Mount & Blade: Viking Conquest

This is not Mount & Blade 2. That’s still being worked on by Taleworlds. This is more like Fire and Sword. It’s a mod that’s being gussied up.

From the creators of the popular “Brytenwalda” mod Viking Conquest takes the Mount & Blade franchise into historical Dark Age Britain, at a time when Norsemen began to raid the British Isles, looting monasteries and burning coastal settlements. The DLC features an overworld map encompassing Britain, Norway and Denmark, a fully fledged single player storyline, as well as the classic sandbox mode with expanded diplomatic options. Multi player also plays host to new game modes, including sea battles and coastal raids. All filled with completely new armours, weaponry, scenes and characters authentic to the Dark Age setting.

Sounds fun, wouldn’t mind doing some nice coastal raiding!

I will drink from your skull!

I hope I can shoulder a boat to take my enemies by surprise!

From the site you should never visit from work. Or on a work computer. Or if you have at any point in your life had a job. It’s that NSFW

Yeah, oglaf is freakin hilarious but has more nudity than sexylosers ever did. :P

This releases Thursday (Dec. 11th). Viking Conquest is on pre-order 20% off sale just about everywhere, making it $11.99. I am sorely tempted.

The game features single and multiplayer aspects. 6 new cultures, 21 kingdoms, all set in Dark Ages Britain. In addition to the sandbox mode we all know and love, there is a story mode with plot as well this time. Tons of new weapons and armor, sieges now in first person, longship to longship combat, everything looks amazing (well, except for that live action trailer thing, who’s terrible idea was that?!).

Still can’t bring myself to preorder for fear of being burned like I was when I bought With Fire and Sword. I’ll stomach the loss of three extra dollars if it turns out to actually be good after it’s released. With luck, my fears will be unfounded, since I know this is a whole different beast of a game as far as development goes, but those fears remain nonetheless.

I snagged it because I’m a sucker for these games. Hell, I even bought the Napoleonic Wars MP DLC, and I think I played it three times total.

Its the Brytenwalda team, one of the most profilic and featurerich mods out there so I think there is a high chance that this will be good. I’m so god damn in its not even funny!

Id be interested in knowing what game-play improvements have been made. From the preview video all I can gather is that it is M&B with better graphics.

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Living world that evolves around you, with historical and random events, as well as the actions of the player all contributing.
Detailed map including the British Isles, Frisia, Denmark and Norway.
More than 300 new cities, castles, villages and special scenes to discover, explore, conquer and plunder.
Scenes, many based on archeological information, that allow the player to enjoy the true beauty of the Dark Ages.
21 Kingdoms and 6 unique cultures.
More than 200 historical characters and 100 extra NPCs: Kings, Lords, Ladies, bards, priests and many others. Meet legendary figures like Ivar the Boneless or his bother Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye, royalty like Harald, later known as FairHair, or Aelfred of Wessex.
A Dark and harsh world, where laws are weak and men forge legends.
A story mode where the player will be part of a complex plot involving political conspiracy, during the time the sons of Ragnar were leading their Great Heathen Army through Britain. An immersive game style with choice and consequence, romance, betrayal, moments of greatness and ruin.
A sandbox mode, the classic Mount&Blade system, where goals are determined by the player, but with all the richness and options offered by the new setting.
A system of character creation complete with personality and background options that will affect how the player relates to the world around him and the characters within it.
Completely new art work to immerse you like never before in the Viking world.
More than 15 possible companions, with deep interaction and different personalities. Sometimes their conflicts will force you to use cunning and diplomacy.
A complex religion system with two faiths, The Norse Gods and Christianity, with monasteries, special NPCs and parties. Religion will be a important factor in the game that will affect the player's interactions even within their own party.
Naval travel and warfare, a key feature to really make the setting complete.
Build, buy and even name your own ships.
Several historical types of boats: Langskip, Knorr, Snekkja, Karvi and more. Each has its own characteristics, which are also affected by the quality of the materials, with which it was constructed.
Battles can range from simple robbery to massive naval conflicts between huge fleets laden with warriors, all in dynamic battles where you can pilot your own boat, adjusting for factors such as wind, waves, and weather.
Coastal assault! You can lead your boat or your fleet in rapid assaults from the sea.
And more: waves, storms, the option to create your own Viking expedition or hire a ship for travel.
The option to build your own refuge, hire staff for it, and populate it with the wives and children of your troops...
A battle system based on what we know historically about warfare in the Viking Age.
Morale and battle psychology
Different kinds of troops: permanent companion soldiers or landed classes called to war for specific situations.
Formations: Scildweall (shield wall), ranks, square, and wedge formations
Tactic camera for an overview of the battlefield.
Improved AI.

And this

Special units such as clerics, horn blowers, standard bearers and more.

Wounds and critical hit system.
Hundreds of new items, weapons and armors!
Detailed siege warfare system, with options to reduce a defender by hunger or morale, or by direct assault. With hard choices, plagues and famines, coastal assaults.
Inmersive soundtrack and sounds.

MULTI PLAYER

Several factions to choose from including Vikings, Saxons, Irish, Britons and Picts.
Immersive multi player scenes.
Massive multi player battles.
Units/items with special capabilities are also present in multiplayer, along with berserk rage.
Optional item Deadly Bow to transform any mode.
Multitude of modes including dynamic sea battles, coastal assaults, warlords, deathmatch, team deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Conquest, Battle, and Siege.

I pre-ordered it as soon as soon as it was available. I’ve probably put 1000 hours into various M&B iterations ever since I bought into the beta in late 2007.

They could us MS Paint to make a crappy picture of a horse and tell me it was M&B and I’d probably still pre-order it. If our relationship was like that of the Fellowship in LotR, in addition to Aragorn’s sword and Gimli’s axe, they’d have my wallet.

Hehe, yeah - thats me as well. My most played game ever, and I think I purchased the original for 8 dollars way way back.

Bugger, was holding out on purchasing until some player reviews were in. After reading Razgon’s above posts I’m getting in now because the excitement has hit uncontrolled expenditure levels.

Better put on some episodes of Vikings starring Ragnar Lodbrok to get in the mood :)

Sorry. I should have some impressions tomorrow.

I didn’t know this was by the Brytenwalda guys. That’s probably the best M&B total conversion mod I’ve played, and the only one I know of that was ever finished. Not that I’ve played that many, mind you.

Looking forward to this, but I’ll probably hold off until the new year.

Thats just mean!

Look, it takes a while to raise a mighty army of Vikings, equip them, sail them across the sea, have them assault a castle, and promptly lose them all due to a mis-click.