Mount & Blade : Warband

I wanted to let you guys know that I'm testing out Mount & Blade : Warband at the moment.

For those of you who don't have a clue what it is, well it's a 3rd Person medieval war game.

You control one guy, equip him with whatever armor and weapon you like (depending on the cash you have) and you fight other people in sieges and whatnot. Some servers allow for some pretty epic battles (100+ players, lag-free).


Here's a little video, the guy isn't amazing, but it still pictures the gameplay.

Here's my little review of the game. This is after playing the beta last year and the time I had with the game last night.

Rating : 8 Impaled Vaegirs Out of 10
Time spent : 20 Hrs (approx. counting beta).


Let me start by saying that this game is really a fun one. I used to play it in the beta and was having a blast but I did not purchase it due to the fact I was playing some other games and did not have people to play this one with. (I think I was on AoC at the moment.)

For those of you that played the original M&B in single player mode, you won't be left homesick. The game plays pretty much the same way the original played but with enhanced graphics, more stuff to do, and access to the multiplayer mode.

I will come back to the multiplayer mode later, but let me explain the gameplay a little for those of you that did not play it. It's all based around physics and momentum. You move around using your standard WASD keys, swing your weapon with Left Click and block with Right Click. Weapons got some reach, damage and weight stats to them. The goal here is to swing your sword through other people (duh) but you really have to "physically" swing it through, so you need to time and move around and try to land your blows correctly. You will be switching from left, right, overhead, thrust in an attempt to land that fatal hit. As I said, it's all about momentum, so if you're moving forward and swing your broad sword in the ribs of an unsuspecting archer, chances are he's gonna be cry for his mommy and another hit will be his death. Momentum is even more relevant when horses are involved. Charging full speed with a horse and a good old spear turns you into a 1-hit kill machine. Obviously, if your horse get slashed in the kneecap by a bardiche, you'll be face-planting in the next second and jumped by said bardiche wielder, but that's all part of the fun. Archery is played a third person shooter. You need to lead your targets and take gravity into account when shooting from distance.

As for game modes, multiplayer is where the game really shines. Battling with dozens of other player over a castle in Siege mode is really fun, especially since the game is pretty much a "Medieval War Simulator". In multiplayer modes, you chose from one of two side, then from one of three classes (Archer, Footman, Cavalry). Then you need to chose your gear. You can decide of your helmet, chest armor, boots, gloves, weapons (spears, maces, swords, axes, shields, and more). On top of the damage and armor value, you need to keep a lookout to the weight of your items as that will slow down all your movements, so having too many spare weapons may help you in some situations, but if you think you're not gonna need them, it's better to leave them home!

There's also a good modding community always bringing something new to the table, from Star Wars mods to Muskets fights, there seems to be a lot of stuff available. They are also usually played in a couple of servers online. But I won't lie, I did not spend much time playing around with mods.

Graphically, the game isn't awful, but it's not a real beauty either. The good side is that this allows the game to run smoothly even with hundreds of players on screen.

Sounds are OK, but nothing impressive here... Nothing much to say about sound honestly.


In conclusion, I like this game so far for the simple yet huge FUN factor. If you want to test it out for yourselves, there is a single player demo available on Steam (and other sites) to give you a rough idea of what the game looks like.

i enjoyed the first game. whats it cost? and is anyone else interested?

i enjoyed the first game. whats it cost? and is anyone else interested?

Simon said $30 tonight in Skype; I'm down to try it.

Simon, can you chuck a shield in favor of a two handed weapon on foot? Can we basically be a barbarian horde with light leather armor and giant axes?

You can decide whatever equipment you want from what's available with the Kingdom you're playing. There are no set Kingdom for each map, it generally depends on what the admins of the servers have chosen or if the map change vote has passed. Remember this game is NOT a MMO, it's a standard multiplayer game where you join servers and beat people up with your 40 teammates.

Each Kingdom has it's specialties, some have some pretty tough shields, other has some great bows, etc. In each Kingdom there's always at least one weapon of each type (1h melee, 2h melee, polearm, ranged). You cannot have one weapon in each hand though.

I recommend using a shield when you start for the simple fact that you won't have to aim your blocks. Attacks are directional, but so are parries. With the shield though, you only have to press the right mouse button to protect yourself. You can still be hit from the side and back, but if you have your attackers in your field of view, they'll hit the shield (if they are to your side and hit with a side swing to your back, they'll hit you). It's pretty much common sense from there on. Where the weapon visually passes is where you'll hit.

As rudimentary as this game sounds and looks, while still being fun (at least to Simon), I am sadly brought back to an old sentiment of: fuck you AoC for all you could have been and all you fucked up.

Well, as I said, there's a single player demo available so you can start with this before spending the $30. It doesn't play exactly the same way since you're playing against some bots, but you still get to swing that sword around and all.

For those of you that bought Warbard (Joe and Wes I believe), here's the link to the mod that INSANE Frank told me about.

http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,160403.0.html

You need to unzip the file in the Module directory of your Warband install.


The mod is pretty interesting. You start up as a Commoner. If you kill your own faction, you end up as an Outlaw. There's also 4 other factions which you can join and become leader for and then try to conquer the other teams' castles.

Games are pretty long (half a day or more) and they save your progression (money and gear). You can get money by gathering resources, killing and looting, crafting weapons for your faction, etc. I don't know how everything works as I've only played it for a couple of hours, but so far it gives the game an Open World MMO feel... which is pretty amazing.

btw mount and blade was on sale for $6 yesterday on steam so if anyone is interested now is a great time to buy.