After the initial difficulties, I've really been enjoying this game. In fact, I have had much more fun with it than I ever thought I would, and I'm probably not halfway through it yet.
If anyone reading this are on the fence regarding Ascension to the Throne, go for it. It may not look like much (though the units are very nice), and there are some flaws like Guardian mentioned before, but it's still a real gem.
Too bad the boxed copy is so hard to find in Europe, but there's always GamersGate (
http://www.gamersgate.com/). And last time I checked they had it in stock at Play-Asia.