Shogun: Total War

This is the game that started off the Total War series of games, which now include a Medieval version and a Roman Version (as seen on BBC2!). It is available on budget now and is a little dated but still good fun. There are two main sections to the game. The first is the main game area which represents a map of feudal japan. From here you can build up your forts and towns and move your armies around.

When you meet an enemy force you go to the next part of the game which shows an area of terrain and the two armies. Incredibly at the time the game could represent about 3000 individual soldiers making for some fairly large scale battles.

It feels very realistic as well. Height, terrain, troops morale and tiredness all making a difference, and how your army was made up - spear men, archers, samurai etc.

Still, the way to win was always to make sure you had twice as many troops on the field of battle as the enemy, so after a while the battles could get a bit repetitive.

Worth a look if you haven't tried it.