The concept of gunpowder in the Warband engine actually was one of the first things that fans of the game modded into the setting, so Yazbeck took that as a vote of confidence. “People want this new technology versus old technology struggle.” The guns and grenades actually make for an interesting contrast between the swords, bows, and horsemen of the older times. “The 17th Century is a really cool period in history, because gunpowder is coming up in use and power and you get to see things like early hand-grenades, muskets and pistols,” said Mikail Yazbeck, designer for TaleWorlds and producer of With Fire & Sword. But what was the inspiration to take one of the best medieval combat simulators on the market and potentially muddy it with guns? The deep bass boom of a musket firing, aimed at a rider speeding towards you and watching your opponent’s body crumple, is way more satisfying than it should be. That secret project is the “standalone expansion” Mount & Blade: With Fire and Sword, and it represents the next step in warfare technology.

So it didn’t take a genius to guess that one of the “unannounced” projects that we were set to learn more about from Paradox last week was going to be from TaleWorlds. Published last year by Paradox Interactive, Warband was a surprise hit for the Turkish game developer TaleWorlds, with fans across the globe contributing to over 650k in total sales for the franchise. Play is split between the realistic and real-time action of first-person medieval warfare and the strategic view of a fictional landscape populated with towns, cities and castles. For the uninitiated, TaleWorlds Interactive built an open world for the player to recruit, equip and train his own warband and travel across the land looking for trouble.

I’ve made no secret of my love of the PC game Mount & Blade: Warband.

Mount and blade fire and sword mods