Mount and Blade Guide: Succeed in Calradia

Written by: Simon Hill • Edited by: Michael Hartman
Updated Oct 2, 2009 • Related Guides: RPG

A guide to playing Mount and Blade. This guide will teach you the basic concepts of the game, how to create your character, build an army and conquer enemy lands so that you can get the most out of this exciting third-person adventure.

Mount and Blade

Mount and Blade is a fantastic single player role-playing game which casts the player in the role of a knight in the mythical medieval realm of Calradia and challenges them to find fame and fortune through the open ended game-play. The final retail version was released in September 2008 by Turkish developers TaleWorlds and has enjoyed a decent level of success.

What is it about?

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This is third-person action with a well developed melee combat system which brings sword fighting to life. You can also ride on horseback, joust, fight with axes, spears and even crossbows and bows. Leading a band of men you undertake various missions and can join a faction in order to fight for domination of the land. There are tournaments to take part in, pirates and barbarians to fight and of course rival lords to face down on the battlefield. You can also pillage villages and siege castles and towns.

The well developed RPG system features a large overview map of the land highlighting the various villages, castles and towns. Your character can build up their skills through experience and similarly you can recruit basic soldiers and more developed companions who can also be trained up through experience. Your character has a large inventory and there are many items in the game available for trade.

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The missions in Mount and Blade are varied and you can undertake missions for towns, villages, lords or kings. Successfully completed missions will earn you cash or renown and build your reputation. Eventually you will be asked to join a faction and will gain the ability to seize castles and towns and hold them in your king’s name.

The game is open ended so each time you play a new story is created and you can weave your way to victory via a number of routes. There are many features to master and the depth of the world makes it an enjoyable and immersive place to lose yourself for a few hours. While the mission choices are limited and a bit repetitive, and the visual design is slightly dated, the combat game-play is excellent. Taking part in large battles fighting alongside your troops against a range of enemy soldiers is a thrilling experience. It is about to get more thrilling because there is a multiplayer expansion pack for Mount & Blade on the way.

dominater69 Aug 25, 2011 2:24 AM

hi i play mount and blade the original and i was wondering if about a few things 1 is max leadership only 10
2 if i upgrade skills of a high unit ex knights will all the knights in my party upgrade?? 3 how to get married male 4 ok this is long see i joined the vageros kingdom if thats how you write it and ithen the king gave me a farm so i built and army and besieged a castle and didnt lsiten to him he told me to give it to him so i declined how to win his trust back

Anonymous Jul 20, 2011 6:08 PM

cheats

i am playing m and blade (not warband)and i wanted to now why the cheats are not working

Kev Mar 29, 2011 3:09 AM

RE: Mount and Blade Guide: Succeed in Calradia

To Kat:
You CAN get married if u are a girl to a Lord, but the lord must have a broad perspective cause ur not a true "lady"

on a side note if u do get married and start ur own queendom, ur lord will be ur first vassal guranteed

kat Jan 31, 2011 2:49 PM

???

hey if u are a girl on m&b warband can you get marrid??

Simon Hill Jan 13, 2011 12:33 PM

Hi Keith, actually you'll need Mount & Blade: Warband to be able to strike out on your own and award fiefs to your companions (it's well worth getting). If you do get it the option to award a fief and make them a lord is in the conversation tree under - I'd like to ask you something. Sorry it's been a while since I played the original.

Keith Jan 13, 2011 12:06 PM

Lords

thanks for the reply simon, how do you make your comrads lords?

LO Jan 10, 2011 7:24 AM

random stuff

you cn get married. it is in M&B warband part 2 to M&B you have to go to a tavern and talk to the bard. learn a few poems 300$ each. then resite them to the lady of your choice. but be careful bc other lords may be talking to her as well and will challenge you. also ..regardless of how much she likes you. she most likely wont leave her family for a poor lord.. meaning.. get a castle and she may want to come.. but she wont live in the woods with you. as well as other lords if you rebeled against them.. and to be king.. get your right to be king up. send your vassels out to spread the word... also...when you get close to wanting to start your own kingdom.. when your friends level up.. upgrade them as if they were you.. get char up and int for more points. so you can add to their leadership for more men and tactics and what not.. the more men the more power. and have a reserve of good men in reserve.. i go tav to tav and buy up men because i have so much money and leave them at my castle.. and if i losse a battle i ransom my men with ease and get my men from castle. ... make friends with another king. im friends with swadia.. because they have best horsemen knights..and get them pretty fast.. im lke 85 friendship with the king himself.. so.. when im being attacked they will actually ride by and stop.. or stay at my castle and just chill... and a strong alliance wont be broken very easy. ...thats it for now... have fun.. ((best way to make money is to save 10,000 get silk workship)) get looting up and plunder everyone.

Simon Hill Jan 10, 2011 5:08 AM

King

Hi Keith, you can never become King of the Nords so you'll have to strike out on your own. You can persuade other Lords to join you if they are unhappy with their king but they'll expect to be granted lands and can prove difficult to keep happy. The easier way is to make some of your companions into Lords but they'll take a while to build up their own armies.

Keith Jan 9, 2011 4:05 PM

becoming king

hi simon ive been playing for about 550 game days i own two castles and im marshall of the nords. i was wondering if its possible to become king of the nords or do you have to rebel from them and be king of your own faction. also when you do rebel do other lords come to your faction?

