Well my first battle against them went well, so I then besieged a city of theirs. Well next turn I was attacked, and was utterly slaughtered. That was 10 years ago and Im still deadlocked with them. They have won 7 out of 8 field battles, and I have beaten back 2 sieges.
I tried to figure out what it was that made them so good, I had defeated greeks carthaginians and gauls yet these men could not be beaten. Well they ahve those ultimate soldiers the heavy hoplitae who are absolutely amazing (I started a campaign as Illyria and I have never had them rout, and only once were they defeated, in which they were killed to a man.) and very resistant to missiles. They also have the barbarian shock effect, and i realized that what made them effective was the ability to just totally rush in and bash my men and then attack with the heavier soldiers. And no enemies would rout because they had 4 or 5 units of eagle carrying hoplitae.
Any strategies ot beat this? Also for those hwo have this what is your favorite faction and strategy.