I made lots of money as the Brits (VH/VH huge units). Right from the start, I took all of the spare population in Samarobriva and sent them north as peasants to upgrade Eburacum and then Deva. I then abandoned it to rebellion. This prevents early war with Gaul/Germania, who always attack this settlement. I then took Tara and demobilized part of my army there. Now I have four settlements with 2k+ population. I don't need a standing army, so I upgrade like crazy with about 2k-4k income per turn. I ship my peasants around to get all of the settlements quickly up to 6k. I also like building watchtowers so that I can see as much as possible.
I have enough cash so that each settlement can construct all of the buildings (except for the beer hall variety). I put one of each temple in the three settlements in Britain so that I can rotate my family members around to get the best of each temple. By hiring mercenaries and fighting rebels I can usually pick up a couple of retinue to raise command by 1 each as well.
In the meantime, Gaul gets into trouble with Spain/Germania/Julii. When my forces are ready, I invade. By 230, I have overrun western Gaul without any problems. My army consists of 9 Chosen Swordsmen, 6 War hounds, 3 Light chariots and one heavy chariot (all +2 experience level and +1 armor/weapons) with a 6+ star general. All of these units conspire to cause a lot of fear in any enemy force. If you wish, by periodically landing a general in Gaul you can gradually hire several Barbarian Cavalry, too. I usually have a mobile reserve of B. cav and chariots to spank rebels behind my lines. This way, I even got two generals who had the “+1 command when leading cavalry” trait. With a large war chest, my diplomats can snatch up small settlements too.
Light chariots are great missile platforms and can run down any routers. I had one unit cause over 340 casualties in one battle. Heavy chariots are great at turning flanks. I usually charge through a unit, i.e., don’t target the unit, target the opposite side of the unit. Hit them when they are disorganized.
Having won the short game, I plan on expanding my force to include the special units. I’ll crush Spain and Germania next and then take out those darn Romans.
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