It was similar in the expert Danish campaign you advised me on Adrian (which I still need to see about transfering to my laptop, now where did I put those writable CDS). That campaign was the reverse, with the BYZ and the Alomonds having large armies until I decided to build up a military with new tech I had built (previously playing mostly defense). I later found out the opposite, after sweating with beating the Alomonds and then the Byz terminating much of my trade , I spanked the Byz in several provinces and found they had stretched themselves thin, though I am sure they have plenty of troops that have retreated before my expanding armies . Unfortunately, I am hardly 1 million to the good, more like close to going in the hole. But, MTW, gotta love it when the AI throws you for a loop.