I have been back a few times to test, still no luck each time I tried Pontus and also tried several other factions with no problem. I am now playing carthage and so it isnt an issue.

I have not played with any of the files or altered anything, have a clean install with the resource and reinforcements extras loaded in.

Thank you for the response though.... just one of those strange ones, will probably vanish next week with 0.8 .