I have been reading a lot about Rome and I think it would be fun to get a game that lets you build and run the Roman Empire. Any recommendations? I have Total War: Rome and Caesar III, but I would like to try something new. Sometime that has a lot of historical accuracy that feels unique to the Roman Empire and not just a generic empire game with sprites of Centurions and people in Togas.

I was (and probably still am) very fond of "Annals of Rome" by SSI.

But somehow I think that these are not the Romans you are looking for ...

Do you like Paradox games? I haven't played it myself yet, but I've heard good things about Europa Universalis: Rome. It was in a bundle (Indie Gala) some days ago.

ED: That same bundle also featured Praetorians, an RTS set in Roman times. It is available here at GOG.

Would this be up your alley? I haven't played this one and generic "Romans" appear in many games indeed, but this developer's other games are quite nice and according to reviews these devs have done their research beforehand:

http://www.longbowgames.com/rome/

(Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar)

I enjoyed Grand Age Rome and it's prequel Imperum Roman (Developed by infamous Bulgarians at Haemimont Games distributed by some of us Krauts from Kalypso Media)

The game isn't difficult - I felt seriously "underchallenged" but It was solid fun. If you need more specific info or if Google isn't your friend please feel free to ask.

I really like Paradox games has anyone here played Europa Universalis: Rome, is it any good?

I very much like "Anals of Rome", but that is probably also not what the OP is looking for ....

I have it, it's not bad, but you won't get a well defined campaign like in the others.

You will start at war, and have to balance your reputation to keep other nations at bay. You can't just attack and conquer without cause, and the nations that you occupy are not yours to keep, but are negotiated for in the peace.

It is a strategy game, but every country you take will diminish the view other nations have of you, and annexing one aggravates other nations of the same cultural group. It will also end abruptly on you after hundreds of years, with no fanfare whatsoever.

It is cheap, gave me hours of playing time, but always left me with the thought of just what in the hell I've been doing for all of that time at the end of it.

While it doesn't allow you to build a Roman Empire in the classical sense, you should try AJE, by Ageod. It's a turn-based, grand strategy game, which absolutely fantastic amount of unit and commander detail. It may take a while to get into it, but if you read the manual and are prepared to put in a couple of hours to see how it works, you'll have a great time.

As for the actual building part, you can always download Europa Barbarorum for Rome:Total War. Trust me, you'll never play another Roman game again (that is, until they release EB II).

I forgot about EB for RTW. I was always going to try it, was waiting for EB II, and played another script, Roma Surrectum II, which wasn't bad.

Obviously another movie connoisseur who has enjoyed "Caligula" uncut ... ;)