Mount & Blade with Fire & Sword

[Art Blade]

it actually is the ultimate goal. Not to be the one but to make your nation the last one standing :-D

[Binnatics]

Is there also mutiny amongst the troops? Maybe you can provoke some on the enemy end >:D

[Art Blade]

I haven't found out but the game offers a help section that hints towards that possibility. It states that the player may turn an unhappy enemy into a happy ally.

[Art Blade]

I wonder how long the Swedes will last now. Well, I took their last town (Vyborg) and now all their bloody lords have gathered there cutting me off from the rest of the map.. I'll have to go through them I suppose. ??? Or sit it out and wait for their nation to be declared eliminated :-D

[smg id=8627 type=preview align=center caption="MB WFAS Swedes without fiefs"]

[Binnatics]

Interesting, interesting :-X :)

[Art Blade]

OK, they are no more. :-D
[smg id=8628 type=preview align=center caption="MB WFAS 3rd nation eliminated"]

As Marshal it is my job during times of war to start a campaign which means I call all the lords of our nation to come and gather at my place so we can start to fight off the enemy as one big host. I can command each and every lord to do what I want them to, for instance patrol around a town that we just took from the enemy because it is very vulnerable without a full garrison let alone without a lord to whom the Khan offered it as a fief -- it takes some time. Plus the Crimean Khanate is a.. err, used to be a small nation so we don't have that many lords. By the way, quite a few times I was notified that a lord of a defeated nation joined one that was still alive. Some joined the Swedes, some the Poles, some joined us. That is why we now have a few more lords than when I started.

During the process of the war, I conquered so many towns and fortresses that each lord has now about five or so fiefs to take care of which means he can't protect all of his fiefs at once. The enemy take advantage of such a situation and call their lords to a campaign of their own and they love to besiege those weak towns or fortresses in numbers. The biggest enemy host I've ever come across so far was comprised of I'd say more than fifteen armies and they had well over two thousand men.  ???

You don't have all of them on one battlefield at once, such battles are fought in many steps that introduce reinforcements and then the next battle and the next until the enemy is ground profoundly like minced meat and the remaining party is rendered victorious. Such massive battles may take about an hour or more to finish. I'm just glad that there's a pause menu :-D

However, after finishing off the last Swedish army I decided to call off the campaign and allowed everyone to go home. What I didn't expect was that the Khan decided to elect a new Marshal and that my name came up again. I could have dismissed it but hey, I much rather become Marshal again and tell the others to do as I please than having to follow incompetent idiots (the last Marshal actually had me find and bring "eight head of cattle" just so he could feed his troops) and guess what.. I got re-elected and won against the same candidate as before

[smg id=8629 type=preview align=center caption="MB WFAS Marshal again"]

Funny enough, the only other nation on the map is the Polish Commonwealth with which we are not at war. Yet. I bet it won't take long until one of our two idiot leaders starts the last war. Then I'll teach them "Pole Dancing"  >:D

[Binnatics]

 

Interesting how you brought Sweden down. Were they not so superior and did you get better guns and equipment? Or were your numbers so huge?
:)

[Art Blade]

I literally beat them with their own weapons. I hired Swedish mercenaries and freed Swedish elite troops from bandit captivity and gathered an army with basically pure Swedish power but I assimilated whatever I came across, too. Then indeed I beat them with sheer numbers by joining up with other armies and picking smaller enemy armies one at the time when they were separated from their host and far enough so the others couldn't join their forces. Also, I besieged their empty fortresses and towns while the lords were elsewhere. Rather than defending one of our fortresses where the enemy host was having fun, I thought hey, if they're all there besieging one of our fortresses then their fortresses must be empty.. and made them my own. When the enemy lords were finished besieging our fortress, they must have been really pissed when they realised they had no home to return to any more :-D

[Binnatics]

  :-X

Excellent approach Art! +1 for that campaign ;)

[Art Blade]

thank you. :)

There's still no war going on so I have plenty of time to visit and upgrade my fiefs, trade a lot and practice manoeuvres.

I'm still not really proficient in those bloody cascaded commands, about the same as with ARMA2. It is usually so quick I can only hope to disentangle the chaos on the battlefield a bit by moving my troops around before the battle is over. I really wish it was a bit simpler or at least that I had more time. The "normal" battle is over within a minute or so which hardly leaves you time to sort your army at the start. It's really a matter of seconds that you can actually place units and tell them what to do before the enemy comes at you like a tsunami.

Basically it means: hit "1" for infantry, "2" for marksmen and "3" for cavalry. I have a fourth group composed of my companions whom I like to order separately. Then hit F1 to F4 for general categories such as "movement orders," "formation orders," "fire orders" and "weapon usage orders." Then it opens a sub-command selection from which to choose from again using those function keys from F1 to F6, for instance 4+F1+F2= companions, movement: follow me. As long as I don't hit a different number, 4 will remain the group I can order. So the next time I hit F1 it will still address my companions and if I keep F1 (movement) pressed, I'll see a floating standard (a flag with a pole) which I can virtually jam into the ground where I want the unit to go; the flag works almost like a laser-pointer: aim and release F1, then the unit goes there. Then tell them to dismount, form 2 rows, fire at my command, spread out, advance 10 paces.. left flank fire!

