I see what you mean, Sir Beane, however I'm reading it just a tad different. On Play.com there is a shot of the items included (subject to change) which shows a book in between the DVDs and the manual. That may be the art book. It is rather confusing, not as bad as all of the Vista versions but still confusing. There appear to be three versions but at this point the Collectors edition isn't widely advertised, although I would think that would change in the next couple of weeks. I can't imagine CA/Sega not offering that version in more places.

Here is what I'm getting out of the information. (Note to all: Do not base your purchases on this info because it is only based on what I have read on the different sites)

There are 3 versions:
1) Regular
a. The core game

2) Special Forces Edition
a. The core game
b. Six special forces units: HMS Victory, Rogers' Rangers, Ottoman Organ Gun, Ghoorkas, Corso Terrestre Guerillas, Bulkeley's Regiment
c. Campaign map
d. History Channel Revolution DVD (probably US only)
e. The Art of Empire: Total War art book

3) Special Forces Edition (Limited Collectors)
 a. Everything included in the Special Forces Edition
b. Shipmaster's wooden box
c. Stainless steel flask
d. Nautical compass


Certain retailers are offering the special unit downloads (U.S.S. Constitution, Death's Head Hussars and Dahomey Amazons) which can be downloaded and used w/o meeting specific conditions (i.e. at the start of the game). However, all three units are supposed to be available to everyone upon meeting certain conditions in the game. (The thing I'm not sure about here is if that includes the vanilla version or if it starts with the Special Forces edition.)

If anybody finds out something different let me know and I'll edit this to correct it.