Have they reached the best?

Ever since I was a kid I could remember playing age of empires and the old command and conquer red alert and that was me and strategy war games set for live. Its my favourite genre. I have played many but none come close to the realism and extras that the total war series offer. Thanks to the dedications of some programmers over and mod db they have kept it alive and modified the game quite masterfully. This is to my knowledge the best in its genre I have yet to come across anything that even comes close to it unless somebody has suggestions so if you are a war strategy lover like myself tell me what do you think is the best of the best?

not sure if this'll be of much help but my brother was really into the exact games you mentioned (not my cup of tea personally) but he loves strategy type games, and while it isn't war themed, I just thought I'd mention that he also obsesses over "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" specifically number VIII for the PS2.

Was Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII the best out of all of them?