There are some great Total War games and there are some not so good Total War games. However, modders have created completely overhaul mods that fix the game, making how it should've been, and even better!

DarthMod: Empire DarthMod: Empire, is considered one of Darth Vader's (name of a modder) best mods. It is a complete overhaul of Empair: Total War, with some people considering this mod how Empire should have been like.It completely reworks battles with added smoke effects, much smarter ai, and tons of faction unique units, and this is only a part of it. It also includes campaign ai reworks and some much needed music the vanilla campaign lacked. This is personally my most favorite mod for Total War.

The Great War Mod The Great War Mod for Napoleon: Total War is more of an honorable mention than an essential mod, but it is by far one of the most ambitious and unique mod of Total War, with no mod ever similar to it. The mod uses a game meant to be about the Napoleonic Wars into a fully functional WW1 strategic game. This includes artillery, rifles, and even tanks! All of these creates an epic battlefield experience that was never meant to have been possible in this kind of game. There is also working campaign, but it isn't much different from the vanilla Napoleon campaign.