Beginner's Guide: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/n5-AZZdp1dHLiX0.html Small error here, Duke Nuno was NOT the individual to help create the Kingdom of Portugal. That would not be until 1139, and it would be Afonso Henriques! I apologize greatly for that. I'm pretty passionate about history, and was recording a little later than I should have haha. If you haven't picked up the game, you can grab it through my link here: www.nexus.gg/italianspartacus . This helps me out a TON as it gives a direct commission to the channel, and depending on what time you see this, a discount to you as well.

Important to note: You don't HAVE to become independant, it's perfectly fine to play as a vassal, it's a simulation that doesnt have to be about painting the map in your color

Rollo, you mentioned here, is not THE Rollo. The Rollo is in the Court in Traendheim, and he is the dynasty head of the House of Normandy at 867 start. Thank you for the helpful contents! I really like your videos!!

Just a note: the Battle of Tours was actually won by Charles Martel, not Charlemagne.

I would love to see a list of unlanded characters that you can land and then play as. El Cid comes to mind.

I am having a lot of fun playing "Last Jews of Africa" in Dembiya (Ethiopia) to be precise. As a small vassal in a kingdom of Abyssinia. Your liege has a hostile faith (Coptic) and also you're feudal surrounded by tribal nations.

Starting in 867 as the county of Vestisland in the Dutchy of Iceland is my personal favorite. The ruler, Auðr (hope I spelled that right, doing this off of memory), seems to live forever for me (70+) and she has the ability to really quickly take the Dutchy of Iceland right at the beginning. After that, expanding through the islands between Iceland and Norway and then contesting for the Kingdom of Norway is very fun. I find the viking starts to be very satisfying if you like a lot of action early on. However, Auðr is very gifted at Learning and I've been able to get 30+ learning on her in all my playthroughs. She is also Catholic and Norse in 867, which adds a really interesting element to conquering other Norse rulers since you have to work to install other Catholics as your vassals.

10:30 people maybe sometimes forget, you can marry a queen with a really high stewardship score and gain 2-3 to your domain limit.

The challenge of achieving to get the Archduchy of Austria starting as Ernst of Austria in 1066 is a really tough one in terms of diplomacy or intrigue other than most alternative starts. You get rewarded by having great succesion laws. Makes for an interesting non-aggressive campaigns.

Thanks for these and I hope you continue this as a series. I followed the Carolingian count playthrough and had a great time navigating the court diplomacy and intrigue to becoming a powerful duke then eventually king of France. Thanks!

One of the most interesting starts imo is playing as a member of the Habsburg dynasty in the 1066 start date, with the count of Argau, located around modern day Switzerland.

I love you. I've been craving for more

I strongly recommend playing as "Vijaya" for players looking for an extremely difficult but rewarding start. Vijaya is north of Guge (Tibet). They have holdings with oasis terrain, and the areas around the capital can have up to 7 holding spots. I start in 867 for this because it is a slow burn. You'll likely need your first couple generations to position yourself to pick apart your neighbors as they splinter apart. Has incredible late game play since India is conquerable and is pretty much the best area for wealth. One downside: You may get attacked almost immediately by Guge, which means you'll need to restart.

Cant wait to try these. You really deserve more subs your vids are so good

Thank you for your great video! Starting in Mazandaran and becoming the Saoshyant was pretty challeging and so much fun!!! btw I’m Persian and you nailed the pronounciation of Mazandaran!!

Hey ItalianSpartacus! I think a really hard and challenging faction that is often overlooked is the Norman Duchy of Capua in 1066. Usually people just play Apullia, also a Norman Duchy. The tough thing about Capua is you are pretty weak, and only start out with 300 levies. You really only have one area to expand to at the start as well, to Naples, since your northern neighbor is the Papal States and they can thoroughly crush you. You also have to directly compete with the house De Hauteville for Norman supremacy in Southern Italy.

