Mount & Blade: Napoleonic Wars Angry Review
Release Date: April 19th, 2011
Platform: PC, Steam
Developer: Taleworlds
Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Genre: Third Person Shooter
Players: 1 Offline Player, 250 Players Online
Angry Joe reviews the Mount & Blade franchise with focus on the latest DLC expansion, Napoleonic Wars! Just how well does 19th Century line-warfare translate into a third-person shooter? FIX BAYONETS and charge on to find out!
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129 thoughts on “Mount & Blade: Napoleonic Wars Angry Review”
This game looks awesome.
Hey Joe!
Where did you buy this game?
The moment I started playing this game I found the Musicians as well and marched into battle with them; during the last Team deathmatch it was me and 3 other Line Soldiers guarding the musicians shouting “PROTECT THE MUSIC” while firing from the frontlines.
I doubt this is going to be noticed, but there was “AngryJoe” on the server earlier, was that actually you Joe or was someone trying to ride on your success?
Lovely review!
Being one of those people who makes those… “Mini Lines”, I know what you’re talking about. I’m the Colonel of the 24th Warwickshire Regiment of Foot, and often times you can see my regiment, of 50+ active players forming a huge, 2 rank deep formation in a server, and if not us, other regiments doing the same.
But I have one small thing to say, in defence of the Devs forM&BW:NW
I have played NW since the day it came out. I’ve also played the mod, Mount & Musket, for a year and a half before it was even considered an expansion, specifically before even Prussia was introduced as a faction, and it was just France and the UK fighting it out.
Now then: The singleplayer thing.
singleplayer isn’t likely to be on the dev’s list of things to do for a rather obvious fact. If you look on the main forum for the game, http://www.forums.taleworlds.com and go to either “The Caravansai” or even “Mods under Construction”, there are many, MANY blackpowder age mods made that introduce a totally new single-player campaign during the 19th century and before, and actually some after.
One of these such mods is called “L’aigle”, meaning “The Eagle”. It is being made by a gent called “Docm30″. It has graphics and textures equivalent, if not better, than NW and is exclusively Singleplayer, and will be covering the same time-period of NW, but without the multiplayer aspect.
Since it is a mod, it is free. Since you have to have Warband in order to have NW, you automatically have not only a window for multiplayer: NW, but a window for singeplayer, L’aigle.
The modding community of Warband and even the original mount and blade game has always been, if not diverse, than extremely advanced when compared to other games. Some mods, such as “The Eagle & The Radiant Cross” have managed to open up an entirely new background, lore system, combat system, and even their own mini-mod expansion pack to their own mod. (Modception?).
Keeping all this in mind, I can say with a very solid base that the single-player aspect that NW is lacking is made up for by upcoming mods, if not released mods, by the modders of M&B:W or even the original game.
But other than that, I’d have to say that the review was spiffing, and I hope to see you on the field Sir Angry Joe!
~ Spearington
I might be hearing it wrong but is Joe saying Magician @ 12:05ish? I know he means Musician but it just sounds like magician to me…
I heard magician as well. Not just you
I seriously loved this review and freaked out! I have always been a M&B fan, but just wasn’t sure, but holy crap do i need this! ((sad about the lack of single player Q_Q….maybe a modder will add one for us))
Update: bought it, love it! Sure it’s rough around the edges, but everything that needs to seems to work (though too many servers still have bonuses turned off).
One match in particular I played an officer, it was a 100 person match w/ 1 life each. Bonuses were on and so as an officer I was providing a bonus to those very close to me (not sure, accuracy maybe?). It was so cool because there were about 15 line infantry who followed my every move during the match, and I’d just crouch in front as they hailed fire from beside and behind.
Felt so much like a more personal TW style game as I led my men around in flanking maneuvers and such… we eventually lost though
And another match seige defending keeping moral up with a marching band haha, too much fun!
Marching band comrade high five! o/\o Nothing makes me smile as much as when a bunch of musicians get together and play.
