One minute reviews: A thousand hours of "Mount and Blade: Warband"

Jake reviews the first thousand hours of the venerable RPG

The other day, after sailing across the sea that separates the chaotic north from my fair and decent town of Marienberg, I arrived at a hill that overlooked a vast and green field. Upon that field were several soldiers; barbarians of an ancient and noble lineage that had the courage to charge me directly, armed with axe and shield. I, however, was returning from a shopping trip to the Dwarven lands.


"That isn't your blood, is it?"
"Indeed, no."

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Recently I started playing "Mount and Blade: Warband" again. Specifically, the "Warsword Conquest" mod. The fact that Taleworlds, the makers of Warband, went out of their way to make this game modable is probably responsible for 75% of the time I've spent playing this game. Which totals... HOLY GOD, A THOUSAND HOURS!?

Time flies, but folks; there's a reason. This is my favorite game of all time.

Warband has it's flaws, sure. The AI is rough. The graphics are rougher. Where it shines, however, is in it's ability to let you tell your own story. There's a simple set of mechanics in place that dictate how the empires of your world will act, and you can do whatever you want to play with that equation.

For me, that most often results in finding the least fair way to approach battles, and then laughing maniacally as my dastardly tactics come to fruition. It is a delight I have not experienced quite to that degree in any other video game.

Jake recommends on YouTube:
If you're looking for an introduction to what this game looks like, I suggest checking out the hours of incredibly entertaining "let's plays" done by the Reformist . This guy does a great job of showing off what's fun about Warband. Plus, if a mod exists the chances are he's done a let's play of it, so any mod you may wonder about has a defacto demo up already.

So, as we wait the 1.2 eons for Taleworlds to announce the release date of Bannerlord, I invite you to pass the time with a couple of thousand hours of Warband. Now if you'll excuse me, I have more Chaos warriors to harass.

"... I've made a terrible mistake."