The conflict between the Populares and the Optimates is, to my knowledge, the first serious civil war of Rome. It is triggered by the conflict between the Populares – “knights” from petty families – and the Optimates – the Patricians. As the mighty Mithridates knocks at the Roman limes with the anniliation of the Bithynite (Roman allies) and the murder of 80 000 Roman citizens in Ephesus, the Senate calls for the veteran Sulla to solve the situation. Unfortunately, the Populares do not take lightly that their favorite is ignored – and thus started, at the same time, both “Sulla’s first civil war” and the “first Mithridatic War”.The game explains it better than I do :Let’s have a look at the situation in february 87 :In the East, the situation is extremely poor :Under the Pontic onslaught, most Roman possessions in Thracia are gone. The only cities left are from Roman client-states : Byzantium (a Greek city by that time) and Rhodus (also Greek, under an heavy blockade) and further away, Antiocha (under control of our allies the Seleucids). The Pontic have literally several hundreds of thousands of soldiers to throw at me.The blockade of Rhodus is too strong to force for now : the “power” of my fleet is less than 500, versus more than 600 for my opponents. For a land battle, this would be a fairly low difference and I could hope to pull it out with better commanders or on favorable terrain – but in naval matters, not so much. [More about power, naval battles, blockades later]In Italy, the situation is not better :While I hold about 50% of the territory, including Rome, I “only” have 4 legions in Italy ; and 3 of them are locked, probably wondering which side they should join. Rome is opened, with only a few auxiliaries and the city militia to protect it. I have only one legion really active, in the South, trying to quell some rebels.Spain, Africa and Sicilia are firmly under Populares control, and they will use them as a base of recruitment for their forces (AJE has an economy, just like RUS for instance, so the more territory you hold, the more troops you can have. This is accentuated by the fact that you need to pay your troops each turn, and by the fact that there is a “maximum” recruitment by region – but more on this later as well)As you can see, there is a very high number of factions. Some are actually under my control, even though for now I cannot do anything with them (Numidians, Egyptians, Seleucids), some are independants and are playing their own game (Lusitanians, Pirates, Samates)… and are more or less powerful.So, is everything desperate for me ? Not quite. While the situation is difficult, I have some major assets in my hands, and right now they are in Macedonia :Sulla and his huge army is there. At the beginning of the game, the Optimates have only two advantages, but big ones : they have the best commanders, and they have extremely powerful – and battle-hardened – legions, which can destroy Pontic forces 1 against 2. It is with these legions that I must build a “breathing space” which will allow me to recruit more, to match Pontic’s power and Populares’ economy.The Populares start with few troops, troubles with the Lusitanians but a powerful economy and the ability to build more legions, the Pontic start with lots and lots of troops, a very powerful economy, a navy that shines, only one dangerous neighbor (me)… but VERY major supply issues due to the number of soldiers they field.So, given this, what is my strategy ?As Rome cannot be defended, I plan to create that breathing space in Greece, by capturing the city-states that had the wrong idea to ally with Mithidates, and from then land in Sicily, take it, before liberating Rome. Of course, I will have to stop the Pontic dead in Greece, but I suppose I can manage to do this.In practice, here are my orders for this turn :I have also been building legions (2 new legions), garrisons in Italy and transport ships – the war will be long.Here are the new legions. I will do a point on building units later :And now, the first “beginner’s corner” :Beginner’s corner : Structure of commandThe basic of the game – and to the understanding of the AAR – is what my troops are made of, in the game.This should sum it up :The "highest” level is the stack, that I sometimes will call army (but remember that in other AGEOD games, an “army” is actually a group of several “stacks” with a common “commander-in-chief”).This stack is made of several units : from one to infinite (but it is not wise to have to many units in a stack). A leader is a unit, a group of supply wagon is another unit, and your rank-and-file soldiers are yet another units.Units are made of “elements”, which are the basic bricks of the structure of command. Sometimes, there is only 1 element : a leader unit has only one element (himself) for instance, sometimes there are plenty of them. The elements can be different, for instance a legion unit will have :- several cohort (infantry) elements,- one cavalry element,- one “HQ” element (“legatus legionis”)- sometimes an attached “leader” (here Quintus Hortensius).You cannot attach or detach elements freely from a unit, with two exceptions :- Leaders can be attached or detached from “rank-and-file” units of their nation to bring them bonus- Depleted units of the same type can be merged in some circumstancesFinally, each element has “strength points” (i.e. men / horses / ships). Those strength points (SP) are lost in battle, or due to attrition. When an element has no more SP, it is destroyed. When an unit has no more elements, it is destroyed as well. In the example given, the cohort has 10 SP. Since a full cohort has 600 men, it means 1 SP = 60 men ; the element will ALWAYS lose a multiple of 60 men. Actually, the number of men has no importance in the game, it is just an information to make the game more immersive, what is important is the number of strength points.Troops are defined by a lot of characteristics, but in 90% of the cases there is only a few you need to follow.Here is the description of a unit, as you can see on the lower part of the screen. I took a legion, because we like Rome for them, right ?: It would be boring without it, wouldn’t it ?: It is the “type” of the unit. Here it is infantry. Note that you can have several “types” of elements in an unit – for instance you have one element of cavalry and one of HQ in a legion, but you will only see the main type here.: How exhausted the unit is. The higher the cohesion, the better. It is an average of all the elements of the unit, and each element has its maximum (legionary cohort’s maximum is higher than the slingers maximum). Marching, fighting, or a long transport by ship will deplete this bar. Not doing anything will allow it to recover.: How many men are left in the unit, compared to the maximum men possible for the current number of elements in the units. It gets depleted by just about everything, including just minding your own business in a fort, due to desertion and illness.: An estimation of the strength of a unit in normal situation for their current health / cohesion. You can trust it, more or less, in open terrain. In difficult terrain, remember that your light infantry has little to no malus, while even though they look “powerful” the legions will fight at less than their power. Also, your phalanx are completely useless in marshes, mountains, …: It is the special “abilities” of the unit, in this case “Entrencher” and “Legion” (which actually means that the unit has a whole array of “sub-abilities” too long to list here. Also, if your unit does not want to leave a theater (Egypt, Numidia, …), which is common for Roman ally, it is going to be said here.