Slitherine

I ran a solo game of Maccabeans vs Seleucid's. The fast moving offensive spear where deployed in the middle and made 90 degree turns and got out of the way of the Pike, forcing the issue on the flanks. They traded units with the cataphracts before the pike could intervene.

I think MF Offensive Spearmen used aggresively will be a lot of fun to play. When the Cats break off they don't move far enough away and can be run down esp if they are Disr or Fragged.

Bad dice by a pike block finished the Seleucids, as well as some horse archers into some elephants.

Ian

I have some advice. I'm not that experienced with this game, but this advice comes from a few others I've played.

We are playing a battle (not a siege) so in our imaginary world of Seleucus vs the Illyrians, the Illyrian King, chief or whatever has decided to risk a battle against Seleucus, and has commanded you -- FoG player #1 to lead the army. Perhaps the grain hasn't been harvested yet and there is no food for longterm siege, perhaps there are no city walls capable of withstanding the advanced techniques of the Hellenes. It doesn't really matter why. To save the Kingdom (?) you must beat them in the field (of glory).

If you want to win with Illyrians (Thracians etc), you'll have to play beyond the match-ups. When you are outclassed in a straight fight ... don't fight straight. It can be instinctual for players to find a place to "hold up" until the storm passes, sitting on a hill, in the woods or somewhere else. But you can't really win this way, you can only postpone your defeat (perhaps indefinitely). Besides, wouldn't behind city walls be a much better place to do this?

You need to make yourself an advantage. I'd go for a trap.
Sun Tzu would say (I'm paraphrasing) " Make yourself strong, but appear weak".
The Seleucid player knows that he outclasses you, and he'll be looking for the good match-ups. Use this against him.
Give him some bait, a BG of MF in the open will do nicely, and put them somewhere deep on your side of the board. Place some BGs in stronger positions (hills, woods) to keep him from concentrating too much, and save some inconspicuous BGs for the trap. When Seleucus overextends himself trying to get to that juicy treat, you snap the trap shut. These should be flank attacks from "ambush" and unexpected manouvers (have a commander handy for the CMTs). The rest of your army holds out as long as they can while the trap closes. Pike really suck when "flanked".
The differences aren't that dire, MF offensive spear should likely hold out against pike for a while, so you may have a few turns to close the trap. Do it discretely, and ensure he can't interfere with your "trap-closers"

Another option, Outflanking March.
The best part about this tactic is the distraction it can cause. Seleucus will likely hold a bigger reserve if you are rolling dice for the arrival. Another (less reliable) way to hide the trap-closers is with this tactic. Put you bait close to an edge and hope it works. I'd have a plan B with this one.
You could always try a bigger outflanking march. You may lose some stragglers , but the dice may favour you well enough. You will outnumber him in bases, he might not have enough of a reserve to stop them all, especially if you've set up some suitable bait on table!

You may be able to bait him with good terrain too. I've seen players overextend themselves to get to a hill first (and I've done it myself).

Better yet, try many of these things at once. Seleucus' simple mind will be overloaded if he can see a good hill he wants, an easy kill far ahead, some ambush markers, a potential outflanking march and Illyrians everywhere. He'll make a mistake, and then he's yours.