No, not a huge playerbase. I've played with 12 different people in the three days since release.
I don't expect a huge number of players, sad as it is this game isn't the type that most people play nowadays. It happens to be the kind of game that I really enjoy, which is why I made it -- because I have fun with it. Everyone I've played it with loves it, but most people haven't tried it.
The good thing is that it is well suited to a large longer-term game where people don't need to be there all at the same time, similar to the empire building forum games here, but automated. You do your turn, then it alerts the next player and he does his turn whenever he wants, then the next player.
The AI doesn't cheat, nor do they target humans above other AI. So if you lose, I'm pleased.
I didn't think the Mamelukes would be that hard, they have a good spot in the corner of the map. But, who knows, I'll have to try them some time. My brother played the Ottomans and got squished by Mamelukes, Italy and Russia in the first three turns, and had to assemble his whole army in one province and escape to somewhere safe. You certainly do have to be careful to live very long. If you make some wasted attacks and lose all your army, it's not easy to recover.