Favourite Norse Start

[Red_Communist]

What's your favourite Norse start and why? Any tips you'd give to someone, like me, or someone who'd like to lose their Norse virgnity?

I've played a few games but really haven't went too far. Would want to play a serious game and form Scandinavia but have a first easy-ish go at it.

 

[Balkri]

The Denmark start in the charlemagne bookmark. You already control almost the entire kingdom, the capital county is a great one, and you can mostly be king of denmark without a single duke lv vassal.
With that base your are in a very good position to eventually reform the religion and go on (subjugate Sweden, offer vassalisation to the guy that have the holy site in norway and ready )

 

[kmh42]

Ck2wiki:
Haraldr Fairhair, Jarl of Ostlandet, 1st January 867: Play as Harald Fairhair Jarl of Ostlandet, he is considered to be the man who unified the Kingdoms of Norway into one. Take the challenge yourself and see if you can follow the sagas of the Norse king who would not shave his hair until he ruled over Norway.

This is a fun and very easy start I play often.

 

[cywang86]

Duchy of Svipjod (however you spell it) is the easiest to get snowballing right off the bat.
Subjugate Denmark -> Become King of Sweden Ambition -> Conquest your way into Finland -> Offer Vassalization Norway counts -> Empire of Scandinavia -> raid temples for MA and reform.

This is me deciding waiting for threat is meaningless and paint the world, as a single county is now 15% threat. (waiting for Germany to finish his revolt so I can usurp his titles)

 

[Bernard95]

Haesteinn of Nantes, 867. You've literally got everything you need to set yourself up pretty much anywhere you like- event spawned troops, free ships, and the 1000 prestige to do a prepared invasion. You're also not a tribal which means you don't have to be bothered feudalizing.

Alternatively, Halfdan "Whiteshirt" Hvitserk of Jorvik, 867. Same idea as Haesteinn- you're uniquely a Norse Feudal with some event spawned troops that are poised to conquer the British Isles.

 

[Caspoi]

Sigurdr Ring in the Charlemange bookstart. a competent, not too old ruler with a fairly strong powerbase to subjugate the rest of the area (I personally like taking over saxony before Charlemange does it). The fact that he and his heir are semi-historical is just an added bonus.

 

[Kumicho]

Depends. Do you want to start as tribal (and reform the religion, then switch to feudal), or just start as Feudal and go from there? Nantes/Jorvik are great if you just want to start as Feudal, particularly Nantes. Conquer a bunch of the peninsula (and raid) until you get to 1500 prestige, then prepare an invasion for Mercia or Wessex. Loads of fun, but you'll be going for the empire of Britannia instead of Scandinavia.

But personally that's a little boring... I mean, if you just want to Holy War your way to your own private Island, go for it, but I kind of like the tribal issues a little better. The biggest thing when choosing tribals is to make sure your capital county (especially if you only have one) has a LOT of empty demesne slots. Those and your ruler's martial skill determine how many troops you get, at least until you start building up your capital.

Otherwise raid raid raid raid raid raid, and use the money and prestige to upgrade your holdings and to raise tribal armies. It's a blast!

 

[Urzhail64]

Skaane in 867. So I can form Gautariki with Vastergotland and Ostergotland in HIP for a real Gautr kingdom. And also in position to take over Denmark as well if so inclined.

Plus since you're not one of Ragnar Lothbrok's sons, you have the option to join their wars or make friends with Haraldr Fairhair or even arrange an alliance with any of them which I usually do.

 

[Dahoota]

Germanics are super powerful and pretty easy so my favourites are some of the more challenging ones.

Ofalr Ynging - Chief/Count of Dublin under Ivar the Boneless in 867. Create a Norse republic in Ireland - tougher because reforming the religion becomes extremely difficult. By the time you have independence and control a decent Kindgom Scandinavia has already started converting to Christianity.

Erik the Heathen - 1066. One of the last Germanics surrounded by allied Christians. If you succeed in expanding it doesn't get boring due to the later date and so many christians around.

Harald Fairhair 867. Easy as hell but you can do some really creative stuff with him like with Haestein of Nantes. I just like that family crest better.

 

[_Perun_]

Finnmark, 769, custom character- genius and ambitious but broken and alone.
The hardest of men are being born from the least friendly of soil.
A kingship matters only if you forge it from nothingness.

 

[PAnZuRiEL]

If you just want to play as a Germanic pagan, you don't have to start as one. I started my current game as the Welsh petty king of Manaw (the Isle of Man) in 769, founded a merchant republic without conquering any land or being attacked by anyone (surprisingly quick to accomplish with speed 5 and the business focus for those coin-minting events), then had my heirs educated Germanic.

 

[shiro the bushi]

any of the sons of ragnar lodbrok,
Mainly because they have the best names around

 

[Chairman Noob]

Use ruler designer to create a dwarf in Vest- or Austisland in 769, go on to make Iceland exclusively ruled over by dwarfs (in the mythological sense, so supernatural stuff must be on of course). Wouldn't be less historical than having humans populate the island at that time. For bonus points, use names from the Dvergatal for all your sons.

 

[hagagaga]

769: Sigurd. No questions.

867: Harald Fairhair or the Sons of Ragnar (and therefore, grandsons of the 769 guy).

I've never tried Haesteinn, but I know that he can get some good shenanigans too.

 

[Wethrinea]

867: Dyre the Stranger. You are a genius, norse petty king ruling over two slavic chieftains and your own holding that is russian/slavic. In the south you have the Magyar horde, to the east Khazaria, and north and west a host of slavic realms. You got 30 ships in the black sea and about 1000 event troops. From here you can do a number of things, from going native and unify the ruthenians to establish a norse realm around teh black sea, or fight your way to a different part of the map entirely by prepared invasions.

Another start i like is the Faroe islands; start as a 15 year old boy on a remote island, and forge a north-sea empire. Or conquer Sicily. Or whatever else strieks your fancy.

 

[FrosT37]

I really like the Gautske coat of arms in the 769 start. I think it's the count of Halland?

My overall goal would be the create the Norse empire of Britannia, and then convert it to a huge merchant republic.

This would require careful planning, and I'm not at home so I'm not sure how I would do it.

 

[Baron Bratwurst]

Yngling, chief of Oppland, in the 769 start. You are the only Yngling ruler in the whole world, your tribe being locked between more powerful petty kingdoms and with no immediate access to the sea.
Cool coat of arms and dynasty name, scarce resources. Will you make them great?

 

[hagagaga]

Will you make them great?

MAKE NORWAY GREAT AGAIN!

 

[Baron Bratwurst]

Yeah, I was thinking about Trump too

 

[TheKingofWinter]

Harad Fairhair Yngling