Factions you LOST with (anonymous inquiry)

[Swordmaster]

Definitely, also they lack those supercool reforms like Saka and Pahlava. So if somebody wants to play HA, he'll most likely opt for the latter.

Actually, I played the Sarmatians for a good fifty turns, but I didn't like the horse archers one bit. I guess it'll have to become an acquired taste.

[konny]

I have lost, I don't know how many times, with Pontos and Hayasdan. That is as soon as AS decides that they will crush me, even if it will be the last thing they do before beeing eaten alive by the yellow death.

I have also been crushed with Baktria. AS was no problems, but my entire army got butchered on the first encounter with Saka.

After that, I avoided playing any faction East of Makedonia (save for AS and the Ptolees, but with both I can not motivate myself to play more than a few turns).

With Makedonia and KH it all depends on the first turn of either Epeiros. In one campaign with the Maks I was defeated in one turn: Pella conquered, all other settlements, save Mytilene, besieged and the only army left after the first battle to weak to do anything.

In one campaign with KH the Epeirote moved their army away from Pella and Antigonos did not march North to go for Serdike but decided to get rid of me once and for all. I was able to kill his first stack of pikemen by the loss of my own army, and a few turns later - not enough to even conquer Korinth - the next forrest of pikes came marching down from Pella. With only FMs and two units of Haploi, I gave up.

[Reno Melitensis]

Never lost a game in EB because failed to complete one. But my most dramatic defeats as Romani was in .82 against the Carthaginians in Iberia, and in 1.1 when over confidentially send a legion north to confront the Norici, total massacre.

Cheers

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

With Makedonia and KH it all depends on the first turn of either Epeiros. In one campaign with the Maks I was defeated in one turn: Pella conquered, all other settlements, save Mytilene, besieged and the only army left after the first battle to weak to do anything.

In one campaign with KH the Epeirote moved their army away from Pella and Antigonos did not march North to go for Serdike but decided to get rid of me once and for all. I was able to kill his first stack of pikemen by the loss of my own army, and a few turns later - not enough to even conquer Korinth - the next forrest of pikes came marching down from Pella. With only FMs and two units of Haploi, I gave up.

Wow, that's tough!

In my current Makedonian campaign the Epeirotes laid siege to Pella in turn 1 and I decided to let the KH alone for the time being and sailed north. Thank god the Epeirotes at Pella were only some kind of advanced guard with mostly Gallic mercenaries and elephants. They didn't wait to build rams and tried to batter down the tiny wall with the nellies. I had ordered my Sphendonetai and Akontistai at the spot and let them rain their ammunition on the elephants, and they evantually ran amok having only two animals left. They killed a good deal of Gauls, than had Alkyoneus' sally forth and kill the remaining two. That was the end of the battle. I must say though that Sphendonetai prooved nearly useless against elephants, in contrast to the Akonstistai. The next turn Antigonos was in Makedonia again with most of the army, and I had ordered the recruitment of Levy Phalangites in Pella, and so I combined both armies, leaving Pella alone. I confronted Pyrrhos directly, annihilated his army and killed him. The next turn the Greeks seized Korinth, but that was no real problem. One turn later again I regained it, and shortly after Sparte, than two battles at the Isthmos, and gone was the KH - all their FMs were dead. Then I headed north again towards Epeiros, leaving a small force to siege Athens only. No problem at all. My condolences to you for your bad luck!

Edit: Post #1000!

[Puupertti Ruma]

Got my ass handed to me by the eleuthoroi on my first Sauromatae campaign when I just didn't know how to use horsearchers against other horsearchers. I never got out of debt and even if I won most of my battles, I suffered too much casualties. After a while I was streched too thin on too big area and started to lose cities. I think I didn't play long enough to see the actually losing screen, but gave up after having two or three cities with only 1 or 2 defenders in each and still not enough money to never get out of debt. It was quite cool campaign actually, fighting a long war of attrition with the eleutheroi around me and finally losing to the pressure. Losing isn't a thing you encounter often these days in strategy games.

