I've been thinking of the split stacks and imagining how that would work.

At the game at Archon, we had 10 players on the easternmost side, what if we had two more, and then had to use split stacks? Obviously, Nubia would be added (back fill), and Hatti would be the next logical.

By the map, Egypt, Hatti & Assyria are western, rest are Eastern. So, those three would draw from the western stacks, and the other 9 nations from the eastern.

Or should we divide the nations in half (roughly) to not give an unfair advantage? I would rather be in the eastern nations in that example - most of each set will be coming out and it will much easier to complete a book.

Admittedly this is an extreme example, but it is more than possible (the flip side from the west: 9 western + babylon,nubia,saba?)

Worst case, a maximum of 3 would need to be moved from west to east (12 players.)

My fix ==> Add a section 2.23 in the Scenario book, discussing splitting the nations between east and west for 12 players. Split as evenly as possible, leaving the odd nation reflecting what you started with. Example: If you have 13 nations, and 9 are normally east, go with 7 east and 6 west. (There's probably a much better way of wording this.) Or just leave it up to the players to decide at the time, giving just the "move nations from west to east trade stacks to balance the nubmers of players between them."

Good Point! I'll add it in next update.