I didn't think my love for the total war franchise could grow any more, and i held off buying this game until it came on special, as i found Atilla, Samurai 2 and Napoleon and little lacklustre. But boy! did i regret not buying it earlier!

What this adds, on top of other total war games, is the fantasy element, dragons and magic and spiritual beings. And wow this adds so much to an already fantastic game! i thought the addition of all these new mechanics might make combat clunky and unreliable, but the attention to detail, and balancing of the units, made for some amazing battles, and very interesting campaigns. The first introduction to the skaven, for example, turned my army from a rigid and inflexible mass of strong units, into a highly manoeuvrable and adaptable army, something which could not have happened without all these armies being so unique and interesting. You will find yourself adjusting your battle tactics depending on the enemy your facing, and that's where the pure enjoyment of the deep strategy comes into play.

The campaign element was also extremely interesting, your early choices of governemnt and research really do impact the game later on, and making the decision to form an alliance with a close member can sometimes kill you financially, so you need to be smart, and careful, and above all patient. All this just compounds fun on an already amazing battle system, and this world, its politic and its lore, immersed me like i haven't been immersed in a game in years.

The only real gripes i have, is the fact the first 20 turns or so with any nation can get a little repetitive, as the AI plays out its scripted moves. After that passes the true random element of the world is released, and literally anything can happen. Also i know i should be happy about free DLC, but downloading them all was a huge time consuming pain, cant you just have them all auto download on purchase? I swear i will still respect the fact you made DLC free, which is a huge thumbs up!

A true gem of a game ...... 9/10

I didn't think my love for the total war franchise could grow any more, and i held off buying this game until it came on special, as i found Atilla, Samurai 2 and Napoleon and little lacklustre. But boy! did i regret not buying it earlier! What this adds, on top of other total war games, is the fantasy element, dragons and magic and spiritual beings. And wow this adds so much to an already fantastic game! i thought the addition of all these new mechanics might make combat clunky and unreliable, but the attention to detail, and balancing of the units, made for some amazing battles, and very interesting campaigns. The first introduction to the skaven, for example, turned my army from a rigid and inflexible mass of strong units, into a highly manoeuvrable and adaptable army, something which could not have happened without all these armies being so unique and interesting. You will find yourself adjusting your battle tactics depending on the enemy your facing, and that's where the pure enjoyment of the deep strategy comes into play. The campaign element was also extremely interesting, your early choices of governemnt and research really do impact the game later on, and making the decision to form an alliance with a close member can sometimes kill you financially, so you need to be smart, and careful, and above all patient. All this just compounds fun on an already amazing battle system, and this world, its politic and its lore, immersed me like i haven't been immersed in a game in years. The only real gripes i have, is the fact the first 20 turns or so with any nation can get a little repetitive, as the AI plays out its scripted moves. After that passes the true random element of the world is released, and literally anything can happen. Also i know i should be happy about free DLC, but downloading them all was a huge time consuming pain, cant you just have them all auto download on purchase? I swear i will still respect the fact you made DLC free, which is a huge thumbs up! A true gem of a game ...... 9/10