So Mount and Blade, my favorite series of all time, is on sale in a Steam Midweek madness. For $5 USD you can have any one of a variety of awesome games.

If you have any interest in realistic melee combat, RPG leveling, horse archery, large sandbox worlds, army building, faux mongolians, telling poems to fair men/maidens, or kingdom management, you should buy it.

The problem of course is that there are so many of these great games. So to help you make a decision you won't regret, i've compiled a list below of the Pros/cons of each game. I will also include the optimal ice-cream pairing for each.

• 

  Mount & Blade

• Flavor: Vanilla

• Why I love it:

  • Where it all started, while M&B didn't impress visually (even in 2008), it's free-form sandbox gameplay and physics based melee combat made it stand out. The feel of the combat is unmatched in any RPG before or since, you're not slapping your weapons around like in Skyrim or playing out a canned animation like in Chivalry. The sword's swing is simulated, you can knick an enemy with the point but cause less damage or hit them with the full-force of your weapon in the head, causing an instant kill. Just moving your weapon in the way of an enemies attack will stop it.

• What sets it apart from the rest of the series:

  • Singleplayer-only, and super ugly, but the fundamental mechanics are all there. It's visual simplicity make's it a solid laptop game though, or an intro to the series for anyone with an older PC. Also, it Doesn't know the word balance. As the horseman faction you can basically wipe the floor with the entire game world, something I nearly did before the next game in the series came-out.

• Mount & Blade: Warband (Probably go for this one.)

• Flavor: Organic French Vanilla

• Why I love it:

  • Improves on Mount and Blade in every way, more items, another faction, a bigger world, multiplayer and improved graphics that would have been really nice a year before the game actually came out rather than a decade before. The kingdom-building mechanics have been expanded and many a quality-of-life improvement has been made. This is the one to get if you want to start out the series.

• What sets it apart from the rest of the series:

  • The multiplayer was always amazing, once you got a feel for the sword dueling, you can go toe to toe with people in epic clashes set-apart from the overall battle.

• Mount & Blade: With Fire and Sword

• Flavor: Chocolate

• Why I love it:

  • It's just really unexpected and different, based on a series of historical fiction novels written by a famous polish author from the 1800's, set in real-world Poland in the late 1600's. Whereas the previous games place themselves in the fictional land of Caladria, this game is just set in Poland, with Swedes, Russians, Turks and more represented. Polish Hussars charge against Turkish Janissary, and you find yourself turning to the pistol rather than the sword. It offers some substantial improvements over Warband, but also takes steps back. Really just an odd duck, but anyone with interest in the period should take a look.

• What sets it apart from the rest of the series:

  • The only full-single-player game in the series with muskets. They're are horribly accurate but if you get hit by a rifle it usually means your death. This makes the combat swing sometimes from frustrating to supremely satisfying, which makes it harder to recommend, but it's worth a look if you've fallen in love with the other games. It is my second least played M&B game, but I do appreciate it for it's quirks.

• Mount & Blade: Napoleonic Wars (Multiplayer only and requires Warband.)

• Flavor: Neopolitan

• Why I love it:

  • The match begins, you and your Russian comrades race to the first line of defense, a small village on the end of a bridge. It's quiet now, the French are just starting the approach, and out of sight or at least certainly out of musket range. The Russian line infantry takes up positions in windows, behind trees and rocks, while engineers construct barricades and riflemen find positions to snipe from. An artillery officer and a horse-drawn cannon unlimber along the line of defense, cannon trained towards the crest of a hill. The French appear over that hill in their gaily-colored uniforms, in stark contrast to the Russian Green. The first Russian shots are fired as the enemy comes into reasonable distance, the cannon booms, a few French fall but the line of barricades and broken buildings is soon enveloped in thick smoke. You scramble to reload for after the smoke clears, but cutting through the haze, a French Hussar bares down on you, you barely get out of the way in time and draw your bayonet. Turning, you see his horse caught on a barricade, you quickly cut down his mount, but miss it's rider, fortunately your fellow-soldiers cut him to pieces, more enemy hussars rush through the position, rather than reload you grab a fallen comrades gun, still ready to fire and turn it on the nearest horsemen, firing and killing him in one blow as his horse charges past you, oblivious to it's freedom. You start to reload once more but soon realize the effort is futile, the enemy infantry is on you, and it's time for the bayonet.