I am with Angry Joe 100%. The entire Warband Series is a great buy. The only difference being, I’m good with cavalry.
I request you to join our regiment which is called the 71st “macmillans”highlander regiment.
We have Linebattles and act as a community together, interested just Email me
DD
Damn…and I always thought it’s an RPG…
Will get it on the next Steam Sale.
Anyone who is interested in this, visit the 22nd Foot, on our Teamspeak for line battle information at 85.236.100.27:29907 and ask for one of our officers. We do line battles/training frequently.
AJ, just played a game or two with ya, I believe. I really wished that there was a way to join a regiment. Though, maybe that’ll be addressed in the future. I really wanna try Line Warfare.
Were you in that big Battle game on the main US server?
Hahah, I think I was just in a game with Joe, though it may have been someone using his name. Playing an Officer and using the telescope to just give enemy positions is my favorite.
For the lady gamers out there, you can make a female character to play as (though sadly, we do not get epic old timey facial hair). It’s fun to imagine yourself as some of the famous women who took their place on the line during the era. And the voice acting for the women when you hit C to cheer is hil. ar. i. ous.
I’m still undecided whether I should buy this. I love Mount & Blade, but primarily because of the singleplayer. However I do like the Sharpe novels so the setting is awesome.
I’d definatly would have prefered if this had a singleplayer campaign as well. It would have been a must-buy. But that is the part that takes a long time to develop as they have to add all these new cities and towns.
I feel that Taleworlds is being a bit lazy of late but I can understand they want to cash in on the hardwork they did on the original. Hopefully this will translate into as stunning sequel which I will then most definatly buy.
ANGRY JOE!!! Im am really hapyp for you to finaly shed some light on this AMAZING franchise!!!
Thanks Joe. I downloaded this yesterday and have had a blast all night!!!
Its truly something else! Epic battles, hillarious moments, chaos, action, awesome pace compared to other action fps/3rd person shooters. Slow from range, hectic with swords and bayonettes! The battle cries, the musicians, the long and juciy muzzle smoke when they fire off that nasty musket!!! And i havent even tried it all yet!
Its beautiful!!!
Peace.
I’m so buying this right now.
/ Sweden
Oh wow, thanks for this review Joe, this game looks frickin’ sweet! I’ve been playing a lot of Shogun:FotS lately so I’m totally in the mood for this era of warfare. Also have good memories of a Source mod that was similar to this, it was FPS, with old school muskets w/ terrible accuracy and load times, and bayonets, it was a blast.
I’ll probably pick this one up, been looking for a decent MP game to sink some time into since BF3 is getting a bit stale. Love the idea of 1 life massive battlefields like that, and I seriously cracked up for like 3 minutes watching the bag piper mourn your body haha.
Is now a bad time to say I liked Brink, but it really needed alot of refinement and tuning for me to consider it “good”…we need more fountain of lead SMG dust-up shooters
Do the needed PROTOTYPE 2 review, Joe.
Try the Star wars mod for mount and blade 1, or the western mod (1866) for mount and blade 1.
Haha, the magical musicians sound AWESOME! Just going around on the battlefield mourning other’s death’s as a bagpiper sounds hilariously epic
Totally good one – i had beta of Mount&Blade, i have Warband, now i am getting to have some cooperative-multiplayer shooter.
this game kicks so much ass – it gets its foot stuck in the ribcage all the time.
If I could afford a PC I’d buy this game for sure. Why can’t console games have sweet 200+ player battles like these? The only one I’m aware of is MAG but I heard that game wasn’t very good.
outdated hardware. the reason consoles are cheaper, isnt generosity of the makers. a modern console cant handle more then 30-60 players. maybe next generation – but PC will stay ahead. you buy new console every 3-6 years. you can upgrade your PC for like 100$ yearly.
I am so glad you reviewed it! totally worth it, no doubt. This game is an unsuspected hit. When i bought it on release – two days straight playing.
Agree to all points you mentioned in review -dated graphics – yeah, some lag and spawn traffic – yeah, BUT what a joy it is to play it!
