamina, which units expend to run or use their specific Battle Gear.
• The Man Behind the Man: While you have killed the apparent Big Bad Zymeth or Grayback in Kenji's Campaign, you still have to face the one who had manipulated them in the first place: Nightvol and his Horde.
• Mighty Glacier: Master Warlocks. Tier 4 attack power and hit points, but literally can't run.^note That is, you cannot have them expend stamina to move any faster.
• Multiple Endings: An odd variant, as you choose which path to take in the very first mission. ^note If Kenji kills the peasants, you'll play as the Serpent Clan. However, if you kill the bandits instead, you'll play as the Dragon Clan
• Mutually Exclusive Party Members: In Kenji's Journey, you can obtain several recruitable Zen Masters by going to certain areas on the map of the land, however, you cannot return to claim a hero from the same selection. For instance, by going through the central province on the way to Swan's Pool as a Dragon, you can claim Garrin as an ally, but if you choose the western territory instead, you will be joined by Arah.
• Mutually Exclusive Power-Ups: Every unit can only have one Battle Gear at any time. While Zen Masters, Monks and Ninja only have one anyway, most units usually have a choice between two or more, depending on the player's choice. For example, the Dragon Clan's Samurai can either get Yang Blade from the Shrine (which boosts Yang generation and damage the more Yang the player has) or Dragon Skin from the Fireworks Factory (which shields the Samurai from projectiles).
• Mystical Lotus: The Lotus Clan is the most magically specialized faction in the game. Its units are all afflicted with some sort of corruption until they transform into a Warlock, at which point they violently expunge this corruption away. This symbolizes the flower's tendency to bloom in the mud, and how it seems so clean despite living in such a filthy place.
• Nature Hero: Most of the wolf clan, with a mix of Barbarian Hero thrown in.
• Ninja: Can be employed by the Serpent and Lotus Clans in multiplayer. Can also be employed in the Dragon campaign.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Tao is half monk, half ninja.
• Noble Savage: Compared to the rest, the Wolf are the most primitive faction in the game, bordering on Stone-Age levels if not for all those repurposed mining tools. Then again, they're also shown to be well meaning in general and just want to be left alone.
• No Campaign for the Wicked: Subverted by Kenji's Journey where you can choose the "evil" Serpent path; but played straight with the other campaign featuring only the Wolf clan, thus leaving the Lotus the only faction without a campaign.
• No Such Thing as Dehydration: Averted, where rice and water are the two main resources you gather, with the in-game explanation that your troops needs rice to eat and water to drink.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: In the original game's campaign, neither Otomo nor Shinja in Kenji's Serpent and Dragon paths respectively are really interested in helping the protagonist achieve his goals. They're more concerned instead with what they think is best for their people and one of them will eventually turn on Kenji, regardless of which path he takes.
• Older Than They Look: Issyl is an unsettling 12-year old boy physically, but is actually suffering from Merlin Sickness.
• One-Hit Kill: The Serpent Clan Swordsmen's Glass Sword does this to any non-hero units (at the cost of their own lives) and the Wolf Clan Brawlers do this to heroes with their Zen Counterpunch.
• One-Hit-Point Wonder: Soban's Golems. Needless to say, they're of more use collecting rice and water.
• Our Zombies Are Different: While the Necromancer's Zombies are Voodoo type, the Reaper's Shamblers are the Construct type.
• Outside-Context Villain: The eldritch Nightvol acts as this for what's otherwise a Wutai setting.
• Paper Fan of Doom: Fan Geisha.
• The Paralyzer:
  • The Bandits can stop enemies in their tracks with paralysis darts, turning them into sitting ducks for a short while.
  • The Druidess's main attack entangles victims in tangles of vines, rooting them to the spot.
• Poisoned Weapons: Shinja, Utara, Gaihla, and Diseased One's melee breath. Bandits and Crossbowmen's weapons can also be upgraded to this. As of the Zen Edition, the Ninjas' shuriken and the Ronin's swords are also poisoned.
• Power Fist: Wolf Clan Brawlers attack with knuckledusters made from shards of shale. With a Druidess blessing, Brawlers can One-Hit Kill Zen Masters.
• Power Glows: The Samurai's Yang Blade and the Ronin's Yin Blade, where both generate respective Yang or Yin points. The former's damage output increases as does his Yang, while the latter steals the target's stamina to create Yin.
  • Kenji also does this when he unlocks his 11th-Hour Superpower in the Dragon campaign.
• Precision-Guided Boomerang: Longtooth, the Wolf hero.
• Rain of Arrows: Dragon Archers in large numbers can easily wipe out enemy forces. For extra fun, placing them in a Fireworks Factory makes them unleash...
  • Arrows on Fire: Fire-based units can raze a whole town by switching targets once it's on fire. Other clan equivalents are the Serpent's Raiders and Wolf's Pitch Slingers.
• Regenerating Health: Damaged units can be pulled out of combat in order to recover health. It takes some time, but brings them out of the critical range.
• Reverse Grip: Lotus Blade Acolytes hold their weapons like this.
• Right-Hand Attack Dog: Wolves in this case. The Wolf Clan raises pet wolves from horse meat, while Wildeye can summon three Spirit Wolves at a time.
• Rings of Death: The Dragon's Battle Maidens throw chakrams with deadly accuracy.
• "Risk"-Style Map: Kenji's Journey allows you to select which province to liberate or conquer on an overworld map.
• Rōnin: With double swords.
• Samurai in Ninja Town: Given the Far East aesthetic of the game, both samurai and ninja appear, though neither are available to the same side barring specific circumstances in Kenji's Journey^note Kenji must be of the Dragon clan, then recruit Tao while siding with the ninja as Samurai are exclusive to the Dragon clan while Ninja are exclusive to Yin users like the Lotus and Serpent clans.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here!: Much of the Wolf campaign concerns Grayback's quest to escape Serpent and Lotus captivity, while finding a new home for his people.
