Honestly, I played two campaing (not finished as i got bored) with Saka and Sauromate (as a rider myself, I've a weakness for cav. based armies!!!) and I don't get why people say it's so diffivult. with saka. the first few turns are tricky, but when you get out of the red in your finances, the game's over! (meaning, you literally can kick the ass of anybody! I mean, their bodyguard, like sauromates, are literally german tiger tanks that came down from world WWII (3 FM alone can stand their own against "almost" anything). the only real danger when playing one of those two are the other (Sauro when you play Saka and vice versa). I played both on hard and well... with sauromates, go west and you can eat getai and hellenes for breakfest, go south with Saka!

In any cases, they're not the hardest faction I played! (well, it's only a personal experiance, I'm not saying they're "easy" factions, far from that, new commers would probably be discouraged if they tried Saka first!)