Big object of emphasis for Germany: TAKE ROME EARLY. I decided to conquer all of Gaul instead of heading down to Italy, and by the time I got there, things didn't seem so bad. The Julii had idiotically allied with the Gauls and had about 3 provinces, so were no problem. The real problem was the Brutii. In my campaign, the Brutii had all of Greece up to Macedonia, and all of Southern Italy. The Scipii were all in Africa so not a problem. Apparently, 3 of the roman factions sat around and did nothing, while the Brutii became unstoppable. Right now I'm at around 173 B.C. and in a continuing deadlock with the Brutii. They are at the point where they can just send a continual river of full stack armies to my 3-4 cities in north Italy. I'm trying to go through their back door by sending armies through the balkans to greece. But right now they show no signs of stopping. Hopefully I'll make a breakthrough soon and deal with the other, weak romans. Believe me, fighting 20 legions every turn isn't fun.