Jon's Crusader Kings II Blog

I'm going to want to move to primogeniture eventually, so my first step is to move the laws up to "Low Crown Authority". Also, time to marry off my kids and grandkids. But not to each other (though this game does let me do that). There is a lot of scheming in my court. In particular, people keep murdering my spymasters. In 1086, my heathen brother-in-law, Prince Erik, goes to war against King Erik of Denmark. I'm going to ignore that, and in Spring 1087, take my conquests to the heathens. Holy War for Kola! The High Chief of Satakunta joins his pagan brother in the war. Good thing I saved up for those mercenaries! The war dragged on to 1089. I was on the brink of victory when I discovered a downside to these Holy Wars. My opponent converted to Catholicism, and the war was over. Hmph. In late 1091, I had to put down a peasant revolt. That wasn't such a big deal, but the Pope chose that time to complain about my investiture laws. I figured I could dea...

So what next? Let's absorb more pagans to the north. I also had to put down a couple of revolts, and I created a duchy. That costs money, but it prevents my vassals from getting there first. I would create more duchies, but I like to save my money for a mercenary emergency (if I need to hire mercenaries to win a war). But then I get a chance to hold a grand tournament, so I blow 200 gold on that. Unfortunately, tournaments are dangerous and I lose one of my sons (the spymaster). Prince Inge now has three kids, but his wife died in childbirth with the third. A month later, he has a new wife, so I can't set up a new marriage for him. For some reason, the King of Denmark has been trying to kill my wife the whole game, so she's in hiding. I tried to extend my holy war into Finland, but the infidels ganged up on me. I knew I needed my mercenary piggy bank for a reason. No more wars until I save up 500 gold. While I am saving up, I notice my brother-in-law and vassal,...

I am starting my second full game of Crusader Kings II as King Stenkil of Sweden. He is married with four sons. Annoyingly, Sweden has an elective monarchy. I really prefer some sort of primogeniture; anything else seems unnatural. Or at least gavelkind. Maybe I'll live long enough to change it. Until then, Prince Inge is my heir. That's fine. Let's make sure he has a good kingdom to inherit. You can see what the immediate neighborhood looks like. Norway and Denmark are things, and there are some small entities waiting to be embraced by the Swedish fatherland. First we marry our heir off to a Hungarian princess. Then we gobble up Dal, a county between us an Norway we have a de jure claim on. Next, here's something I get to do that I never did in my first game -- a holy war against the infidels. We look to the north and annex Hälsingland. The pagans to the north joined the war, but had no effect on the outcome. In both wars, I had about 2000 men to less ...