The first time I can remember playing a game with friends we were playing "American Revolution", yeah it was my idea.  My friend was George Washington and I was the Swamp Fox.  There were four other kids that were with us and they were various other revolutionaries - I think one was Benjamin Franklin - his musket never ran out.  We played in and around the double row of pine trees that ran the edge of my parent's property.  With our real wooden cap gun muskets we killed thousands of redcoats.  Of course, the funnest parts were all the dramatic deaths. 

I'm not eight anymore, but the stories and histories of the Revolutionary Era still deeply resonate with me.  I've grown beyond games of musket wielding Ben Franklin, or going as George Washington for 'All Saints Day' three years in a row.  The revolutionary ideas in politics, business, war, and religions that developed in that erea still excite me.  Finally, there is a game where I can live out my fantasies of commanding a Tall Ship, of my men sniping at redcoats from behind trees, or even leading a Democratic Revolution in...Sweden.

Empire: Total War will be released in February 2009.  Commanding ships on the open ocean with realistic physics and combat, Napoleonic Era Warfare, riots, revolution, and the new idea of a free market all play roles in this upcoming game that is sure to be as deep and varied as Sid's Civilization, but far more enjoyable and less drudgery than previous games set during this time.

By February I hope to have my new hardware in place.  My compie is getting old, and I'm tired of building my own rig every five+ years.  In February of next year I'll need something that can run Empire at full speed/full beauty.  I wait for Empire like the boys on Bunker Hill waited to see the whites of the redcoats eyes.