[konny]

My condolences to you for your bad luck!

Now I am enyoing a Makedonian campaign in which the start was as desired:

Pyrrhos moved his elephants away in turn #1 to conquer some Illyrian villages. Alkyoneus was able to hold Makedonia and Thessalia the next years by serial of swift campaigns with his army of levys (Haploi, slingers, only occasionaly Phalangitai Deuteroi):

The Epeirotes attacked Demetrias when Alkyoneus was in Pella. And because Demetrias was only guarded by one unit of Haploi, the Epeirote force was comparable weak, what allowed him to crush it with his levy from Pella.

While the army was in Thessalia, Epeiros invaded Makedonia, but again with a very weak force because Pella then was only guarded by 1x Akontistai. That was easyly crushed by Alkyoneus on his return from Demetrias. This went on for years, made Alkyoneus a famous general and kept open Makedonia and Thessaly to provide the main army with reinforcements.

Meanwhile the royal army under Antigonos subdued Greece. The first move was to lift the siege of Korinth. Afterwards Athens was besieged without allowing for further diversions by the Greeks on Korinth. Than followed the decisive battle against the Greek main army that was gathering en masse around Sparta. During that battle the Spartiates routed after a very short fight against the Makedonian phalanx leaving open the entire Greek left flank - a glorious victory.

After Sparta had been mercyless burnded to the gorund, Antigonos force marched the army North because a very strong Epeirote force was operating in NW Makedonia under the personal command of Pyrrhos (I think that was heading for Serdike). The following battle somewhere in the mountains saw the Epeirote king dead and the road to the Adriatic open.

But the main Epeirote army had still to be defeated, what happened in the battle of Ambrakia. A most remarkable day because both the kings of Epeiros (forgott his name) and Makedonia (Antigonos) died during a clash of their Hetairoi on the right flank. In the center the Epeirote elephants run amok and killed more men of their own side than of the Makedonians. And on the right wing the Epeirote Hypaspistai fought to the last man pinned between Phalanx, Pletastai, Hoplites and cavalry - and still routing several seasoned Makedonian units. What a difference to the Spartiates!

The further campaign against Epeiros, now lead by the new king Alkyoneus, was no problem. The last members of Aiakides family hide in Dalminion where they were caught and executed. The following days Taras opened her gates to the Romans - Epeiros was no more.

Now I am in 265 BC, have a good king who is barley 30, a strong economy and no enemies on my broders. May be it is time to turn East to claim what is rightfully mine.....

[Swordmaster]

Losing isn't a thing you encounter often these days in strategy games.

Back in my days playing CIV3 on deity.

[Kromulan]

I had forgotten this one. . . made me so *&%# mad!
I had a Saba campaign where I was fighting yellow, blue and grey death on 3 fronts (they were all allied). Blue was starting to push me out of India, grey was pushing down the east coast of arabia, and I was holding the line @ Hierosolyma vs yellow.
Then my save corrupted and I couldn't load!! Everything else worked, it just wouldn't load the bloody save.
I loaded an earlier save and tried to re-create the campaign, but this time Hay, Pontos, Pahlav and Saka all jumped on grey and blue and I crushed yellow.
Definitely one of the could-have-been great campaigns, lost to unreadable save file.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

After Sparta had been mercyless burnded to the gorund, Antigonos force marched the army North because a very strong Epeirote force was operating in NW Makedonia under the personal command of Pyrrhos (I think that was heading for Serdike). The following battle somewhere in the mountains saw the Epeirote king dead and the road to the Adriatic open.

But the main Epeirote army had still to be defeated, what happened in the battle of Ambrakia. A most remarkable day because both the kings of Epeiros (forgott his name) and Makedonia (Antigonos) died during a clash of their Hetairoi on the right flank. In the center the Epeirote elephants run amok and killed more men of their own side than of the Makedonians. And on the right wing the Epeirote Hypaspistai fought to the last man pinned between Phalanx, Pletastai, Hoplites and cavalry - and still routing several seasoned Makedonian units. What a difference to the Spartiates!

