Re: 18 to 20 turns without getting attacked, "whining", etc.

While it's true that Denmark and North Germany aren't the hot spot, it does make me wonder why the game designers made the Saxons a playable faction and not, say, the Burgundians.

Also, there's more to the complaint. The Saxons are spending all their time fighting bandits when there's at least three different factions they could be fighting: The aforementioned Burgundians, the Western Empire and the Franks. All are close by.

I tried my hand as the Saxons tonight, and must say they are in a boringly peaceful place. However, there's another way to look at that. They would have to spend some money on spies and such, but they are also in a position to take advantage of other people's misfortunes.

I kept having this sense of deja vu with them, and finally realized why. They are very much like the Danes in M:TW. The Danes weren't considered the most fun to play, either. After all, they couldn't even launch a Crusade.

Like the Saxons, though, the M:TW Danes had good infantry (the Vikings) and spent most of their early game grabbing a couple of "barbarian" provinces (Sweden and Norway, and a little of the Holy Roman Empire, if they were bold and lucky) then building up trade and their sea power.

As other factions had failed Crusades and civil wars, the Danes would steadily -- sometimes, explosively -- expand. Possibly, that's exactly what's supposed to happen here. Substitute "Western Roman Empire" for "Holy Roman Empire," and the situation is quite similar.