• What sets it apart from the rest of the series:

  • If the above narrative from my memory of this online-only game doesn't explain it, then let me be more clear. Where as the previous games are good melee-combat simulators set in a faux historical world, this DLC is a one-of-a-kind historical illustration of musket and bayonet Warfare. There is a constant tension between taking the 1 shot you have before a long reload and simply turning to the bayonet or sabre. Musket combat is unpredictable but high stakes, with any moment spelling your death, but bayonet fighting is equally tense, with many an opportunity for a parry, feint or counter-attack but just as much opportunity to simply be stabbed in the back. It's amazing fun playing this game, and it may be my favorite online game ever. The community remains large and while the battles do not resemble true line-battles (Some community groups organize line events though), they do illustrate a time when war was less about murdering as many people on the other side as possible, and rather engaging in a precise game of chess. It's Arma for the 18th century with a side of coattails. It's a little bit of everything that makes videogames great.

• Mount & Blade: Viking Conquest, Reforged edition

• Flavor: Rocky Road

• Why I love it:

  • It came out a flaming mess, but the developers stuck with it and released a "Reforged edition"... it's works almost perfectly for me now, but it still somehow made Mount & Blade more janky than it already was. Squeezing a full sim-pirates esque boat mechanic in really pushed the engine to it's break point. But it's one of the only games out there that lets you command a Longship in raids against innocent monks Non-pagan dogs and generally just be a goddamn viking bandit. It has a full-story mode and is set in England, Ireland, Normandy, Denmark and Sweden.

• What sets it apart from the rest of the series:

  • Boats are just a real cool way to get around. Of all the Mount and Blade games it has the most quality-of-life improvements and features. But it also proves that the Mount and Blade Engine as it stands now can only be pushed so far. Really worth checking out if you love the period or dream of being a pillager.

• Blood & Gold: Caribbean!

• Flavor: Sugar-free mango sorbet

• Why I love don't mind it:

  • Whereas before I mentioned Viking Conquests' Sid Meier's Pirates! similarities, this game takes it all the way. You play as a pirate in the Caribbean, you manage a ship and crew, you alternate between land and sea doing pirate things. You interact with or join France, the Dutch, England and Spain in their American conquests. The whole thing should be cool but mostly breaks under the strain of complexity, load times are abysmal even on an SSD unless you turn graphics down to 2008 M&B levels. Ship to ship battles are neat but mostly involve your dudes teleporting to the opposing ship or scrambling like monsterous spider men up the rigging to snipe. It is my least played-M&B game, and unlike the rest of the series, I wouldn't waste my breath defending it. However, it has potential if the devs can fix the load times and make the whole experience smoother. I'm not counting on that happening though.
  • Also the main menu has a really over-zealous sea shanty, so that's fun!

• What sets it apart from the rest of the series:

  • It's not made by Taleworlds, but they did license their engine out for it. The setting is much more gun focused than the other games and the scenery is very different from other entries. Buy this one only if you're desperate for more Mount & Blade-like gaming or can remember the major plot-lines of any Pirates of the Caribbean movie past the second.

Historically, Norwegian King Harald Hardrada died at the battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066. It was supposed to have been a minor skirmish in a much larger campaign, but the Saxons got a jump on them, cut off from the majority of his army, Harald died in the field. The Norwegian Invasion was crushed. 3 Days later, William the Conquerer would land in Dover and his story would end much more famously.

The story of Harald in my game of crusader kings would be just as short, but a bit less heroic. In the midst of his invasion of York, Harald suddenly had a change of heart. He collected his forces and attempted a full retreat across the North Sea and towards home. He was caught by the Saxons and with his army in disarray, captured. The war would end and Harald would die 3 months later from starvation in a dark English cell.

