I'm very much enjoying Victoria 2, probably the most enjoyable of the Paradox games as far as actually playing the game goes. I still love the idea of Hearts of Iron, but actually playing it can be a chore sometimes.
So, uhhhh, anybody play the Total War games? I'm a virgin and my son got me Total War Saga:Thrones of Britannia. It kind of looks like Civ5/6, has aspects of Crusader Kings, but as a RTS layer that is kind of fun. Otherwise, I'm totally confused 
Raises hand immediately.
I have played every single one of these games except for Thrones of Britannia and Rome Total War 2, because both got really bad reviews. Very disappointing regarding the Britannia one because I really really am interested in that era of History. But yes, I've been playing these games since I bought the original Shogun Total War on CD in the early 2000s. The number of hours I have put in to these games are... Scary.
I have a particular love for Total War Shogun 2. The conflict, development, and diplomacy options are all particularly good for the game. Of particular interest though is the mod you can purchase on Steam called fall of the Samurai, which is an amazing replication of the 1860s Civil War which I can't recall the name of despite having played that game numerous times. The ship-to-ship combat with dreadnoughts and lesser type Cruisers and destroyers is so cool. I was looking the other week online and I'm shocked no one has used that expansion create an American Civil War mod which would work perfectly. A few people have trying to use the original actual Shogun 2 machine, but it looks lacking, especially in naval combat.
Anyway, I concur that the original Rome Total War or medieval Total War 2 are worth the cheap price you can get them on sale at Steam. Medieval Total Wars expansion I believe is called conquerors, which allows you to invade or play as the Aztecs or other Native American tribes, is absolutely worth buying on sale as well.
I'm a sword-and-sorcery geek and accordingly have become utterly and completely obsessed with Total War Warhammer 1 since I bought it on sale over Thanksgiving break. I've always said Total War would fit a fantasy Conquest game with actual tactics and Logistics quite well, and by God it does. I just started playing Warhammer 2. I was a little put off that playing the lizard man, who have kind of a magical Aztec culture, winning one of the earliest missions gave me this huge Army of dinosaur-like creatures. Great, but I can't begin to afford it and I'm about to go bankrupt in the next couple turns because this happened as I said early in the game. Still haven't seen enough to learn more about that game. But if you like the idea of mixing city building Logistics and tactical combat where things like morale and rear charges etcetera combined, get Warhammer for sure.
Total War Attila is pretty darn good. This was a big change from the Pryor games, including Shogun, in that one cannot create just a multitude of tiny little one to 20 unit armies. Each Army has to be commanded by a lord, and the overhead cost of increasing numbers of armies starts to ramp up rather quickly. While having two or three armies the cost does start getting prohibitive if you start growing well beyond that. Also, the Army's recruit directly writhing units having to Spring forth from a city and March God knows how long to join the Army, though you do have to be unfriendly territory with the proper buildings to raise whatever units you want, of course. The end result is that the game becomes a lot more manageable, only having to pay attention to a handful of units and agents rather than literally dozens of one or two man units you're trying to guide from their origin City to your main Army on the other side of wherever. Also, Attila started the Trend with having various officers of the Court you can fill, better diplomacy, and the age of Charlemagne expansion offers up decent alternative to Britannia in terms of that whole Viking versus Saxon milieu.
Total War Empire, which is the Revolutionary War Napoleonic age game. It's gotten some bad press which I think is overstated in terms of the land units being glitchy and difficult to control. A grain of Truth, but still a great game. And the ship-to-ship combat is amazing. The only other one that comes close in that regard is total Shogun 2 fall of the Samurai, and I think the whole dueling broadsides thing is even more cool than dreadknots, IMHO.
Oh, I wouldn't get the Total War Shogun 2 expansion for Rise of the Samurai. Haven't played, but the consensus seems to be that it's essentially the same as the original game, except when one starts to develop Samurai units mid to late game they are essentially Unstoppable. Ho-hum.
Okay, I'm rambling. If you want to know what games to try in this system, medieval Total War 2 and maybe Rome Total War depending on your historical tastes are both good classics. Total War Shogun 2 is better than either and probably worth the extra literally couple bucks if you're going to just try one. If you were all about Revolutionary War era combat and classic wooden ship sea battles, grab Empire mediately. If sword-and-sorcery sounds a bit more preferable than any of those, Warhammer one is cheaper and, according to many reviews online, at least as good if not better than Warhammer 2. Frankly, although my love fur sword-and-sorcery is at least as strong as that for historical reenactment, I can ignore that bias and still firmly say that Warhammer one is possibly one of if not the very best of the total war series I've ever played.
If you prefer getting to know the latest version of the total war franchise with all the bells and whistles, I would get Attila Total War, and if you are a fan of that whole Saxon Viking era thing then definitely pay a few more bucks for the age of Charlemagne expansion.
If you were looking for some actual hints on what to do and how to play the game, well, let me know and I'll try to be less verbose.
Unfortunately I haven't played Britannia despite my love of the era due to pretty crappy reviews, but from what I've heard it is absolutely merciless to the point of silliness in terms of your nobles rebelling against you. I kind of like that in theory because, while there are always individual peasant or low-level nobility rebellions an individual provinces in all the total war games, having generals or Lords actually turn on you as was historically common is rather rare in these games. But again, reviews indicate it's just to the point of frustration in Britannia.
Okay, signing off and getting my mouth arrest. You've obviously hit a nerve for one of my loves, especially for computer games. Let me know what your thoughts are in if you need any guidance. The last thing I can add is that just about all the games have very good tutorials. Play one even if it involves stupid no duh lessons like moving units with mouse clicks and the like.
Good luck and have fun!
