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Yes, by starting the game in the year 363 AD, after the once mighty Roman Empire has been split into two halves, the designers are really able to offer a much richer campaign map. One that comes to life thanks to the addition of factions who only appear once certain game conditions have been met. Where Barbarian Invasion differs from the original game should be obvious: playable non-Roman factions from the start.
These factions offer a chance to jump head-on into the expansion pack's most noticeable change: when the last city under your control falls your people pack up and become a roaming horde. I like to call these massive clusters of people and troops a blight on the civilized world; feel free to play from their perspective and call me a curse on the tribes of Europe.
There is something to be said for what these large landless hordes do to the gameplay. For me it took only seven turns before the Vandals had swept upon my meager Goth home city. Had the game not been set to Easy, and had I not channeled the six thousand man army into the narrow streets... that would have been it for the Goths.
When I previewed Barbarian Invasion I noted how in practice managing one of these factions that starts as a horde is rather difficult, but apparently so is standing in their path! However, being attacked by a seemingly never ending stream of homeless barbarians gave me a great chance to check out night battles.
Watching the torch light of nine thousand troops move around in the dark just outside my city walls was amazing, and a great way to see the attack on my southern walls long before it happened. Further tears were shed at the beauty of watching flaming arrows rain over my walls and into my troops. The Total War series has always looked 'good,' but apparently her true beauty only comes out at night.
While you might be worried that the hordes are unbalanced fun ruining bastards, you should know that once a horde settles down its army is drastically reduced in size as people go back to farming and making strange circles out of "he's compensating for something"-sized rocks. I should mention here that when your people are forced out of their last city, thus becoming a horde, you too are given extra units. Though, I found myself asking: "Where were you guys when we were getting our butts kicked?"
In addition to new units and battle options, the grand-level turn-based campaign map was also given a variety of tweaks. Far too many to run down here, but you can point yourself to the official Total War Forums for developer commentary on what was added/changed with Barbarian Invasion. Some of these changes make deep impacts to the game, but many make smaller nuances that only the truly dedicated will see.
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