I thought scotland looked like a good choice for beginners, so I wondered if anyone had played a game as them yet?
If so how did it go?
If so how did it go?
Anyone tried Scotland yet?
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I've been playing a game as the Duke of Lothian, Gospatrick Dunbar iirc for the "Hastings" scenario. It has been highly entertaining.
I begun firstly by merely expanding my personal holdings into the "OPMs" up north until I was strong enough to enact a plot against Malcolm "the Cruel" to force him to institute Elective Monarchy so that I could manoeuvre myself into a position to inherit the crown, the only obstacle was a) his heirs and b) the other Dukes/Counts etc who voted for them. Cue a extensive campaign of assassination which slowly killed off his children on by one until suddenly, as Gospatrick's son carried on the murder when he father died, I was discovered and imprisoned and subsequently tortured, though I gained my revenge by murdering the last of Malcolm's children, positioning myself as his heir and becoming King a mere month after being released from prison after torture to become King of Scotland.
Since then I have campaigned to control my vassals, creating duchies for my children to govern and trying to keep everything in my family whilst I am now also King of Ireland after a campaign there.
My biggest regret is not making this an AAR, there's been some fantastic little twists that'd have made great fun to read and write.
I begun firstly by merely expanding my personal holdings into the "OPMs" up north until I was strong enough to enact a plot against Malcolm "the Cruel" to force him to institute Elective Monarchy so that I could manoeuvre myself into a position to inherit the crown, the only obstacle was a) his heirs and b) the other Dukes/Counts etc who voted for them. Cue a extensive campaign of assassination which slowly killed off his children on by one until suddenly, as Gospatrick's son carried on the murder when he father died, I was discovered and imprisoned and subsequently tortured, though I gained my revenge by murdering the last of Malcolm's children, positioning myself as his heir and becoming King a mere month after being released from prison after torture to become King of Scotland.
Since then I have campaigned to control my vassals, creating duchies for my children to govern and trying to keep everything in my family whilst I am now also King of Ireland after a campaign there.
My biggest regret is not making this an AAR, there's been some fantastic little twists that'd have made great fun to read and write.
I've started my first game as the Duke of Moray - about 70 years in so far (Not very much, I know - but I play a cruisy pace). It's been pretty fun - while England was dealing with Northmen, the King of Scotland was bullying the Northmen's relatives - and giving his vassals some land in the process. Then it all went pear shaped for the King, because when Lothian decided to depose the King, I rebelled as well, and fought for my independence. That's more or less how things stand at the moment. I had to defend my independence once, which I did successfully with the help of mercs (My army was strong, but outnumbered, so I needed to tip the balance).
I started with the same character and mine went into a very different direction (I love this game). I ended up with four sons and two daughters which have caused a few interesting scenarios with all the squabbling. Some highlights:
* My first son, a landed Earl, started plotting to murder his younger brother almost immediately after hitting the age of majority. When I tried to imprison him (my plan was to let him stew) he revolted against my and died during the clash of our armies.
* I gained the title to a neighboring duchy, but died middle-aged before I had time to sort out the inheritance issues. The result being that my 2nd son (my new character) ended up with my main duchy title and my 3rd ended up with the other. Very annoying. Both of my sons at the time were minors so my 2nd's regent was his mother, and the 3rd's was his martial. Both son's had claims on the others' title, causing a tense situation. I plotted to kill my younger brother to earn his title before he could do the same. It turns out my brother was a bit "light on his feet", and 11th century noblemen didn't has a very progressive attitude toward that persuasion. Everyone was clamoring to join in on the plot, and I got backing from his reagent, which added a whopping 220+% strength to the plot.
* I have to constantly request politely that my sister stop trying to plot to murder me.
* Everyone in my court loved my father (he had very good traits). They don't love me quite as much as it's making it difficult to hold things together. One of the things they all complain about is that I have a female heir. My wife just gave birth to my fourth daughter in a row... sigh.
There in lies the beauty of this game, despite us both starting at the same point everything has taken a completely different twist thanks to the events that followed.
I thought Scotland looked like a good choice for beginners, so I wondered if anyone had played a game as them yet?
If so how did it go?
No but I played Wales (or Gwynedd), managed to create the Kingdom of Wales, but then a rather greedy England decided it wanted some of my provinces that it took me ages to take and seeing as the country is so weak, there was just no way of maintaining it, so I gave up. That was in the demo days, but now I am more familiar with the game I think they key is with more alliances, like Ireland and probably Scotland, build up the dynasty with marriages prior to creating the Kingdom.
I've been playing a game as Malcolm of Scotland (in my case, that would be "the Great," not "the Cruel" ). Biggest obstacle seems to be England. In my game, William the Conqueror actually won the war for England, and pretty swiftly (possibly assisted a bit by my war against Norway). By the time I was done recapturing Caithness, the Isles and Orkney, the conquest penalties had worn off on most of his provinces, so I've been pretty nervous about my southern border (England's got way, way, more troops and money than Scotland). I'm hoping that he'll die and Robert will be unable to keep things under control.
Malcolm's getting on towards 60 now, and my second son offed my eldest for me ("Should I stop that plot?"...uh, five sons, minus one who's got mediocre stats and already has a heir...meh, go ahead!), so my next king (my grandson) should have a nice long reign too.
