Being a stand-alone, you don't need the original game to play. Warband is the stand-alone expansion to the original Mount and Blade, released towards the end of 2008. But like beard-girl, Warband has a really good personality and if you close your eyes when you kiss you can pretend that the facial hair is just a scarf or something.
If games were women, Mount and Blade: Warband would be that girl with a hormone disorder that made her have kind of a beard. Mount and Blade: Warband is not the prettiest game on the market.
