yeah, dark omen and shadow of the horned rat were both were releases before and just after ( I think ) STW. Horned rat was first and I thought it was great. It really did set me up for enjoying the total war series.
Now these were based on the original warhammer game - standard fantasy stuff. For its time it was good fun.
40k demands something different.

Balls to it - looks like I am going to have to set up my own company to get the game that I want just to show everyone else how great this idea could be. Any volunteers???