Now you can imagine the keyboard orgy I have to go through amidst hordes of enemies riding and running around as well as my own troops chasing or getting chased. And the enemy audaciously tend to attack me while I am trying to conduct a symphony of assault and battery. It is like kicking over an anthill and then you're responsible for those ants to perform according to your best hopes. Most of the time I'd much rather think, "OK, not going to fiddle with those F-keys. They're already storming ahead, anyway. Let's just hope they don't f@#k up too badly." And then I realise that I can't leave the keyboard alone and start to find out what's doing what again. :-D

[Binnatics]

 

Sounds like a lot of fun ^-^
Will there be more wars? I mean, all countries have been defeated right? Or are there still the Poles?

[Art Blade]

The Poles are breeding armies and the Crimeans are doing the same but we're at peace. It is going to be epic when they declare war. They just have to. There are achievements for the player to lead one of the five nations to total victory. I'm not inclined to switch sides now and lose all my fiefs and armies so I'll stick with my Crimeans and hope to lead them to victory as their Marshal when the time comes.

I tried to provoke a war (disabling auto-save so I could just quit and revert to peace) but I ended up with the Poles raiding my fiefs and I found myself fighting against them on my own. I managed to pull in another Crimean lord, even started a campaign but neither one of the nations declared war. I didn't want to get kicked out by the Khan for starting a war "for" him so I reverted to the savegame from before that test.

Now I'm fighting bandits and other crap parties that both the Poles and the Crimeans do. I can even assist the Poles when they attack bandits and we joined forces a few times. It's going to be interesting when it actually comes to war :)

[Binnatics]

Looking forward to that. Curious how it will occur then :)

[Art Blade]

Still no war. But there are plenty of skirmishes with all kinds of bandits, though  :-D

[smg id=8635 type=preview align=center caption="MB WFAS arrow magnet"]

[Binnatics]

Maybe you should build a wall so the Poles have only one way to respond... that would save your fiefs and you could provoke a war ;)

[Art Blade]

funny idea ^-^ only I don't have that option. It's a random thing. I don't know why the Poles stopped going to war in the first place and I don't know when they're going back to it.

[Binnatics]

Can you send spies? Or hire an undercover fief? Oh god I'm sick. 

[Art Blade]

 :-D No, I can't. I am a subject of a nation's leader, not its leader. I can't become its leader, either. The Khan apparently enjoys the nation at peace, at least for now. I'm busy hunting down bandits and doing some random quests. For instance, I had to collect a debt, kill a guy and free a young lady who was held captive by some bandits and I had to bring a ransom and take her back with me, alive. Stuff like that. I also spend my time waiting for upgrades to my fiefs. I think only just now I've managed to upgrade all of them.

[smg id=8639 type=preview align=center caption="MB WFAS improving fiefs"]

Oh, and I am Marshal, again. They seem to like what I do. :-D
[smg id=8638 type=preview align=center caption="MB WFAS Marshal yet again"]

[Art Blade]

Oh, something else what I keep doing that is very time-consuming but also fun in a way is collecting the best gear for myself and my companions. I have nine companions who keep travelling with me and who level up just like I do. I can give them better armour and weapons and when they level up I decide which of their abilities I want to improve by spending points on their skill tree.

Here a few images. I collected "clubs" as blunt weapons that are longer (60) than any other clubs or maces (55) so the long clubs w@&k better from horseback. I sometimes replace swords with clubs. Swords kill, clubs just knock enemies unconscious (and render them prisoners whom I can sell to slave traders or ransom brokers). Those weapons and good armours and all the good gear are very hard to get as they appear only at random at the market places. So I keep travelling all across the map and keep visiting towns and fortresses to check out the stuff they're selling. It takes some time until the stuff disappears and gets replaced by new random stuff so it does take some time to find something particular if at all.

[smg id=8640 type=preview align=center caption="MB WFAS collecting gear"]

Here, this is how my interaction with companions works and one example skill tree.
[smg id=8641 type=preview align=center caption="MB WFAS companion 01"]
[smg id=8642 type=preview align=center caption="MB WFAS companion 02"]
[smg id=8643 type=preview align=center caption="MB WFAS companion 03"]

And some of them just can't get along with other members of my crew so I have to decide whom to keep and whom to kick. This guy was about to leave anyway or I would have had to kick a few of the guys that I actually wanted to keep.. so I kicked him.
[smg id=8644 type=preview align=center caption="MB WFAS companion 04"]

[Binnatics]

That looks damn complicated :-D

[PZ]

I'm beginning to think that I am not astute enough to play games like this - much more than point and shoot and I'm lost  :-\\

[Art Blade]

Binnatics: let's say, there's a lot to learn but once you're up to speed with the game then it's really not as complicated as it may look to you just now. :)

PZ: I think you are astute enough. But, knowing you, I think that you won't be patient enough (as in, you'll never find the time it takes to get the basics down) It isn't point and click or point and shoot. It is, as fragger said, a simulation and as such quite complex. However, if you take your time, you're likely going to enjoy it. ;)

[PZ]

Maybe when I retire there will be enough time  ^-^

[Art Blade]

 ^-^

I started and finished my private war. Good thing: the Poles went only after my fiefs and myself but I drummed up enough support by calling the other lords to just follow me in a victorious and glorious campaign. Now it's all done. Without the Khan having officially declared war. ??? However, he didn't mind expanding his realm, either. :-D

[smg id=8646 type=preview align=center caption="MB WFAS 4th nation eliminated"]
[smg id=8647 type=preview align=center caption="MB WFAS One Nation"]

[Binnatics]

 :-X :)