Behold the Pontic Empire:
As you can see, I started as a OPM and obviously expanded at the expense of my weaker, fellow minors. As for Greece and Asia Minor, that required
5 wars that I have chosen to call the Pontic Wars, in which I fought the three Greek powers of the Antigonid, Cassandrian, and Lysimachid Kingdoms.
Early on, I became a faithful ally to the Antigonid Kingdom, which was also allied to the Cassandrian Kingdom and other Greek minors. We fought the
Lysimachids in a war in which the Antigonids gained a few provinces. The second time was the First Pontic War.
After expanding in the east, I declared war and called in my allies. I gained a few provinces and called the war a success. I returned to conquering
and rid the world of the eye-sore that is the Bosporan Kingdom. Earlier, the Antigonids and the Cassandrians had fought a war against the barbarians
on the Black Sea coast and the Antigonids gained the eastern half of the coast while the Cassandrians gained one lone province in the Bosporus.
So I promptly initiated the Second Pontic War.
The Antigonids were wise and dishonored their alliance with the Cassandrians; the Lysimachids not so much. I annexed the Cassandrian Kingdom
in its entirety. Soon afterwards, the Lysimachids allied with the Antigonids. This only made it more difficult for me when I launched the Third Pontic War.
Nearly all of Greece was against me: minors and island nations, even Sicily. Eventually we fought to a stalemate. So I had to settle for kicking the
Antigonids out of the Bosporus. Epic wars can be exhausting, so I took a break: you may have noticed Egypt.
Some time before this, I allied both Egypt and the Seleucids, which provided me a secure eastern frontier. For those of you wondering:
no, I didn't call them for help at any time. Why? I'm invincible, you see; I can't be vinced. Egpyt had civil war troubles that soon became
Lower Egypt problems and Egypt was left with the provinces in the south. Like a good friend, I offered a hand and conquered the problem.
After that short distraction, I resumed my conflict with the Antigonids.
It was the most successful war ever; not a province was spared. I reduced the Lysimachids to their capital in Chersonesus (Taulanti had fun)
and gained the Antigonids Black Sea coast provinces. But that was only the fourth war; the fifth dealt the fatal blow.
In the Fifth Pontic War, the Antigonid Kingdom was reduced to two provinces in Greece and its possessions in the Far North,
the minors of Greece were annexed, and all island nations in the Eastern Mediterranean, except Crete, were neutralized. The only other survivor
of the Antigonids' Greek Coalition was Sicily.
Now that it was all smooth sailing, I showed Carthage who's boss and told the Seleucids to take a hike after sending me a call to arms.
I even conquered Lower Egypt, but persistent crashes kept me from getting the screenshot. At some point I won a civil war and
narrowly avoided a second.
A few things to note:
The barbarian powers in the west: Arveni in lower France probably being the strongest.
Sicily is the undisputed power of the middle Mediterranean(being allied to the Antigonids was useful).
Rome's dead: being sandwiched between Arveni and Sicily was a precarious existence.
Thanks for your time.
Awesome mod.