Denmark

From Crusaderkings

Alright, so I made my first attempt at Crusader Kings Deus Vult with the Danes and this is my attempt to give you an idea of what it is like to be a dane in the 1187 campaign. Why 1187 campaign with denmark and not the 1066 which many consider be the best and most logical to play with? Well there are both up and downs but I concluded that it be easier for at least a beginner to learn and handle the dynasty of denmark with the 1187 campaign. In 1066 you have in the beginning less control over how to marry in your dynasty while at the same time there are many children to take into consideration. Otherwise it´s not a big difference and many tips from this description will also apply on the other campaigns.

So what is good to know about Denmark before we start the campaign up? To sum things up (and as noted it´s for the 1187 campaign);

1: Denmark is found in the north region of europe with ever threatning Germany to the south and it´s obvious rivals of Norway and Sweden to the north. On the good side it is close to easy conquered pagan provinces in the east (the baltics).

2: The King is named Knud and has some average stats. But the main issue is he is likely to not have any children (wife fertilty 5, age 40 and Knud himself have a fertility of 2). So be prepared to in time take the role as his brother Valdemar, altough that is not a bad thing as he is a quite good warrior and also have good stewardship. For roleplaying players my proposal is to directly start the game as Valdemar (Duke of Slesvig) as it gives you the possibility to choose his bride and with that have a better control of your future dynasty which in time will rule Denmark.

3: The Danish mainland consist of some good provinces with a base tax value from 3 to 6 with a few exceptions. There are also high base tax provinces in your vicinity, especially in the south in Germany. With direct control (in the demense) over entire Denmark you will have a good income and money won´t be an issue, especially if you develop your provinces and manage to concuqer the lubeck and hamburg provinces. Problem is only that those are owned by mighty Germany and many of the other danish provinces are vassals of yours.

So to the maybe more intresting part of playing Denmark, what to do? This analys will focus on the goals I set up, mainly conquering the scandinavian mainland, gain a foothold in the baltics and keep Germany and Poland out of the way.

A good thing with Denmark to start with is to wait for a crusade to be called. After that you go after the pagan provinces in the east to gain more income and military strength for your realm along with the prestige from the crusade call. My suggestion is to go for the prussian provinces (from Memel to Marienburg) as they have quite good base tax values and are not that far from your realm. Be aware that this put Poland next to your owned provinces and that they may attack you in the future. This altough isn´t all to likely early on but to be safe you might try to form an alliance with them.

When these eastern provinces are conquered your next step follows; namely taking direct control over mainland Denmark (all provinces with danish culture). This because they form a good base for income and military development concentrated around your realm. As these provinces already belong to your country but as vassals you will have to revoke some titles from your vassals. This will leed to loyalty drops and in the end to revolts but with your economical power and if you have invested in your provinces these revolts will be a no match for you. It also give you the ability to take direct control over more "danish culture provinces" during the revolts and putting people from your own dynasty as rulers of your vassals (loyalty bonus) when you settle peace with your former vassals.

With a foothold in the baltics and the danish provinces in your hand it´s time to start think big. Should we go further east in to pagan land? Should we try to conquer some rich german provinces in the south? Or maybe try to put some scandinavian provinces under our rule? The main suggestion here is to focous on Scandinavia. Germany is extremly strong and you won´t stand a chanse if you try to "steal" some of it´s provinces, altough it might be tempting as those provinces bordering you are quite rich. Conquering pagan nations in the east is more of a secondary issue as it isn´t all to hard and more fits in with when want more vassals to cover your back.

So from here on focus are on gaining the king titles of Norway and Sweden and in the end total control over its regions. These each need a prestige of about 2750-3750. If your ruler have made good in the baltics you are a good way of reaching the needed prestige. But use this prestige to grab titles in southern Sweden, for example in the Småland region. Note here that the best way to gain even more prestige is to grab a title from a swedish vassal. When you then declare war on them, the king of Sweden will also declare on you. This in turn give you the possibility to gain more prestige when you defeat them both (which with your economical and military strength should´t be to hard). If you don´t have enough prestige to claim a king title after this you simply grab a new title from a swedish vassal, declare war and once again defeat the swedes with even more prestige gained. After some time you will be able to grab the title as king of Sweden and with this you make a final assault on the swedish realm to aquire that title.

When this is done some of the swedish vassals will join you and the others are easly conquered afterwards. However you should now be aware of high reputation which will make other countries think worse about you and in the end maybe declare war on you. Depending on your time table to finish things up this might be an issue or not, but to reduce reputation check the FAQ section on paradoxplaza.com to be able to conquer Sweden faster. It is also a good thing to ally Germany so you don´t face an invasion from south when your in the middle of Scandinavia conquering provinces. A good rule of thumb is that Germany is always your friend until you match their military strength, otherwise things will very soon become unpleaseant.

After you have gained control over Sweden you do the same with Norway. Grab king title, if not enough prestige, go for a vassal and face a war with the vassal and the king of norway. With your combined strength of Sweden and Denmark this will be one of the most easy parts as long as you don´t let your reputation go all to high.

And with this you have put Scandinavia under danish rule while at the same time getting a foothold in the east. From here a good thing to do is to let time reduce your reputation while you improve your provinces and regain troop strength. You may if hungering for war at the same time try to conquer some more provinces in the east although it will take time to develop them fully and convert them in to catholics.

After that it´s pretty much up to you. For myself I finally attacked Germany to gain Lubeck and Hamburg (two rich provicnes bordering Denmark) which was very intresting as the odds where against me and they put up a good match. Otherwise you could try to regain what Denmark lost a century ago, namely gain a foothold in England and in the end become king of England. What to do from here is as said really up to you as you now will have a very good income together with a large amount of vassals ready to provide you with military strength.

So to sum things up playing Denmark;

1: Start with gaining some pagan provinces in the baltics 2: Try to put the danish mainland in your demense for good income and military strength 3: Grab swedish/norwegian vassal titles and declare war. Do this until you have enough prestige to grab the title as King of Norway/Sweden. 4: Continue to exapand in the east and start considering attacking Germany.

Hopefully this will give you an idea of how and what to do as Denmark. Also consider that altough my campaign might sound been done in a short time were here talking about 100-150 years before all this is accomplished. Consider again this was made on difficulty Normal/Normal it might even take longer. Anyhow you should be provided with enough fun for quite some time and this analys isn´t a must do list. As long as you stay on good terms with Germany you can pretty much do whater you feel for. So to end things, let only the imagine of yourself set the boundaries of your empire :)