RTW was and is the best of the series. Just go to the modding sites and you'll see which game has by far the most interest and most modding going on at every level. It came out in 2004, and many of the graphical unit mods are still as good as anything they put out now!
I would love to play it unmodded, but I wonder if CA will get it right this time. So many inaccuracies on the legionary armor, not enough variation in armor per time period or region, and very little auxillia troops. Mods changed all that, expanding unit rosters available to all nations, with (if you ran it through the Alexander expansion game engine), allowed you to have over 400 types of units, adding building and economy pieces and abilities!
Anyway, I digress....I still love RTW the best of all TW, and hope CA learned something from the modding community on the first one. So YES, I am looking forward to it!!