I wouldn't be surprised if....

[d'Arthez]

I don't think the situation is that similar in Greece. Epeiros and Makedonia have different sensible routes of expansion. Epeiros can expand northwards towards Illyria, make a stand in Italy, Makedonia can involve itself up north, and in Asia Minor, and the latter can also be said of the Koinon Hellenon. This often happens in AI controlled games as well.

I don't see the Pontic / Pergamon / Galatia / Seleukid tangle, with likely contributions of Makedonia and the Koinon (and the Bosporans?) result in anything but all out war, between the six factions present in the area. Not saying that that is a bad thing, if it is historically sound; but then issues of recruitment and the diplomatic engine can really spoil things (lack of dynamic alliances, spontaneous rebellions etc.).

This will probably necessitate additional settlements in the region, which will have to be found from somewhere. At the same time, removal of certain provinces could seriously threaten the viability of the factions such as the Sauromatae, Lugii, Pritanoi etc.

Italy for instance has 14 settlements (not counting Sardinia), but the entire Seleukid Empire has about 23 at the start of the game in EB1, and the 23 or so already seem to be a very small number considering the extent of the area covered. And if there are no Belgic / second Iberian faction / third Gallic faction, some settlements in that region may be taken off the map, but other than those, I can't really see where settlements could be removed.

I certainly see the potential for a Belgic faction, and some mod coming out to replace the Belgics with the Galatians, for those of us who are interested in duking it out in that region.