His son Olaf, became his elected successor, slighted by this, Magnus of Trondelag, Olaf's brother, began a civil war. The weakened armies of Norway were pressed back into battle to reunite the kingdom. With neither side being strong enough to press any sort of advantage the war became one of attrition, both sides spreading out to cover all sides of the opponents lands, and being met with equal resistance. The war dragged on for a year and Olaf realized something had to give lest this war cripple his newly earned empire.

So Olaf had an idea. cut off Magnus and his followers had no reason to fight, without Magnus there was no conflict over who deserved Norway, there was no more need for senseless fighting. Olaf gathered a few select members of Magnus's court, the wife of Magnus's steward, his bishop and a few others. Then Olaf was presented with the perfect pawn. Ottar av Malagan, Duke Magnus' own spymaster and secret keeper. With a small sum of gold, a marriage between one of Olaf's distant relative and Ottar himself, he was willing to carry out the plan. At age 29, Magnus, Lord of Naumdahl and claimnant to the Norwegian throne, died in a terrible and unfortunate accident.

The country was at peace, Magnus' child and Olaf's Nephew, Harald the 1st, was given control of Naumdahl and his father's vassals, while the real decisions were made by Ottar Av Malagen, who had risen vast in the last few months to be made regent of Naumdahl, ruling until Harald was of age. Olaf offered to mentor his young nephew who had been so tragically abandoned after the death of his father. Over the next 10 years, Olaf would raise the boy and shape him into the polar opposite of his father.

Where Magnus had been greedy and plotting, Harald the 1st was generous and forgiving. Where his father had been cowardly and jealous, Harald was brave and calm. Harald and Olaf became more like father and son than Magnus and the boy could have ever hoped to be. Harald the 1st would be a good leader who would lead Norway to greatness. Even after Olaf's first son was born, Harald was still the King's favorite to be his successor. Time would wipe away the stain of fratricide and purify the kingdom in time for a bright future.

But the pain of Magnus death was not so easily forgotten by other members of the dynasty, particularly Magnus's wife (Haralds mother). Ottar (Who had recently risen to become the King's own master of whispers) reported a fiendish plot by the woman to slay King Olaf's firstborn, Skjalg. The woman was quickly torn away from her home in Naumdal and thrown into the cells of Olaf's capital in Trondelag. Her execution was only stayed by the King's own desire to protect Harald. Harald would go on to become the finest general in all of Norway, his efforts would lead to victory in a series of minor Baltic wars whose outcome helped cement an invaluable alliance between the Norwegians and the Danes as well as a successful crusade against a Seljuk caliph who had drawn the Pope's ire.

But even a man as blessed as Harald would not be protected. At age 30, Harald the 1st would die in a Swedish prison. Victim of the greed of his own protector, King Olaf, who struck out at the Swedes in haste, the potential savior of Norway would never live to see his throne. Olaf himself would be crippled in the conflict and spend the rest of his rule leading his armies from the rear. Olaf's son, Skjalg, became the new heir to the Norwegian throne, and he would later see to it that the Swedes paid for their past victory.

So yea, Crusader Kings 2 is pretty damn amazing. If you like royal intrigue and killing fools, it's the game for you. I'm glad I could write down this story while it was still fresh in my mind. It's on sale on Amazon right now I believe, so grab it if you can!

After committing to buying Arma II: Combined Ops off steam, i've gotten deep into the DayZ mod. The servers have been fairly stable and i've had plenty of adventures. I've been playing solo, which is great fun, although i'll need to find some teammates if I want to maximize my time alive. Today I began my best run yet... but i'm starting to regret some choices i've made.

I began in the small town of Novy Sobor, prior to this all my games had begun along the coast, but Sobor is deep inland, adjacent to the primary Airfield in the gigantic world of Chenarus. I creeped around and collected some things from the nearby church, while avoiding another survivor (or possibly bandit) who I only was aware of due to a few distant pistol shots from the other end of town. Maybe that survivor needed help, maybe they were looking for me, or maybe they died, it's hard to say but i was too concerned with crawling past various undead townsmen to bother.

