What about single and multiplayer options?
Natch. And in single-player mode prepare to come up against some of the greatest leaders of that era. The game’s developers, Creative Assembly, have spent some considerable time researching some of the great generals of the day and have, they reckon at least, got those chaps’ core personalities captured in AI for you to pit yourself against. Should be fun eh?

I should say. Any other selling points?
The surprising depth of the warfare you can get involved in. Beginners will go for the simple missions which only take a short while to complete, then there are the battles which take a couple of hours to resolve or for the addicted warrior, there’s a full-blown campaign. Players can eschew all this warfare nonsense should they so desire, though, and just play at the strategy level, they can even allow other players to execute the plans you’ve drawn up.

But why this particular setting and period?
Ancient Japanese armies were slightly different from other soldiers of the day in that an individual's honour was seen to be as important as his ability to wield a sword. Therefore controlling a Japanese army of the time involved directing the actions of the group through strategy and tactics while not losing sight of the prowess of the individual soldier. Things can get pretty messy when alliances are made with other clans that have different honour structures and goals. Stand by for some tears before bed time.

*Literally thousands of individual characters battling at once
*In a fully 3D environment where terrain and time of the year play an important part
*Warfare and resource management smoothly blended
*Plenty of below-the-line dirty tricks to get tangled up in
*Could all prove to be a little too much for anyone but the keenest wargamer