I'm also finding Gaul (H/H) a lot more fun to play than I expected after thrashing them so badly in the Julii campaign! Those Foresters from Alesia (teched up to gold weapons) make a huge difference. I've only got one centre for Druids so haven't had much experience of those yet (my starting unit got wiped out by a Brit assault in the early game, in which my faction leader was about the only survivor from a full stack - grrr.)

I've been trying a four-line set up - Foresters in front, then skirmishers, then standard warband, with swords behind. Cav on the wings. This sorts out most charges, even British chariots - foresters make a mess, then skirmish back through the javelins, who make more of a mess before retreating. By this point most enemies that manage to reach the spear line just up and run back to where they came from, with more javs and arrows in their backs. Most times the swords just stand there polishing their armour. If it gets sticky, the swords go forward and cavalry in the flanks usually turns the tide.

I'm also getting to like the dogs a lot more than their Roman equivalents. I've found them to be an excellent pinning unit for bridge defences! A pack of dogs on a bridge can hold back an entire army long enough for your skirmishers to run out of ammo. Besieging Rome from the ford on the Tiber left me with just two river battles to eliminate the entire SPQR forces thanks to "relieving" forces from the Scipii. Although with 6 SPQR FMs in the first stack it did come down to a long melee, but not a single warband routed!

Since taking Rome, the Bruts and Scips have been taking turns besieging me every turn, but easy sallies with 4x foresters on the ramparts and 1 unit of dogs to provoke the besiegers into arrow range means I can pull my inf and cav out of the gate to make a target and the Romans usually rout without my melee troops having to do much at all apart from looking hairy and brutish.

I expected the lack of artillery to be a drawback (and I love my artillery usually!) but with a bit of planning, siege tower assaults can be a lot more devastating than an artillery-led assault. You just have to know how to use possession of the walls to best effect.

My wars and diplomacy don't seem to match anyone else, and I reckon these campaigns are all highly variable -- those guides that say you have to take on faction x before faction y etc will just guide you into replaying someone else's game. I also think the AI adapts to your play style (I don't bother much with the diplomacy/subterfuge, and find the AI doesn't much either compared to other people's games. And I've NEVER had a bribe work for me -- all attempts refused!)

Currently allied to Carthage, Scythia, Greeks; have eliminated Britons, Spain, SPQR, Jullii; at war with Germans, Bruts and Scips. Expecting Macedonians to have a go at me soon - one of their spies has been causing havoc in Patavium (which I've never given up to retake at any point!), and the alliance with Carthage can't last much longer now that I have just killed off the Spanish royal line. I hold all of Spain except Corduba (Carthaginians) and Asturica (Rebels). Britannia fully garrisoned with about ten units - no doubt I'll need more as the population level recovers.... And my family's surname seem to be "the Conqueror". Next step is to take Trier, so I can hold off the Germanics at the Rhine. Finish off Italy once the Bruts and Scips have exhausted themselves at the foot of the walls of Rome (oh, will they ever learn???) and no doubt by then either the Macs or the Carthaginians will have attacked and opened up a new front... Or maybe the Dacians, who are being suspiciously quiet whilst lurking in the Alps and allied to all my enemies.