I've always enjoyed the total war games but this one in particular is more fun than the rest. I think it's mostly the huge variety of units. Instead of just different flavors of footmen and cavalry this game has flying monsters, hydras, dragons, dire wolves, and soooo many different armies. Each one is unique enough that if I get bored of playing one race I can switch to another with a vastly different play style. You can darken the skies with volleys of elven arrows, hold an impenetrable line with dwarven steel or throw wave after wave of your ratmen at the enemy (just like Zap Branigan would want).

The difficulty increase is a bit of a let-down. The AI plays exactly the same, they just get bonuses to some stats and you get penalties. I mean, I could play one handed and that would technically be harder, but it doesn't increase the fun for me. Still, playing on normal still gives me joy 400 hours in so I guess it's not a big deal.