Caspia was given three objectives by the umpire:
It all started with numerous hard negotiations between various nations. Surrounded by almost every nation in Hyboria it was vital that a solid alliance was formed. The latini were the obvious choice but it soon became clear that their intentions towards Caspia were quite hostile.
This left us with Hyrcanum who, by using a Hyrcanum-Latini coalition as a doomscenario, insisted on the Hyrcanum occupation of Gauzania.
In the end we decided that Gauzania was to be a joint dependency, but that Iberi had to become Hyrcanian. Not the best of alliances and at a great cost, but for the moment I was safe in the north.
Because of the death of the Gandusian king, the invasion of Gandus went smoothly. By the time Trebia had fallen, Hyrcanum had already taken over two cities, Zagrus the third. Only Brumagara was left at my mercy. Unfortunately the complete remainder of the Gandus army now rested in Brumagara. It was only through subtle negotiations that I persuaded the My-Hat-Ma to join the Um council and thus avoided any fighting at all. Brumagara and it's army became mine without a scratch.
At this point in time the failed Samarian-Latini attack took place. I was in no shape for immediate retaliation but I used diplomatic pressure to lessen the influence of the Iulian church in Artagera. I put pressure on Samaria to insure a safe border, which in the end resulted in the formation of the BIP (Bokhara Independence Party). The invasion was also the excuse I needed to agree with Hyrcanum, who was already for some time insisting on a joint strike against the Latini. Up till then (and even untill their assault on Trebia) I had my restrictions as it ment foreign armies crossing Caspia, which is always a risk
In the mean time I build a huge fleet to take care of those bloody pirates and in the process managed to wipe out Gauzania.
Talks between the Latini and the Laconicans offered the suggestion of taking Labdalon. As this is a perfect port to put pressure on Bartaventumnium directly, I agreed. I didn't trust either of them but believed to be able to deal with them.
Needless to say that I was wrong.
The invasion of Trebia by the Latini, presented us not only with the excuse but also with the need to destroy the Latini. First part of the retaliation was the attack on Colchis, which although successful resulted in an endless disastrous siege. The Batavi were persuaded to attack their former ally and the battle of Artagera was imminent. Perfect co-ordination of both Hyrcanum and Caspian armies, the positioning of the Manus Minor in the Latini rear, led to a glorious victory. With the complete army gone, Latini will soon fall.
Latini lay at our mercy, with its complete army gone, it could not stop us. At best he could slow us down which he did very well. Laconican diplomats were selling us a backstabscenario. We did not take any note of it, victory was ours with our without Laconican aid. If there had been Laconican troops in Rubiconium they would have been attacked. If they had take Bartaventumnium, all the better we would have kicked them out later. At this point Caspia was still set on the complete destruction of Latini.
And then suddenly Sinister Grassus was expelled out of the senate! As Caspia, in fact had to be friends with the Latini, the entire reasoning of Caspia going to war against Latini was to rid it from that vile dictator Grassus! Therefor I needed a new good excuse to carry on. On top of that, by some act of fate my armies were in a perfect backstab position. I could destroy the complete Hyrcanum army with insignificant losses.
After a long time of contemplation I decided to turn on my former ally. One of the main reasons was the increased surrounding of Caspia by Hyrcanum which eventually would lead to inevitable tensions.
Covering my intentions by bribing journalists of Hyboria today and barbarian tribes, I managed to wipe away the entire army.
It was a fun campaign and I even did well, according to my objectives :-) (luckily not too many DBM battles were fought :-))