Saxon Strategies?

[GabrielLoki]

I'm playing as Charlemagne in the year 774, and I've been dragged into a scripted war with the Saxons. My levies outnumber the grand chief, but if I raise those levies, it doesn't take long before I start losing. My warscore is not even going anywhere at all, it just sits at 54% or decreases no matter what i do. And I keep losing levies by the hundreds. I suspect that part of it is that unhappy vassals are somehow retracting their levies. I've managed to fight back faction after faction and managed to guarantee that the majority of my vassals like me enough that they won't join factions. I've got a save from directly before I raised my vassals. Right after the script decided to send me into a war I wasn't ready for.

I'm not sure what to do as I lose even more levies by conquering holdings than by actually fighting.

 

[BD13]

Sounds like your getting killed by the pagan homeland attrition.

When fighting the Saxons it is best to fight them in your territory. Be patient and let them siege one of your counties. When they siege a county that doesn't give a defensive bonus attack them. Repeat process until their levies are gone. Then split your force in two. Send just enough troops to hold a siege. Park the rest of your troops in one of YOUR counties adjacent to the siege and only use them if your smaller force gets attacked.