20 hours in, none the wiser...

[MaChao]

First things first: I'm not the best grand strategy player around in general. So much of my experience is down to general incompetence on my part.

But no matter how much i tried, i just don't get the hang of this game.
Take the Sun Jian campaign during the Yellow Turban scenario, which the game denotes as on of the easiest scenarios:

A couple of turns in and i get swarmed by Y. Turbans from the west, capturing my territory with small armies and if i even dare to engage, get swarmed by 10-20k units out of the blue.
Due to the limited resources you start with, you inevitably lose the race to the south, again, to the Y. Turbans.

A couple of turns in, He Jin asks me to attack the Y. Turbans directly and capture of of their cities.
There's simply no chance this can be accomplished and thus, i'm more or less forced to take the hit in relationship with He Jin as well.

I tried to get the hang of it for 20 hours.
I watched the few YT LP's for it out there, i read up guides and hints on forums and while i now have a much better grasp at the games more intricate features, the results are largely the same.

Am i supposed to take the advice of "Ignorring the Y. Turban situation" literally, abandoning ship in my starting area and moving south by any means necessary?

[Ring & Chime]

The Sun Jian scenario is not actually the easiest. That's a lie on the part of the game.

[Jor]

The Sun Jian difficulty rating is complete BS.

[Vin362]

The starting rating for Sun Jian is given is due to the free cities he can claim which does not mean he is easy, in fact the first two scenarios the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the Anti-Dong Zhuo coalition I found to be the hardest in the game.

One thing you can try to do is to see if the Yellow Turbans have any governors with low loyalty that you can use the Unattended Home plot to get one of them to declare independence this will give them a target to attack which in turn should give you some room to attack, another thing is to remember that for the post part the Yellow Turban generals aren't the smartest so if you get attacked check suggestions to see if you can restrain, burn or confuse a unit to try to gain the upper hand.

[XYZEXPIRED]

Okay, to test it out for you guys, I started to play Sun Jian on Yellow Turban. First couple turn and I already know how to manipulate them if you want to get an upper hand first. Otherwise you can play as normal with some suggestion like Vin362 said.
I will try to add mine in a little bit since I haven't got attack yet, and He Jin doesn't sit around either so I don't know how you going to get swarm in a couple of turn.
Okay, first battle and I was stupid thinking I would lost but I forgot Sun Jian is a hero in Yellow Turban time.
1. Use Sun Jian, Huang Gai, and Cheng Pu. Compare to Yellow Turn, they are more capaple than the rest of those and there aren't that many YT general.
2. The more they spread out, the better, they aren't your ally so it is much better to fight them as your ally also fight them. Always remember, they aren't Cao Cao, to fight Cao Cao, you will have a hard time already as the Xiahou generals already give you a hard time. These YT are like ants :), they bite but no sting for long.
3. Within 1st year or 2nd year, because they still enemy with the Han so any captured YT leader will be executed, Zhang Jiao got executed on mine in JUL of 184, not even a year in game yet :D.

[Ger]

If i managed to open the can with Ding Yuan and won after a long long struggle, you can make it with Sun Jian, bro. Just try another approach. It is evident you must pincer the Yellow Turbans with He Jin while you search or poach enemy officers each turn.

With officers such as Sun Jian, Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, Han Dang, Zu Mao and all the free officers the Jiangdong region that could eventually join you, you will be ready to counter Zhang Jiao after several turns.
Of course, Sun Jian is a small faction, but if you conquer 4 or 5 south cities, use your rear cities as supply bases and take with you your best generals to the front, you will be (slowly) able to neutralize the Yellow Turbans. Try to capture their champions, but if they are always at Loyalty 100 kill them until they end armless and unable to deploy capable people. Like i said, you must persevere several hours to make your desired advance.

I wanted to use Sun Jian himself, but my dear Yuan Shao was first 🤣