I downloaded Rusichi Total War last night and the horses are just fabulous! Not just the skins but also their motions seem more realistic. They are probably the best Total War horses full stop.
This mod sounds like Rusichi Total War for Italy but with the Normans in place of the Mongols. It is an excellent idea for a mod, especially as it will have three factions with very different character and units. It will be a microcosm of a clash of cultures. A simple plan like that will help to get as soon as possible your beautiful Nikephorean Reform Roman/Byzantine units and the Longobard units all into a mod with just a small set of factions under a more direct control of those who made the historical units and researched them. On the other hand it has the potential of becoming a more complex mod with time, maybe in the future, with additional factions such as Venice or the Papal States, etc. I am personally all in favour of a mod with fewer factions and better play, as in Kingdoms Crusaders, FKoC or maybe Rusichi Total War (I only just played a first battle, but the Battle AI seems reasonably good and there is an interesting campaign concept). I hope you can give it a human dimension with real historical characters with historical personal traits and chances that Italy might fragment in a somewhat similar way as in actual history.
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Times full of Distemper - A For King Or Country AAR of the English Civil War
Reviewed at the Critc's Quill
Issue 31