Total war, plan on buying, suggestions?

[BigBiker05]

So I want to get into the Total War genre. However, I don't know where to start. I'm looking at the Steam store and I see all the games as well as several packs.

Total War Mega pack
Medieval II Gold
Rome: Total War Complete
Empire: Total war DLC pack
Empire & Napolean Total War, Game of the year Edition

Basically it seems that there are 2 modern packs.
1 Includes Empire and everything older.
the other includes Empire and everything newer (napolean)

Should I just start with Empire then work my way into Napolean?
Should I just by Napolean then play Shogun once it comes out?
Or should I just start with the oldest then work my way newer and worry about Napolean and Shogun lateR?

all packs can easily be searched in steam by using 'Total War' then clicking packs after searching

[Tungsten]

Well, if you haven't played any of the Total War games, I would suggest starting with Medieval 2: Total War, which is my favorite in the series. It's also $10 for the Gold version.

[MrBlah]

Medieval 2: Total War is a great game. If you really like it, buy the others and then buy Shogun 2: Total War when it comes out sometimes after now.

[E.T. EddieTorrez]

If you want a taste of the total war franchise of games I definately wouldn't start with empire, since it is very different from the rest. My favorite is Rome but Medieval 2 is pretty good aswell. If you do end up buying these two games I would suggest looking into three different mods.

Europa Barbarorum is a mod for Rome which attempts to make the game as historically accurate as possible. The team who created the mod contains many classical history scholars, students, grad students and enthusiasts who use historical evidence when they created the mod. By and large EB goes beyond being a simple mod giving the player a very different experience than the original game. They have also been working on Europa Barbarorum 2 for Medieval 2.
http://www.europabarbarorum.com/

Stainless Steel for Medieval 2 modifies the original game by adding many new units and factions as well as adding many optional roleplaying features. Despite all the additions the gameplay remains similar to the original game.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=314

Third Age Total War attempts to bring the world of Middle Earth to the Total War universe of games. If you are a fan of Lord of the Rings be sure to look into this well polished mod by the creator of Stainless Steel.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=654