Eduardo Jun 29, 2010 7:59 AM

cows

thanks for the help now all cows shall run in fear!

Simon Hill Jun 28, 2010 4:58 AM

Sorry lo,
Ok I've never run into a mirror of myself while playing. I would have to guess from the way you describe it that it is some kind of bug and not a deliberate feature at all.

lo Jun 27, 2010 2:12 PM

HEY SIMON

could you answer my question i wrote like almost 2 months ago... have you ever ran into a mirror of yourself?? what does that mean.. im playing part one. M&B... have u ran into yourself before and what does it mean?

Edgar Jun 26, 2010 12:43 PM

help

in what version you can get married?

Edgar Jun 26, 2010 11:38 AM

im playing mount and blade ,i know that in game you can get married but wen i play i only can defend her honor .I need to download some kind a mod or something? help my!

Simon Hill Jun 23, 2010 4:08 AM

The cattle missions are horribly annoying you basically have to chase them to herd them in the direction you want but don't let them get too far away from you or they'll disappear. If you keep running around close to them they will run in the opposite direction. I suggest avoiding cattle missions because they are no fun.

Eduardo Jun 23, 2010 3:03 AM

How do you get cattle to go were you want them to go???? (how do you herd them)

ANTONIO Jun 5, 2010 3:41 PM

end of kingdom

what happened when you destroy any kingdom:
i am nord rebel and i captured all towns and castles
except wercheg. will all nord lords be yours or what

ANTONIO Jun 5, 2010 3:36 PM

You can defend the honor of a lady but you can't ever marry her

you can in second part WARBAND

lo May 19, 2010 10:40 AM

SEEING YOURSELF

hey i just randomly came to this site and i had a question but ask that you email me the answer... i have been playing for a while now.. and for some odd reason.. i came out of camping and i saw some desrters.. only one guy with 17 prisoners so i thought hey i could use them on my side to fill ranks ... and one guy... why not i have like 90.... but how about i looked at him and his name wasa mine.. i thought ahh its prob just a glitch so i chased him down for like 3 mins becuae he was like .3 faster than me i caught him and he was a MIRROR IMAGE OF MY GUY SAME NAME AND ALL... then he talked shyt about my king...well.. rebels of NORD ... it even allowed me to join him and claim alligence to his thrown...???what is that about.. and it said Player Faction....???? didnt expect that so im just wondering what does that mean?????? because if i can start my own faction or something...then hell yea..ill search him down or go to tavern and ask to find him again... but hey did anyone come into there self like that??? what does it mean??

OH YEAH i fought him.. told all my guys to hold position and went alone.. he stood there.. i shot his horse with arrows killed it jumped off my horse walked to him with two handed ax out and went at em.. how bout when i won... not only did i get the guys and expience ..i lost favor with him and MY LIFE WAS AT 10%.....wth????....... its like i attaacked myself but...didnt...???any ideas???

gilman May 7, 2010 1:48 PM

retired

yes after reading this i tested the retire function
it tallies up a score based on your friends, enemies, property, inventory, quest, victories, defeats, and a bunch of other things. than they throw in the dificulty modifier. mine was 105% and equaled 2939 points out of my 5985 point total.

o ya and i got a cool message telling me how great my character did after retirement. i am sure that it is based on renown or the final point tallie, so i am sure that you will get a different message based on what you end like.

and finaly after you read to the bottum of your page you still have the option to eather remain retired or go back to adventureing. so no i suppose the game never ends. not until you just stop playing (god forbid)

macjohn May 5, 2010 1:40 PM

I dunno

I had a goal once that to get married to this woman... everytime I reach the highest point of knowing one another... she just says we cannot see each other anymore and that I'm marrying another... I went through 5 different women and that's all they say... :(

Gilvray Apr 13, 2010 1:06 AM

Complete the game

Blanman Jan 14, 2010 1:37 AM

There is an end

You can "finish" the game at anytime by setting up camp and retiring. It suppose to have some text or something saying what you char did until death, I'm assuming it states you lived on to rule your stuff, or your enemies if you had tons of them took your land. Don't know never retired yet :P

Tim Dec 5, 2009 6:47 AM

Re: Completing the game

You can't complete it, oh well you can make peace but the game wont end. I fought as an vassal of kingdom of Nords and defeated every other nation ,so all the lords joined the nords. After that it got pretty boring so i searched for the claimate for the nord throned, Released my oath with the nords and help'd the claimate to defeat the nords (So it was like: Me and the Guy vs ALL citys and castles cuz nord was the only nation left). i promise, fight for a kingdom, defeat everyone else so all Lords join the kingdom you fought for and THEN help the claimate to defeat the kingdom. U'll have TONS of Fun, because you got battles like 3000 vs you (250 Men for me) it's amazing :D

Simon Hill Oct 16, 2009 6:37 AM

Michael Faulds Oct 16, 2009 3:47 AM

Marry

Dont no y i am saying this but is it possable to get married in the game

Simon Hill Oct 7, 2009 2:39 PM

the game is open ended so there is no official end point although it is theoretically possible to conquer every town and castle for your faction but I've never reached that point

Michael Oct 7, 2009 5:31 AM

are you able to complete the game

Mount and Blade Guide: Succeed in Calradia

Mount and Blade

What is it about?

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