This is a great video! Thank you, it will be cool to play as Rolo and the others to fallow their historical path.

THX for those incredible video, i went from clueless to a great ruler, i really enjoyed them

Informative video! I really wanted to draw attention to a certain unlanded character who could make a fun campaign, though, and I've really enjoyed so far. Really roleplay heavy, too. PROGENITORS OF PRUSSIA - In the 1066 start date, one Friedrich von Hohenzollern is a wandering character and the only member of his house. He would be otherwise uninteresting, if his house was not one that would become one of Europe's most famous as the Marcher Lords of Brandenburg, Dukes (and later Kings) of Prussia, and eventually in the 19th century Kaisers of Germany. This is more difficult to set up than playing as the Habsburgs, since the character is a landless courtier at start. It requires the use of console commands (which means your game must be in debug mode) just to give him land first and then switch over to him, so unfortunately no ironman. You choose any land you want, but I would recommend the Duchy of Veletia, on the northern coast of Germany. This can be done in two ways. The first is less console-heavy, but also means you miss out on real earlygame setup. Begin the game as the Holy Roman Emperor, Heinrich IV Salian, and invite Friedrich to your court, then declare a holy war for the Duchy of Veletia. You can make him the commander of your army, and afterwards you can roleplay rewarding him with the Duchy for his service. It will be renamed Nordmark under a German-culture ruler, and then you can switch over and begin your campaign as a vassal Duke of the HRE on its very fringe. Alternatively, you can start as any ruler and just use console to give him the land and switch over so you can play as him from day 1, swearing fealty to the HRE for protection from Scandinavian conquerors. In any case, from this point on, early game goals include defeating the Slavic Pomeranians and taking all of their land for your growing Marcher realm, and ultimately form the Kingdom of Pomerania. Afterwards, you can expand into the Duchy of Prussia (after I conquered Prussia, I renamed the Kingdom of Pomerania title to Prussia and moved my capital) and beyond into the vulnerable Baltics, though you will often have to contend with Scandinavian and Rus kingdoms. Or, alternatively, you can focus on internal HRE politics, building a powerbase within the HRE and vying for the Imperial throne yourself. Either way, you can lead the historical Hohenzollern dynasty to greatness!

Love these lists! Always want more.

The Count of Tirgoviste is super fun to try and form the Kingdom of Wallachia

Killing it with the CK3 content. 👍🏿

The Duke of portucale was one of my final CK2 campaigns, and I played tall, only allowing myself to hold de jure Portugal, while I tried to put my dynasty on as many thrones as possible. The only wars I allowed myself to join after I had the kingdom were crusades and defensive holy wars in Iberia. The campaign was a total blast

867 Makuria is a really fun start for tall play. You start as Feudal and have a bunch of cities and temples already built.

Great to see a second of these, the recommendations out there are scare. Would love to see more, not nessisarily all difficult, but just interesting.

Forming Portugal was one of my fav historical playthrough, it auto sets Lisbon as your capital as well! The hardest is quilling the muslisms down south

another good video. I love these start ideas. I don't feel like such a newb now and am looking for odd starts. I'm enjoying my current game where I started as the chieftan of Livonia (1066), conquered Estonia, Karelia, most of the Oulu, and a few more titles around the North Sea until I took on Sweden, then died. I had moved my capital to Uppland. One brother got the Baltic holdings, another got the Karelia holdings and as Heir I got the prime Swedish lands. Soon, the Kukk dynasty will rule the entire Baltic coast! I've got the Danelaw to my northwest, the danish to my east, Ruthenia looking rather ominous to my south and Poland to my southwest. No one wants to vassalise, so I'm resorting to conquering to keep them out of my enemies hands.

Thanks again for this awesome content. Keep it up dude.

