Hungarian question

[Boris of Bohemia]

Yes I read the Hungarian guide. I still have a question though about them.
I'm playing them in Early on Normal without mods.

Most people agree that Venice and the Byzantine lands must be conquered ASAP.
But how do people manage this? Yes I know that the Italians give up Venice (and accept peace) if you get there in the first few turns.

But how do people manage to conquer Byzantine lands without some other Christian faction attacking Hungary? I do have alliances with Germany and Poland, but the Sicilians usually attack me as soon as I have Greece.

Yes I build boats but they're expensive and take at least 3 years to build. I need all the money for my army!

You don't have to rush Venice. When was the last time you saw an early era Italian army that was scary? Urban miltia? pfft. The byz are *sometimes* a different matter. Let them go ahead and string themselves out on the steppes. That works in your favor. Do not fear a two-front war if you have Kiev and ships in the black sea.
Rush instead for Serbia-Moldavia-Kiev and take all the time you want to build farms and ships, with a reasonable deterrent. With farms up to 60% and mines fully built, finance shouldn't be a problem even without trade, I have fought 3-front wars (Italy, Sicily, Byz) on hard and prevailed.

[_Aetius_]

Hmmm i try and avoid war with established powers aslong as possible, when i take modavia and kiev i have enough trade profit to keep me steady, theres no point conquering to much in the east because the mongols will ruin it for you anyway, waiting for a power to fall some might think is risky but odds are with you chances are either byzantium or the holy roman empire will be crushed or crippled with civil war thats when hungary can start to expand.

A strong byzantium can play in your favour as already mentioned letting them overstretch themselves on the steppes is a good thing for hungary but they can be a buffer state to the mongol horde and you might be able to get a peace treaty with them, stranger things have happened lol.

Whatever you do try your best to have lands some distance away from your homelands because its highly unlikely if the mongols decide they hate you lol which they probably will, that youll be unable to hold them off for long, some provinces far away atleast means you can fall back on something. With a strong navy sicily is always a very good target.

[bretwalda]

Quite important, that even if you take the steppes, destroy everything before the Horde comes. Scortched earth. So the Horde has to build up everything from zero. They can only use their troops they brought with them but nothing else. This way the mongol threat is smaller and you can keep them at bay at the rivers of Kiev. Anything Novgorod kills is good for you, though don't expect anyone putting up much fight. But whatever they garrison the new territories with is decreasing their main force and shortens the battles you have to fight...

[Don Corleone]

I just finished a LONG campaign as the Hungarians. It was a lot of fun at first, but after a while, it really became a mad dash just to hear the victory speech.

If you're starting in early, you should be able to take most of the steppes and develop them long before the Horde arrives. The Horde comes in 1230. Have a nice welcoming party together of Halberdiers, Chivilric spears, LOTS of missile units (pavise x-bow, arbs, pavise arbs), maybe a couple of chase units (like knights or steppe heavy cavalry). The great thing about the Hungarians is they get some awesome generals. I couldn't remember where the horde arrives, so I built 7 armies for each of the 7 steppe provinces and spent literally 3 days battling it out in Khazar, Muscovy and Georgia. With 6 & 7 star generals, your missile troops get pretty accurate. Just don't forget to build as much moral boost as you can in your Halb provinces.

None of this answers your initial question though, getting started against the Byz. Well, I hate to break this to you, but your early position isn't strong. Luckily, the Byz have enough enemies you can fly under their radar for a while. Katank would tell you to blitz into every province you can, but I didn't even take Venice. I like to role play, so I made early peace with the Italians, the Poles and the Byz. I tried to with the HRE, but they wouldn't. They attacked Hungary from Austria and Poland/Italy kicked their ass on my behalf. This leaves you to focus on some very rich provinces out East. Get to Khazar as quick as you can and try to stay off of everyone's list. Remember, people don't trade with you if you're at war with them, so until you've got enough cash, focus on that trade empire.

[PittBull260]

hey man, I always play as teh hungarians, I love them. I usually do v ery good with them.

At the begining do not rush! I build farms and get rich. Once u get rich make a nice army, of armored spearmen archers and men at arms. Then attack either venice or byzantine, I usually attack the byz until I reach constantinople (because of the money) then, I border myself there and expand east until I reach france :)