EB2 Playtest: Arverni

[Kull]

Here's a little Christmas present from the hard working EB2 Team to all those who have waited patiently these many years.....a short playtest of the Arverni faction. You've seen eye candy aplenty. Won't it be cool to actually see some of it in action? Here's the sitrep:

Faction: Arverni
Difficulty: medium-medium
Starting Provinces: 1
Starting Army: 4 FMs, 2 Cav, 7 Foot

Strategy: For this playtest I took a quick look at the financial details and noticed the "not unusual" EB1 situation of a poor faction with expenses roughly 4 times larger than income. The EB1 strategy would be to quickly conquer a few settlements (for a total of 3 or 4), and then play defense while recuperating from the huge negative income (a process that can often take many years). That should work right? How different can this be?

Here's the starting position. The capital (Gergouia) has 5 of my 13 units, with the rest sprinkled among three small stacks scattered across the home province of Ikoranda Uolkias. There's a small Aedui stack to the south - we're at war (what else is new?), and they don't care for us much. That's OK, the feeling's mutual. To the east is a small ungarrisoned rebel town - big mistake for those guys. Out of sight in Cisalpine Gaul, my diplomat and spy are off visiting family for the holidays. Put down the wine skins boys, we need you back home! Because somewhere to the north is the Aedui homeland, and it would be nice to see what's going on up there!