Im currently playing and really enjoying Raymond of Toulouse in the 1066 start in Rouerge, your brother is your liege as duke of Toulouse and he is ready to be replaced. Raymond was also one of the famous leaders in the first crusade and became the count of Tripoli in actual history, theres actually a couple of famous first crusade characters in the 1066 start in France. the Rollo (Hrolfr) from the vikings show would be a guy under Count Rognvaldr of Traendheim (coastal Norway) in 867, he already starts out as de Normandie Dynasty, unfortunately not playable without some switch character fuckery tho

@ItalianSpartacus I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere yet, but Haraldr Fairhair of Vestfold (Harald Finehair from Vikings) is a fun and fairly easy start. You can unite and create the Kingdom of Norway as he did historically and all the de jure Jarldoms of Norway are splintered from Norway to Iceland. Once you create Norway, you are quite powerful and have armies that rival East and West Francia.

Ace video. Look forward to more historically referenced starting positions. Maybe some positions based in more ace available formables and decisions. Another idea for a video is what you would like to see in future content for ck3 .

Marrakesh was the 1st campaign I played and I have to cosign how crazy fun it was. From taking a large portion of Al-Andalus and usurping the Grand Emirate there is truly unlimited options for him. Ended up expanding all the way into Italy before ending that campaign

Playing as Count Vasak of Suenik in 867, was an interesting time. You have the threats of the Abbasids to the south, Byzantium to the west, and Khazaria in the north, constantly trying to push into your lands. I struggled to form Armenia but I was able to push southeast and form the kingdom of Daylam. It was a fun challenge that I found while doing a random ruler roulette with a friend.

Jarl Dyre "The Stranger" of Könugarðr is my favorite campaign start currently in the earlier time period; starting a campaign with the genius trait, but dealing with starting your own dynasty due to being a disinherited bastard from your Norse origins make for an interesting start in an area dominated by Russian culture and Slav religion

Fun facts about Mazandaran: I swear, in EU3 (yeah, old-man paradox here), this would just be a forever problem area of both a Timmy, or Ottoman paly through. Once you showed it on the map, I literally had the 'Nam flashback meme flash across my sight :D

I enjoyed my Zunbil campaign in 867. He's the last of his landed dynasty of obscure sun worshippers. He's in the county of bost as a vassal to the saffarids

Oki, your first charcter is wrong. That is not Rollo the Walker, the man who goes of to form Normandy. He is actually located in Trondheim (Trændheim) ingame. He is unfortuantly unplayable, and I hope the devs will make an event out of him some day.

If you want another for a list, not sure if anyone has mentioned him but there is Bouchard of Vendome in 1066. You start as a 1 year old count with dead parents and two half sisters that are slightly older than you but provide you with two heirs. You have some dynasty members to your south you could potentially rely and you're a direct vassal to the king but it also doesn't take much to become head of your dynasty or you could found a cadet branch as soon as you become old enough. I'd say its moderate difficulty probably easier than the last of the Karlings but still with some difficulty. You have to figure out how to punch up if you want to grow as most of the duchy of Orleans is controlled by the Duke of Champagne but you have some avenues like the potential for a couple of early claims from the pope. It is also a pretty solid start if you want to play a tall game. Overall maybe 6/10 but that depends on how you play as well.

Avenging the battle of tours is a really fun role play. I’ll have to try it out

A fun and fairly difficult one is starting as the high chief of balaton. You start as behind great movara as the head of culture for the Slovenians and early to mid-game goals are forming the kingdom Patagonia (1066 Hungary). Mid to late game goal is uniting all of the slavs. Kingdom of Bulgaria owns most of your land you need to form the kingdom of Patagonia and once you finally do form the kingdom, you have to defend against the Hungarian migration.

thanks king

@ItalianSpartacus (Count of Showa, Ethiopia) So just managed to grab pretty much the whole of Abyssinia in 20 years. 1. Went hard on diplomacy 2. Perks all on diplomacy too including the useful one that allows you to ally yourself with one person without marriage 3. Befriended potential foes 4. Swayed the African Papal head of religion (took me a while) 5. Had some luck! The head of Abyssinia died and his child took over 6. Put in a claim to the Pope on Abyssinia (had to make sure the Pope really like me first) and he finally agreed 7. Claimed Abyssinia and then declared war on the child! 8. Brought in my allies on Day 1 ! 9. Took Abyssinia! Also, had to manage direct conflict against those who also contested the child's right to the throne so brought my allies back in to help. NB: Early game married a woman who was heir to another land, which she inherited midway into my Papal swaying. She left my council...! Still married to her though haha!

