I have been playing XL mod, BKB's mod as well as FOR mod for some time now and they have all given a real boost to the vanilla MTW: VI game play for me. I think the additional factions and different types of exotic units that all of these mods bring are real pluses for them.

But I find that the factions that are the most intriguing, have the most interesting units, etc. tend to be factions with only one or two provinces to start. I always have problems getting tiny factions moving along fast enough to keep my interest in the campaign. They are either surrounded by larger neighbors, are in dirt poor areas and or have no exportable products for shipping so you can't even try to become an economic power house.

Because of the slow growth necessary to cultivate these tiny factions, I tend to go ahead and play Byzantium, Turks, Egyptians, Almonds,English, HRE or some other faction that has enough existing provinces to be able to start the game moving fast enough to keep my interest. Seems if they don't have at least 5 provinces to start it is almost impossible to get them moving at a reasonable pace for me.

I was hoping to get some advise, strategies, etc. from the rest of you on how you kick start small factions to get the game moving and keep your interest.