Yes, all new accounts have to be manually processed by a member of the administration. This can take up to 48 hours (though usually it's a lot faster), as all administrators are doing this in their spare time.
Please also make sure you set your spam filters to allow emails from @swcombine.com to pass through.
In the meantime, you can already start reading The Guide (linked from the top of every page) which contains the most important information for new players, or you can take a look at the rules pages, to see what is and what isn't currently possible.