I was actually still referring to ToB in my previous post. I only used Rome II as a comparison.
Although the fact that, like myself, you also enjoy Rome II (at least after the patches) was one of the reasons I used that game as an example.
Incidentally, I did play a little ways into a Circenn campaign yesterday. While I've not run into any problems yet (it's still too early), I can already see (or at least guess) a couple reasons why they might be more difficult, and hence why
judgedredd was having a hard time with them. If nothing else, it appears to me as if Circenn's position and geography could be rather...challenging.
It's yet further evidence -- not that any is needed, as far as I'm concerned -- that faction difficulty ratings in Total War games are pretty meaningless.