Thoughts from Replaying the Old Campaigns

I've been playing Age of Empires for around fifteen years now. It's kind of amazing to see just how much I've changed in that time, and how I've matured both as a person and as a player.

Alright, sappy stuff done.

So I was playing the AoK Joan of Arc campaign the other day, and as a kid, I thought it was a huge challenge. Naturally, these were the days before I realized the Murder Holes allowed defenses to point-blank and Skirmishers did bonus damage to Longbows and the like. But as I was playing Joan of Arc 3 in recent times, I noticed that your starting army- which I never would have dared to use offensively as a kid (being that I would simply wish to mass up before even the easiest of offensives)- was actually large enough to take out Burgundy almost right away. Your four Knights, seven or so Crossbows, the heroes you were supplied, plus a few dummy Pikes was actually solid enough to take down their base by killing their Men-at-Arms and having the Knights attack their Watch Towers. Once their army was defeated, I had the Crossbows finish off the Burgundian Villagers (forcing the message, "Burgundy defeated") and plopped my Town Center right where theirs was, since they still had ample berry bushes, nearby woodlands, and nearby gold/stone which would be easy-ish to defend from British raids.

Once my own Villagers started to set up France's new little fort, I looked at it and realized that this huge advantage I gave myself was something that me of 10+ years ago would have thought madness. Attacking a town with Watch Towers with a handful of Knights and Crossbows, and winning without many casualties? It was a good experience, however minor, that makes me love Age of Empires 2. Maybe it could just be that this was one of my first games?

How about you all? You guys have similar experiences?