Have not seen this posted yet so I'll mention it here.

There is a CD in the German magazine "Gamestar(sp?)" that has a new video not available anywhere else.

The video appears to show two "battles" though it only shows the deployment of the first.

It appears that the battles are Agincourt and a battle between Saladin and Richard.

Pros:
1. Longbowmen can place sharpened stakes in front of them "during" deployment.

2. Troops hit by flaming artillery have better "i'm burning" fire affects than RTW.

3. Troop movement and combat animations are greatly improved over RTW.

4. Troops also have more "idle" animations then RTW, even noticed an english soldier bending to flex the knees.

Maybes:
1. Morale units are in. The battle between Saladin and Richard had a small unit with a very large cross on a wagon. Personally I do not like giving up a unit slot for a morale or assassin unit.

Cons:
1. Unit speed is still way to fast. The reviewer ordered some knights forward at the double and they ran into Saladin's troops coming the other way before they got there.

2. Kill speed appears just as ugly. IIRC there were five knights and one general grouped in the fight. In less than thirty seconds three had dropped out of the group because they were routing.

3. Insta rout appears to still be happening. Though the reviewer never gave his knights the "attack/charge" order so they were basically caught flatfooted. Still five knights with the general among them should have held out a lot longer.

4. My personal rub is "line cohesion" Saladin's battle line was disintigrating into individual unit attacks before they even reached Richard's infantry line.

Hopes:
1. This is not a "mostly finished" version of the tactical AI. Though considering how much time they have left it could very well be just that.

2. Movement Speeds, Kill Rates, and Morale are not basically imported "direct" from RTW. If so an additional hope is that they can be modded without messing up the units movement and combat animations.

3. The reviewer was playing the battle in "Arcade" mode.

Final thought:
1. While visually the game is a great advance over RTW. As far as gameplay, tactically at least, the advance appears to be far less.