After collecting some minor supplies, I jog to the outskirts and began moving across the fields towards where I thought the airfield was, going off a static map i found online without a compass and not having an ingame one to compare to made the journey long and confusing despite being only a few Kilometers from the landing strip. I tried to keep away from roads as it would be too easy to get caught walking down one, i stayed in the brush alongside. I kept my distance from structures and the zombies who guard them and booked it through a series of farms and orchards. 20 minutes later I reached the edge of the airfield.

I found the place abandoned, except for a few shuffling zombies who i was able to get around quite easily, having not fired a shot, i reached the end of a row of hangars and began crouch walking past each of them, checking inside for anything i could use, I found some leftover cans of food, a few soda bottles, and in the 3rd hangar, something exciting, a M1014 shotgun with a dozen slugs. I grabbed it and holstered my handgun. It was then that I heard gunfire, and it was close.

Shotgun pointed, i moved my way slowly to the next hangar, leaned around the corner, and spotted something frightening. A survivor, searching through a pile of loot he found, a DMR on his back, he faced away from me. I didn't bother to negotiate, i fired a slug into him, and he dropped. Shocked, i moved towards the body to check if they were alive, a bullet wizzed by, another survivor, i assume his buddy, had been in the back corner covering the entrance, his bolt action sniper rifle failed him up close and before he could fire another shot i sent a volley of slugs towards him. He dropped and i began grabbing whatever gear i could from the hangar, the first survivor popped out of unconciousness and took one last shot at me, missed (Luck was on my side) and i fired more rounds at him and made sure he stayed dead.

At this point my character model changed to that of a bandit, no longer was I simply an innocent man trying to find his way after the world has ended, i was a killer, a prolific one, who slayed two innocent players without receiving a scratch and without bothering to approach things peacefully. Someone in chat swore at a bandit who killed them at the airfield, I knew they meant me. Fortunately they wouldn't respawn for some time. I grabbed an M16 that had been in the hangar and ignored the corpses. I was too shaken from the encounter to bother, which made the killing all the more worse, i didn't even want their stuff. A group of zombies had been stirred up by the gunfire and came looking for the shooter, with my new found assault rifle I quickly dispatched them.

At this point i made my mistake, i grabbed some more M16 magazines that were in an adjacent hangar and booked it away from the airfield. 10 minutes later a survivor reported several bodies in a hangar at the airfield, and warned others of a possible sniper. However the "Sniper" was long gone.I glanced at the stat screen and noticed that despite shooting two enemies, only one murder was registered, my second victim had fallen and played dead rather than fight back like his buddy, who i had put down. The second man must have crawled off after I ran from the airfield. I regretted clearing the zombies that were in his way. WIth my new found gear I set my sights on a nearby mountain top, turned my back on the airfield, and never looked back.

I've played many musket mods for Mount & Blade, and always thought they were neat but not worth getting into. Napoleonic Wars has outdone most of those mods and done some unique stuff. Having played about 10 hours so far I thought i'd share some tips from my experience, most should be fairly obvious but hopefully they'll help someone.

