for anyone interested...I reinstalled everything and the baktrians are back w/a vengence. Ive played the past two days. The really interesting thing tho is the big rebel army in the passes south of sulek. on the first day i played after the reinstall i played 2-3 campaigns as saka and that rebel army was actually a help to me as they blocked the baktrians for awhile at least. the second night i played however (another 2-3 campaigns) that same reb army frustrated me from taking sulek (they would either attack me directly or sulek 2-3 turns after i would take it)...interesting. I always play vh/vh, and my first 20 or so moves as saka are pretty much scripted.

any feedback appreciated

ps. this is not a complaint, in fact I love this type of thing happening...keeps the game interesting.