I've tried the duke of Barcelona in 867 and it's really fun to try to get independence from the french king like in real life. There are also great options for expansion into southern France!

I follow your recommendation in last video and start as count Vermont. Pretty funny and quite RNG as you need piety to ask the pope for gold then hire mercenary to actually defeat fellow countiers. After 3 generation, I focus on schemer to get abduct and more intrigue, after that focus on stewardship to have a claim on Kingdom of France, abduct him and yeah, thing super smooth after that. 250 years now and my heir gonna unite catholic and orthodox as he inherit byzantine from his mother. The only weird thing is the renown, in 867, Karling already has 1,4k renown but somehow 200 years later it nothing, well-known level of splendor but dynasty legacies empty, other than that, truly a changeling campaign and quite satisfy when you recreate the Carolingian empire.

Ælla Oswulfson of Northumbria (Northern England) 867 is an interesting/extreme start suggestion. You begin being invaded from north and south by two vastly superior Viking neighbours that each outnumber you more than 5 to 1, on top of that other big Viking armies are raiding you. It seems all is lost. Until you notice Ælla starts with abnormally high intrigue and a full tree of intrigue perks... even if RNG smiles and you get the abduct skill, its still a challenging one.

The Count of Mazandaran, in your last section, is also of the Bavandid dynasty. Which is interesting because the Bavandids were a cadet branch of the Sassanid Dynasty, which was the ruling dynasty of the Persian Empire before the rise of Islam. So a cool objective as the Bavandids would to create basically the Neo-Sassanid Empire, and avenge the Islamic conquest of Iran and the destruction of the ancient Sassanid dynasty.

A really fun campaign start as well is Meath on the Irish Isles (playing as High Chieftain Aed mac Gormlaith). A tribal duchy in 867 that is secluded for the most part. HOWEVER, the biggest difference being the Sons of Lothbrok (Lodbrok technically) invasions that are going on make your new neighbors not as caring as surprisingly William the Conqueror. It's comparable to a hard mode version of the 1066 start in the duchy of Munster with Murchad. It's very hard though if the neighbors decide to pay you a visit. Another challenging aspect is the fact that Dublin is currently owned by one of those brilliant neighbors. Gives a diplomatic/marshal side to the game. ---- Ruler: High Chieftain Aed mac Gormlaith Family: 3 sons Married: Yes Alliances: None Government Type: Tribal Religion: Insular (Christianity) Culture: Irish Holdings/Titles: - High Chiefdom of Meath - Earldom of Ailech (county) Claims: - Earldom of Oriel (unpressed) - Earldom of Athlone (unpressed) ---- Notables: - Starts on secluded Irish isles - Starts with a duchy, and two counties (one vassal) - Early game alliances such as Gwynedd are possibilities - You aren't actually a strong leader, no extremely notable stats (under the notables section still) - Can form Ireland relatively quickly (holding it is a whole different story) ---- It isn't easy by any means, but you can conquer the Irish Isles pretty fast (pretty much need to) and form Ireland. The difficult part comes later when the brothers turn their attention to the Irish Isles.

MY favourite campaign so far was starting as Luxembourg in 1066, you're a HRE vassal, stuck between France and the HRE and it was a constant struggling trying to wiggle out space and expansion before going independent, restoring the kingdom of Lotharingia and establishing yourself as a power in Europe

I'm on my 4th game and seriously enjoying playing as Asturias! Only downside is there is a bit of RNG involved (Will West Francia bring her armies? Will the Umayyad collapse or centralize further?) But I feel like that mild RNG is an element in any start. Next gonna try out house Karen up in Gurgan but I've heard its brutal. Loving your content man keep it up!

