Jaradu, I strongly recommend getting into it. This is seriously the most addictive game I've EVER played. [img]graemlins/wow.gif[/img]
In terms of game play, you can play Campaign (which is basically freeform country building) where you can either have Domination (kick everyone else's ass) or Glorious Objectives (achieve objectives similar to those that your faction achieved in history) as your win criteria. The campaign part is all turn based, you move your units around the place like in Civ, but when you go into battle it's all real-time, and the engine is EXCELLENT.
I love the feudal nature of the game, handing out titles to your nobility in return for their service, and the fact that you need to make sure you manage your lineage effectively. At one stage I was laughing as I had six princes all in line for the throne, then during my war with the Germans I lost three of them. I'm trying to get my king's wife to pop another one out of the oven as soon as possible but short of praying there's not much else I can do. [img]graemlins/awcrap.gif[/img]
I'm playing as the Danes at the moment - it's been a hundred years since I started, so my expansion hasn't been all that rapid, it took a hundred years to do it all. And I'm not done yet - still most of the Middle East and Northern Africa, as well as Western Europe to conquer.