ARmy Rumour SErvice

Actually I take that back. Once you've skilled up a bit, you can be quite accurate. I just stormed a castle, and while my guys were all running up the siege ramp I was picking archers off the battlements. I think because originally I did most of my shooting from horseback (which obviously comes with an inherent accuracy penalty) I just figured it was shit.

Right, one last post and I'll let this die. Just a final summary now I've had the game for a couple of weeks and can comment properly. I may even do a review on it later.

The Warband expansion realyl does make this series. While the first game gave you fun combat, Warband really turned it into a proper campaign. You start as a lonely adventurer in a new land dominated by six major nations. Each nation's ruler claims the throne to the entire continent, and so they're generally scrapping with each other. This gives you ample opportunity to pick sides and wade into some fights, be it as a mercenary, a vassal, or simply raiding the various caravans and wandering peasants working their way across the map.

Over time you build up your own following, and lead your own army in battles of your choosing. After some time learning the ropes you can renounce all oaths to existing kings and begin to form your own nation by beseiging and capturing the scores of villages, castles and towns. If you've made friends with any other lords during your time in the game you may find them joining your cause and bringing their own armies to fight at your side. Alternatively, you can reward your own soldiers with land and fiefs of their own, enabling them to raise armies to fight for you.

As discussed above, the game is very much a sandbox with no pre-scripted missions apart from the tutorial. There are a number of basic principles of inter-personal relationships, land ownership, prisoner management and "non-state entities" that allow the game to generate random events and missions at will - be it clearing a bandit hideout close to your king's main trade route, or freeing a fellow lord from the dungeon of a rival's castle.

The game engine allows you to scale the pitched battles to suit your style of play and your computer's resources. If you're more tactically-minded and your PC is up to it, you can have around 150 soldiers on each side battling it out at your direction, with you simply another footman swinging a sword. If you prefer to be more player-focused (or have a gash PC) you can scale down the battles to mere dozens on each side, placing the focus firmly on your own skills.

The game combines elements of medieval third-person combat not seen anywhere else with some basic RPG mechanics and quite a broad and free-ranging strategy piece. the Steam sale may well have ended, but you can probably still get M&B and Warband for less than a tenner. I promise, it'll be the best tenner you ever spent.