The devs tried out a 600 player server over the easter weekend...worked fine too with no apparent issues...even more hillbilly chaos
I've had a look at a few of those games, Hold Fast, some other Napoleonic thingy I can't remember for the life of me...and the Bannerlord mod you mention....they didn't grab me as much as this has, certainly didn't have the rampant abuse hurling or banjo playing over VOIP.
One of my mates who plays along with me on War of Rights was yelling "Yeehaw!" so much in between fits of laughter, he actually shouted himself hoarse at the weekend. The pair of us were in tears of laughter for so long at the Rebel shenannigans over VOIP...and especially when we heard the Yankee's over the field charge into battle playing Michael Jackson's 'Beat it' as their backing track... our faces hurt for the rest of the evening...absolutely awesome.
It has to be the only event on the entire internet where serious sim enthusiasts, military re-enactors, Yankee bigots, Southern rednecks and ordinary gamers from everywhere all share the same game