I am playing Spain in H/VH. I am in the turn 48 i think and Right now i conquered all the Iberian Peninsula (the portuguese survived though, they still have Bordeaux settlement), destroy the Moors, got Timbuktu (and start getting all the money i can from my merchs) and went right ot Sicily. I decided to close my borders in the Pirineus and use Africa as base instead. Right now i took Tunis, Naples and Palermo, destroying the Sicily. Milan attacked me so i took Cagliari from them. I also bought Bolonha from the HRE for 15k but it worth it since it's one less enemy to fight right now, it was full of spear militias and will very good to make milan's life in hell. The pope is spanish right now and it's very young in fact, 38 years old i think. His nomination was quite funny since he was not even cardinal until the election (even though he had 8 piety for converting moors to good christians), and then, just like that, he was elected cardinal AND pope in the same turn... Anyway, i got Palermo with my spies and with few casualties, and guess what, i got a Citadel, something i had not, in fact i had not even a Fortress yet. I will use the citadel to produce my sword and buckler man, pavise crossbowen and chilvary knights.

Also, my tactics are based in heavy cavalry only. Why? In 2 missions for the nobles' council i got 4 knights of santiago, ah, i forgot to tell, i did a crusade to marakesh and so i got this guild in Leon and Lisbon, and after got Palermo i got more 4 Chilvarics Knights. Also, i bought Tunis from Venice, to avoid fight them since our trade gaves me so much money (and it was quite cheap, 3k from a settlement that is giving me more then 1k per turn...) i got 5 extra mailed knights units, so with all these knights, my tactics are based in 1 deadly charge followed by a massive routing and tons of prisioners, lol.

Now i will hit Milan hard in his heart, i will attack Genoa and Milan in the same turn. The pope will complain about it but without these 2 cities Milan is reduced to Florence and Ajjacio, so hardly an opponent for me after that. The only problem right now is Milan's navy, who is protecting their costs quite well. Without it i would have destroyed them already. Mighty naval battles are happen in the Mediterranean Sea right now, but it's only a matter of time until i break through Genoa (i don't want to risk my king and a full stack until i have destroyed most of his navy).

As soon as a get Milan and Genoa i will start expanding North, from Pirineus. I will give the final blow in Portugal, take Toulose and Marselha. Then, after getting all Italy for me and kicking Venice' ass out of Italy i will attack the HRE and the North of France at the same time. I am not counting to see the Mongols right now since they still have some factions to play against but if they come this way i will just guard my bridges and cities with full stackes and lots of Pavise Crossbowmen and Sword and Bucler Men, avoiding the open field.