I've been running two iterations of Council of Thieves over the course of about three years now (we had a kid, our buddy had a kid, people moved, etc.), and while *Oh MAN* I wish this had been available back when I'd started, it's awesome even now as I'm sending one group to Walcourt (which was TERRIBLE when I ran it as-is for my more-available players) and the other is wrapping up the early running-around portion of Book 6.
I greatly appreciate the dissertation, and thanks to your wife and goblin toddler as well!