The Struggle is Real: Is Thrace the absolute worst faction? (Thrace vs Numidia)

I’ve been doing a deep dive into the Thracian roster lately, and man... it’s a depressing experience. We always talk about Numidia being the bottom-tier king, but Thrace is giving them a serious run for their money.

Here’s a breakdown of why playing Thrace feels like a slow descent into madness:

The Ranged Support: Your Peltasts are basically a gold sink. They don't hit hard enough to matter unless you’re fighting chariots in a narrow street. Archers are mediocre at best—low range, average damage, but you’re forced to bring them because they’re your only real source of consistent damage.

The Front Line: You’re basically carried by Phalanx Pikemen. They’re decent value for the early game, but once you hit the late game? Forget it. High-tier Roman cohorts and heavy cavalry just breathe on them and the formation breaks. If you get rear-charged, it’s game over.

The Elite Infantry: Everyone talks about Bastarnae, but honestly? They’re overrated. High attack means nothing when their armor is paper-thin. I’d take Falxmen over them any day, at least they can survive a melee and actually help during a siege. Plus, let's be real, the Bastarnae models look kind of ridiculous.

The Cavalry (or lack thereof): Thrace’s cavalry is basically a joke. It’s like they aren't even trying.

The Comparison: The common argument is that Thrace is better because their infantry is stronger than Numidia’s. Sure, Numidia’s best legionaries are roughly equivalent to Roman Hastati and can’t hold a candle to a Phalanx. However, Numidia at least has Longshields and Camels. Thrace has... nothing.

When you’re facing endless waves of late-game Praetorian cohorts, Thrace is exhausting. Auto-resolve is a guaranteed death sentence, so you have to manually fight every single grindy defensive battle just to survive.

So, what do you guys think?