HUNGARY — EARLY
Invade Venice. Move your king and as much of your army as you can gather to Croatia on the first turn and invade Venice on the second. Send your emissary to the Italian Doge.
The Italians always accept a ceasefire after you seize Venice. It is illogical, I admit, but it happens. Offer them a princess too.
Getting Venice gives you rich trade province with a shipbuilder and a way to prevent your empire from becoming a recruiting ground for everybody else's Crusade.
Now conquer the barbarian provinces of Serbia, Moldavia and Walachia with horse archers. Peasants and spears can be shot to pieces without losses. Move fast, though, before the Poles and Byzantines get any ideas. Your biggest problem will be finding enough garrison troops.
If you are lucky and quick, you can invade Bohemia and Austria before the Holy Roman Empire can afford forts there. You will get a warning from the Pope, but the HRE will make peace and you will have two nice provinces.
Slav infantry from Croatia, horse archers and Szekely from Hungary and jobbagy's from everywhere are the main units of an early Hungarian army. Upgrade to get Slav javelins rather than jobbagy as soon as possible.
Javelin units are not easy to use, but practice. Javelins and Szekely are the key to kicking the Byzantines out of Constantinople and Greece. No other faction rewards tactical micro skill as much as the Hungarians do.
Now you have a very nice empire that consists of all Europe south of Poland, including the major metropolitan centers of Venice and Constantinople. Order a few buildings and Constantinople can build feudal sergeants and men-at-arms. You also get Avar nobles out of Moldavia, which are very nice indeed.
Avars are so good, there is a strong temptation to build more of them than you need. Their high maintenance cost can hamstring your economy. Look for a good balance of feudal sergeants, feudal men-at-arms, Szekely, Avars, and Slav javelins.
What happens next could depend on either Crusades or excommunication.
Crusades crossing your territory are a major pain for the Hungarians. Having a port in Venice and control of the seas all the way to the Holy Land relieves that a great deal. Crusader armies will go to Venice and ride your ships to their destinations.
Sometimes, they will stop in Hungary first to raid your troops, but you can usually avoid that by just moving your good units.
Crusades can be forced to provide some benefit. For instance, many garrison troops outlive their usefulness as your provinces increase in loyalty. Leave those units in areas where Crusades will drain them. Occasionally, a good governor’s candidate will be unearthed as units lose men and gain new commanders.
Now, as for excommunication: If the Pope excommunicates the Germans, for example, exploit that.
The Poles will attack you someday. Clobber them with your better units and grab Poland. Do not get excommunicated if you can avoid it. One trick is to get a warning about attacking some other Catholic country and then use the 10-year “one warning” interval to destroy the Poles.
There is a strong temptation to expand into Asia Minor, which can be done without excommunication risk. I like to get across the Baltic and grab Sweden instead, by bribery if necessary.
Reaching the Baltic and Sweden accomplishes several things. Mainly it prevents the French or some other major power from becoming dominant in Europe. There is nothing I hate more than conquering all the rich Muslim provinces, then seeing nothing but an uninterrupted field of blue, or red, or yellow or black or whatever from Spain to Sweden, including the British Isles.
Second, Sweden opens up trade opportunities from the Baltic. With shipbuilders on the Adriatic and the Baltic, it does not take long to set up a dominant trade empire. You also get to be a player in north European politics, helping one side or the other, attacking excommunicated factions and snatching desirable rebellious provinces for yourself, especially if a rival's Crusade fails. Once again, this prevents any side from becoming dominant — except you.
I tend to mass troops and build up defenses along the Prussia- Volhynia -Moldavia border. Most other Catholic powers are too busy fighting among themselves or Crusading to give me much trouble in the West.
Playing the Hungarians after the Early Era land-grab requires a certain amount of patience. There are no Crusades, making expansion of your forces gradual.
The end of the Early Era finds you with a stable, developed empire guarded by up-to-date units and enriched by trade, stretching from Scandinavia to the Aegean. Build up your defenses in Moldavia and Volhynia. There is no stopping you once you have weathered the Golden Horde
EDITED: to include the summery compiled by Doug-Thompson.
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