The tilde pans the camera so as to give the player a more detached view of their character from a bit of distance.

By the way, I've been feeling the lack of blood in the game since the past few days. I remember in most mods for M&B there used to be this animation where blood would spray out when chopped or slashed someone....looked quiet neat and satisfying ( that's the point of slashing isn't it). Anyway I was wondering if there is any such mod for Warband....or any way to make the blood spurt and spray?