EF does not start

I did my best to search for anyone else already mentioning this issue, but didn't find much...

So I've installed this game, updated the ... updater.  However when I go to launch it, nothing happens.  No errors, no programs pop up, nothing.  The game path is my Steam dir/common/company of heroes/ which AFAIK is correct.

Any ideas?

Just double-checking...is there a play button on the launcher, and nothing happens after clicking that?

Yes, there is a button on the bottom left hand side corner that says "Play Eastern Front".  This button does nothing, apparently.