Yesterday I had a friend over who wanted to try NTW, so he bought it to play it on my computer (he only has a laptop, i have a gaming PC). So we installed the game, installed a few mods and started a game with the Batavian Republic (being Dutch ourselves). And we ended the entire campaign in one night, conquering England and Scandinavia and a few german states. France had taken the whole of europe besides spain and the ottomans. And I must say, it was in effect the most boring TW experience i had ever had.
The map, although big, just focuses on Europe. Its ridiculous you cant go into Norway, or North Africa, or America. I always visioned TW games to be about reshaping history, but this is just one scripted event. After the campaign, we both had no intention ever to start a new one up again. I really like the new campaign map, it looks pretty, and some game mechanics work very well, at least better opposed to Empire. But playing a campaing which spans only a few years situated in a confined area of space just takes the whole scope of grandeur out of the game.
I really hope CA gets it right next time, but NTW will be removed from my HD to be never played again.