The clockworker analogy extends to the battlefield itself, where, like toy soldiers, players wind up their sword-toting regiments and let 'er rip. During deployment, you'll organize your forces with care, dragging them like chess pieces into place. Then you'll assign instructions: simple commands like advance, charge, short and long hold, envelop, outflank, or hold fire to each group while the game is paused. Hit go, and the sides reel into motion. "Placement obviously is very important ... if you set your battle up incorrectly you're in bad shape," Mario Kroll, director of North American PR and marketing for CDV, told us during the demo.

Not just a formality, Great Battles' placement process demonstrates its lean toward patient gamers; if you're seeking to show off your micro-management moves, the title might not be the best arena. Combat speed can be tweaked in the options menu, but a pause button is always on hand to allow strategic adjustments. Still, we got the sense on the field that battles were won and lost more on your army's pre-game configuration and gameplan than player actions during gameplay. "You don't have to take a lot of control ... Hopefully if you set your army up, and your army's properly trained, then the odds are in your favor," Kroll reminded us.

Great Battles won't set new standards with its graphics engine, but it does enough to get the job done. The Alienware Aurora m9700 laptops CDV reeled in for us to play on more than managed the battle scenes, which trade a bit of realism for playability across different system specs. Some of the animations showed a good level of detail -- we liked the way fleeing foes looked over their shoulders as they retreated. What may make up for the lightly aged visuals is the History Channel co-branding, which carries with it nearly an hour's worth of footage to supplement in-game rendered cutscenes. The voiced-over dramatizations do provide some context for the more than 100 battles that follow, and should be welcome content for fans of HC programming. If you're the type to blaze through a linear campaign quickly, Great Battles' two player multiplayer and scenario creation modes will await you once you're done.

Ensuring accessibility while playing to the hardened, hardcore veteran is no small feat for an RTS, but Slitherine could find footholds in tacticians seeking lighter paced play. Letting generals fine-tune an army all their own, whether Persian-like in immensity or small and specialized like Spartans should speak to anyone that appreciates customization, and releasing the reigns on your well-trained divisions without the worry of micro-management accommodates casual gameplay. Bearing the History Channel banner commands immediate recognition, and borrowing a convention or two from turn-based titles could bring something new to the field when The History Channel: Great Battles of Rome enters the fray this September.