History YMMV / MountAndBlade

** Partly the power of cavalry in M&B is just that cavalry soldiers, other than Khergit skirmishers and horsemen, manhunters, and caravan guards, are generally ultimate or penultimate soldiers in the progression, while foot soldiers are a broader mix ranging from raw recruits to top-of-the-tree units. Comparing a mixed infantry army of fresh recruits, low-level troops, intermediate troops, veterans, and ultimates (say, a mix of Swadian recruits, Swadian militia, Swadian footmen, Swadian infantry, and Swadian sergeants) to a mounted army (which consists exclusively of Sarranid horsemen and Sarranid mamlukes), the more elite force is more powerful. A fairer comparison would be an army of Swadian infantry and sergeants to an army of Sarranid horsemen and mamlukes. (Cavalry is still quite powerful, of course, but some of its apparent power is just the fact that cavalry tend to be high level troops.) I'd say this is also {{Justified}}, considering that much of the power of Medieval men-at-arms in comparison to the poorly trained levies and militias who were often the only other soldiers on the field was in their training and equipment (besides horses), not just the intrinsic power of cavalry. (Many men-at-arms fought on foot much of the time, since high quality "true" infantry was often absent. Militaries that adopted a flexible doctrine about whether to fight mounted or dismounted often gained an advantage over more dogmatically horse-bound foes (until their foes learned, that is), such as initially the Scots over the English, then later the English over the French.)

** Partly the power of cavalry in M&B is just that cavalry soldiers, other than Khergit skirmishers and horsemen, manhunters, and caravan guards, are generally ultimate or penultimate soldiers in the progression, while foot soldiers are a broader mix ranging from raw recruits to top-of-the-tree units. Comparing a mixed infantry army of fresh recruits, low-level troops, intermediate troops, veterans, and ultimates (say, a mix of Swadian recruits, Swadian militia, Swadian footmen, Swadian infantry, and Swadian sergeants) to a mounted army (which consists exclusively of Sarranid horsemen and Sarranid mamlukes), the more elite force is more powerful. A fairer comparison would be an army of Swadian infantry and sergeants to an army of Sarranid horsemen and mamlukes. (Cavalry is still quite powerful, of course, but some of its apparent power is just the fact that cavalry tend to be high level troops.) I'd say this is also {{Justified}}, considering that much of the power of Medieval men-at-arms was in their training and equipment, not just the intrinsic power of cavalry. (Many men-at-arms fought on foot much of the time, since high quality "true" infantry was often absent. Militaries that adopted a flexible doctrine about whether to fight mounted or dismounted often gained an advantage over more dogmatically horse-bound foes (until their foes learned, that is), such as initially the Scots over the English, then later the English over the French.)

** Partly the power of cavalry in M&B is just that cavalry soldiers, other than Khergit skirmishers and horsemen, manhunters, and caravan guards, are generally ultimate or penultimate soldiers in the progression, while foot soldiers are a broader mix ranging from raw recruits to top-of-the-tree units. Comparing a mixed infantry army of fresh recruits, low-level troops, intermediate troops, veterans, and ultimates (say, a mix of Swadian recruits, Swadian militia, Swadian footmen, Swadian infantry, and Swadian sergeants) to a mounted army (which consists exclusively of Sarranid horsemen and Sarranid mamlukes), the more elite force is more powerful. A fairer comparison would be an army of Swadian infantry and sergeants to an army of Sarranid horsemen and mamlukes. (Cavalry is still quite powerful, of course, but some of its apparent power is just the fact that cavalry tend to be high level troops.)

** The Brytenwalda Mod changed this. There is a realistic siege option that gives you many choices and allows you to even starve the enemies out, using spies and your own soldiers to destroy enemy morale and food supplies. I've seen town garrisons lead by Lords surrender without a fight.

** Nordic Huscarls. 20 or more in a tight formation easily become unstoppable. Storming/defending a castle, holding against cavalry in the open plains. Odds that were once reason to run and hide are now reason to sit down and dare the enemy to bring friends. My last battle was 57 Nords mostly Huscarls, against 700 Kherjit cavalry. The entirety of the faction based on the mongols attacked me on the open fields before their own capital, and i broke them. Game breaker unit indeed.

** At one castle there's no ladder or siege tower outside the walls. Instead, the gates are ''wide open'' and you assault the castle by entering through the gates and then attacking the walls from inside. With dozens of archer units on said walls pouring a murderous hail of arrows into you. Oh, and [[ItGotWorse it gets worse]]: By default it's a Vaegirs castle, which means you're up against ''[[DemonicSpiders the best damn archer units in the entire fricken' game]]''!!!

* ThatOneLevel: Tihr. While in all other cities establishing a foothold on the enemy wall after surviving the hail of arrows and [[DroneJam climbing the ladder]] is the decisive step towards victory, in Tihr it only means you are now within the line of fire of archers on the second wall. Which you can only reach by navigating an obstacle course of [[InsurmountableWaistHeightFence rickety wooden railings]], [[InvisibleWall invisible walls]], spike filled dikes and more ladders.

** Ïf you ever get faced in a tournament against a single opponent in a jousting match (i.e. both of you wield lances) you might want to open a beer for the occasion, as you are going to spend minutes circling around eachother trying to get a decent angle to charge. Your best hope in this situation is to try to get your rival to crash into a wall...

** [[ContemptibleCover The Frodogorn Seal of Approval]]

* MemeticMutation: [[GameMod "Where's the 'rape' button?"]]

* CurbStompBattle: When defending a castle, a well high ranking player can almost decimate an army on their own, no matter how many soldiers you have to face compared to how many you have.

* BrokenBase: Before MountAndBlade was picked up by a publisher they were operating on a buy now get a fleshed out version later without added cost deal. Similar to Minecraft and Terraria. However once a publisher picked up the game the promised improvements were never made to the original mount and blade. The improvements were to include better combat, multiplayer, and improvements to sieges and management. Instead they were made into addons that had to be purchased. A segment of the original fandom who had pre-purchased the game then were less then pleased. There were vows to never buy or instead pirate the sequels as they felt they were cheated by the deal. As the game and sequels became cheaper, members of the fandom who felt this way changed their minds and just purchased the now notably cheaper sequels.

** It's a WakeUpCallBoss.

!!The sequel provides examples of:

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The single-player campaign does not have any background choices of any kind, and the player character must always be male.

* ContestedSequel: The political model and multiplayer are long-requested and popular features, but the changes to combat are notably LoveItOrHateIt, and the "balancing" of cavalry and infantry for multiplayer purposes is ''very'' much hated.

* ThatOneLevel: Tihr. While in all other cities establishing a foothold on the enemy wall after surviving the hail of arrows and [[DroneJam climbing the ladder]] is the decisive step towards victory, in Tihr it only means you are now within the line of fire of archers on the second wall. Which you can only reach by navigating an obstacle course of [[InsurmountableWaistHeightFence rickety wooden railings]], [[InvisibleWall invisible walls]], spike filled dikes and more ladders.