Oh right, there was that one also. Somehow completely forgot about Medieval 2 (was more of a Rome player).
But my knowledge of their existence comes more from the fact that I was dumb enough to take Latin in school. We had to translate letters by the German ambassador (Busbecq) to the Ottoman Empire from when he was sent to ByzantiumConstantinopleKostantiniyye Istanbul (the wiki-article about the names of the city alone is fascinating).
While I love the Total War combo of strategic map play + in the field tactical control, I think there are a good deal of map games even more technically complex, but they are incredibly niche.
Starcraft is an RTS with no real grand strategy, I don't think that counts as a 'map game'.
I know that they are quite different, my point was that I don't play those more complex games and usually prefer other genres. StarCraft was an example of that while limiting it to the Strategy genre as a whole.
I was homeless for months after being assaulted in my own apartment, held hostage there for a week, guy trashed the place, I managed to escape.
Without my wallet. Or phone. Or keys.
My credit is now ruined, that guy did 30 days in jail and let right out and went back to terrorizing me.
Couldn't work, got evicted, barely managed to hop from motel to motel after getting SSDI payments instated while homeless.
What I need is world class physical therapy, what I can afford is uh, maybe when Section 8 kicks in, maybe I will be able to get an apartment and then actually have credit companies believe I am me so that I can then have the luxury of spending 3 years doing nothing but paying off debt.
Nah, a 4'x6' table is a big enough map for me most days.
I'm more of a Total War gamer than something like Heart of Iron anyways. Or better yet: some good old Starcraft, if we limit it to strategy alone.
Ottoman's get free unit production with military schools as well as faster production in blacksmith influence. Also producing units and ageing up gives your expirence towards vizier points, which can unlock special bonis.
The Byzantines get the cistern system which increases gathering rate and can be toogled to eithe faster production or research speed. On top of that they get an additional resource, olive oil which they passivly produce from food gathering and can be used to purchase mercenary units from other factions.
Those map games and shoving little plastic soldiers over the table top?
Those map games are huge, having many armies on the map and managing your state. While shoving soldiers over the table top usually just involves your one army with no state management at all and the map just consisting of the game you are playing.