My thoughts actually went the other way around, you are looking at making the mapscale larger, I would like to see it a lot smaller. What about a setting where all the Germanic/Nordic Kings would fight it out with each other in the 500-1200 time era? I think that would be a great time-era as there was a lot of hustle and bussle (sp) and some very clear overall movements (Like Rise of Christianity, The era of the Karolingen and the Nordic Invasions of the British Isles)