There are people on servers doing perfect line battles, forming regiments, using teamspeak to coordinate, total fun it is.
I must go and buy this game now….
qsfljmqdsfj
I was wondering if that was actually you that I saw on the battlefield or just some random guy named AngryJoe. Good to fight along side you!
Been with the Reddit Brigade’s 33rd Regiment playing the Mount & Musket mod for about 4 months now. Line battles have always been extremely fun and I actually preferred the MM public server play over Warband’s multiplayer. Now that Taleworlds basically took MM and made it a bit more awesome, I may never play regular Warband multi again!
A lot of people might get turned off by the idea of having only 1 life per round when playing with 100-200 players, but it actually is a ton of fun and full of suspense. The community is great, too. You can end up having a lot of fun convos with random people after you’re dead. If you join a Regiment, you’ll definitely not be bored.
-33rd!
Angry Joe, great review! If you think public play is awesome, you will LOVE the linebattles! Players organised in “clans” (Everyone here call them “regiments”), fighting in lines, giving off volleys, cavalry flanking and charging, artillery volleys, skirmishers, glorious charges…
I recommend the American Tuesday or Friday linebattle, both are open for public players with no regiments:
http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,222828.0.html
http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,225189.0.html
Hoping to see you attend to one of those!
Leutnant Haresus of the 1st East Prussian Infantry, Gott schütse den König!
Oh hell yes! After just getting started playing some Napoleonic wars with Perry Bros minis, this comes along. Thx AJ for this information. I am glad they seem to have even the Sapper/Royal Engineer class as I want to play that so much. My next paycheck can’t come soon enough.
After watching this, I instantly went and bought this game. I was so so so pleased. I was playing on the US super server and I never saw so much team work before. Playing with 200+ people just feels awesome.
Also yeah, they REALLY need to fix spawns, like spawning in as Cav is horrible.
Cool. I liked the first and Warband. Havent tried With Fire and Sword, but this looks cool.
Actually there are line battle servers set up specific days, like over here Tues and Thurs there was 200 player line battle servers for regiments to join. Lots of regiments recruiting both ingame, through steam forums and the Taleworlds forums. Most regiments use voice chat, have ranks for members, and make for a lot of fun for line battle games!
BTW the respawn timer is 30 seconds from the beginning to choose your unit on battle mode.
The current Warband version is 1.151 (Needed to play the dlc)
The current Napoleonic Wars version is 1.002 (Already fixed a lot of issues, but still a lot to go!)
The menu shows the Warband version for some reason.
Probably my favourite part of this game is the roleplaying element. Using the “Play Together” mode for band classes allows them to play the same songs simultaneously , and basically make a marching band with a colour bearer (Guy holding the teams flag). Another great touch is the voice acting for each team with dozens of lines each, as well as both a male and female version (That’s a LOT of recorded voices). Starting out a battle round and hearing an uproar or VIVA LA FRANCE is just awesome.
Joe doesnt seems to know his left from his right
Smashing review Joe! Frickin love this game!
The music may not be appropriate, but sure are funny as hell.
Geez, I was thinking this would be dumb and not for me, but everything about this game makes me want to buy it right now.
Hell, I might be playing a musician just for the hell of it by tomorrow, lol!
Actually screw that, 7.50 for the first 3 games for 5 more hours on steam on top of the low price of the DLC joe reviewed..
I’ve bought dumber stuff on the spur of the moment and it looks fun, lol.
No single player???
Phh….
I’ve never liked multi
Try with fire and sword out! Or get Warband and download the MANY total conversion mods to give you EXACTLY what you’re looking for, and even add in graphical or sound mods to customize the way you want to play the game!
Ha ha, you said “magician”
And what if the musicians really *are* magicians? How else would they be able to make Angry Joe march in line like that?
I think that’s 18th century, Joe.
The Napoleonic Wars were mostly after 1800 until their end in 1815, before that it was still the French Revolution so 19th Century is correct.
