STW and MTW, are altogether in a different league. They may be described as tactical/strategic wargames, something that sadly cannot be said about the newer ones.

As for the battles, i'd rather not touch this at all. Much like Caravel, i had my fair fill of chore, before firing up the Viking Campaign a fateful afternoon and got into a state of enlightment and subsequently Nirvana.

TW may never be what it was, but i'll employ all tricks in the book (mods, home modding, emulators etc etc) and keep enjoying the first two games for as long as i do.