The Mercantile unit line, unit by unit
Both subcultures share the Hireling and Bravo. Barony gets Envoy, Marine, Magewright and Silvershot; Cartel gets Informant, Goon, Curse Peddler and Mage Slayer.
The Mercantile roster is nine units: two shared, four Barony-only and four Cartel-only, with one caveat that matters, the scouts and the tier-3 units are the ones that actually differ, while the middle of the line is deliberately similar. Triumph said as much in the culture's design notes: they made a select few unique models and used variations where it mattered, rather than building two full armies.
What follows is what each unit does, with the numbers the developers published. Where a number does not exist in the official material, it is not here.
The roster at a glance
| Unit | Tier | Role | Available to | Signature mechanic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Envoy | 1 | Scout | Barony | Builds outposts; can assign bounties |
| Informant | 1 | Scout | Cartel | Universal Camouflage ignores borders |
| Marine | 1 | Shield | Barony | Empowered defence: First Strike, unlimited retaliation |
| Goon | 1 | Fighter | Cartel | Observe builds Leverage; Replaceable after death |
| Hireling | 1 | Ranged | Both | Single-shot carbine that slows; Slip Away on lethal damage |
| Magewright | 2 | Support | Barony | Heals 40 HP and grants Defensive Masters |
| Curse Peddler | 2 | Support | Cartel | Divine Weakness applies Leverage by unit type |
| Bravo | 2 | Shock | Both | Taunt, knockback, Exploit Bravado |
| Silvershot | 3 | Ranged | Barony | Steady Aim: +50% accuracy, +20% damage |
| Mage Slayer | 3 | Magic Fighter | Cartel | Mana Drained; steals positive status effects |
Two scouts, two openings
The Envoy and the Informant are the same unit slot doing opposite jobs. The Envoy walks and can build outposts, which for the Barony is the whole expansion engine; with the Improved Work Camp its outposts claim two extra provinces. The Informant instead carries Universal Camouflage, letting it ignore borders as long as it is not spotted, which is how a Cartel player finds targets for smuggling routes before anyone knows they are at war.
Neither is a real combat unit, but both contribute. The Envoy can assign bounties like a support or hero, and the Informant has Observant, so it can start stacking Leverage on something it has no business surviving next to.
The shared middle
The Hireling is the unit both subcultures get and both use differently. It is a single-shot ranged skirmisher whose carbine can slow, denying retaliations and keeping targets out of reach. Its real trick is Slip Away, which triggers when it would take fatal damage and gives it a chance to survive, a ranged unit that does not automatically die when something reaches it.
The Bravo is the melee answer, and it exists because the art team wanted it. Mechanically it is a shock unit built on Taunt: a low chance on the basic strike, a reliable application through Taunting Advance, which charges, knocks back anything not Large, and puts the Bravo into defence mode. Exploit Bravado then gives it +2 Defence, +2 Resistance and First Strike against anything it has taunted. The Cartel uses it to hold a line while Leverage accumulates; the Barony uses it as the front the Silvershot shoots over.
Tier 3: the reason to pick a side
The Silvershot is a sniper with an accuracy problem that it solves by standing still. Steady Aim grants 50% accuracy and 20% damage until it moves, and its base shot already reaches range 5. Silver Bullet Shot is a full action that forbids movement but reaches range 6 with high base damage and Giant Slayer, which is the answer to the expansion's large sea creatures.
The Mage Slayer is the opposite kind of specialist. Mana Drained shuts off magic, support and debuff abilities, which deletes enemy healers and a good number of heroes. Arcane Interrogation then steals all positive status effects from a target, deals Frost damage and applies Leverage for each one stolen, and heals the Mage Slayer for the trouble. Against a buffed-up boss unit it is a two-button execution.
Supports and the support you actually need
The Magewright heals 40 HP and grants Defensive Masters for a turn, which is a large, simple, reliable heal — but it has no built-in cleanse. The Curse Peddler's Curse Inversion heals only 10 base, then adds 10 more for each debuff it dispels, so against a debuff-heavy enemy it outheals the Magewright by a wide margin and does nothing against a clean one. Divine Weakness is the Cartel's mass Leverage tool: it targets every unit of the same type, which is exactly what you want against a stack of identical summons.
How to build around them
A Barony army wants a Marine front, two Silvershots behind it and a Magewright to keep the front alive; the Bravo fills the gap when something flanks. A Cartel army wants Goons and a Bravo to hold, Curse Peddlers to spread Leverage, and a Mage Slayer to remove whichever unit is holding the enemy army together.
Neither army wants to fight in the open against a faster enemy. Mercantile units are not slow, but they are not built to chase; they are built to make the other side come to them and then make that decision expensive.
The culture overview explains why the roster is split this way, and the Cartel vs Barony page covers the strategic differences that decide which half you get to use.
