after i finally managed to successfully download the open beta a couple of night ago idecided to try it out, despite the fact that my monitor is buggered and i can hardly see anything when playing games. i was impressed beyond words. after realising i couldn't read the unit descriptions in custom battles because of my monitor i started a campaign as iberia. i managed to locate my armies in the field and sieged the towns to my east and south. thanks to my spy opening the gates in the edetan city in the east, i could charge in and give battle immediately. admittedly the RTW AI is probably at it's worst in seiges, but somehow just the fact that i wasn't storming the village with "bull warriors" or "spanish mercenaries" made the experiance all the more enjoyable. simply having the realism in this game is enough to make it infinitely better than vanilla RTW, now i can't wait til i can witness the massively improved graphics and gameplay features you have implememented. once i get my new monitor i will do a reversal of hannibals march, once i unite the iberian tribes and hav my border on the pyrenees defended, i will cross the straits, take carthage, then hop onto sicily and finaly italy. it will be a wonderful site, rome surrounded by scutarii, african mercenaries and whatever else i find in iberia.