Nomadic Raiders are ABSURDLY Strong! - Age of Wonders 4: Rise From Ruin

Video overview

• Creator Provis plays Age of Wonders 4 with the Rise From Ruin expansion.
• Demonstrates a highly aggressive nomad build called the “Bunic Horde”: a single super-charged mobile city that raids, over-harvests resource nodes, and moves across the map pillaging enemies.

Storyline / flavor

Provis role-plays Scourge Lord Attilla the Bun, a hair-folk (giant bunny) nomad warlord who constantly packs up his city, moves along enemy borders, pillages provinces and ruins, and carries permanent bonuses with the city as he goes.

• Showcases the new nomad culture (mobile cities that over-harvest resource nodes for permanent essences), new tomes, new wildlife, and other Rise From Ruin content.

Core mechanics explained

Nomad cities

• Can pack up, move, and unpack elsewhere (packing takes 1 turn).
• Over-harvesting nearby resource nodes (sheep, iron, gold, etc.) exhausts that node and grants the city an essence — a permanent bonus that travels with the city.
• Nomads grow population more slowly; raiding and pillaging are primary ways to get food and resources.
• Ruined nodes left by nomads can be restored but cost a lot of mana.
• Packing removes borders; unpacking restores them. Construction in a city may be interrupted/refunded when packing.

Two nomad archetypes

• Scavengers: loot corpses and ancient wonders; can get extremely powerful by taking and carrying wonders/materials.
• Conquerors: aggressive pillagers who raid provinces to steal territory yields (production, draft, gold) and can repeatedly raise/erase cities.

Magic materials and Talented Collectors

• Magic materials (haste berries, clover, etc.) and ancient wonders normally affect a settled city.
• Talented Collectors + nomad over-harvesting allows many materials to travel with the city, multiplying bonuses.

Empire traits / examples used

• Chosen Destroyers: benefits from raising population but restricts you to one permanent city — synergizes with nomad play.
• Talented Collectors: increases yields from magic materials across the domain — ideal when collecting many materials and carrying them.

Important UI / flow notes

• You can spend Imperium to hasten node exhaustion (useful for timing moves).
• Pillaging provinces takes fewer turns and gives more rewards with certain empire skills (e.g., Skilled Raiders).

Gameplay highlights & tactics used

Early game setup

• Build raider tents, trophy stores, and a forester to boost early food/gold and population.
• Recruit raiders (charge units that gain Empowering Momentum after moving 3 hexes and set hexes on fire while in momentum) and wind warriors (shield/healer swap ability).
• Research priorities: Training Regimens (drafts), Bread for War (minor race transformation, early HP boosts), then choose tomes useful for horde/warband/warlord play.

Aggressive nomad loop (repeatable cycle)

1. Settle near resources and magic materials.
2. Over-harvest nodes until essence/magic materials are obtained.
3. Pack the city, move to an enemy border, unpack.
4. Raid provinces (single-turn pillage with the right skills), annex magic materials or provinces with Imperium, and raise/erase enemy cities to gain food, gold, and population.
5. Repeat — the city accumulates essences and magic materials, becoming a mobile powerhouse.

Combat tactics

• Emphasize mobility and flanking (bunny traits: lightfooted, athletic; raiders rely on charges and momentum).
• Use terrain and unit-swapping (windborne rescue) to flank and keep units alive.
• Use sandstorm (from Tome of the Sand Stalkers) to blind/slow enemies for multiple turns, making them easier to outmaneuver — very effective vs archers/backlines.
• Use tome-based siege options (for example, siege projects that set hexes on fire) to accelerate city burning.

Tomes chosen and their uses

• Tome of the War Band: buffs marshall armies and rewards small units with XP — good for horde builds.
• Tome of the Sand Stalkers: desert/sand mechanics, sandstorms (AOE blinding), desert transformations, scorpions — strong for slowing and disorienting enemies.
• Tome of the Warlord: provides a warlord mythic unit that buffs surrounding troops, infernal allies (war golem), and doubled impact for tiers 1–3 — great with many low-tier units.

Resource & timing tips

• Use Imperium to speed up node depletion or instantly claim provinces/magic materials when needed.
• Watch node timers: coordinate packing/moving with node exhaustion so you don’t leave bonuses behind.
• Raise enemy cities (destroy them) to gain large bursts of food, population, and other rewards when you can trigger raises.
• Scavenger nomads excel at looting ancient wonders and can outscale conquerors if they secure and carry those wonders.

Overall result shown

• Provis’ build used mostly tier 1–3 units with tomes and spells to obliterate multiple opponents.
• Amassed dozens of essences and double-digit magic materials, turning a single mobile city into a 1-city megapolis that outscaled rivals.

Key tips / recommended strategy

• Early

  • Settle near multiple resource nodes and magic materials.
  • Build food/gold structures that benefit from bordering other empires (raider tents, trophy stores).
  • Recruit raiders early for momentum-based charges and mobility.

• Midgame loop

  • Over-harvest nodes to get essences; use Imperium to hasten depletion when you want to leave quickly.
  • Pack up and move your city to enemy borders, unpack, and raid provinces every cycle.
  • Use pillaging and raising cities to gain food and population, offsetting the nomad growth penalty.
  • Prioritize taking magic materials and ancient wonders (especially if playing scavenger or with Talented Collectors).

• Combat

  • Focus on flanking, mobility, and use of sandstorm/blind effects to control enemy formations.
  • Stack army buffs around a warlord or use horde deployment bonuses from tomes to overwhelm cities.

• Empire / tome picks

  • Talented Collectors + nomads can be absurdly powerful if you collect many magic materials.
  • Tome of the Warlord is excellent for low/mid-tier mass armies; Tome of the Sand Stalkers gives strong battlefield control via sandstorm.
  • Chosen Destroyers can be a powerful chaos trait if you intend to raise population (single-city restriction fits nomads).

• Quality-of-life

  • Remember ruined nodes can be restored for a high mana cost — restore only if strategically necessary.
  • Packing/unpacking costs a turn; time it so you maximize essence collection before moving.

Notable in-game specifics shown

• Momentum: raider units gain bonus damage and set hexes on fire after a 3-hex move.
• Packing removes borders; unpacking returns them. Construction may be interrupted/refunded when packing.
• Raising a city yields big resource/population benefits; some empire skills reduce the cost or increase returns.
• Sandstorm: 3-turn blind in a 3-hex radius — extremely effective vs backlines.
• The run demonstrated getting dozens of essences and many magic materials, resulting in huge global bonuses (e.g., +50+ to many resources) for the single nomad city.

Summary judgement

• The nomad culture in Rise From Ruin—especially the conqueror raider playstyle shown—is extremely strong and highly fun in aggressive games.
• Talented Collectors + nomad mobility + focused tomes and spells (sandstorm, warlord, siege projects) enable a one-city empire that outscales opponents by repeatedly pillaging and carrying permanent bonuses.
• Scavenger nomads (loot-oriented) look even more dangerous for long-term power.
• The video demonstrates a fast, repeatable loop that can make nomads absurdly powerful in single-player or multiplayer if unchecked.

Featured gamers / sources

• Provis (YouTuber / player)
• Paradox Interactive (publisher of Age of Wonders 4: Rise From Ruin)