How do you conquer England/France/HRE?

[Fishy101]

The year is 1295:
In my current game playing as Castille, I've become the Empire of Hispania and hold most of the Mediterranean coast including Sicily and Greece. I got Greece through a Crusade. I took a large chunk of Scandinavia including Sweden, a part of Norway and Finland after the Golden Horde came through and they splinter off into independent Duchies. I got Sicily through a claim that somehow managed to expand itself with occasional help from me.

I really wanted to take England, France and the HRE. I took Cornwall, Oxford and one lone county in Flanders through a lot of effort. However it is slow going because I can only take counties one at a time through CB and then I have to wait 10 years to take another. With France I was incredibly lucky in that through some crazy twists and turns I inherited the Duchy of Burgundy which I ignored for most of the game. Burgundy managed to expand into Toulouse all on its own with no help from me. Through those I force a claim for Provence for a total of 3 big Duchies in France without ever going to war with France. I have some claims in for counties in France, but again, I can only take 1 county every 10 years. I had some odd claims in the middle of the HRE that I haven't pursued. Even though I might be able to win I didn't think it was worth taking on the whole HRE for 1 county. If it was for a duchy maybe.

I've been holding off on taking Jerusalem because I'd rather take it all in 1 go through a crusade. But the Pope never called a crusade for Jerusalem again. I have CB for much of the Byzantine Empire but again, I am taking 1 county every 10 years. The Golden horde has taken Poland twice now and stop short of the HRE. I had hoped that they would take at least part of HRE so I can take those when the Horde breaks up. No luck there.

How do you guys manage to take HRE/England/France/ERE etc?

 

[Malvius]

Marry into the royal family of the ruler to get at least a weak claim to your
New born Child.
Then kill of the Rulers of the Kingdom/empire until a Woman or a Child takes over.
Tadaaa you can declare a war because of your weak claim.

Or ask for a permission of the pope to invade the HRE which could be bigger then you.

 

[Yenzen]

Marry someone with an inheritable claim or find a claimant, invite them, land them, then push their claim.

 

[Kaiser Ludwig]

If you have a claim, even a weak one, on the title you can request an invasion.

 

[A_Dane]

If the realm I'm targeting has Agnatic-cognatic primogeniture, I'm extremely fond of murdering the entire royal household until there's only the woman I married left at the forefront of the succession.

Otherwise, I do the same until as above suggested, there's a woman or Child on the throne, whereafter I press the claim I have.

I got a game going as Denmark right now, (Started as a custom count in Skåne), at this moment, I'm King of Denmark, Norway, Finland (not created yet though) and Lithaunia. And I happen to be married to the Queen of Sweden, whose brothers, aunts and nephew all suffered some very unfortunate accidents, making her the the primary candidate for the Swedish throne.

I got Norway/Finland through pressing a grandmother of one of my former rulers claim, during a succession crisis in Norway

I could probably have had Sweden & England earlier, but I had a series of early natural deaths which really weakened my realm.
Once Sweden is incorporated, England is next on the list

 

[markmid]

I say keep plotting and assassinating! Marriage can work but throw enough gold and scheming at a target until its crumbling, then into the breach! It does depend on your economy however, get a few dodges (promoted mayors) and get some extra gold. This can make you more fragile, depending on crown law, but more gold = more assassination attempts so its a trade off.

Pick the weakest one, the one with less or no heirs, weak heirs or someone likely to spark a civil war etc. Become that pretenders new best friend as you eliminate anyone who gets in their way to the throne, then have at them.

 

[Fishy101]

Thanks everyone for all the help which broke me out of a rut. I invited claimants and pressed claim for England, Wales/Ireland, Scotland/Ireland and used the Invasion CB on HRE.

I got Norway/Finland through pressing a grandmother of one of my former rulers claim, during a succession crisis in Norway

I had a similar situation with Denmark playing as Norway. I pressed my mother's claim on Denmark which surprisingly put Denmark into my realm. I had expected my mother to become Queen and to have control of Denmark only after her death when I inherit it.