So... Has anybody succeeded as Hayasdan yet?

[Watchman]

I dunno, I got off to a nice start by immediately blitzing Mtskheta (the reb town immediately to the north of Armavir) and then proceeding to the Black Sea coast. That huge stack of skirmishers and archers that hangs around whatwasitcalled, Trebizond or somesuch, that Greek-ish town in Pontos Paralios anyway, isn't a problem once it wanders into the town and has to try sallying in the face of spearmen and heavy FM bodyguard cav...

Between the added taxpayer base and troop attrition, that put the budget on the positive pretty soon. That one valley settlement SW of Armavir is similarly easy pickings actually, as long as you bring along enough manpower to see off the loose reb stack in the province. Although that one sometimes apparently goes pick a fight with the Seleukids or Pontics instead.

And stay the fig away from type 4 govs, the budget can't handle the merc-general wages.

Granted, this campaign was *greatly* faciliated by the willingess of Pontos to keep to themselves and the Seleucids being much too busy elsewhere to come bother me... well, before around the point their Levant front was finally collapsing in the face of dogged Ptolemaic aggression, the Baktrians were about to start disputing the ownership of Central Asia, and I was like ten turns away from qualifying for the Pan-Caucasus Reform...
Didn't take too much effort to convince their belated invasion to go somewhere else, an odd Thorakitai Agema unit in the stack or no. Now I'm actually starting to worry more about the Ptolies and the Baktrians who're already making moves against the Seleucid provinces around the Caspian...