At its heart this is more a war game, not a 4x empire builder. There is a lot of depth to the various nations you get to choose from to play. Combat is simplified but works with the game structure, you don't control your armies directly in battle and strategy is ultimately ased on how you build your army. Your goal is to build the ultimate army stack of soldiers and heroes and eliminate the enemy.

There is a high replay value with the differnet races. the AI isn't terrible. In more than one game I thought I was doing well only to run into multiple stacks of enemy armies that eventually wore me out.

Highly recommended for those who like turn-based strategy in a fantasy setting. But don't go in if you are looking for Heroes of Might and Magic. Other than being a turn based strategy game in a fantasy setting, the mechanics are very different