Hayasdan is a lot of fun. Essentially you have almost no money and as soon as you capture 2-3 slave towns that are your neigbhours the Selucids will try to destroy you. But fortunately you have access to Horse Archers so even though he has pretty beefy phalanax troops you can, through superior tactics, really make a lot of Heroic victories...I've been playing, until a stupid CTD at the gates of Selucid capital, for a bout a day and it is quite enjoyable. Especially when you run into a bunch of pikemen and your HA just chew them up.