Where is the good old skirmish...
And yes there is a "freeplay" mode but its not vs anyone so it is even more boring. Missing a speed up button of some sort was annoying, there is no control options at all in fact. I get it that the Stronghold theme is simplistic (spelling?) but there is basically no options compared to any other game released now days.
So nothing new to make this game fun to play or worth picking up, alot better games in this genre at this time, even older ones would be more worth it in my opinion.