This is a medieval/fantasy RTS/FPS.
You start out answering a series of questions about your misguided youth, and then you are placed in the world. Your starting gear is determined by how you answer the questions. The overland map (RTS portion), is filled with villages, castles and towns belonging to one of 4 factions. You can run errands for the lords of castles/towns, enter villages and recruit troops, pillage a village, enter a town and hire mercenaries/characters. As you grow in power, you can align yourself with one of the 4 factions, first as a mercenary unit and later as a vassal of the king. Swearing allegiance gains you a village you can upgrade with various things (manors/schools/watchtowers).
The FPS portion comes into play when you go into battle. You are sitting on your horse (or on foot if you have no horse) with your troops arrayed around you. Their initial inclination is to charge, so you might need to rein them in somewhat. You can issue orders to all of your troops at once, or your infantry/archers/cavalry separately. You can issue orders like "Follow me!", "Dismount/Mount", "Hold fire/fire at will", "Hold this position", "Charge!", "Advance 10 paces". I've had good luck against bandits by finding a nice hilltop, having my archers hold position, setting the infantry 10 paces forward and the cavalry 20 paces. Then as the rabble approaches, pepper them with arrows, followed with a cavalry charge, and finally an infantry charge.
Yes, you can fight from horseback. Yes your horse can get killed under you. This game has one of the best mounted combat systems I've seen. A lance charge is devastating.
You can hire characters, named npc's that grow in levels and have skills like you. Use these skills to fill in gaps in your own. Named characters never die. They are knocked unconscious (wounded), and if the battle is lost, captured. You can be rescued if your captors are attacked and lose, you can escape, or be ransomed.
The game is moddable, and there are a number of mods out there. My favorite is 1257AD, which makes the armor more period to 1257 and removes a lot of the later period weapons and armor. It also provides some retexturing for the game which is like night and day. The attached screens are using the 1257 mod.
I got the game through Stardock for 19.99 (I think, maybe 29.99). It is well worth the time to download and get. I think this weekend I've spent a good 20+ hours hacking my way across the landscape.
[attachment=0:bh8f1ikg]mb2.JPG[/attachment:bh8f1ikg][attachment=1:bh8f1ikg]mb1.JPG[/attachment:bh8f1ikg]
The colored arrows on the ground are from the tracking skill. Hovering the mouse over the arrow shows age and relative size of the party (1-9, 10-20, 40-50, etc). Camping allows you opportunities to read a book (providing a benefit), trying to talk captives into joining you (not always a good idea), or just passing time until morning.