Count Johan of Mallorca 867 is the hardest one. You start in two islands with 350 soldiers give or take, and the French Empire with 4k+ soldiers wanting to grab your island, the huge Sultanate in Spain with 3.5k soldiers and a few other 1k+ dukes in the coast of Africa waiting to pounce on you. I have literally started this playthrough at least 15 times. Right now is the one where I got the furthest and it's cause I have a stewardship focus and can get money from my hooks, even so, I lost one of my smaller island and am completely secluded. Try this playthrough, you'll love it!

Another note with Mazandaran, the ruler is actually the decedent of the last Achaemenid rulers (the game says Achaemenid but technically it should be Sassanian I think). If you open up the family tree and start following through the paternal line you will eventually bump into your ancestral emperors. So it adds another layer of depth and the ultimate playthrough to restore the legacy of your ancestors and ultimately become the Saoshyant. Very cool, very difficult

I really enjoyed playing as Gilan, with is literally the neighbor of mazandaran. You starts as an independent, but you can (and I recommend you do) ask the abbasid empire to become a vassal. Its not that difficult of a challenge, since the abbasid empire is very powerful, so you will be protected, but when you will want to become independent, then you will have to fight that monster! Is a very fun campaign, try to unite all of Persia under your religion and becoming the chosen one, while you manage your liege who hates you for you religion and tries to convert your lands. It's a shame I was playing it in Ironman and suddenly my save become corrupted...

I’ve been liking Gallura in 867. It’s the Northern part of Sardinia. First step obviously is to press your claims on your father’s land to the south to form Sardinia and then you can go and take Corsica to form your Kingdom. From their I either expand towards Naples/Southern Italy or go North to try and make your own Sardinia-Piedmont. It’s also nice because the starting character is 18 and unmarried so you can Eudoka cheese if you feel like it and he gets random stats so different play throughout can feel totally different.

I've been having a lot of fun so far playing the Xing dynasty in far East Asia. You start as an independent feudal county, and tribal head, and you have a mix of tribal and feudal regions nearby, so you get raided a lot and have to manage that, and also have to manage giving out tribal regions to your vassals so theres plenty of learning opportunities too. You are weak to start with but there are 3 dukes bordering you so you can swear fealty to one for protection. Being on the edge of the map means that you don’t get surrounded by enemies, and there's really only the Mongols who are the biggest and they are a fair distance away. Also I'm not sure if its just my game, but pretty much every leader in Central East Asia is 47 years old.

Mentioned him in another video, but Dyre of Kiev (Konugardr) is a pretty solid, easy-tier choice. Good position to either try blobbing into a slavic-reformation or usurp Rurik's place as founder of Russia. Has a fantastic domain at game start and a great congenital trait (genius).

Being born and raised there I really enjoyed seeing beautiful Hälsingland go first! :)

Restoring pharaohnic egypt as the bejan kushite rulers in both startdates is really challanging yet fun

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!

My family actually claims descent from Rollo. Not sure how impressive that is considering it's been over a millennia since his death, but it's still kinda cool

I see you took my advice to form Portugal with Nuño. :P Being portuguese I find it hard to play any other campaign. :D Thank you for your videos, I've learned about CK3 from watching them.