• Always be in cover- This is pretty obvious but should be noted no matter how inaccurate bullets are in the 1800s, sitting in the open is simply a waste of your time. When you are in the open it should be because you're moving to another piece of cover. Bushes, trees, even a small rock that you can use to cover up part of your body can be usedful. Stay hidden whenever you can. This is realistic 19th century warfare with a 21st century mindset, you should behave like a guerrilla, hiding and popping out to take a shot. Not standing in the open like you're at Waterloo (Unless you're in a line Battle event, obviously)
• The bayonet is strong, but the sword is stronger- What struck me when I first started playing was that most of my opponents had seemed to forget their Warband roots. Even though swords aren't quite as agile as they once were they still have numerous advantages over the bayonet, they're faster, can attack at multiple angles and can be used in small spaces. Sword Bayonets can be a bit too short to be effective by themselves, but any sort of sabre or straight sword is worth using. The bayonet can be a one hit kill but if you miss you're stuck in the animation for sometime and it can only attack forward (Up or down) which is easy to block. It makes handling a group of enemies a real hassle. Remember what you learned in warband and take advantage of your sword whenever possible.
• Troop type matters- Each troop has it's own stats and superlatives. (Which are listed here) Rifle only classes such as the Jaeger have really high accuracy but are limited and number and lack bayonet weapons and good swords. Engineers can build things but lack any good offense. Dragoons are more versatile as they are mounted infantry, but are weaker all around. Heavy cavalry takes and dishes more damage but is slower.
• Don't fire into melee- Most servers have team damage on, so be careful with your shots, if you think you might hit a friendly, don't fire.
• Water is a threat- Between Warband and Napoleon, bodies of water have evolved to the point where you can actually drown in them (No more pretending to be a submersible by walking underwater for 10 minutes), crossing a deep river is always a bad idea, look for a ford or a bridge. Not only can you drown but water will also ruin all your cartridges, with the exception of the one you have loaded in your weapon. Earlier today i got caught with my pants down when i rode across a stream as a dragoon, encountered an enemy and realized I had no ammo left after firing my first shot.
• Pick your battles- Try not to get in a fight with more than 1 enemy at a time, melee weapons are slow enough that i's always preferable to only face one enemy at a time as I said above, bayonets are bad against groups and swords aren't perfect.
• Use dropped weapons to your advantage- Loaded muskets are still loaded once dropped in a close firefight, picking one up rather than reloading can get you an extra kill and surprise your opponent. If you decide to be a musician or flag bearer, you still have room to carry a rifle and cartridges as well as your flag/instrument. Also, trading a cavalry musket for an infantry musket with a bayonet can make you more effective later on in the battle.
• You can Fife if you want to- Musicians, officers and Flag bearers can create buffs to boost their team, this concept really isn't explained by the game but its important. Drums aid reloading, fifes and trumpets aid marching (I'll check that), flags enhance melee and officers can enhance accuracy. When you have a flag you can stick it in the ground by switching weapons and create an area of effect where melee is enhanced for your team. With an instrument just right click and choose a tune, you can also select "enable play together" to get in rhythm with other musicians. Buffs are server specific, some servers will turn them off because they can cause lag (Hopefully they'll patch that)
• Some extra things- Hitting C will make your character yell a warcry, Ctrl-J makes your horse rear up dramatically,

I hope some of this helps!

How a mad dwarf made me realize the most fun part of Dwarf Fortress, is the losing...

I finally got into dwarf fortress using This guide and this mod. My first fortress attempt was a bit of a bust because I made a bunch of mistakes, but my second attempt went fantastically, and I soon had a large working base filled with 2 dozen busy dwarves.

I was unprepared for the winter and lost two miners to thirst, a sad loss, but I quickly recovered, replacing the two dead miners with a extra woodcutter and a peasant who had nothing better to do. The wood cutter (Erbert Ghouslist- Henceforth referred to as Ebert) got along fine in his new role, and the fort continued to expand. We were rudely interruptted by the vengeful spirit of one of the dead miners but they were put to rest by properly burying them rather than leaving them outside in the dump.

Things were back to normal after that, but then, Ebert, the woodcutter, began acting rather strange. It would turn out that some sort of supernatural force had overcome him, he had been sleeping restlessly for days, and something got to him. He was possessed, but I though nothing of it at the time, I let him continue on with his work and ignored his occasional mental wanderings that slowed him down. He had alot on his mind after all.

But while he was digging out a reservoir to insure the next winter wouldn't end in death from thirst, the tunnel he was in collapsed, Ebert was knocked unconcious, and was dragged back to the dormitory. He woke up wandered down to the mess hall, and went berserk...

He began attacking everyone in the fortress, two stray dogs tried to fight him off, both were killed and subsequently, Ebert slayed the only mason I had and one of my carpenters. The messhall was covered in blood, Ebert, and his two victims were dragged off while coffins could be prepared for them. The dogs were left in the dump outside. I breathed a sigh of relief however that my losses had been so minimal.

