Mount and Blade: Warband - An Overview

Mount and Blade Warband is a medieval rpg by taleworlds set in the fictional land of Calradia a turbulent and violent land divided into 6 factions Swadia(orange),Nords(blue),Rhodoks(green),Khergite Khanate(purple), Sarrinade Sultanate(yellow) and the vaegirs(white)
They are almost in a constant state of war.
This is the map in the beginning of the game.

You choose your characters background and this changes what your stats are and your inventory.
The character customization is really unsatisfactory but in the end you wont see your face much as it will always don a helmet.
After your character is set up you choose which kingdom you want to go too and then your adventure begins.
Gameplay
Combat
Mount and blade has a army vs army style of combat with hundreds of players on the battlefield at the same time.
There is a wide variety of options when it comes to combat-
Infantry melee - 
In this you are a foot soldier with heavy armor and high damage weapons this play style relies on blocking and making sure the enemy cant swarm you.
It is a slow paced style but one nearly everyone has to try in Sieges.
Archers-
Unmounted-
This is again ranged combat on foot which is highly rewarding as the enemy if having a helmet with an open faceplate can be taken down almost always in one hit.
Mounted-
It is has the benefits of archery with the mobility of a horse making you highly deadly as you can kill 5-15 enemy troops before they even reach your army.
Mounted Melee-
The most fun play style you will almost always go for a pole-arm an awlpike and a sword with 2 shields and run through the enemies like they are flies.
The pole arms deal absurd amounts of damage and have the added  bonus of being able to have a shield equipped with them.
Throwing -
There are several throwing weapons which double as normal ones as well which deal high damage at the cost of low accuracy.This is generally not useful as the amount of ammo for throwing weapons is not sustainable.(you will max get 4-5 kills then run out)
Factions
A big part of the game is to join a faction with your army as a vassal or as a mercenary group.
The vassal can hold lands and get rent and tariffs while the mercenary gets weekly payment based on the size of the army you have.
You can take over other factions during wars and participate in sieges to get the enemies land also your land can also be taken from you or your villages looted.
You can alternatively make your own faction or join someone who claims that some faction belongs to them.
However this should be done in late game when your army is very good and you have the best possible inventory.
Courting
Yup you can woo the ladies or get woo'd if you are one in mount and blade and you can then get married if he/she likes your poems (literally how romance works) this helps you become more politically powerful and helps you form a relation with other lords.
However this can lead to fights(another lord liking the same lady) 
Army Building
The most important part of mount and blade is building your army to help you fight other armies or not get destroyed by bandits.
You can recruit villagers and slowly upgrade them to skilled soldiers or get companions (immortal friends with different skills)
or recruit mercenaries from taverns.You can even employ prisoners from your party but this makes party members unhappy.
The best way however is fighting an enemy which has captured some prisoners of high quality and kill them and employ these people for free.
(you still have to pay wages)
Also you need to keep food in the inventory to feed the army you are keeping and enough money to pay their wages otherwise they might start to leave you due to a low morale.
Graphics
Graphically mount and blade is just bad but the amazing combat system and the freedom of choices make up for it.
There are various graphical glitches (none to game breaking)
Content
Due to the various play styles,mods(total conversion like prophecy of pendor and a song of ice and fire), various choices as to what to be(you can be a lord but you can also be a simple merchant trading goods or a looter but then every lord would target you) the playtime you can put into this is virtually endless I myself have over 250 hours and can always just open it for a good time.

My final verdict on this game is 10/10 
Its the perfect medieval rpg.
Pleas note that these images are not owned by me I am just using them for this review.
Also you can buy mount and blade on steam for quiet cheap.(thats what I recommend as it is cheap there and has the steam workshop)