Beating the Vikings

[L'Afrique]

So I hadn't played for ages until Holy Fury came out, and I remember last time I played, Britain in 867 was a tossup with the saxons and vikings both standing a chance.

Now, though... AI England falls without fail. Scotland and Ireland die soon after. Having played Jorvik I see why- you start with a massive stack of even troops, you annex vast swathes of territory in the hilariously one-sided initial war, bloodlines, good leaders, the almighty wolf warrior lodge, it's no contest. Wessex falls to whoever bothers to first prepare an invasion, Scotland either gets slowly killed or invaded as well, and then Mierce, Wales, and Ireland are total pushovers.

I'm trying to play as Wessex now though and... how? Short of desperately rushing to get enough money for mercs I don't see a way to survive. And that calls for a LOT of money and mercs. Raiding stacks alone match my entire levy, let alone the numbers that come when they attack properly.

 

[WJS]

That's ironic, because I've played the Ivar the Boneless start many times, and it's harder now with Holy Fury than before. The reason is because there are many more territories in Britannia, and that means more Christians banding together to kick you out of Northumbria and East Anglia. Whereas before winning both wars was a matter of time, now it's actually very easy to lose to Northumbria. Usually I see the Vikings make some excellent early gains, but then slowly lose out to Christendom in the long run.

The secret to fighting Jorvik is that you need to keep your troops on the move, and you need to siege down their home provinces. Making good alliances is also key; an alliance with West Francia can convince the AI to go conquering elsewhere.