Just after my town's first winter, I experienced something that nicely summed up my time with Manor Lords. The snow was melting, villagers were enjoying the town's new church, and there were new stalls up in the market square selling goods from the armorer and tailor. However, dire tidings were on the spring winds: an enemy army had been spotted in the nearby wilds, and they were marching our way. I rallied the militia and formed them in a ragged line just outside of town, where they stood and watched as a gang of bandits was chased out of the county by a large company of mercenaries, all of whom completely ignored my tiny town and its ordinary little people.
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When, in town building simulation Manor Lords, you erect your first manor, it feels natural to place it in the center of your humble 14th century European settlement. It presents as a locus of power, where your character avatar resides. Also, it’s right there in the title. I built mine down a side road, between oxen posts and granaries, for no real reason but free space. The more I play, the more it feels a fitting place. Not sidelined, exactly, just not especially loud. I need the taxes it brings to pay mercenaries to see off bandits, but lords - their whims and ambitions - don’t set the tone here. Parchment and seals aren’t as important as tilled earth; as winter snow, spring thaws and autumn harvests. So, despite the title, this sedate, curious, and intricate sim isn’t really about lords, nor manors. Not half as much, anyway, as it is about manure.