No way is Casse easier than Sweboz for a starting player. The roaming freemen armies up there have destroyed many unsuspecting newbies. Sweboz have an isolated starting position and is free to pursue expansion, and is a good choice apart from the lack of funds at the start.

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sweboz was my first choice, a while back.

now casse is fun fun fun - second attempt at it, fortunately avoided a ctd, and battling away - just launched my invasion of mainland europe. i'd second/third all the comments on ports/markets/roads - really essential for later when you want to be concentrating on other things, or increasing law/happiness in blooming cities, so you need your trade buildings already built.

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Maybe so, but the Sweboz have very little of good infantry units - which stinks since there are a lot of forest battles in the Northern Europe. Their cavalry isn't that great either. Thegnoz Drugule (Germanic Heavy Infantry) are their best, and they are inferior to most other elite infantry units. Good thing that the Sweboz at least have those experience-giving temples. I do however remember that the early versions of EB gave the Sweboz much better, albeit a bit more ahistorical units. Also, why do the Germanic pikemen lack the phalanx attribute? Their long spears are utterly useless without the attribute. They simply do almost no damage. After all, that unit already looks like a pike phalanx, so why not give it the attribute?

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^^^^^ I find that while Speutogardoz will pwn everything, they tend to treat their pikes like short spears.

When they charge an enemy, they basically run right into them before attacking. It's almost funny watching them trying to lower their weapons at someone who is 3 feet away. This causes unacceptable initial casualties, but once they get their act together they produce a proper massacre.

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never ever say pwn again. ever.

'Civilized' nations are the best to start off with. or averni. I started off with Koinon Hellenon. by all means try them out, but your going to get rolled by makedonia. You should try out the KH, but you've gotta win all the battles at the start, otherwise you're buggered. Your biggest army starts off on crete. You've gotta que up as many soldiers in Sparte as possible or recruit some mercs like creten archers on crete, because that money is going to be gone in a season by negative income. Take crete. your going to need the income, disband all your troops on Rhodes, and once crete is taken, leave the least amount of troops possible there and ship your king back to greece and then disband the navy, you no longer need it for now. Now here comes the tricky part. You must face a fullstack or more in Corinith with subpar troops. Your biggest asset is your Spartan bodyguards. Use them wisely, and use them to exploit the AI's mistakes in formations. You MUST take Corinith. This will help secure the flanks of Athens. Once Corinith is secure (failure is not an option at all) move as many troops as possible to the isthmus and Athens, Hold of the Makedonian hordes. You might get some downtime for now because they are trying to take back Pella from the Epriotes. Use your diplomat wisely, obtain as many trade rights as possible with the surrounding powers. In my current campaign I allied myself with Rome.

As you see KH is a very much do or die at the beginning, which is was for the KH in reality. unfortunately they didn't do. Once KH gets going, you are hard to defeat. Their units are amazing, especially the Classical hoplites. Cavalry is something left to be desired however. Dont depend on it, your infantry covered by Peltestai are your core troops. Creten archers are a resource to be loved and when you've got em, use em wisely. Slingers are another must have. The armoured horses of Makedon are deadly, even to your spartans if you are not careful. Slingers in an elevated position can decimate Makedonian heavy cavalry.

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-_-

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Really?!
the freemen armies are good for testing the own troops and fightingtactics. a loose is not so bad, because the island is "save" and casse has good powerfull infantry like milnaht.
slowly grabbing and proceeding

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certainly they have some great troops, and potentially a very safe haven in the british isles. however, for a new player, who is not used to going into debt immediately, or disbanding troops and waiting 20 turns or so to develop an economy, casse can be very difficult. i suppose it was that point, the starting difficulties of the casse, that should be noted when offering them to a beginner.

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