Most difficult faction to win with?

[CountMRVHS]

I'd say it also depends on your play style to some extent. Every faction becomes easier if you do the early blitz, but some factions become considerably harder if you try to turtle. I imagine blitzing somewhat levels the playing field of difficulty, whereas turtling highlights the differences in the starting positions of different factions.

[Hound of Ulster]

Irish in XL leave no room for error at all. The easiest faction would have to be the Byzantines in early, as you have lots of lucrative proviences and you can play off the Fatimids and Seljuks against each other.

[Heidrek]

Well, my first Expert High Age Russian campaign failed due to CTD problems, but I was already reeling from the Golden Horde onslaught anyway.

I recently restarted with the ruskies and have cleaned house. Slaughtered the Golden Horde after a tense standoff and a couple of pitched battles. Picked up most of Scandanavia from the Rebels, then moved on to Britain and dealt to them. The Almo's conquered Spain, france and most of the rest of western europe while Turkey wiped out the Egyptians.

It looked to be Russia vs Almohads going for the title and sooner or later we were going to have to clash so I bit the bullet and landed a massive army in France, Normandy and another in Provence. The idea was to force a retreat then bait the Almo's into a counter attack where I had the advantage of defending. they wouldn't bite however and just withdrew to other territories.

As a result, I've cleaned out most of western europe and I'm working on Spain. Almo provinces are rebelling everywhere and I think they must be in the throes of a civil war. Aragon and England have reappeared and are trying to make some gound against me but getting nowhere.

A couple of minor factions - Hungary, Denmark are trying to take advantage of the fact that most of my armies are away and are nibbling my borders without success. Only Turkey, Italy, Sicily, Pope and HRE are uncommitted at present but if they all joined the fight against me it could get interesting.

Currently Russia dominates most of the world, despite the best infantry attacking infantry I have access to being Militia Sergeants. No FMAA or CMAA's, no Vikings nothing expect dismounted Druzhina Cavalry which I can't build anymore because we're now in the late age.

Also, No Feudal, Royal or Chivalric Knights - nor even Mounted Sergeants!! The best strike cavalry I have is Steppe Cavalry or perhaps Boyars once they've used up their arrows.

I think it's time I tried out a muslim faction - Perhaps Turkey. Mother Russia has proven herself enough I think.

[Heidrek]

Has anyone else played Scots in High period XL?

I'm finding them very difficult. Very limited cavalry, no mounted archers, no Halbardiers, no knights except royals, no Chiv. MAA leaves you ata disadvantage against many european armies. The Scottish Warriors are nice, but low defense and can only be built in Scotland, aside from that you only really have FMAA's and Militia Sergeants for infantry or Gallowglasses. The Gallows are nice, but die rapidly due to nonexistant defense.

[Roark]

I really enjoyed Scotland in High but, yeah, the start is tough...

If you can ally with France early (to encourage an English/French rivalry), and focus on taking Mercia and Wales by land, it gets much easier once you have Bowyer's Workshop and Bowyer's Guild respectively in each province.

By the time you get to Flanders, you're a worthy world power.

Gallows are one of the few troop-types who actually do reasonably well against Bills, due to their low armour and high attack, but you have to massage their morale with religious buildings.

[The New Che Guevara]

first time I played the high campaign, I chose russia. This was the first EVER time I had played. I didn't know what to expect that much, The mongols came and annihilated me.

I've done early with Germany, Aragonese and Byzantines.

Presumably, the Islamic factions are hardest to do, as you have to quench revolts due to the religion and if you dont use alims, and etc you will find your self surrounded by rebel provinces, especially when you get towards middle europe.

With VI, I haven't completed the game with scotland and Northumbria.

[Martok]

Welcome to the Org, Vladimir.Lenin.Returned! I'm pleased to see you've discovered the joys of MTW.

first time I played the high campaign, I chose russia. This was the first EVER time I had played. I didn't know what to expect that much, The mongols came and annihilated me.

That's not at all unusual. Indeed, you can take some solace in the fact that your experience is virtually identical to many people who played as the Russians for the first time.

Presumably, the Islamic factions are hardest to do, as you have to quench revolts due to the religion and if you dont use alims, and etc you will find your self surrounded by rebel provinces, especially when you get towards middle europe.

Actually, the Muslim factions are generally quite easy to play as. The Almohads and Egyptians both start with some very good provinces income-wise, along with a decent starting position from which to expand and/or defend. The Turks are somewhat more challenging, as they're sandwiched in between the Byzantines and Egyptians (and must therefore go to war with at least one of those factions if they're to expand), but they're still not overly difficult.

Personally, I recommend playing as the Eggies. They're one of my favorite factions in the game.

With VI, I haven't completed the game with scotland and Northumbria.

If you're finding those two factions to be a little too difficult, then I would recommend playing as either Saxons or Mercians -- both factions are start with rich lands and a pretty good starting position. If you want to play a faction whose units are very different from everyone else's, then you might want to give the Irish a try; they still have access to decent lands, and can build up without as much interference from the other factions.