Wow, I had no idea you were playing this! I was playing the Mount&musket mod since last may and have spent most of my time since Thursday’s release playing Napoleonic Wars and it is one of the very few DLCs that I actually found to be worth paying for. Sure the graphics aren’t the best and the new skins and textures made by Flying Squirrel Studios for NW out-match the re-used Warband textures but the game still looks (and runs) very well. Hell I was even able to get it working and playable on my old laptop which can’t run Warband due to the new engine changes and optimizations.
There are two singleplayer Napoleonic mods in development for Warband which is partly why they didn’t include a SP campaign.
L’AIGLE: Napoleonic Warfare
http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,195571.0.html
1812-1815 Napoleonic
http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/board,279.0.html
There are also weekly Line Battle events for both Europe and North America, some are invite only for regiments (clans) but some are also open to public players (who often do very well). These are much more organized than the regular pub server battles and are a lot of fun
ok watched the whole video now , kick ass that joe gave the entire series his bad ass seal , but really , I suggest you don’t even bother with the original MnB , and go strait for warband , or With Fire And Sword. depending on rather or not you prefer medival combat or musket combat (war band is medival , WFAS has muskets). the thing is the original lacked a lot of the dynamics that war band added ,such as forming and naming your own faction (in the original you were just an auto rebel faction) marriage , and medivial marriage politics. (ie wooing noble girls away from enemies ect ect). a story quest line , (though one that ends open endedly , WFAS , had a clossing) and one of my favorite things , is Sword dueling nobles via insulting them , while hard to find or get the dialouge for it it is possible and down right fun! and lastly warband also changed a lot of animations which were vastly improved over the original’s animations, as well as vastly improved graphics via dx 9 shader support (normal maps specular maps ect etc).
On thing joe did not put enough emphasis on , this game is NOT for the casual crowd at ALL, even in the single player modes starting out to put it mildy…. is a f—king bitch. you really have to pick your fights , and take your time when starting out the single player campaigne, can’t just hop into commanding troops and fighting in massive battles cos you WILL get your ass handed to you if you try that approach.
HAHA Seeing footage of your old videos brings a lot of nostalgia to me…This is off topic but why hasn’t TONSOFUN been in any of your videos anymore??
oh also , I still play war band daily ! great game
I’ve been playing the M&B games and mods since I bought into the beta in 2005 when there were still only two people working on it out of their home and there wasn’t much to the game besides the battles. Far from perfect, but they are extremely fun and I highly recommend them (well, Warband & NW).
the mount and blade series is awesome overall, I personally prefer war band , over the original or “with fire and sword” , i think this dlc is for WFAS only though so i haven’t actually got the dlc yet. The fact that war band was the first one that allowed you to become king of the entire continent won me over , and the combat is also extremely rewarding screw muskets , give me a big a– two hander sword and a horse any day over a musket shoot out.
I would love to try that game just for the 1 life mode…. it seems so interesting and original
The Mount & Blade Collection is on sale on Steam right now for $7.50! Although this does exclude the recent expansion.
sounds a lot like America’s Army glory days. I haven’t played it all that much since they went to version 3.0 and Call of Duty came out. But same concept 10minute battles with 1 life, realistic firing weapons that aren’t laser accurate, and really realistic grenades that dominate. Was a real fun game, but they kept adding stuff and my computer couldn’t run it right.
not sure my computer would run this well (and running out of space on hard drive, i really need to get a new computer)
mount and blade runs great on any computer really , i got a freind that runs it on an old single core athy 3200+ with 2 gigs ram and a radeon 3870 (agp version) and it’s playable if not perfect , the game also allows you to run it in either dx 9 or the much older dx 7 so you’d be amazed at what kind of low end hardware you can run this on.
Dammit joe im gona go broke at all the recommends, ugh sucks be college student, but all worth it. Also i wonder what the teams reaction would be to 200 musicians marching towards them?
I never really thought of Joe as warfare. Guess I thought wrong. Doesn’t change my outlook on him though. GO JOE!