To join in on the Scotland discussion: I like the scots a lot. Their infantry is outstanding, as has been said before, and not only do they fight well, they also look bloody amazing, too (i.e. Highland Nobles with upped armour).

Their initial cavalry may be weak, and not being able to train anything better than FKs in most castles does suck a bit, but this can be (partially) remedied by the Order Knights. They may be quite hard to train in sufficient numbers but if you can manage to get a guild house in a castle close to the front (wherever that may be), there shouldn't be that much of a problem anymore. Retraining them may be difficult, but in that case, I just keep some units in reserve to cycle through while the depleted unit returns the next suitable castle.

And the fact is, almost any army can/will probably be defeated by an all-Horse-Archer army, that problem isn't exclusive to the Scots!

To detemine the "winner" of the "Most overall weak faction Award 2007" , I would include the survivability of the faction to the equation: Scotland, while their unit roster may be 'weaker' (more limited) than others', has an amazingly secure starting position - even with increased naval invasions. Once you push the English of the Isles, you have a secure base of operations. The HRE, on the other hand, may have a great unit roster, but their starting position is extremely disadvantagious. Beset from all sides, by a multitude of enemies, it is very hard to secure a base of operations. This, IMO makes them "weak". In all my campaigns (except when I was the HRE, of course), the HRE loses big time, despite all their amazing units. In none, except for my English campaign, were the Scots ever wiped out.

And, lets face it, would anyone play this game if all the factions played the same? I know I wouldn't...

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