The further campaign against Epeiros, now lead by the new king Alkyoneus, was no problem. The last members of Aiakides family hide in Dalminion where they were caught and executed. The following days Taras opened her gates to the Romans - Epeiros was no more.

Now I am in 265 BC, have a good king who is barley 30, a strong economy and no enemies on my broders. May be it is time to turn East to claim what is rightfully mine.....

I had thought it cool and challenging to leave the Epeirotes alive in Hellas proper, but unfortunately they didn't agree, even as I offered them conquered Epidamnos plus some 6000 mnai. So they all had to die and are now reduced to Arpi, where they live under the new name "Italiotai Apeirotai" (see "Epeirotes in Arpi"-Thread).

I had Sparte and Athenai burned and enslaved as well. They had to be punished for their betrayal. And yes, the KH forces in early game are somewhat cheap. No real challenge, mostly missile troops.

Antigonos "died" in my campaign as well, sunk with the entire Makedonian army in the Thermaian Gulf by a fleet of pirates. I reloaded and auto_won the battle. Antigonos now is 65 years old, a restless warmonger calmly waiting to die in Pella.

[konny]

Keeping any Aiakides alive? Never! The same would be for Seleucids and Ptolemaioi (as soon as the King catches the "Alexander Fever").

Interesseting developement last night: Nikaia rebelled from the Seleucids to me, spawning several units of Galatians. As soon as the King entered Bythinia a Hellen character was offered for mariage to his eldest daughter who then appeared in Nikaia even though it was besieged. I think this plot demands a lot of roleplaying - or even an AAR.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Nice. Last night I lost Demetrios Argeades at the age of only 22. I gave him a nice start-up job in Thermon as governor. Then an Aphistamenoi General spawned, with 1x Levy Hoplites, 1x Greek Cavalry, 1x Peltasts, and Peltasts as bodyguard even. And they dared attack Thermon!!! I had only Demetrios and 1x Levy Hoplites. They fought bravely but eventually lost.

My campaign is on H only. I never experienced such aggressive Rebels in my VH games in 1.0 or back in 0.81. It's a shame my relieve force came one turn too late.

[Swordmaster]

Nice. Last night I lost Demetrios Argeades at the age of only 22. I gave him a nice start-up job in Thermon as governor. Then an Aphistamenoi General spawned, with 1x Levy Hoplites, 1x Greek Cavalry, 1x Peltasts, and Peltasts as bodyguard even. And they dared attack Thermon!!! I had only Demetrios and 1x Levy Hoplites. They fought bravely but eventually lost.

My campaign is on H only. I never experienced such aggressive Rebels in my VH games in 1.0 or back in 0.81. It's a shame my relieve force came one turn too late.

Looks like the Aetolians didn't like his governorship. Actually, I've had three rebel stacks of over six units each standing next to Capua last night, but none attacked. Perhaps due to the weather.

[Bouketsu]

Lost my first and only campaign with the Lusotannan.
Made a few mistakes however. :/ I expanded in completely the wrong way. Instead of going south to occupy the regions that pumped out good Iberian infantry, I decided to expand along the coast to have an easily defended position against the Karthadastim. Eventually that lead to my fall however, the Karth got all of the heavy infantry producing settlements and I was stuck with mostly celtic provinces that had MIC that were pumping out mediocre infantry... I thought that maybe once the Romans got their game rolling I could perhaps take the upper hand as the Karth would probably have their hands full but fate decided to go the other way. The White Death just plowed right through the Italian peninsula and to my dismay I was surrounded within a few years and the stacks would not cease. It was the only time I saw things as completely hopeless, and it taught me a lesson to NEVER rely on another faction to turn the game around for you. :P