• Seasonal Baggage: Each of the four Clans is associated with a season; the Dragon with summer, the Serpent with autumn, the Lotus with winter, and the Wolf with spring.
• Shock and Awe: Lord Zymeth.
• Shout-Out:
  • The Sledgers (face, physique, accent) are reminiscent of a certain Austrian governor.
  • The Sledger in the first missions of the Wolf Campaign: "Grayback! It's a trap!"
  • Chemists will occasionally shriek "Light my fire!" when you send them into battle.
• Sinister Scythe: Reapers.
• The Smurfette Principle: Each clan has one female unit and one female Zen Master, and the former can be upgraded in the expansion.
• Staff of Authority: Tao the Monk/Ninja; Soban, the Archmage of Matter.
• Stamina Meter: Every unit has one which also doubles as their Mana Meter. Stamina is consumed whenever units run rather than walk (and if they're mounted on horses, will consume their horse's instead) and can also be used to activate various Battle Gear abilities.
• The Starscream: Zymeth is formerly Lord Oja's advisor. And depending on which path you took in Kenji's Journey, Shinja or Otomo will betray you as well.
• Stout Strength: Sumo wrestlers carry cannons as personal weapons, and are specifically recruited because no-one else can lift the things or remain standing when they fire. Serpent Cannoneers also carry heavy cannons made from hollowed logs.
• Summon Magic: Certain units and Zen Masters such as the Necromancer, Soban, and Wildeye have Battle Gears that can summon minions that serve varying purposes.
• Super-Speed: Vetkin. Issyl's Battle Gear endows nearby allied units with mass haste for a limited duration.
• Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors:
  • There are 6 damage types: slashing, piercing, blunt, explosive, magical, and fire. Each unit deals a specific damage type in melee (missile attackers also have a weaker melee damage type) plus about 2 weakness types and 2 resistance types. As a rule of thumb, never build an army consisting of a single unit type.
    • Zen Edition removes the fire type in favor of the siege system. Piercing damage becomes a universal type wherein all units are not weak or resistant to it.
  • The clans' respective units mostly have common strengths and weaknesses, it is good to know which clan is good at countering which; Dragon^note Swords+Fire<Lotus^note Magic<Wolf^note Shale Armor+Blunt Weapons<Serpent^note Gunpowder+Poison=Dragon^note Swords+Fire.
• Taking You with Me:
  • Samurais commit seppuku upon loss of his last hit point, damaging any opponent within his vicinity. Ronins stab the ground with their katanas upon death, cursing nearby opponents with an attack power decrease for a short duration.
  • Upon death, 2nd tier Lotus units unleash their corruption, causing direct/gradual damage or envelop enemies with darkness.
• Teleport Spam: Koril's Battle Gear, being the Archmage of Space.
• Took a Level in Badass: Kenji, in between his father's death and his return... and once again before Serpentholm, where he recruits gunpowder-users to his clan, gains a flintlock, and loses the straw hat. However, some of Kenji's resistance types decrease as a trade-off for his new long-range attack.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Serpent-Kenji becomes driven by bloodlust to eradicate the Dragon clan rebels and the Wolf clan.
• Training the Peaceful Villagers: The entire point of the game.
• Tunnel King: Diggers from the Wolf Clan.
• The Unintelligible: Diggers. Only Wildeye seems to understand their gibberish language in the Wolf campaign.
• The Vamp: Utara and Yvaine.
• Villain Protagonist: Kenji in the Serpent campaign.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Most Wolf Clan units eschew wearing shirts except when equipped with Shale Armor, befitting their Barbarian Hero aesthetic.
• Walk It Off: Issyl, Crossbowmen, and all Wolf Clan Units can regenerate 100% of their max health idling. Everyone else only regenerates up to 80%, except Zombies and Shamblers, for whom this trope is inverted.
• Weapons of Their Trade: Wolf Clan units trained at the Quarry (namely Maulers, Sledgers and Pitch Slingers) use repurposed mining equipment in combat, specifically the chained boulders keeping them restrained, the hammers they use to break down rocks, and the pitch they use to keep mine shafts alit respectively.
• Whatevermancy: The Serpent Necromancer raises Zombies from nearby corpses. The Lotus Reapers can also create Shamblers from corpses.
• Whip of Dominance: Slavemaster Budo and the Lotus Overseers in Winter of the Wolf wield regular whips to keep their slaves in line, both cracking and lashing at the prisoners at their discretion, while Serpent Enforcers have chain whips.
• Wolf Man: Berserkers when they use the Lycanthropy ability.
• Wutai: There are heavily predominant Chinese and Japanese influences among both the Dragon and Serpent clans.
• Yin-Yang Bomb: "I am Tao. I am both Monk and Ninja. Half Light, half Darkness. I serve Yin and Yang, and the balance of all things."
  • Interestingly, Tao can be recruited in both paths of Kenji's Journey. Tao joins Dragon-Kenji in destroying the ninjas' Soul Flame; on the other hand, he reluctantly joins Serpent-Kenji in smashing the monks' monastery.
• You Require More Vespene Gas:
  • Both rice and water are Gold-type, as water is required to build all but the simplest structures.
  • Yin and Yang are of the Lumber/Power-type. They are earned by killing enemy units and buildings, and are the costs for upgrades and heroes.
• Zerg Rush: The Hordelings, as shown in Tarrant's backstory and Kenji's final battle. They might be small, but they have high magic/explosive resistances and attack en masse, capable of shredding buildings and units alike.
  • A common tactic in multiplayer games is creating an army of Tier 1 units and attacking the enemy town as early as possible to destroy resource production and the ability to build advanced buildings.