I've played a handful of battles. But am probably going to wait for a patch (which addresses the connection issue) before continuing to play anymore. Trying to connect is often a long long frustrating process.

Lag is a symptom of improper settings on the host and client boxes. Additionally there is a memory leak that shows itself after a couple games in a row.

Ignoring the memory leak, and assuming you play with settings suitable to your PC, the game plays smooth just like in single player (i.e., no lag).

The battles are fun and interesting. The maps are huge and the deployment zones allow for smarter deployment among teams.

It is not a rush game as the maps are huge and the 'turbo charged' speed that some people are griping about is refreshing imo. When you charge, the untis really look like they are charging. When you opponent charges you, and you hear the horn and see the waves of infantry coming running at you -- it gets your blood pumping and you feel the panic rising. This is great stuff imo.

Units do move more quickly than in STW/MTW. And as I point out above, I am growing very fond of this. The unit controls, once you learn them, are very effective and robust. You can wheel you formations now!!! (use the period or comma to wheel left or right). You can blend your lines now (use the minus or equals to increase or decreas you ranks).

Elephants are not all powerful as people feared. The different factions seem to pair up well. There are a lot of units to select from and mind you this isn't even with a VI like expansion!

You can play historical battles (very cool imo). And I imagine this could be modded so people could host custom battles with preset units. VERY COOL.

Once they connection issue is fixed. The multiplayer will be great fun.

The only bad thing left imo is that the games can be extremely long and boring if you get routed first or early. Here's why: with a restricted camera and no route command you can easily get stuck on a corner of the map with say 3 archers left who are rallied, but you are stuck with them and cannot view the rest of the battle being fought in the distance.

This will have the side effect of driving lots of players to disconnect early, and the problems associated with that.

I would grade the multiplayer currently as a D-.

Once the connection problem/server limit is remedied I would then give it a B.

If they enable route in the game and allow players to pick the same faction (currently two or more players cannot pick the same faction), then I would give it an A.