I recommend Duke Bernard II of Barcelona at 867 start; vassal in West Francia. You're house head with 6 other cousins; one of which you can call into any war you start, and a marriage alliance with another duke in the realm you can also call into war. You have 4/6th of the Barcelona Duchy, only one vassal along with claims on Duchy of Mallorca, Toulouse and a few other counties within West Francia. You have the option of converting to Catalan culture at start which means you can play around with culture mechanics. You can take 2/3rds Duchy of Mallorca within first year of game start with dynasty alliance alone (no cost to prestige). Sardinia and its gold mine is also open to you, along with entirety of North Africa coast with holy wars. You have options to either stay as vassal as West Francia and can take over Toulouse, or stick with Barcelona /n Mallorca, or eventually break away and fight Uyyamids and try to go for Hispania, Maghreb, etc etc.. lots of possibilities due to holy wars. I'd rate it an easy difficulty start. Only one Duke wants your lone county of Poiters and aside from that you are free to build up your forces and focus on expanding your domain without worrying about Uyyamids fighting you.

i have not done a campaign as this guy yet, but i intend to do so soon, but i found a count in india who is the only person of his religion and culture. on top of that his liege is surrounded by bigger kingdoms or empires and remains as the last unreformed religion in the area. this start is ngap na hang of darmdin in 867, located next to nepal

The start with norse Uppland in 1066 is actually done on KZfaq by "Many a true nerd" and it became a REALLY fun and interesting campaign. I highly recommend checking it out! :)

good stuff

Ireland Ormond 867. You've got to deal with all the other counts vying for control around you, and contend with the constant thread of the Vikings, whilst still be tribal yourself.

My current playthrough is a pretty wild ride for someone fairly inexperienced with the intricacies of the game, definitely learning a lot as I go 😅😂 I started as the Duke of upper Lorraine, vassal in the HRE, and married Matilda of Tuscany right out of the gate (I think a divorce from an elderly wife was in order). It's a bit of a challenge without a wife and the stat boosts present, but while upper Lorraine starts with smallish amount of troops, Tuscany will always assist in any wars. Your heir will inherit a fairly sizable, if disjointed, domain. From there it gets fun to combine them in a coherent whole, get some prestige from crusading, and if you do as I do and get involved in a rebellion against the emperor, if you're powerful enough you'll end up with the emperor's crown by the third generation. I guess technically it could've happened in two but my character died from being too fat just before the war ended 😂😂

Can you check out "Gallura" in 867, south of Italian Empire and West of the Papacy? I chose this Judike on a whim for one of my first play throughs, and I think it's worth a shot from someone who can play the game better than I could. What makes Gallura really interesting to me is the fact that your father ( and your heir) owns the land south of you. You're on good terms, but will always declare war on you first for your lands... The other counties owned by your father are split up between you and your brothers, so its a power struggle between the father and the 3 sons, and is almost always a nail biter.. It gives new players a taste of what war can be without really overwhelming someone. As soon as you get the whole island, you have to compete with the Aghlabid and Rustamid. There aren't a lot of real "fun" major decisions, but it gives whoever is playing the sense of always being behind the 8 ball. I'd love to get good some day and actually be successful as this guy, but at the moment, always get wiped due to holy wars from Africa. Let me know what you think!!

hey, just finished a really fun run. It's Mesfin Dawit II of Aksum in 1066. It is one of the two jewish leaders in the game at that time. It's a tough start but it has the great objective of forming the Kingdom of Israel (conquering Jerusalem). I also found the Haymanot religion to be really fun to play with.

A few more fun ones: Count Hrodulfr of Ostfriesland (867) is a Norse Pagan count in the kingdom of Lothringia, and other than Haesteinn he is the only feudal Norse on the European mainland. Petty King Dumnarth of Cornwall (867) is the only Cornish ruler, meaning as long as you stay independent then you'll always be the culture head and your cultural advances won't help out any neighboring rulers, only you, and since there are only 2 Cornish counties it is a lot easier to boost your development and passively race ahead in tech. Maharaja Sena of Lanka (867) is a great start if you just wanna form a new religion easily since the entire island is part of your independent kingdom and your lands are relatively well developed and wealthy, just keep 300-400 gold on hand for mercenaries in case Pandya invades and you can focus completely on other things such as founding a religion.

867, Viken :) Really interesting character. Harald Fairhair united Norway IRL. Pretty easy as well. Vikings in 867 are OP af imo.

