Turtling is not really what happened. I was forced to attack the Greeks all out because they put 2 stacks on small fleets and left Sparta with just a general, Spartans and an armoured hop. Too good an opportunity to miss! Both stacks went to the bottom of the sea and Sparta fell to the Cretun Arshes and Rrrhodian Slingers. GCS had already lost Asia Minor to Pontus so I was able to quickly finish them off in Crete and Rhodes.

Controlling Greece has allowed me to start building and growing in earnest for the first time though and creating a good trading economy to support offensive armies including Thrace's best bread and butter unit the Phalanx Pikemen. These guys can usually beat Roman Republic units with the right support both in field battles and assaults. Turtling never seems to be possible for me once I get into an all out war with the Romans because they are so aggressive towards neighbouring provinces that in the end you have to conquer them or they won't leave you alone. Plus the diplomacy system means that once you are at war with any Roman faction there is no way to end the war until all (but one maybe) are wiped out.

In the end I have found that I still haven't been able to build the top tier barracks needed to build Bastarnae in any of my settlements yet (239 bc) but having just captured Capua I can now build them there with the benefits of an awesome temple of Vulcan. This suggests that blitzing the Romans may indeed be a faster way to get highly developed settlements than turtling. Thrace's other weakness is of course poor temples, which can only be overcome by conquering and keeping those of your enemies.

Falxmen are a useful unit for early blitzing but you have to be prepared for high casualties. They seem especially vulnerable to missiles including Roman pila and javelins from peltasts or velites. They do seem to kill cavalry quickly though and can be effective general killers. They are okay if you are attacking a large settlement which can be put to the sword to provide the cash and still have enough people left to rebuild them afterwards.

It is certainly my intention now to focus on conquering the Romans before they hit Marius as my Northern border is quiet now the Dacians have been pushed back to Lovosice and I am quite happy to let Pontus keep the in check as they are sending everything east and seem happy to keep our profitable Aegean trade flowing.