Several people have mentioned playing as Novgorod in Early, how is this possible? I have VI and every other faction (apart from the papacy) is playable, but not Novgorod, is this a bug? Or do I need a mod, if so where can I get it from.

Thanks
Get the Total War XL Mod. You can find a link to it in the Engineer's Guild part of these forums.

The XL Mod includes 9 extra provinces and a full roster of playable factions. I'm playing an Early campaign as Kievan Russia... and it rocks.

Just in Eastern Europe, you can play as Novgorod, Kiev, Lithuania, the Cumans, the Volga Bulgars, Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, etc. There is a new 'Levidia' province north of the Crimea, a new Estonia province on the Baltic, and a division of Poland into Lesser and Greater Poland provinces.

It is a vast improvement on the original game. Highly recommended.