Hi guys,

Long-term strategy has never been my strong point, I tend to think short-term and rely on a strong army to get me out of scrapes. However, for reasons that I will expain below, I need a plan but would appreciate some advice. But first some background:

I'm playing VI as the Welsh (Hard). The aim was initially to play as long as I could, maintaining my borders without dominating. The plan was working fine,
I'd taken Defet and teched-up Clywd(?) and the other non-Poius territory with +1 valour archers to produce celtic warriors and archers with +2 armour and weapons. I used this to form three defensive armies down my spine consisting of 4 warriors, 3 archers, 1 horsemen and a royal knights. The plan was to Welsh bandits on-line use these to strengthen these armies and sit and wait.

The plan was working well. I stole Pec Seaten when it rebelled and using judicious title giving I manged to give two ex-heirs 7 and 8 command and a princess each to keep them loyal. Things were looking good.

Then, war (finally) broke out between Northumbria and Mercia. Since I was strong allies with the Northumbrians and also wanted to keep Mercia weak I joined in. I moved my two main armies into Wrocen Seaten and Hwicce, caused the garrison to fall back and fought a defensive battle in Wrocen Seaton that left 1800 Mercians dead and 800 captured. This seemed to break the back of the Mercian army and encouraged the Saxons to join in.

I sense this will be the hammer blow to the Mercians. The question is, what do I do now? I have a plan, but I'd appreciate an expert opinion.

I currently hold a line of the two Seatens and Hwicce, and if attacked i'll abandon these and withdraw to the hills of Wales. I plan to take Mercie (where the Mercian king is sitting and almost defenceless) raze all non-military buildings, set taxes to v.high and initiate a scary Huscarle-based rebellion. Hopefully this province will be a buffer state and a pain for the Northumbrians and Saxons as they fight over the Mercians tattered remains. I will withdraw to my 'natural' line and let them fight for the time being.

I know someone will shout that now's the time I should be advancing, take Middle England for myself before the Huscarles really get going, but this won't be in keeping with the attitude I took when I started.

The question is, is this plausible/sensible? My biggest fear is that the winner of Northumbrian/Saxon scrap will one day turn on me with a Jedi-general and super Huscarles and just decimate me. Is this likely? Could they be stopped? What should I do? Stick or twist? My instinct is to stick, but if the other guy will one day hold '21', i'll be doomed.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.