hi. so thanks so far for all your great ideas guys! I'd like to mention, however, that i would prefer a civilized faction over a barbarian faction. not to insult any of those horde-lovers, but i like being able to have epic walls, and turtling with a barbarian faction, i would think, means certain death by a roman/greek/macedonian sword. i like the idea of the macedons, if i could do a quick blitz on greece and kick them out of the area i think i would be pretty good to turtle. I actually tried a game with macedon and was fine until the pesty brutii took my western-greek cities...thermon had been pulling in almost 2000 denarii a turn before the brutii completely laid waste to it. Even when i took it back it just wasn't the same anymore. as for the brutii or julii i DO like that idea as well, but my only problemo with the roman factions is the stupid roman senate. i hate dissapointing people (even virtual people inside of video games that later ask me to kill myself) and always have a knack for doing the missions. Also, i dont want the game to be TOO boring, so i like to take over a couple of rebel settlements here and there. Unfortunately, there are very few in rome and if the brutii take over appolonia or w/e then the massive greek and macedonian armies pummel your behind out of there, lol. SO, i will continue to play with my macedonian campaign, but if anybody on these boards has more suggestions then by all means, keep em coming guys!