Unfortunately, this week I haven't had as much time to devote to gaming as I had hoped.  Empire: Total War is a game that requires time dedication!  This runs counter to another trend in strategy games that I'm seeing, which is the a-game-won't-take-that-long game (such as Demigod or Dawn of War 2).  I'm still not done with the tutorial campaigns ("Road to Independence"); I'm getting impatient to just go to the Grand Campaign, but I figure that if I don't have enough time to finish the tutorial campaigns, I won't have time to get anywhere interesting in the Grand Campaign!

Just for fun, I did do some battles as "select everything and click on an enemy".  It worked the first time I tried it, but after that . . . not so much.  In particular: when you are sieging a fort, this would result in a slaughter!  I started finding that I might start with "select everything and click" but very quickly I would start . . . paying attention.  The battles are very much a game of positioning . . . and knowing which way to face! 

I particularly like the fact that we don't need to run down and kill all the enemies on a map.  When you see (which is nice and clear) that the enemy is running away, I just let them run and concentrate on the rest of the battle.  I guess that means that, despite what I just said, battles are about morale? 

The strategy map game is also getting interesting.  At first in the tutorial campaigns, the strategy map served to just hand you missions, lead you from battle to battle, until you are done.  Now, a bit more seems to be happening, although I understand this is probably nothing compared to the Grand Campaign. 

I am beginning to appreciate the ability to play the battles vs. have the battles determined by the computer.  I find that most of the time I play the battles, but it's nice to sometimes say "do it for me".  I anticipate that this is NOT an option at higher difficulty, however.

This game remains intimidating.  The strategy map is large, and suddenly it dawns on me that I have to keep an eye on all of it (luckily, this part of the game is turn based).  Even though this is still tutorial campaigns, when we drop to a battle we see the HUGE FREAKING ARMIES spread out!  I have had to reduce some graphical details, however.