Rome Total War II, First Look

The last few weeks have been quite challenging for me. Despite not making a ton of progress on wargamey stuff, I did catch a peek at some ancient warfare, albeit in digital form.

A few years ago when progress on my 20mm Punic armies slowed to a crawl, I picked up Rome Total Warfare and played quite a bit of it in hopes of jump starting my drive to finish that project off. I was years late to the party, but I really enjoyed it. Deploying my armies and fighting battles scratched the wargame itch, but I missed the tactile quality of moving figures and the creative aspects of building and painting terrain and minis.

Rome II on the Horizon

Creative Assembly has produced a number of domain management / battlefield simulations in the intervening years from Napoleonics to Samurai, and I just learned that they are returning to ancient warfare again with Rome II. Even with the inclusion of Hollywood style flaming catapult attacks and Omaha beach landing craft, I can't deny that the game looks gorgeous even at this early stage.

They've just released a teaser trailer as well. I'm definitely going to keep my eye on this one, even if I only end up dabbling with the final product before getting back to lead and paint.