greek campaigns

[ZinedineZidane]

to me it seems impossible, because first of all especially as macedon, u have a few armies andu make NEGATIVE income, so how do u get thru these kind of situations?im not exactly a military genius

[HopliteElite]

Combine your mainland armies and simply rush Macedon. In my campaign I stormed Korinth and that island city east of Athens within 4 turns, which effectively ruined Macedon in the south. You cannot forget that Macedon must deal with Epirus up north, so in reality you are in the best position to exploit this and conquer southern Greece before the black death even knows what hit them. After you control the south, you can slowly push northward without much trouble.

[ZinedineZidane]

Combine your mainland armies and simply rush Macedon. In my campaign I stormed Korinth and that island city east of Athens within 4 turns, which effectively ruined Macedon in the south. You cannot forget that Macedon must deal with Epirus up north, so in reality you are in the best position to exploit this and conquer southern Greece before the black death even knows what hit them. After you control the south, you can slowly push northward without much trouble.
oh greece isn't the problem, its macedon and epeiros

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

As Epirus take Pella on turn one and Demetrias on turn two with the elephants. You'll be pretty well set in Greece from there, just let KH and Mak duel a while and attack the one that's winning.

As Makedonia, beseige Athens with everything you have. The KH will probably try to reinforce the city. Fight one tough battle and then you are set. Quickly follow up with Sparta and you'll be able to devert attension to Epirus. If Epirus causes trouble early, you'll have a hard time. Just ignore Epirus and they'll probably ignore you and invade Illyria.

[raenor]

I've played a few starting Mak campaigns and on none of them has Epirus attacked Pella on turn one.

Another tip Zinedinezidane is to disband the navies or use them in the first turn against enemy ships. This will get rid of a huge upkeep.
Also as Mak I get rid of the Thessilian Heavy Cav units too, they cost too much at the start for me.

[Spoofa]

I've played a few starting Mak campaigns and on none of them has Epirus attacked Pella on turn one.

Another tip Zinedinezidane is to disband the navies or use them in the first turn against enemy ships. This will get rid of a huge upkeep.
Also as Mak I get rid of the Thessilian Heavy Cav units too, they cost too much at the start for me.


dont expect that to happen often, the epirus not attacking pella on the first turn or so, if they dont then they always come back within the first year, trust me ive played at least 10 different makedonian campaigns, Pyrrhos ALWAYS attacks pella sooner or later, and in 8/10 times sooner is the case.


as Makedonia, build some Phalangitai Deuteroi on the first turn, disband your fleet in pella, and send the 100 Hippeis Thessalikoi to pella to help defend, it might frighten Pyrrhos but probably not enough to prevent a seige.

Attack Athens with Antiginos and his army.

[raenor]

Yea for me they've only attacked Pella later on not in the first year. And not with the elephants... My latest campaign with no fog of war Pyrrhos went to Dalmatia and Signudum (sp) while another army moved to seige Pella.

[gran_guitarra]

I've found that if you play Epieros it is possible to take Pella, Demetrias, and Byzantion pretty easily with your starting army. After that you have to retrain them and force a couple of big battles with the KH to destroy their armies. Once that is done you are pretty much set to conquer them.
As the Koinon Hellenon it is imperative to either, a) Reinforce Athens and scare of Antigonos or b) kill him off. The first is preferable. After that take over Korinthos and Chalkis in that order. Hunker down for a while and then begin to fight farther north. Hopefully you'll have a few mediocre cavalry and Thorakitai to aid you.
Makedonia has it easiest. You can literally take Athens and Sparta in two turns (both, not separately), and begin to kick Pyrrhic but instantly. To get Pyrrhos to stay off your back for a while get two phalangitai deteuteroi, two Akontistai, two Sphendotai, the Galatikon Kluddon, one Hippies Thessalikoi, and two mercenary Peltastai. Pyrrhos will hold off long enough for you to conquer Lakedeamon and Attika, putting you in the black and giving you the freedom to kick their behookeys.

