Agressiveness wins wars.

The failure of the last two guides was a lack of aggresiveness. A hungarian Cavalry army can stand up against the most elite european armys, namely the HRE and Spain. (England is special exception) They do lack good infantry, but using infantry with hungary is like using Knights with Scotland...

First, Diplomacy is your friend. Immediately make Alliances with HRE and Poland.

Then Blitz Venice: Zagreb is a must have piece of land, along with Ragusa. Ragusa gives you another fortress. The Venetians start off fairly weak and are easy to beat. Don't worry about Byzantium to the south just yet. There Time will come.

Tactics: Venice fields a infantry army of Milita and archers and a few spears. All but the spears are lunchmeat for Hungary. When the Venetians march their archers out front, smash them. Then let your ranged cavalry pick apart Venice's infantry. Be on hand with a knight or 2 just in case they are also fielding HC.

When your knocking on Venice's doors, they'll ask for peace. They always do, since they are pretty cowardly. Take it and build up your forces, because Byzantium is next. Also, your standing with the pope is probably hurting, so you need to switch to a non-catholic faction for expansion.

With forces in Bern and Ragusa, you can launch a two prong attack against the Byzantiums. They are most likely embroiled in war with Turks at this point. If not, forge a alliance with Turks and ask them to attack with promise that you will too.

Tactics: Fighting Byzantium is tricky, since they are a cavalry army like you. WIth luck, their best units are off fighting the Turks. Worst case, you'll be fighting a army with composistion similar to yours, only heavier. These battles are tough, hard fought, and you'll want to Quicksave before each one.

Now for your strategy:

Plan A, If their northern border is lightly defended:

Take Durrazzo and Sofia using everything you got. Then attack Thessalonica. This cuts Byzantium off fromt Corinth, which happens to be their most important Fortress. The fortress will likely be poorly defended(the ai doesn't believe in putting large garrisons in their castles). Scrap together whatever you can and immediately siege Corinth before they start building a army there.

Plan B, Its not: Take either Durrazzo or Sofia, using both armies, depending on which province is more lightly defended. Use the Sacking money to build a defensive force in either Zagusa or Bern using your best judgement. Take your main stack and march on Thessalonica. Things get hairy after this, you'll be on the defensive, but you'll eventually have the upper hand. Byzantines army is alot more expensive then yours. Taking Thessalonica and Durrazzo/Sofia robbed them of serious income. They will grind down, and then you can go back on the offensive.

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Once you've sacked Constantinople, your set. You own the entire Balkan peninsula, and the rich citys of Zagreb, Constantinople, Thessalonica and Budapest. Prepare yourself for invasion from either Poland, Venice or HRE, since alliances never last. Later on you might want to consider turning the castles of Sofia and the other province south of Bern into citys for extra income. Zagusa/Corinth/Bern should all become Citadels.

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Last notes: I cannot fathom why the last two guides said that the Hungarian army is weak. It is NOT by any means of the word. The Hungarian army plays similarily to the Mongol army. Your infantry will be mostly archers; Brigands and Xbows. Once you get Pavise Spearman, they are pretty strong too. The Battlefield assasins are a quirky unit thats hard to get. They are like a dismounted bodyguard unit, that can hide in the plain open. Their use is obviously to get behind a enemy formation and cause a rout. You also get Serpentines, which are some of the best field cannons in the game.

Your cavalry will be your heart and soul. I often had entire stacks made up of nothing but Magyars and Hungarian Nobles. They can charge and rout enemy archers, and shoot up just about everything else. They are faster then heavy knights and can out manuever them. Last but not least of Hungarys lineup; Hussars! Aside from making you smile everytime you click on them, they are excellent cav with knight-like power at 2/3 the cost and most importantly, can be trained in citys. With only three castles mostly training nobles/Magyars, it helps that the last component of your army can be trained in citys.

Lastly, Like a mongol army, its takes skill to get the most out of their forces. If you feel your up to that challenge, you will be suprised with what Hungary can do.