I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be a Viking marauder. I wonder about it when I’m buying milk or trying on shirts. Sometimes I let out a little battle cry. Thankfully, Mount and Blade: Warband is at war-handand it is a glorious saxon of a game. On my first go I followed the game’s tutorial, purchased the deadliest hat and gloves that my ye olde groats could buy and recruited four stalwart warriors from the local idiot village. We had an unquenchable thirst for blood and cabbages and we launched ourselves at the first group of fools to cross our path. Sadly, we got our heads stoved in by their superior horses and pointier sticks.
Pictured: my army of ginger cabbage rustlers fighting at the beach desperately, trying to win before the sun comes back out
It’s been 4 years since the release of Paradox Interactive’s fantastic action RPG and though its graphics may show signs of age, it still plays like a dream. The combat is meaty and satisfying and there are a myriad of roles to play. Will you be a trader? A noble? A general? A pitiable cow thief? In summary, it’s bloody good fun, even before applying mods. After wiping the tears off my keyboard I decided to start again. One of the local barons tasked me with finding an outlaw. I cautiously trundled off to the village where he was last spotted, expecting an ambush only to find the buffoon hiding (I hope) behind a cottage. I removed his lungs and sauntered out of town, satisfied that I was finally a fierce warrior. Mount and Blade is tremendous. Your army and your nation will probably get burned and ransacked but you can do some ransacking of your own and everyone should get to see what it’s like to deprive a village of it’s cattle. Who needs milk anyway?
Games Whinge 