[Arzeal]

I took Makedonia (the capital) in 1st turn w. elephants
the most thing that u have to considered in early Epieros games that is elephant is very weak to javelins (I learnt in a hard way), luckily that I'm not around Lustonia and Roma w. my starting army ^^, and more luck that is Makedonia and Greeks dont like javelins, but prefer to be trampled by my elephants, hehe

[Cheexsta]

I tried a Makedon campaign not too long ago on VH/VH (yes, I'm aware of the ridiculous bonuses) and it wasn't *too* hard - it just took a little bit of foreplanning. I sent Antigonos southwards to besiege Sparte (should get there in the Summer), leaving a few units behind. I then sent the family member from Thessaly (Alkyoneus? I don't remember) and as many units from Korinthos as possible to join with the units from Antigonos' army that were left in Attike. In Pella I started training Phalangitai Deuteroi to defend against Pyrrhos' inevitable attack. I disbanded my navy for the extra income.

Within the first few turns, the Koinon Hellenon tried to alleviate the siege of Sparte with their own counterattack but were defeated, allowing me to waltz into the city with no further resistance. Athens then fell when Antigonos returned, and Pyrrhos attacked Pella. The battle for Pella was quite difficult, with my phalangites behind the wooden walls routed by his superior phalanxes, but then my own general's counterattack (Philippos?) eventually killed Pyrrhos himself. As soon as that happened, his whole army routed.

Around this time or maybe before, the Getai should approach you with a ceasefire arrangement. Counter it with a demand for 10,000 minai in return for the ceasefire. Chances are, they'll accept.

From there, it was a simple matter of Antigonos marching into Epeiros (ignoring Aitolia for the moment) and finishing off Pyrrhos' remnant army and taking the Epeirote homelands. By this time, you should be out of debt (especially thanks to the Getai) and you NEED to start rebuilding your depleted population. Lots of sewers, farms, granaries and sanctuaries of Asklepios.

At this point (about 168BC, maybe later), the KH left in Rhodos started to attack Mytilene - a lovely result of using the BI.exe. I sent Alkyoneus to deal with them with ships from Athenai and then conquered Rhodos itself, enslaving the population while only having generals in Pella and Ambrakia to help with the population crisis.

From there it should be pretty easy. Rome might land a stack or two of troops on your shores, and if you defeat them they may then ask for a ceasefire (which you can again turn into a profitable venture ;)). Just build up your economy (particularly mines and ports) and then invest in improving your military.

[Thaatu]

As Macs, Corith isn't a prority. The garrison has more upkeep than the whole city gives income. Plus Thermopylae is easier to defend. Rushing is easy, but try holding a status quo for a few years before expanding.

[Sand]

As Macs, Corith isn't a prority. The garrison has more upkeep than the whole city gives income. Plus Thermopylae is easier to defend. Rushing is easy, but try holding a status quo for a few years before expanding.

Its tax, farm and trade income when youre in a position where you need every penny you can muster. The status quo is also unsustainable given your army cant be supported economically when youre at war with your obvious trade partners. Rushing is the best option, especially for a player whose having problems to start with.

Strip the garrisons down to the minimum - send the rest to help capture Athens and Sparte. Ive never lost the Korinth, and seeing as you will [or should be] running a rampage through Athens and Sparte, Korinth is just a quick divert if theres a hostile army there.

[Thaatu]

And IF you want a challenge, don't rush. It's extremely rewarding holding up as Macedonia for a decade before expanding anywhere.

[Cyclops]

All Greeks need to disband navies and surplus cavalry to break even. I think KH should keep the Spartans though, they have a massive cav defecit and they need some quality bolstering.

Rushes are risky but have big payoffs: in my current KH campaign I rushed Crete. Faction leader took ship, hires 2 Cretan archers, spy opens gates, turn 2 he's back on board, turn 3 he's in Athens (along with most of his army). Talk about snappy: even if the spy failed they'd be home one turn later. Of course he had to fight front line, so it was a risky manoeuvre. However the payoff was a 2 general army beating back the Black Death in Thessally, sheilding a slow seige at Corinth. Once you have secured the Peloponnessos you're fighting a one-front war with your entire army against an enemy with 2 fronts.

Macedon is a doddle to my mind: Pyrrhus goes a wandering every time I've seen, and KH isn't dynamic. You can rush the south and fly north again to defend the inevitable Epirote advance, or advance slowly in the south and leave strong forces in the North: basically you can't guarantee victory on both fronts, but you can definitely guarantee victory on one front.

Epiros looks like more of the same, but I haven't played them extensively.

KH are the biggest challenge, with their unbalanced roster. I'm roleplaying them with awkward house rules atm (only moving stacks with generals is such a bitch, disbanding de-generalled stacks breaks my heart). Makes it terribly interesting.