Africans/Strategic Overview

The African military machine, shorn of supplies from the mother country, would be the weakest but for its base of mercenaries. In fact, it can be argued, this faction is probably the most dependent on mercenary units for its survival, since it can't recruit any good units from the major buildings.
 * Strengths: Strong set of mercenary units.
 * Weaknesses: Very dependent on Wealth to survive, no good heavy cavalry, very poor economy.

Fortunately for the African player, these mercenaries consist of some very specialised units: German Nobles, Berber Auxilia, and light Berber Tribesmen all do well in fleshing out your armies. which consist of the lower orders of the Byzantine roster. However, this seeming ability to fend off almost any attack belies the high cost the Africans must suffer in Swords of the Prophets. While this vast and colourful melange of military expertise can seem intimidating, in reality, the African mainstream army is severely hampered technologically — there are no major buildings such as Constabularies or Magistracies. Nor do they enjoy the benefits of elite units, making the African faction very dependent on Wealth.

Moreover, mercenaries are costly, making them a great economic burden for the Africans since the Africans have no good economic bonuses to speak of. The Africans do have the benefit of having the full Roman roster of warships as their Byzantine overlords, but apart from that, there is very little that will benefit them in the way of a proper land army that can be used to actually seize and hold ground. The Africans are thus confined to maps where water and rare resources are abundant, with the hope that resource patches such as Fish, and other goodies such as Amber or Diamonds can funnel Wealth into the African war machine.