Now I don't know if the fright of Ebert's break with reality had caused mass hysteria amongst the remaining 20 or so dwarves, or if something more mundane had occurred to make them lose their grip, but things got worse, the next day, everyone in the fortress began throwing tantrums, refusing to do work, to leave their dorms. They broke furniture and began drifting off at random, much like Ebert had before his outburst. Soon they followed Ebert's lead and one by one, all went berserk The bodies piled up in the dump, the fortress was at war with itself, and as such nothing could get done, the coffins for the first 3 men never came... A trade caravan that had come from a distant outpost to do business, was met with a group of rabid dwarves. the traders were slaughtered with the exception of two of their guards who fled to the hills.

I lost 15 men to the chaos, before things settled down. After 3 hours of Dwarf Fortress, my seemingly successful attempt at survival had failed miserabley. I could not recover from such a loss, with only 6 men left to operate a fortress of more than 20, and having had much of my base torn up, I decided to call it quits.

It was, however, a ton of fun...

In short, Dwarf Fortress is a crazy game, filled with alot of surprises and rewards. You should all try it. (It is free afterall.) With a good tileset (The game's ASCII graphics leave much to be desired) to make things a little clearer and a solid guide to show you whats up, its not so hard as it seems. Just Watch out for evil spirits and possessed dwarves.

FREE GAMES GALORE! 

•  Space Station 13- As the person who had to create a page for this game, Im guessing most people on this site have no clue what its about... its basically a point and click adventure/action game, IN SPACE! Oh and its multiplayer only. Its a fairly accurate simulation of what would happen if 100 video gamers were put on a space station and told to not die for 40 minutes. Its a really fun game, each round is different and killing someone then trying to cover it up is crazy intense. Its janky as all hell curtosy of the BYOND engine but its still great. The main issue is that it was created and is run by members of the SOmething Awful Forums, and its clear that the "Goons" are not known for their intelligence/respect/skill at being admins. Ive been temp banned several times for things that were not my fault, but hey, ITS FREE! Rock Paper shotgun gave a good rundown of one man's experience with the game.

• Battlefield Play4Free- Im not supposed to talk about this, but to be honest, it isn't worth talking about, but its in closed Beta and therefore is technically, FREE!
• Realm Of the Mad God- A pretty sweet game, I'll let you play it for yourself, but its flash based, its an MMO, its a quick jump in and out game and has some great co-op play and a solid amount of depth. It also happens to be free.
• Age of Empires Online- Got into the beta, as my all time favorite RTS game, im a little nervous about what they did to it. I haven't gotten a chance to play yet so I'll have to see but. It could be fantastic! Or terrible, all I know is that its FREE! Anyone have any thoughts on it? 

• Face of Mankind- Another Free MMO, that Ive already written to much about. But it continues to be free and has some really neat ideas, things are quieter than they have been but I still have high hopes for this game if its ever put back on the market. 
• Men of War Assault Squad beta- I almost forgot! This is a great RTS now in multiplayer Beta, its on Steam, all you need to do is click a button and your in. But its a ton of fun and superior in my opinion to Company of Heroes. (Maybe you cant compare them since COH has base building.)

We don't have much time before New Vegas comes out and while skimming the digital version of the EGMi  Fallout New Vegas Issue, I came upon their preview article of the game. It was set up so when you turned the page the trailer music would play as you read and when that happened I was immediately taken back to what I loved about Fallout 3. 
 
  

Just Cause 2 was a great game, a Huge open world, a great sandbox for pretty much anything you could imagine. Avalanche made a formidable successor to a game that many people wanted to love but never quite could. What they did best though, was that they created a tropical Island of fantastic proportions. It is a magestic, vibrant island filled with great locations and unique landmarks. 
 
I recently bought all the DLC for the game (50% off on steam.) and decided I would take the DLC monster Truck out for a spin, I wanted to put it through its paces so I took it to the lower right corner of the map, an area with nothing but a few rundown Dirt roads broken up by ruins, rivers and dense foliage. Not a single NPC or building in site, just, me, the landscape and a Flame covered monster truck.