Rath on 10 August 2009
@Taz, thats turn based not real time.
The real time elements of the total war series are fantastic, but it really is also a turn based game. For pure RTS in a purely historical setting probably Age of Empires II. If you're willing to branch out to fantasy then Warcraft II (and III I guess) are really good, as is Age of Mythology.
The Rise of Nations series has a lot of it set historically, but (if I remember correctly) it does progress beyond a historical setting.
