Every time I play the Spanish, I get devastated by French and Italian crusades, no matter where I hide my armies. I keep only inconsequential units like ballista or units with only a few men in each of the provinces the the crusades will most likely enter, This is to to stop them from enlisting my men.

For example, when playing Spain, I conquer Morocco and Algeria with mercenaries, (though sometimes with bribes), then high-tail it out of there to Portugal (having cleverly placed naval units off the coasts.) I place almost all my men in Portugal while the crusade(s) passes through Spain. BUT, the AI is so cruel the crusade actually veers off course and enters the province(s) where I am hiding the men. Why would it go into Portugal when it was logically going to enter either Castile or more likely, Valencia? The AI has a bad habit of seeking out and plundering my armies for men no matter how well I reason out where and how to place them.

So, last night for example, I was doing famously playing Spain, having bribed every rebel unit in all the areas on the map, and then, BANG! suddenly the Italian crusade devastates the hundreds of units I am sheltering in Portugal by enlistment. Hours of gameplay wasted! I will not tolerate a crusade enlisting a lot of my men, so I log off and go back to playing Italy, my favorite.

This happens almost, but not always, when I play Spain. And as you know, Spain has more powerful units and many princes to lead armies.