Strategy and tactical tips are sound, definitely disbanded cavalry (one unit!) first off and have being using battle tactics advised.

I believe my problem is that I'm on VH/VH, but after so long playing this way I cant go back to Hard/Medium - does the game really 'work better' on these settings or is it just easier? I've lashed the Roman and Carthaginian campaigns out of it on these settings so why not Pontos?

And finally, can you point me to a thread about playing on BI? And is it worth it playing via BI, I mean in terms of AI?

Many many thanks for the tips!