Mount & Blade has me enraptured.

Visually it's dated, but under the bonnet is a very unique little RPG/Strategy engine that has really clicked with me.

I'm not writing this as a review since I've only played it for around 4-5 hrs but I feel like I've scratched the surface of a unique experience.

Image: http://i45.tinypic.com/5yydrc.jpg

As with traditional RPGs you design your character at the start, and assign some points to various character traits. You are an adventurer and for whatever arbitrary reason you decide, you are going out to secure riches and fame for yourself.

The first thing I did was go to a farm and recruit some peasants to my cause, and I victoriously crushed a rag tag looting party of 4. How we cheered! I soon had built up an army of around 15 Tribesmen but then I made the stupid mistake of attacking a Caravan which had some very experienced guards, and my forces were quickly repelled and I was imprisoned. I decided to end my adventure there with that character, and begin anew.

Image: http://i47.tinypic.com/30bcrnr.jpg

Basically the gameplay revolves around building and mainting an army, but it's approached like an RPG not a strategy game.
You will curry favour with lords by delivering letters or collecting taxes, build your renown in tournaments and eventually become the Vassal for a King - crushing opposing armies in his name...and when I say armies, I'm talking battles with hundreds and hundreds of troops.

It's epic, but also viciously hard. If you take on the wrong enemy at the wrong time (as I have shown) you can be quickly defeated and taken prisoner and lose a lot of your army and/or wealth.

This punishment for failure is probably one of the reasons I like the game so much. You really take care to plan what you do next.
My current playthrough is going much better, I've made it to lvl 3 and I've spent a lto of time training my troops (which gives them higher abilities) which I didn't do at all on my first playthrough. Currently I have 35 in my command, but soon my leadership abilities will increase and I could command many more.

Image: http://i49.tinypic.com/20k575g.jpg

If any of you have an interest in RPGs you must check it out imo. All you need is a crappy PC to run it - the minimum specs are:

OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista
Memory: 512 MB of RAM
Graphics: Graphics card with at least 64 MB memory
Hard Drive: 700 MB of hard disk space

I picked it up on Stardock's Impulse delivery service for £5, but prior to this I know many of you may have bought it for the same price in the Steam sale. At £5 it's bargain. I think £25 is too much since it's graphically not that good but I'd have been happy paying £15 for it.