Mount & Blade

Introduction
Mount&Blade is a game made by the game company TaleWorlds and published by Paradox games. It centres around the player fighting and leading troops across the medieval era continent of Calradia, including five factions and a very open-ended gameplay style; there is no central plot or aim, just a huge number of quests and things to do. The main feature of the game is its unusual and detailed combat system; instead of selecting a combat style and sitting back as happens in many RPGs, the player has to control each sword-swing and aim each arrow in a way more commonly seen on console games.

Modding

Modding is a major feature of M&B; TaleWorlds has released a 'module system' - a set of scripts that allow gamers to edit the game data - and Thorgrim and other modders have created other editing tools including BRFedit and the Map Editor.

Features
Features of M&B include;
 * Detailed medieval combat system
 * Five factions, each with unique troop tree and culture
 * Realistic medieval world; no fantasy creatures or magic
 * Open-ended game; lots of quests, open decision-making
 * Bandits, personal friends and enemies among the lords of Calradia, and sorting out squabbles between your companions add depth to the game.

Factions
There are five factions in vanilla Mount&Blade;

The Kingdom of Swadia
The Swadians occupy the centre of the map, and are signified by the colour orange. Their basis is in the medieval German and French states, with an army primarily comprised of heavy, mail-clad knights backed up by peasant crossbowmen and infantrymen. Their leader is King Harlaus, and their claimant to the throne is Lady Isolla of Suno.

Being more European in nature, the high-end troops are clad usually in the heaviest possible armour with the heaviest possible weapons, and the knights are almost impossible to take down quickly, especially on foot. Because of this, the Swadians are perhaps the toughest faction to beat, on a par with the Rhodoks. This can, however, be used to your advantage if you decide to serve under King Harlaus or attempt to help Lady Isolla, and the lower-end troops are surprisingly easy to take down. If you do decide to fight against them, it's best to use Khergits on the open field, as they can run rings around the infantry.

The Kingdom of Vaegirs
The Vaegirs, in green, occupy the Northwest of the map. With a Russian/Early Slavic basis, their armies are quite balanced between tough footmen, resonable knights, and very powerful archers which make them extremely hard to besiege. Thier leader is King Yaroglek, and thier claimant to the throne is Prince Valdym, the bastard.

The Vaegirs aren't as favourable as the Swadians for heavy armour, and so are easier to take down. However, many Vaegir troops carry axes or variants of axes (Such as the Voulge) and pack a massive punch, so en masse, Vaegirs are also quite hard to defeat. Vaegir archers are also incredibly annoying as they fire a lot more frequently and at a much faster paste than Swadian or Rhodok crossbowmen, so they take down troops like flies. Best thing to do is use Swadian troops, who have heavy armour and can withstand a battering.

The Khergit Khanate
The Khergit, based on the historical Mongols, occupy the east of the map from which they are said to have invaded. They are shown by the colour purple. Their army is based entirely around cavalry, particularly Horse Archers, making them very powerful in open battle but weaker in sieges or forested terrain. They are led by Sanjar Khan, and thier claimant is Dustum Khan.

The biggest advantage is that the entire troop tree is mounted, which means that Khergit troops can easily outrun and take out infantry. A lot of them are also archers, which means that they can take out other cavalry without getting hurt. This means that the Khergits are great in open battle, particularly against the Swadians and, to a degree, everyone else. They are also fairly good at defending castles/towns. However, the Khergits lack of infantry and apparantly light armour compared to other factions means that they are nearly useless when beseiging. If you choose to wage war with the Khergits, the best thing you could do is recruit other Khergits and join Dustum Khan, saving some heavy infantry on the side to help with seiges.

The Kingdom of Nords
The Nords are in the west and southwest of the map, and have a viking/swed culture, with the colour yellow. Their army is almost entirely combat infantry, with no cavalry - their archers are relatively weak, but their axemen and huscarls are second to none in combat. Their leader is King Ragnar, and their claimant Lethwin Far-Seeker.

The Nords are incredibly tough in melee fighting. They have good armour (Heavy chainmails), good weapons and a variety of them (From Nordic Swords to War Axes), annoying archers and shields, which means that archers are rendered useless. They are good all-round troops who have only one weakness - No cavalry. Because of this, the Nords aren't the most dangerous faction in M&B but you should watch out for them nevertheless. Like the Vaegirs, they are deadly in large groups, but don't last long if they take on heavy cavalry or an even bigger group of enemies. Any faction with cavalry would do really to take Nords on (Swadians, Vaegirs and Khergits) in open battle, but Rhodoks are best for seiges as they have a lot of health.

The Kingdom of Rhodoks
In the south of the map lie the sky-blue cities and towns of the Rhodoks, based on the medieval swiss and italians. Thier armies rely on tough spear-armed infantry with large 'board shields' to beat back enemy attacks and stop cavalry charges while the crossbowmen shoot down the enemy's armoured troops. Their leader is King Graveth, and their claimant to the throne is Lord Kastor of Veluca.

Rhodok troops have a higher 'Ironflesh' skill compared with equivalent troops from other factions, which means that they have a lot more health, and are harder to take down. The heavy infantry also have good armour and spears, which means they can do quite a bit of damage to other troops while remaining at a distance. It also means their attacks are quicker, and this can make even the most elite troops fall without even scoring a hit, and the crossbowmen are numerous and accurate enough to be frustrating. The problem are magnified in seiges, and even big armies will struggle against the crossbowmen. If you choose to wage war against the Rhodoks, use heavily armoured infantry and cavalry to take on their infantry and use archers to deal with the crossbowmen.

Modding
Main article; Modding Mount and Blade

Modding is a major feature of M&B. TaleWorlds has released a 'module system' - a set of scripts that allow gamers to edit the game data - and Thorgrim and other modders have created other editing tools including BRFedit and the Map Editor. Modules for the game include those that improve graphics or gameplay, such as Age of Machinery, those that expand the map and add more to the setting, such as Southern Realms, or even those, such as the Horde Lands or Warrior of Eternity, that give the game an entirely different, often fantastical, universe setting.