Being driven before them…
and letting them hear the lamentation of my women!
That’s the story of my first campaign run through Mount and Blade : Warbands. Being a seasoned veteran of the old version of the game I feel I was slightly overconfident and went into some siege battles that decimated my miniscule warband– then I wandered into three armies of Swadians who had their way with the rest– what’s more, while running away (all alone) I ran into another full army who attacked and had their way with my lonesome self. I took down 15 or so before, yet again, being captured, probably raped and pillaged. Though you don’t lose all your good/goods/weapons, there is a random roll and I lost my elite tempered sabre, about 2K worth of flax, and, of course, all of my followers are locked up in some castle jail somewhere. A desolate place to be in the game– but who can stop playing even after constant and massive set backs? That’s the beauty of the game: you and your fellow ‘lords’ are effectively immortal– you just keep going. Raise another army, train them, go on some trading runs and then you’re back in the field after an hour or so destroying the Swadian masses.
For those that don’t have it yet, if you have the old game and just want to play the single player campaign: wait until you can get Warbands for cheap. It’s really just an incremental update rather than a new version of the game for single player, which I am fine with as it’s a fantastic indy game. Sure you can get married and learn some poems (!?) but that’s really not enough to warrant a purchase unless you are dying to get some multi player in. However, if you have been waiting for multiplayer all these years– immediately go out and spend the cash as that’s where this version shines.