Have I been missing out on Epeiros all this time?

[QuintusSertorius]

I feel like I'm inadvertently playing Pergamon in this game, my army is composed almost entirely of mercenaries. Mercenaries I could recruit, mind, if I wasn't concerned about depopulating my settlements. I'm wondering if I should add some levy units (besides Deuteroi) to my army just to make battles harder.

[QuintusSertorius]

I grabbed Singidunum and will soon have Naissos too. Old Pyrrhos is still alive, he's turned into a Supervisor having been sat in Pella for a long while!

Having struggled for FMs for a decade and even resorting to recruiting an Allied General, I'm now awash with them, I've got four youngsters in Ambrakia learning how to be good leaders, but will need something to do soon. I don't intend on turning all those client kingdoms into factional holdings any time soon.

I'm about to recruit a second army to protect my "north" which is almost entire client kingdoms (the two new additions will be, since there's no factional troops recruitable there anyway). My "royal army" is presently:
1x Family Member
1x Hellenistic Mercenary General
1x Curepos
1x Hippakontistai
1x Pezhetairoi
2x Deuteroi Phalangitai
1x Hoplitai
1x Hoplitai Haploi
1x Thureophoroi
1x Illyrioi Thureophoroi
1x Sphendonetai (I wanted Iaosatae but can't find any mercs...)
1x Kretan Archers
1x Akontistai
1x Thraikioi Peltastai

The northern army will be more "barbarian" in character, I'm thinking no phalanxes (or at most a single levy unit) with lots of Gauls, Illyrians and Thracians. I'll retain some Hoplitai (to hold the centre) and a unit of Kretan archers. I'm expecting they'll be fighting the Getai soon.

[d'Arthez]

Sounds like your game is developing nicely Quintus. I am not 100% certain, but I think Iaosatae could be regional recruits in some of your conquered provinces.

By now your population base should have expanded significantly as well in Pella and Ambrakia. Your newly conquered territories probably suffer from a lack of population at the moment. You'll have to spend time to improve the infrastructure and economy of those client kingdoms first. And maybe assimilate them in due time.

Have you created a navy to establish control of the Adriatic and to deal with the pirates if they are a nuisance?

How much have the Getai expanded? And what is happening in Southern Greece? Still a stalemate between the Makedones and the KH?

[QuintusSertorius]

According to the Recruitment Viewer (which may not be accurate for 1.2, mind), I can't recruit Iaosatae in any of them. Other Gallic troops (Gaeroas, Lugoae, Keltohellenikoi), but for some reason no archers or slingers. I can't even get mercenary Iaosatae, which is a bit weird, because you can get them in Anatolia as mercs. I don't need them, Sphendonetai are better slingers (if much weaker melee combatants), but they make a nice bit of regional colour.

I've been helping the populations of my client kingdoms by disbanding mercs every now and then - Segestica and Dalminion are towns now - but none of them have the barracks for recruiting anything but their garrisons yet. That's the next step soon.

I don't have a navy yet, the other two Greek factions are keeping the pirates at bay for now. Though given that I'm adding money to the Eleutheroi every now and then by the console, piracy will become an issue. I can see some big stacks of them in certain places on the map that will cause trouble eventually.

The Getai have stalled after adding Sarmiszegethusa. They had a go at Kallatis, Ak-Ink and Naissos a few times, but failed. Greece is still a stalemate - I've facilitated that a little by transporting any army mobilised out of Mytilene or Rhodos across. I did also go to war with the Makedonians briefly, I besieged Demetrias for a bit, but didn't assault it, then retreated when they didn't seem to respond. They attacked with a force half the size of my army as I left, which I shattered, then FD'd peace. I'd won a battle which seemed enough to cap off the conflict.

Elsewhere in the world, I've been keeping the Romani bottled up in Italy by adding units to the garrisons of Segesta, Bononia and Patavium. They've finally started to expand into Sicily and fight the Qarthadastim. That should keep them occupied a goodly while.

[QuintusSertorius]

Here's what the world currently looks like:



The army is my royal army, just putting a northern army together near Singidunum.

Pyrrhos just died, so I think now is a consolidation phase after the mad rush to add territory.

[d'Arthez]

It looks like you have carved out a stable, and viable kingdom of your own.

Have the Getai even bothered to send small armies to you? Thy might have, since they do not share a border with the Sauromatae. Economically and strategically you have little to gain from the Getic lands (other than wiping out the sole threat at the northern border). But as Naissos is still not under Getic rule, the only place that is under any sort of threat is Singidunum. Taking out the Getai would have merit if you'd try to take Kallatis, Tylis and Byzantion, before venturing into Asia Minor. Mind you that the Eleutheroi controlled areas will suffer from limited population bases as well. But that is more of a long term plan for you (if you can avoid a conflict with the Sauromatae that might be the result of expanding in that direction).

This consolidation phase may well start with attempts to isolate future / current enemies diplomatically, building up navies if they have a role to play in the forthcoming conflicts as well. One idea would be to form an alliance with the Kart-Hadast against the SPQR. Role-playing wise, the new King may actually want to establish complete control of the Greek lands, and thus weaken Makedonia diplomatically. The Makedones, without support from either the AS or the Ptolemaoi, might be a tempting target.

[QuintusSertorius]

The Getai haven't been interested in me at all. Indeed I was besieging Naissos then broke it off when I realised that would fairly inevitably bring me into their orbit. I don't really need the coastal settlements yet, and they seem pretty safe for the time being, so I'll leave alone as long as I can.

My next phase I think will be an expedition to Sicily. I've got about four young FMs with nothing to do sitting in Ambrakia, a bold campaign to restore the throne of Sicily would be a good way to keep Pyrrhos' grandson Pyrrichos (who's pretty good this time around) occupied. Besides, the Romani and Qarthadastim don't seem to be serious about expansion there. I'll delay any further expansion of my northern army (it has it's core already) and start recruiting for the invasion, and raise a fleet. I'll take Corsica in the process of doing so, too, that should help fund the army to allow me to retain Sicily when the Romans eventually come knocking. Maybe once that's settled, I'll retake southern Italy.