I've got Ulster vassalized diplomatically, and my next objective was going to be the subjugation of Ireland, but Norway's been tearing itself apart, so I've been thinking about going and grabbing the Faroes and Iceland instead, just for kicks. How's that for ahistorical?
). Biggest obstacle seems to be England. In my game, William the Conqueror actually won the war for England, and pretty swiftly (possibly assisted a bit by my war against Norway). By the time I was done recapturing Caithness, the Isles and Orkney, the conquest penalties had worn off on most of his provinces, so I've been pretty nervous about my southern border (England's got way, way, more troops and money than Scotland). I'm hoping that he'll die and Robert will be unable to keep things under control.Malcolm's getting on towards 60 now, and my second son offed my eldest for me ("Should I stop that plot?"...uh, five sons, minus one who's got mediocre stats and already has a heir...meh, go ahead!), so my next king (my grandson) should have a nice long reign too.
I've got Ulster vassalized diplomatically, and my next objective was going to be the subjugation of Ireland, but Norway's been tearing itself apart, so I've been thinking about going and grabbing the Faroes and Iceland instead, just for kicks. How's that for ahistorical?
I started as Scotland. It's now 1210 and I'm currently King of Scotland, Ireland, and Aragon, and I also hold enough provinces to recreate the Kingdom of Castile. That title was destroyed by muslims about 100 years ago. Nobody else was kicking them out so I went for it. I'm dreading when my current king, Arthur I The Conqueror dies because I'm probably going to have to fight half my vassals. He's been on the throne for over 40 years and that long reign bonus is nice.
I must be honest, Scotland is a fantastic game for new players, its condensed and out of the way of any bigger powers bullying it, provides different challenges for Dukes, Counts and the King etc and has huge potential for expansion, especially if England falls apart like it has in my game.
I'd agree, depending on what happens in England you get quite a while to learn the ropes and play around with options. In my current game, England has, for the first time, survived the opening years, so that may be fun. Its also a good place to play well down the feudal foodchain as you can usually get up to something despite your lowly status
I played about 60 years as the Duke of Moray -- the heirs of MacBeth. Great game.
I expanded into the Duke of the Isles territory, and a little into ireland. Then I declared independence from the ignorant Dunkels and won my freedom. I had a hiccup when gavelkind inheretance split my realm up among my two sons, and the second son who took the isles immediately pledged himself back to Scotland. I had to clear that up with another war.
What followed was years of epic wars between me and the Scottish King. I would declare war and pick off some new territory, mostly using claimaints. He would declare war to take it or some other piece of land back. Eventually, I hit over 50 percent and usurped his throne.
Then the epic wars got more intense. Neither Scotland (now Albany) or Lothian would pledge to me. So I kept expanding into their land, and they kept attacking one after another -- often to take the crown for them or a claimant. Each war eliminated another stray claimant to my crown. After some time, I found a claimant to Lothian and brought them back into the fold.
Right now I've taken a little over half of Ireland and seized that crown. I inherited claims on the Duchies of York, Lancaster, Northumberland, and Herreford from my king's mother. (Funny story, he's the son of my former second son who inherited the isles and had to be disinherited. His mother also killed the third brother in that group before that inheritance. Anyway, when my current king's cousin took over, he had two children until the grandfather of my current king, duke of york, killed both of them with assassin spam. Then the king died and left me as the current king as the only male in the dynasty alive. Worked out better I guess. well, except that my king now has a nasty ratty hipster beard - very sorry to see that DNA get into the royal line.).
So with all of Scotland except Albany under control, we're now fighting epic wars with England over those northern duchies.
Great fun.
I expanded into the Duke of the Isles territory, and a little into ireland. Then I declared independence from the ignorant Dunkels and won my freedom. I had a hiccup when gavelkind inheretance split my realm up among my two sons, and the second son who took the isles immediately pledged himself back to Scotland. I had to clear that up with another war.
What followed was years of epic wars between me and the Scottish King. I would declare war and pick off some new territory, mostly using claimaints. He would declare war to take it or some other piece of land back. Eventually, I hit over 50 percent and usurped his throne.
Then the epic wars got more intense. Neither Scotland (now Albany) or Lothian would pledge to me. So I kept expanding into their land, and they kept attacking one after another -- often to take the crown for them or a claimant. Each war eliminated another stray claimant to my crown. After some time, I found a claimant to Lothian and brought them back into the fold.
Right now I've taken a little over half of Ireland and seized that crown. I inherited claims on the Duchies of York, Lancaster, Northumberland, and Herreford from my king's mother. (Funny story, he's the son of my former second son who inherited the isles and had to be disinherited. His mother also killed the third brother in that group before that inheritance. Anyway, when my current king's cousin took over, he had two children until the grandfather of my current king, duke of york, killed both of them with assassin spam. Then the king died and left me as the current king as the only male in the dynasty alive. Worked out better I guess. well, except that my king now has a nasty ratty hipster beard - very sorry to see that DNA get into the royal line.).
So with all of Scotland except Albany under control, we're now fighting epic wars with England over those northern duchies.
Great fun.