[Maximillian]

On a related note, Japan also had a similar bloody period where dozens of Warlords eached vyed for power, called the "Zenkoku" or "Warring States" era.

Koei (again) created another classic TBS wargame based on this historical era named "Nobunaga's Ambition", and this one's naturally even more popular than "Romance of Three Kingdoms" in Japan.

Currently in its 10th iteration, the "Nobunaga's Ambition" shares many similarities to "Romance of Three Kingdoms" and are in some ways better (possibly due to patriotic reasons, since Koei is a Japanese developer). However, due in large part to its subject nature, the game failed to gain much success outside of Japan, and is Banned outright in countries such as Korea and China.

I hate the Japanese for what they did in the second World War, but I have to admit that their "Warring States" era was a politically and strategically interesting period. In fact, many historical analysts agree that this period of long internal strife set the stage for a natural "survival of the fittest", and strengthened Japan for its subsequent campaigns of external conquest.