I was thinking about asking a similar question. My criteria for a good leaderhead is a combination of visual interest and a good musical theme. In my mind, the top leaderheads are:
Pacal (Mayans): I love the Mayan city sprawling behind Pacal, as well as the detailing on the wall next to him.
Dido (Carthage): I just find Dido’s background to be very serene and beautiful. One of the most “romantic” looking leaderheads in the game.
Theodora (Byzantium): The background is cool, but the theme is even cooler.
Augustus (Romans): I love how tired and dismissive Augustus is when you talk with him. I read that concept art showed the Senate as well, which would make his weary looking expression all the more fitting. Shame they didn’t include the Senate, but it’s still a great looking leaderhead.
Darius (Persia): I like to have Darius in my game just to talk to him; I really like his setting, just a very impressive interior (whatever building he is in).
Montezuma (Aztecs): a very well done background, perhaps the best from Vanilla, though the next one is stiff competition for that distinction. I love how menacing Monty is and the way the fire makes him look all the more scary.
Askia (the Songhai): A burning city behind him, a large sword slung over his shoulder, and a respectable beard make Askia one cool looking leader (on a side note, does anyone have an explanation for what is going on behind him? What city is that?).
Boring leaderheads, the bottom, include:
Elizabeth (England): A big empty throne room and a cringe-worthy accent? Yawn. I read that concept art showed her ladies-in-waiting, court officials, and others filling all that empty space. Shame.
Bismarck (Germany): of all the things Germany’s background could have been, they chose a generic looking room?
Catherine (Russia): see Germany.She also looks like she is made of plastic.
Gandhi (India): I thought that was the ocean, which didn’t make much sense to me, until I read that it was supposed to be the Ganges River. Much more fitting, but absolutely no context clues to give you that idea. Indian architecture is really interesting. They couldn’t have put a temple in the background or anything? Lame.
The rest are within varying ranges of respectable to slightly above average.
Edit: just realized this was a poll... are we rating the leaderhead or attribute? And where are the DLC/Expansion civs?
