Removal of Screen-shots
I've been thinking about how my AAR would fare without its screen-shots. Although it wouldn't be completely broken, I feel that some of the information conveyed in the pictures will need to be provided as descriptive passages in the text. I imagine this may be true for the other contributers also.
Context
It also struck me that much of the audience on smashwords are unlikely to be familiar with the Total War franchise, they may even be ignorant of the historical eras we have chosen for our AARs. So I would strongly recommend more exposition. It is a delicate balancing act to provide enough background information for the casual reader without offending the knowledgeable, but we can't take the risk of presenting work that is incomprehensible to the average reader.
Signature Picture
Finally, I feel that each AAR does need a picture, just one, to act as a kind of icon. Readers will see the picture first, and then when they read the episode, their feelings about the piece will become associated with the image. Thus, when a new issue comes along with the same picture at the head of the next episode... it will be much easier to take up from where they left off the previous month.
What I am proposing is a small generic line-drawing with some relevance to the story. For example:
Obviously each picture would have to be an original work (for copyright reasons), given my own modest artistic abilities I would probably find something to trace.
Please let me know what you think.