Starting as the King of Leon in 1066 is a really strong start imo. He usually has a very high interigue and can quickly assassinate his brothers to unite the kingdoms. Then using the kidnap to instant war victory, you can take much of Iberia before you die.

England and 867 Prussia have been my favorite starts by far. I went and formed the southern Baltic Empire as Prussia. I also played tall as England and owned Brittania and conquested my unbeatable army until the end. Looking for something else.

I'm currently playing with the Habsburg in 1066, i'm not sure were they start (I think in Transjurania) but it's fun to try to raise them to the prominence they would gain in the future

Armenian Principalities! Starting off as the vassal of the Abbasids, independence is relatively easy. I would highly recommend it.

Hrolfr de normandie actually exists as a unlanded courtier champion somewhere in 867,thats the real rollo :) you can find him via search

Thanks Italian, you managed to persuade me to get the game a couple days ago with your link. Out of interest, do you have any videos or plans to do a video on maintaining the stability of a realm? I played as the kingdom in northern India in 867 and formed the empire but it seems that I am continually beset by factions rebelling against me for independence now I have the empire. Hope you can help, and thanks for the content!

Nuno is NOT the "character that created Portugal".

Great video mate :) Duke Nuno did NOT create Portugal though. It was Afonso Henriques in 1128.

Not entirely sure if this is the Hrolfr who is supposed to be Rollo. There is a Hrolfr de Normandie in 867 as an unlanded courtier.

for 1066 hre, i'd like to recommend countess hedwig of gottingen. 2 counties, unmarried, lots of claims, has a tier 1 MINE. it's going to be hard to form germany but you can gobble up all the saxon duchies in one generation. if you want you can push for independence and create your own kingdom of saxon lands.

Alfonso, a descendent of king Alfonso the Brave of León, was the founder of Portugal, not Nuño

I know you're super busy and covering tones of games but can I get your opinion on the imperal army when it comes to ranking them?

Hiya, my Alba campaign is SO FUN so far. Start off as King Constantin little brother in Morey, Duke Aed. Both of you are unmarried and the Auld Alliance is ready to begin at game start letting you marry into the Karlin-Bruges French family. Lets you stay reletively safe and take advantage/pick your moments for the Viking Invasion of Northumbria. Duke of Morey little bother always seems to spawn with more Intrigue than Big Brother, and even employed as Spymaster, making Kingdom Alba perfect for a hostile takeover by you. Have your cousins etc as a large Dynasty in Ireland, and can help them unite it too. Scotland VS World ftw.

amalia kan in southern hungary near temesvar is neat, she's married to the count of temesvar (which is farmlands for dev bonus as a capital) but has more land than him, with great intrigue

Small "error": in CK3 the count of helsingland was not meant to be Rollo. There is actaully a "Hrolfr de Normandie" who starts out as the martial of Trondheim. He bears the coat of arms of the House of Normandie. He starts as a courtier but it is possible to play as the chieftain of Trondheim, conquer Neustria and give it to Rollo, then switch characters (or in ironman mode, kill off all your heirs so you get a game over and have Rollo inherit everything, then you can reload the save to continue as Rollo).

I have been playing as the Rurikid dynasty starting in the 867 bookmark. This is the dynasty that would later form Kievan Rus, the earliest Russian state. It's quite an easy campaign since I'm not that skilled in CK games. You start as a Duke but have enough money to immediately form the Kingdom of Novgorod. The Rurikids were Norse noblemen who later adopted the ways of their Russian subjects and eventually converted to Greek Orthodoxy. So that's two interesting choices that you can decide what to do with. If you stayed with your unreformed pagan faith, you'll have quite an exciting time conquering all the Christian lands to the south of you once you consolidated the lands in Russia and Ruthenia and eventually have the choice to unite all slavic lands under one gigantic empire. From such a strong position, you can push west into Italy and east into Anatolia and the Levant and convert to Greek Orthodoxy, earning yourself the privilege of mending the Great Schism. It's a very noob friendly campaign that's full of conquest and interesting choices which I am currently enjoying quite a lot.

