Macedonian Aid

[PJJ]

I always tend to play Gallic Aid at the early phase of the game because I want to get large numbers of fierce Gauls to join my army as fast as possible. But what about Macedonian Aid? Is it worth the two cards it takes to get Philip's army against the Romans?

I'm not expecting Alexander the Great, but do the Macedonians stand a chance against Rome? Or must Hannibal be kept nearby to watch their backs? If they aren't completely helpless, maybe they could be useful in disrupting Roman recruiting in the east, making Hannibal's job a little bit easier.

[Brutus]

If you have already two Macedonian Aid cards, give it a try. Their units are very strong (the strongest in the game I think) and can take much damage. And you get an additional leader in Italy, what is always helpful. If you keep Hannibal with the main army in the field, ready to intercept, while Mago and Philip besiege cities, you can take over provinces fast and with few or no losses. Philips army is even strong enough to besiege cities with Roman armies inside that will sally out before they starve. And Philip is strong enough to hold a city while Hannibal is elsewhere, e.g. Ancona.

Two things you have to consider:
- The Romans can take away all Macedonian forces with one single card. So I try to bring Philip in play when I know the Romans have no or few cards left.
- If you don't have both Macedonian Aid cards but only one, it may be better to play its other option. The four ships you get with the first card are not worth it, as they can not leave the eastern waters to combine with your fleet.

[PJJ]

I finally managed to play the full Macedonian Aid today. I often had one card available, but was lucky today and had two almost from the beginning. The fleet isn't very useful, but the Macedonian infantry is superb - they hit hard and can take a lot of damage before dying. I was somewhat surprised that Philip's leadership rating is only 5, but his troops are so tough that it didn't seem to matter much.

The Macedonians helped me to storm a couple of cities and killed a bunch of Romans, but after only two turns the AI played a card that removed Philip's troops from the game. So while the Macedonians are certainly useful, you can't expect them to stay in Italy for long and give you support for many turns. I don't know how common that removal card is for the Romans, maybe I just had really bad luck when they played it so quickly. The Gauls are more reliable.

Wouldn't mind seeing some more Macedonians in the future. Maybe the next game is about Alexander the Great? [:D]