Insubres

The Insubres are a medium-sized Gallic faction, located in the Po Valley at the northern edge of the map.

Its starting neighbours are the Ligures, Cenomani and North Etruscans.

In-game Description
"The Insubres are the earliest known Gallic tribe to exist south of the Alps, a trend which would be followed often enough for the area to become known as "Cisalpine Gaul", or "Gaul on this side of the Alps" long after the Gauls there were Romanized.

Livy describes the Insubrian traversal of the Alps as the surplus population of six Gallic tribes led by Bellovesus, son of the Biturigian king Ambicatus' sister. Bellovesus founded Mediolanum after driving the Etruscans out of the area. Modern scholarship doubts this, archaeological remnants hinting more towards a gradual celticization of the local Golasecca culture rather than an actual migration from Gaul."

Starting Cities

 * Mediolanum:
 * Comum:
 * Golasecca:
 * Ticinum:
 * Acerrae:

Historic Starting General
When playing this faction in a sandbox setting, the player may choose to start with the following pre-defined historic general instead of a generic one. These characters usually have far better bonuses than can be obtained with the generic starting generals.

Strategy
Though the multitude of rivers in the area could theoretically serve as defensible borders if fortified with walled bridges, the rivers have a large amount of crossings that would need to be fortified and it may be easier to simply secure your borders through diplomacy.

Any of your neighbours can be a viable first target for expansion, but annexing the Ligures first is a good choice if you want to keep the amount of bordering factions that need to be managed down to a minimum, since their territory sits in a corner of the map and is also largely shielded by the Apennine Mountains.

Trivia & History

 * As referenced in the in-game tooltip, the Insubres were the first and most important Gallic tribe to exist south of the Alps. Unlike the other Gallic tribes in the area (i.e. the Cenomani, Boii, Senones and Lingones), the Insubres do not have any known related tribes outside of Italy, and it's possible they originated in Italy itself as a fusion of local Ligurian and Celtic elements with Gallic influences, rather than being an originally Gallic tribe that migrated across the Alps.
 * The Insubres entered conflict with Rome in the 220s BC, when they allied with the Boii and Gaesatae to resist Roman expansion. The Romans won the initial conflict, but the Insubres and Boii used the Second Punic War of 218-203 BC as an opportunity to revolt and align themselves with Carthage. The Romans redoubled their efforts to annex Cisalpine Gaul after the end of that war, and the Insubres decided to cease their resistance and ally with Rome in 194 BC, in return for maintaining some autonomy.
 * The faction icon depicts a stylized lion, the exact design of which featured on ancient coins found in Cisalpine Gaul.