No, Calradia is not a real place. Yes, this will be a geek out. Please accept my apologies in advance, dear reader, if that's not your cup of tea. If gaming is something you enjoy, however, and you can stand my over-excited drivel, then perhaps you'd best fetch that cup of tea. I have some happy chirping to do. ;)

The game in question is Mount & Blade. I hadn’t heard of it until recently, when it was suggested to me as good training for Mortal Online. Whether or not that holds true I’m sure I don’t yet know (it’s still in beta), but the game itself has since absorbed an heroic portion of my time.

While admittedly the game is a tad light on plot, frills, and (let's be honest) even polish to some degree, it’s nonetheless an altogether excellent experience. How? The central game mechanic is fun as hell, and the game delivers what it promises.

The name (Mount & Blade) serves as a wholly adequate descriptor of the game’s driving mechanic - that is, mounted combat. And it’s done very nicely indeed. I know, by contrast, that Gun was a poor game - but it was the only other video game (and M&B is on the PC, by the way) that has a comparably nice feel to horse-riding. Perhaps that comparison is lost on some of you, I’m not sure. Suffice it to say, it’s nice. A lovely rolling gallop. Okay, I’m over-doing it now, but these details are important to me!

When it originally came out, the game did receive some mixed reviews. I think a lot of folks considered it quite rough around the edges, and while that certainly seems to have been the case, it’s actually a tight little package these days. For example, it hasn’t crashed on me once so far. This is a big deal for me. GTA4, Fallout 3, Far Cry 2 - all of these crashed my (brand spanking new) computer time and again when I first bought them. A game that actually, gasp, works? I like it.

Essentially your time on Mount & Blade will involve roaming the world of Calradia, fighting battles, levelling-up, equipping yourself, and building ever-greater armies and holdings. You can join one of several factions (such as the knightly ‘Swadians’, or the Viking-like ‘Nords’), become a lord, and wage war on the armies of your competitors. The goal, naturally, is to conquer enemy towns and castles, and control all of Calradia. This involves a great deal of large-scale, real-time combat - from seiges to skirmishes. It’s simple, but sweet.

Another element which brings Mount & Blade to such a high standard (for me) is the devoted modding community. There are literally hundreds of mods for this game now, and many of them are highly-polished, lovingly-crafted ones at that. Prefer to play in a more realistic setting? Try The Hundred Years War mod. Want something more fantastical? Try the Timeless Kingdom mod.

You get the idea. There’s a mod for every occasion - and plenty that just add some colour and polish to an already great game.

The additional good news is that an expansion is due out very soon, called Warband. This looks set to bring some multiplayer fun to Mount & Blade, as well as a tonne of other nice (if less significant) additions.

Check it out if, like me, you enjoy the odd mounted combat game. It’s a little dated-looking, at first glance, but see if you hold that against it after leading 50 knights in a charge. Exquisite.

That’s all from me today, I’m afraid. Sorry to ride in and geek you out like this, but this is my current preoccupation.

I remain, leading the charge,

Morgan D.