Quote Originally Posted by r johnson
I love the Norwegians because of the difficult starting position and the lack of money, so you have to be careful about what you build initially
For some reason, I didn't find the Norwegians to be that difficult. I think perhaps because--for me, at least--their strategy was so simple and straightforward. I attacked and conquered the Swedes right away, and then a few years after than, I simultaneously invaded Denmark and Skania and destroyed the Danes in one fell swoop. Once Scandanavia is secure, you have plenty of options for expansion (HRE, Baltic states, Britain, etc.). The Norwegians don't even have to expand if you don't want them to--with Sweden under your control, you could just set up a trade network and pull down tons of florins.

All that said, they're still fun to play! I may be a bit biased in saying so, however, given that I'm of Norse descent.