I can't stay mad at this game. This time I'm trying something a little harder than Ostlandet (which I've been informed means Cheese Land. Perhaps they meant Østlandet?).
I went with Vestisland this time. It's been interesting. You gotta play under the radar, the first time I made a super kickass guy with like 20 martial in the ruler designer and had an 800-strong Cheeseman army on my beach within a month because he wanted me as his marshal.
So I have to play with the default ruler, which means we start out in a deadlock. I spent the first like ten years constantly raiding Ireland and using the money to improve my one tiny holding until I had a sizable troop lead over him. Then I waited for him to send his levy on a raiding trip and sent my dudes over real quick on a boat to besiege his capital and secure the mountain defense bonus before he got back. Now I'm the Petty King of Iceland and I'm waiting for Haraldr Yngling, who's taken over most of Norway as usual, to take me over. He has only daughters so this could be an interesting opportunity for some shenanigans.
Except for some reason Haraldr saw through my extremely transparent attempt to slip in and put my dynasty on the throne, and rejected the offer due to "political concerns." Anyone know a clever way around this?