What factions gives you a fun boost and why?

[A_Dane]

Trying to get a romani campaign going too.. Currently restraining my self, and imposing house rules of my self. (semi-historical expansion, I plan to only conqueror what the romans did, but the exact year might vary a little).
So far it's going good, just building up Italy below the Po-river, planning my war with carthage and such :p

[Blxz]

Saba is fun, I am taking a quick break from my campaign but I hold all Arabia, mesopotamia and have just finished invading down to the sinai from the north and linking up my territory. Don't quite understand what Captain_Trek means by the first decade dragging a bit? Your starting army can quite easily conquer the 3 close starting cities and from there you have a great economy (comparatively speaking) to take your conquest either east around arabia or my usual strategy favourite of west across to eithiopia then north.

Still, good to see more people talking about their saba campaigns, they are such a good faction; easily one of my favourites because they are such underdogs. Mass armies of arabian archer spearmen have made a wonderful difference to my usual strategy. Only limited population has been slowing me down. Feels good to recreate the islamic blitz a thousand years early.

[Captain Trek]

Don't quite understand what Captain_Trek means by the first decade dragging a bit? Your starting army can quite easily conquer the 3 close starting cities and from there you have a great economy (comparatively speaking) to take your conquest either east around arabia or my usual strategy favourite of west across to eithiopia then north.

Well it dragged for me simply because it took some time for my army (you can really only afford the upkeep for one three-quarter stack, even with all three provinces near Maryab in your empire) to march around the eastern edge of Arabia and capture the two provinces there. As I said though, once I took my army into Egypt, side-stepped the main Egyptian army down there and grabbed Alexandria from them (enslaving it and installing a Type IV government there), I'm really enjoying myself, and even before that the battles for the rebel provinces at the start of the game were surprisingly fun as well... As I said, there is potential for the start to be slow as with Casse, but I'm just not seeing why the faction is so reviled...

By the way, I'm also considering running a second Saba campaign where I, instead of driving into Egypt after I take the three settlements around Maryab and the two on the east coast, build a boat and capture the settlement on the far south-east of the African mainland next to the red sea (Axum). A level 3 native MIC here, coupled with aa level 3 regional MIC in Qataban (just south of the Sabean capital) should (if the recruitment viewer is accurate) allow me to construct an army consisting of Pantodapoi Phalangitai (from Qataban), as well Red Sea hoplites, Ethiopian swordsmen and Ethipoian medium cavalry (all from Axum). These would of course be supported by slingers, archer-spearmen and red sea light infantry (for their AP axes). This I think, could put pay to the idea that Saba is forced to fight the Ptolemaioi with a crappy army (as the Red Sea hops are essentialy Ekdromoi Hoplitai, which have their uses, the Ethiopian units are decent medium infantry and cavalry and, as we all know, Pantos are surprisingly awesome because of their AP axes).

[Basileus_ton_Basileon]

I personally prefer hellenic factions, as they are the typical "civilized" lot during that time. They have a very varied roster, from old school hoplite troops to Mega Alexandros' phalangitai, then the rise of more mobile thueros troops (no) thanks to the keltoi invasions. Their recruitment range is huge, so there's generally no shortage of hellenes to replentish one's core ranks with. They also have a rather varied array of regional that can be easily intergrated into one's armies. Finally, they have the most well known history and culture we can relate to, which gives them endless possibilities of role-play scenarios.

Second after that would be the various 'Barbarian' factions, they each have their unique culture and playing style. Far from the sterotypical unwashed orkish fiends (Waaagh!!! ), they are arguably less barbaric than the so-called civilized (humies!) city-dwellers. Their troops are generally highly specialized, each fulfilling a role of sorts in the battlefield. One of the things I enjoy most as the Keltoi is to sack and pillage Roma, giving it back to them, gift the territory between them to an ally, then coming back to sack them again 10 years later. A historical irony of sort.

I do not like Romans, they are too generic and boring. If I want to play the romans, I would've gotten RSII or RTR. Also, they're culture is a one-off in the entire game, making expansion a somewhat annoying task as time runs on. They are neither greek nor 'barbarian', and in some aspects, a lot more barbaric than the keltoi, Iberioi and getai to name a few. The only thing worse than them gameplay-wise are the steppe factions, lots of HA fun in the begining, then grinding to repetitiveness from the middle onwards. I blame the limits of the engines.

[Blxz]

stuff

Well you know that Axum is a homeland region for the Saba? Can get some top level troops there too I think.

As for a single 3/4 stack...thats a big army for my games. I am notoriously cheap and to gather any more than 10 units or so into one army is very uncommon. I also am quite poor at controlling such a massive army on the battlefield as can be attested if we ever fight multiplayer with big armies. So being able to 'barely' support a 3/4 stack is like 2 armies for me. I can romp home in 2 directions. Plus arabian arhcer spearmen are retrainable in each city around arabia without building a barracks (already built generally) so I can take whatever losses and then move on.

But otherwise, yes, I agree fully with what you said. Fun times.