Man I love this game

Let me tell you a story from my current playthrough.

This is my first post, and it's going to be a bit long.

I decided that I am finally going to take a crack at conquering all of Calradia. I've been a mercenary, a vassal, even a kingmaker, but never king. So I started a new character and set out to get a productive enterprise in every city.

While saving up money through sea raider farming and village raiding, I happened to raid a village owned by a man named Count Delinard, Lord of Uxhal and one backwoods Swadian village, apparently.

Fast forward about a hundred in-game days, when I have an enterprise in every single town except Uxhal. I go there and of course, am denied because Delinard is still mad at me. Time to boost relation by questing for him!

Cut to a montage of me escorting his daughter to nearby towns, hunting down nervous men in villages to execute justice, and delivering letters for him (I can only imagine the letters say "look at this idiot doing minor chores for me").

Eventually, I get tired of bending over backwards for the guy, and we are still enemies. I decide that the only way I am going to get my productive enterprise in Uxhal is by conquering it and removing Delinard from the picture. I did not know that you could legitimately hate a character with one dimension of personality, and zero lines of unique dialogue, until this day.

So, I join the Nords as a mercenary, because they are at war with Swadia. I cross my fingers that they will attempt to take Uxhal in their next campaign. They go for Suno instead. I support them using a cav-based army in field battles, to keep the heat off of them as they build ladders. I take out a few parties, including Delinard's, which was satisfying. But when I return to Suno, the Nords are all gone.

It turns out that they were slightly unsuccessful, and Suno still has 60 defenders. Since I have about 70 mid and high-tier cavalry, I decide to give it a go. While I am building ladders, who rides up to challenge me but the butterlord himself, King Harlaus? A field battle ensues, which I win while outnumbered three to one.

Ladders get done, and I conquer Suno handily. As a mercenary, I can only ask for nothing as a reward. However, my reward will be the Nord war machine inching closer to Uxhal.

What ensues is a stand worthy of song, as I defend Suno from almost every angry Swadian vassal using a band of 50 cavalry. At one point I think I defeated a group of over 200 in a forest battle. After all of this, most of my party is unconscious. Finally, relief comes in the form of Suno getting assigned to Jarl Turegor. Help is on the way.

Then, Count Deglan of all people rolls up with a slightly bigger army than mine. I hover over him and find that it is almost all Knights and Sergeants, with a couple of Sharpshooters thrown in for good measure. We charge them head on and barely scrape by. Say what you want about Swadia, but being on the other side of their cavalry charge is the stuff of nightmares.

Finally, Turegor arrives and begins camping out in his new fief. We repel the rest of the angry Swadians together.

To think, none of this drama occurred because the game told me to go to a specific place or do a specific thing. I decided that I wanted Uxhal's leadership overturned, and I decided the best way to go about that was to help the Nords conquer it.

And that's the beauty of Warband. It has the ability to get you attached to certain objectives and characters while forcing absolutely nothing. I literally got out of my chair and stood up during the Deglan battle, throwing my fists into the air when the tides started turning my way. When the final enemy fell, I realized I had been holding my breath. Out of nothing came a story of epic heroism in the name of earning a few more Denars and sticking it in a stuck-up Lord's face.

Thanks for reading to the end. If you have any tales of decisive battles, big stands, and the Lords you love to hate, I'd love to hear them!

Submitted March 24, 2020 at 04:07PM by ZeroNineNine099 https://ift.tt/2Ufiqjy