Playing as England in the year 1226. My initial expansion, after York, was into France. I took Rennes, Bordeaux, and Bruges from the rebels, and then Paris from the French, with William the Conqeuror leading the way. Paris was just under the radar of the pope for excommunication - had France not sallied forth and been destroyed, I would have been powerless to take the city without being excommunicated. I then took Antwerp, but it rebelled, and when I was trying to retake it, the Danes declared war and decided to interfere with those plans. While my army battled them, Scotland invaded and besieged York, and France declared war again as well. This would prove to be the toughest part to date.
My new king Rufus invaded Norway be sea and took Oslo, while his brother-in-law, who had just taken Dublin from the rebels, fought the Scottish army in Ireland and then advanced on Edinburgh. Taking Oslo, unfortunately, got me excommunicated. Scotland had all their troops, save a few garrisons in Inverness, in Ireland or at York, so Edinburgh was free for the taking once I got troops there from Norway. They could have taken York if they'd been willing to assault the walls, but did not, so they ended up falling without too much trouble. France I attacked later, and they proved not too difficult, and I added Angers and Rheims to my realm before making peace. With this, their advances on Antwerp repulsed, and an army advancing on Hamburg, the Danes were willing to settle.
Conveniently, the next Pope was English, and I was reconciled shortly before making peace with France and Denmark. I'd planned to ask for a crusade, perhaps on Tunis, but wanted to wait for peace, and someone else got one on Antioch first. No problem, I had King Rufus, his brother-in-law Henry of Irish-Scottish conquests, and their nephew Michell join the crusade. The first two went by sea, the latter overland. Going by sea proved to be a bad idea as most of the armies deserted whilst going around Spain. Henry was first, and captured Cagliari. Tragically, he was killed in a peasant revolt the very next turn. On the plus side, I'd soon gain two cardinals from the island of Sardinia. His army (reinforced by crusaders from Iberia) joined Rufus's.
Michell eventually reached Constantinople, which had recently been conquered by Egyptian jihaders, and decided to retake it for Christiandom. As he besieged the city, news arrived of Rufus's death at sea, making his army the last crusading army (the Holy Roman and Danish ones apparently having already perished). Unfortunately, his army began to desert while they besieged the city, and he was forced to attack earlier than hoped. Although the Egyptian general was slain, it was a clear defeat, and with this the crusade officially became a failure. Our own catapults destroying the Great Cross with flaming ammunition probably was a bad omen.
Rufus's army, meanwhile, or what was left of it after desertion following the king's death (we aren't on a crusading army without our king!), continued to Antioch. They landed successfully, and besieged the city. Nary a month had gone by, but Egyptian reinforcements came. The army's infantry were easily defeated, but the Crusader Knights heroically turned the tide and fought off both the reinforcements and the city's garrison, slaying the enemy general in the process. But just when they thought they'd march into the city, more reinforcements arrived, and despite the infantry this time fighting quite well, they were too much for the English army. With this, the last hopes of a successful crusade died.
The crusade probably wasn't worth it militarily, but it was fun, and hopefully Cagliari will become a trading hub (I converted it to a city). I'm now considering attacking France again, as they've conveniently been excommunicated.
I'm also enjoying having the AI deal with me diplomatically. On my previous major game it seemed like they never, ever, would deal with me, but not being excommunicated makes a big difference.
I do still have a Cardinal in Syria, whom I hope may become one of the Preferati. I had a princess there as well, whose job it was to secure peace after the war, or perhaps find a suitable Byzantine prince to marry, but she was unfortunately killed in the Battle of Antioch.
