Horde Option...

[antisocialmunky]

The only ones I can see hordes from the EB period* are the Cimbri and the Celtic Invasion into Italia with those Gaesaetae.

Yuehzi might work though if the EB team is going to make them as an unplayable force of nature.

*I want to see this in a scholarly paper.

[Ludens]

The only ones I can see hordes from the EB period* are the Cimbri and the Celtic Invasion into Italia with those Gaesaetae.

If you are thinking of the battle of Telamon, that was a raid, not a migration.

I don't think the EB team is against the horde option itself, but against the mechanism that spawns a huge army regardless of the strength of the faction prior to being forced out. Also, migration of a tribe generally occurred when it was displaced, not when it simply was conquered. Roman conquests did not cause hordes, yet in BI a faction will always form a horde when defeated. If this mechanism is different in M2:TW, I am sure the team is considering it.

[Watchman]

The Celts *did* "horde", though, as the big ruckus that left the Galatians in Anatolia and wrecked much of Makedonia and Hellas can attest to. That was what, ten years before the EB start date...
Their standard method of dealing with overpopulation or somesuch, I understand.

Other instances I can think of off the top of my head would be the Celtic migration over the Alps into the Po valley a century or few earlier, and more in the timeframe, the abortive Helvetii relocation that Caesar rudely canceled.

[Zarax]

The horde mechanism can be toned to historical standards too, the main problem is that it's really, really hard to balance.
In most cases getting it to realistic proportions would give a very weak horde, that while challenging if you're the player transforms the mechanism from being a threat to a mere annoyance.

That said, one of my best moments ever was when I made an XGM migration campaign as gauls.
Hording the faction and going all the way to India before resettling was truly epic, as it was being ultimately crushed by baktrian elephants...

[Irishmafia2020]

the "Horde"option definitely exists, as it is a feature of several MTW2 mods that the factions horde upon losing their last settlement, and thus are not dead until their final defeat. I think that the option fits well for barbaric factions in the EB time period, and I hope that it is implemented. A horde doesn't have to represent a giant roving tribe, but can instead can be the last faithful members of the military and government fleeing with their king to escape the invasion. Think about Darius III flight after his defeat at Gaugamela, or even the guerrilla war carried out by the Persian Satrap Bessus - those actions could be represented by "horde" like activities in the game.