Would love to hear your thoughts on - Ibrahim II of Ifriqiya of Aghlabids. He was a really interesting campaign. Psychotic but interesting.

Great video as always. I have one question, i was playing as Aelfricson family, stanrting in 1066 as Earl Eadric "the Wild" of Shropshire, conquered my way to have all mercia, hwicce and essex, with the three titles of duke, but as the last anglo saxon vassal of the now english "de normandie" king. Was investing london, constructed the tower of london special building and a lot of other buildings there, also was developing the county and then i only got a notification that my king has taken the county from me. He has no CB, don't treathen to revoke, just take. He has the county of hampshire and all of east anglia, and he was king for some time too, its not because he didn't have any more land and had to take some. Thks for the videos, you content is amazing!

Do we have any videos on creating your own ruler? I have played 2 campaigns in both of them most I could do is having kingdom.. starting as tikkana (county ruler) in south India. First time I have made my ruler by giving lot of army and martial Ratings.. any tips would be appreciated. I want to create my own ruler and grow from Tikana (county ruler) to Empire

Will personally recommend starting as Duke Of Dorset, 867. Because it's meant to be Alfred the Great historically, you get insanely high stat rolls. Don't just take my word for it, check out Muh Dry Bread's Livestreams of the game with the same start, has well over 30 martial and over 20 in anything else except intrigue.

Dyre 'the Stranger' in Kiev makes for a fun 867 start. Currently in my game it looks like Dyre the fifth is going to sit on the Byzantine throne after my heir, Dyre the fourth, married into the purple after I swore fealty as a kingdom in order to tag over to feudal in the 900s. Still catching up on technology but being the most powerful vassal in the empire came with the perk of being appointed spymaster... Who needs to conquer when you can inherit it all instead?

Any tips for late game in general, like vassal management and opinion ?

I’ve started often in the county of Kazym, near where the Empires of Yuga and and Sibir would be. I had a lot of fun around there and was able to get exposed to a lot of the game mechanics at a very decent and manageable pace. Would highly recommend and also ask for anyone’s opinion on it!

I personally enjoy the challenge of playing a pretty king of Wales in either 867 or 1066. 867 is slightly easier because England is still split but you also have to deal with vikings. But 1066 where the real challenge is because you have to defend against whoever has taken the English throne while also trying to unite Wales. You can chose to ally with the other Welsh kings to defend against England or try to subjugate them at the risk of making yourself weaker to England.

i believe rollo is actually a marshal to chieftain rognvaldr who’s domain is trændheim. he has the dynasty Normandie

Sardinia is also really cool especially if you are trying to play tall and build up instead of out, becoming the king of the Mediterranean.

If you decide to make a third video in this series another interesting campaign to look at is Countess Amalia Kan of Krasso, in southern Hungary in 1066 Interesting things about that campaign: - You're husband is the count of the adjacent county (Temes) - You can instantly swap your culture to Mogyer (Old Hungarian) - Doing so gives you the overall goal of "Revive Taltosim" by conquering hungary and reviving the ancient religion of the Mogyar It would probably be Hard or Very Hard because: - Opinion penalties for being Mogyer - If you're unlucky and your husband does not convert cultures with you you're going to have to off him quickly and remarry into the Mogyer culture because you start as the dynasty head with no heirs inside your own dynasty - Not a very strong army to start wth, have to use your (usually high) intrigue and diplomacy to

What are the best places to start of on if you want to build tall?

Small correction, Duke Nuno wasn't the historical creator of Portugal, that only happened about 80 years later.

So there's two Rollo's in the game? Either that or the first one is wrong. Because there is Hrolfr de Normandie as an unlanded character. Came to me when I was playing Haraldr Fairhair