BLUE DANUBE, THE LAST WALTZ.

Around 435AD, Attila, the "Scourge of God" became the leader of the Hun nation, a warlike nomad tribe with it's origin in Mongolia. The Huns swept all over the Eurasian continent and made all ancient empires tremble as they went. For centuries nobody could stop them and now they are ready to crush the Roman Empire.

In this scenario, which starts just before the ascension of Attila in 435AD, the player must recapture the lost province of Dacia, as the Goths have fled the area for the Hun threat and the east-roman emperor chooses to pay tribute subsidies to the Huns in a cowardly manner, hoping to avert them to the western empire and with succes.

The Hun headquarters are very near, so many of their patrols will pay a visit for an urn or two of wine. Luckily this country is rich of iron ore, so a handsome half dozen of legions can take care of that easily. Furthermore, the rugged terrain with rivers and mountains will give ample opportunity to pull some tricks if the invaders seem to overwhelm the legions.

Money can be a problem as the government in Rome keeps raising wages, inflation and civic unrest pushing them up. Trading with roman cities and the local natives will solve that problem, weapons being the main staple. Expect trade routes to get interrupted on a regular basis, the turmoil of war has dire effects on the upkeep of roman roads. Iron mines will collapse too, as engineers are not that well trained in these remote parts.

Gladiators are likely to revolt at some stage, the living conditions finally getting to them. Favor with Rome is virtually no item here, as the weak puppet emperors have their own problems, they don't expect this mission to succeed anyway. There are some distant battles to deal with though, failure to send armies to the rescue could have serious repercussions, the legions in the west know what to do with traitors.

Culture isn't expected either, after all this is the outback of the empire and a rough uncivilized region. There is no population target, if you think about it, it's not even likely immigrants will come to this wretched country. Peace and prosperity must reach rates of 70 though, and it should be done before the last emperor dies in Rome, 476AD.

I recommend this scenario to anybody who finished both campaigns and is looking for a military and economic challenge.