The Mount & Blade series has had a spotty history with guns, which is understandable when you consider that gunpowder was ultimately responsible for making both mounts and blades totally irrelevant. After the troubled Mount & Blade: With Fire and Sword, Taleworlds and Flying Squirrel Entertainment are taking another pop at blackpowder in the form of this multiplayer-only expansion for Warband.

It'll feature five factions and 220 units, historically accurate weapons and artillery, and an engineer class that can erect barricades. You'll also be able to become a musician and play drums, fifes, trumpets and bagpipes - which seems like a recipe for getting shot, to me.

The Lord of the Rings Last Days of Middle Earth mod for the original Mount and Blade has been released after five years of work. The mod lets you fight and command all the factions of Middle Earth, no less, with some top notch custom armour sets, new textures and new locations designed to bring Middle Earth to Tale World's medieval rags to riches pillaging sim. Find out more and see some fantastic screenshots of the mod below.

The mod's creators have taken almost all of their inspiration from the books, rather than the film trilogy, and the ambition and attention to detail is clear to see in the impressive screens. The war for Middle Earth will kick off shortly after you start a campaign with your chosen race. The territory system will let you help the forces of Mordor or the Fellowship as they strike at each other's strongholds. If you weaken the enemy enough, you can even ride in with an army and take their fortresses. You can download the mod from ModDB now.

Recently, at E3, we got the chance to catch up with the CEO of Paradox Interactive, Fredrik Wester to discuss the company's recent success with Magicka, Mount and Blade and King Arthur. Wester revealed that 90% of Paradox' revenue is now made through digital distribution sales. He describes the company's lack of reliance on retail as "a release," saying that store chains have "not been good for the creative part of the industry."

Wester told us that "this year we’re close to ninety percent of our revenue being digital. Retail sales are like a bonus for us now. We don’t really need retailers any more and that is a release because retailers have not been good for the industry. They’ve not been good for the creative part of the industry, for finding new cool games."

"People complain to publishers that there are only sequels on the market, but that’s because retailers want to see sequels, because they can do their chart diagrams for how things sell and things like that. So one of the things preventing more creative gaming has been the retail challenge."

"I can only say this now because we’re not depending on them, so it’s really relieving to be able to say that."

Wester told us that Steam is Paradox' main partner, followed by Gamersgate. Paradox has recently had big success with Magicka, which as sold more than 600,000 copies since release, and is set to hit a million sales before the end of the year. The entire Paradox catalogue is currently enjoying a 90% as part of the Steam summer sale. You can grab the lot for $74.99 / £55.

Free tunes! Another game soundtrack has been released for download, this time for the standalone Mount & Blade expansion With Fire and Sword, which features music by Jesse Hopkins and Pyotr Salnikov. (The download also includes Hopkins' Mount & Blade: Warband soundtrack.) You can snag it here. With track names such as "Peaceful Travels" and "Eastern Soul," it's a little more low-key than, say, Bulletstorm's all-action-all-the-time tone, and it might make some decent background music for that MMO whose looping soundtrack you're bored silly of.

Mount & Blade: With Fire and Sword comes out May 3.

Free tunes! Another game soundtrack has been released for download, this time for the standalone Mount & Blade expansion With Fire and Sword, which features music by Jesse Hopkins and Pyotr Salnikov. (The download also includes Hopkins' Mount & Blade: Warband soundtrack.) You can snag it here. With track names such as "Peaceful Travels" and "Eastern Soul," it's a little more low-key than, say, Bulletstorm's all-action-all-the-time tone, and it might make some decent background music for that MMO whose looping soundtrack you're bored silly of.

Mount & Blade: With Fire and Sword comes out May 3.

Evan, Josh, Dan, intern Lucas, and special guest Mikail Yazbeck get comfortable with the microphones in the never before used podcast room and chat PC Gaming. Topics include: Are free to play RTS games too imba to be worthwhile? Company of Heroes Online's shutdown might provide some insight. What are some of your favorite in game enemies? And much more.

Have a question, comment or amusing PC game related anecdote? Leave a voicemail: 1-877-404-1337 ext 724.

