Agreed completely. Shogun was indeed the only original TW game that CA ever made. MTW was definitely on too big a scale, I have had that sense since I first bought the game when it was released. The MTW engine with it's 1 year per turn and provinces the size of entire kingdoms just doesn't do feudal era Europe any justice.

All later games have been based on STW with it's lack of homelands and a style of play more suited to a smaller time frame and smaller region. This is why I felt that VI was a better concept than MTW, though VI's main flaw was in it's execution. Boring and linear gameplay and horrendously imbalanced units have contributed to me never playing VI for long. With VI the campaign had been set up so that the English factions would win, mainly the Mercians or Saxons, and the others would lose. The Vikings were an inflexible and destructive "Mongol Raider" faction with uber units and the ability to make port anywhere. This did not represent Norse colonisation of Britain and actually made the Vikings a nuisance that were very easy to exploit and defeat. Also because battles between AI factions make use of the auto-calc battle system, missiles were not taken into account, which equates to the toughest melee units winning the day. Those factions making use of bows were always at a disadvantage, having to rely on their melee skills. This is why the Turks in MTW were almost always wiped out early.

This kind of mindset that gave us the overpowered Saxons, Mercians and Vikings and ruined the VI campaign has continued into RTW with the Roman faction, due to it's perceived destiny to win, being very overpowered.

Quite simply a smaller period and region would not appeal to many of the current fan base. An Hundred Years War - Total War or Italian City States - Total War with only a hand full of factions is simply not enough for those that see more factions, more units, more men on the battlefield as a necessity.