
Originally Posted by
aelflune
I'm playing Epeiros on H/H right now, and it's fairly easy, considering this is my first ever EB and TW campaign. I guess VH campaign would make it even more difficult with more enemy units, but diplomatically this game is probably the same as a VH one anyway.
Here's the thing about Hard battles: Hammer and anvil works wonders, even with non-phalangitai or hoplitai line infantry. And the other thing is, kill the enemy general as soon as you can. Captains don't seem to matter that much, so no worries about them. They seem to get replaced upon being killed anyway. But if you see a starred general alive, yeah, don't be surprised if enemy units don't rout till they're almost entirely dead. Your own general, with some help, can probably do this job even before the melee starts, unless the enemy general is infantry. Still, even with an enemy general, a massed cavalry charge to the rear seems to work, with something like 3-4 cavalry units on one unit, especially if they include your general's bodyguards.
Anyway, I don't know how you play and I'm not an expert or anything, so I can't say too much more. I like Epeiros, if only because of elephants in Ambrakia and its history (i.e. kicking some Romaioi ass). Some people would advise you to disband the expensive elephants at the start, but why would you do such a thing to the poor harmless beasts? Err... harmless to you, that is. Hopefully. Use them as a trump card, the ultimate hammer, in the early battles for a little blitzing. Doesn't matter if most of them die - that would actually save you money - they would hopefully have served their purpose in the first few turns. Disband all but one fleet instead. With a few mines, your would certainly be in the black.
Another thing is your phalangitai will never compare in class to the ones the Diadochoi can field, so don't count on that. In my experience, Chaonion Agema can't win against Ptolemaic Agema even with a little elevation advantage. So as Epeiros, hammer and anvil is even more crucial, as your infantry can really only hold the line and not win all my themselves sometimes. Moreover, with limited AoR, it's going to be more difficult to retrain and field your elites, so you will be forced to rely on local troops and mercs more. It makes for a more varied play, though. With proper execution of hammer-and-anvil and some clever manuevering according to the terrain, you can definitely beat bigger armies on this difficulty with a decent enough army composition.
Lastly, I found the Romaioi pretty tough early on, since Italy was quite difficult to reinforce. Things became easier after I shipped the elephants to Italy. They squish barbaroi. But it was a pretty long war of attrition for a while before it started to snowball in my favour. The good news, I guess, is that you don't need MoT and start with a foothold in Italy, so you can crush those pesky Romaioi before they become too troublesome without a worry.
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