PC Gamer US Podcast 258 - 100 Proof

In possibly the most exciting news of the conference so far, Paradox Interactive have announced that their new expansion for Mount and Blade - 'With Fire and Sword' - will be set in 1653 and feature muskets, plus an actual storyline to follow in singleplayer.

Click more for extra info and a new trailer.


As a mercenary leader, you'll either be able to make alliances or go lone-wolf. Enhanced siege mechanics bring a new level of gameplay, with the ability to bribe a guard to open the door, use gunpowder, or even poison the food supply during sieges.

You can get all the latest updates from the Paradox Interactive press conference at our live coverage blog.

The holidays are almost here, which means even more time to get stuck into some new games. Win today's prize of  of a pile of Paradox games from GamersGate and you certainly won't be short of things to play. Whether you'd rather carve out your own kingdom using brute force in Mount and Blade, or plot your way to victory against the mean Faeries of ye olde Brittania in King Arthur, there's something for you in the Paradox pack. Read on for details of how to win.

If you decide to enter you stand to win the following Paradox games, courtesy of GamersGate.
King Arthur The Role-Playing Wargame

As the ruler of the noble men of Britannia, it's up to you to unite knights of the round table against the evil creatures of the old forests. King Arthur is like Total War, but with all the enemy nations replaced by the darkest creatures from British folk legends. Your overall strategy can be controlled from the tactical map, but when forces clash you can order your knights and peasants about on the battlefield. Blasting ranks of enemies with Merlin's fireballs never gets old. If you win you'll also receive The Saxons expansion when it's released.
Europa Universalis III Complete

Europa Universalis III is super detailed nation builder that lets you take control of a country of your choice for 300 years. During that time you dictate everything from exploration to trade, to warfare and diplomacy with an aim to expand and maintain your empire, all the while taking advice from the game's esteemed roster of advisors. When it all goes wrong, you can just blame Mozart. The complete edition comes with the Heir to the Throne expansion.
Lionheart: Kings' Crusade

Lionheart: Kings' Crusade lets you play through the Crusades from both sides. The first campaign casts you as Richard the Lionheart as he tries to take Jerusalem and Damascus. The second campaign ramps up the difficulty and asks you to take charge of Saladin's Saracens and lead a counterattack against Richard's forces. It's a highly tactical Total War-esque strategy in a rarely explored setting.
Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim

Majesty 2 is a real time kingdom building sim that has you throwing up buildings and recruiting adventurers to strike down the dark forces plaguing the picturesque hills of Ardania. The catch is that you can't directly control any of your minions. Instead of just giving orders, you have to give your underlings financial incentives to do your bidding, assigning bounty flags to take down enemies. They may be mercenary, selfish so-and-sos, but it's hard to not feel proud when you see your army of soon-to-be extortionately rich Dwarves bashing up the enemy base. If you win you'll also get Majesty 2's Kingmaker and Battles of Ardania expansions, which add many more missions and units to the game.
Sword of The Stars: Complete Collection

Sword of the Stars is a turn based 4X strategy game set in space. The aim is to colonize more star systems, seizing control of interstellar resources so that you can design and build more ships in order to conquer even more star systems and assume complete control of the galaxy. Of course, things become a lot harder when you take into account the other alien races fighting for the same thing.
Mount & Blade Warband

In Mount and Blade: Warband You start out as one lowly warrior kicking his heels in the backwater towns of the medieval fantasy land of Calradia. From there you can recruit troops to your cause, travelling from town to town, forming relationships with the different factions that rule the land. Once you've gathered enough forces you can take to your trusty steed and start raiding your way to riches with the game's superb battle engine.

Only one lucky winner can take away all these games. All you have to do is invent a knight worthy of taking his place at the round table with King Arthur himself. Give your knight a name and one virtue. Post in the comments below with your answer, and remember that you have to live in the UK to win. The entry that makes us guffaw the loudest will take the prize.

Be sure to come back tomorrow, when we give away a clutch of free Minecraft codes. We'll be running one every day until Christmas, when we'll be giving away a 240GB Corsair solid state drive worth £375.




WINNER:  Peace_Monkey’s pun-tastic. Sir Rhosis of the Liver. Partial to the occasional drink.  Huzzah!