antony and cleopatra had greater numbers of troops (i.e. 100,000 men) and ships (i.e. 800 vessels) than octavian, who reportedly had 200 ships and 80,000 men. however, the crews of antony and cleopatra's navy were not all well-trained, some of them perhaps from merchant vessels, whereas octavian had a fully professional force. antony wanted to cross the adriatic sea and blockade octavian at either tarentum or brundisium, but cleopatra, concerned primarily with defending egypt, overrode the decision to attack italy directly. antony and cleopatra set up their winter headquarters at patrai in greece and by the spring of 31 bc they moved to actium along the southern ambracian gulf. with this position cleopatra had the defense of egypt in mind, as any southward movement by octavian's fleet along the coast of greece could be detected.