Appleciders, is that M:TW 2 or the original Medieval: Total War with a patch? Because Portugal isn’t a player controlled faction in the standard M:TW 1 game.
Poland’s been one of my favorite M:TW factions, partially because it’s always sketchy starting. I always feel like I’ve accomplished more when I get a firm footing with the Poles versus some of the easier factions.
I felt like I beat the world when I kicked ass as Scotland or the Danes.
Ahhh yes, the Danes are interesting in M:TW, being able to recruit woodsmen from Scandinavia and more importantly, 1 experience Vikings from Norway. Vikings are anothe workhorse medium infantry like urban militia but with more morale, but with 1 experience they are better for he money than probably armored sergeants so even when technology surpassed me I’d still be pumping out 1 experience vikings from Norway.
I’d have to disagree about the game imbalace of the Jinetes, at least in M:TW. The Jinetes are the best "light’ cavalry in the game at fighting hand to hand, (surpassing Mounted Crossbowmen and Hobilars, IMO,) and combined with the multitudes of 4-6* generals they get make them nearly unbeatable without mostly spearmen. And oh, they can also hurl javelins.
In my view vikings are never really obsolete, although they’re certainly de-emphasised by the time I’m relying on arbalests to do my killing and Chivalric Sergeants to keep the enemy off them. If you’ve the patience, you can always build them in Norway for the +1 Valour and then retrain them in Sweden with a nice Metalsmith. As urban militia and militia sergeants have no anti-cavalry bonus, there’s no reason to prefer them to vikings, and the vikings’ overall stats make them at least as good as feudal men-at-arms and not appreciably worse than chivalrics - especially since by the time high gets rolling you’re up against a lot of armour.
I never bother with woodsmen as the Dane, rating them all-round worse than vikings on account of their terrible morale. They’re basically peasants with a trick up their sleeves, and even with +1 Valour from Lithuania that’s not good enough. Vikings die easily but they’ll take casualties and bash on. Woodsmen run like little girls once they get hurt, which happens quickly with their poor defences.
Another nation I really like is the Italians, who have everything except generalship (they have some 5* dude about the place, though he’s an urban militia general and that puts a brake on him). Italian Infantry is good in any era and tremendous in early, and backed by Genoese Sailors and some mounted crossbows they pretty much pwn most things the AI puts against them; and the Italians have access to lots of money early on, so they can field plenty of them. (Mounted crossbows are OK mounted missile troops, especially in early when there aren’t any infantry crossbows; they’re steadier in combat than horse archers and do more damage to armour.) Too bad about the galleys but it tends not to matter too much.
I’m thinking we should fire up a new game.
I’m also thinking I should finally get to the game that’s sitting in my inbox. I finally got a mouse that has a working right click button.
Oooooh, right click, very exciting.
It is M2, yes. I lose track of which we’re talking about in here. I can play in a passed-around game come about Dec. 15.
Malacandra, I’m not sure you’re using the Woodsmen right. Theyre incredible early-game troops, but you need to build a small army of them. Send them in 500-man lots with a heavier unit spearhead. They’ll take some 10-20% casualties, but obliterate the enemy. This is a great early technique for the Poles or Russians. It’s very cheap in gold, lets you quickly field a large force, and can be easily replaced. Best yet, it doesn’t require a lot of buildings.
Precisely. Outside of that, they’re good for maintaining a garrison.
You’re probably right. I’ve never tried spamming hordes of Woodsmen and the only power for whom it would be desirable and feasible would be the ones you name, of which I’ve only played the Poles. I did use some of them, but only to provide a distraction while my Mounted Crossbows and Royal Knights did the killing. Otherwise, only the Dane gets them early on and when I play the Dane I use Vikings, as noted.
Who wants to start a campaign control thread, then? 
Are we passing around an M2:TW game, or M:TW, or an expansion of either, or what? I’ve only got M2:TW sans expansion, but I’m limited in playing time anyway, so y’all go ahead and play whichever you like. If it’s M2:TW, I’m in. Maybe as the French or the Scots?
Whatever we decide we do, I call first.
If it’s M2:TW, I’m in too. I’d vote for the French, as I am playing them right now and it seems like the perfect nation for passing around in a tactical sense, because it takes so long to develop good units.
If it’s M2: TW then I’m out, as I don’t have it.
Just for fun, I’ve started up a Polish campaign to see how much mileage I can get out of Lithuanian Woodsmen equipped with Swedish iron weapons. 
So, so far we have two people…the Usual Suspects.
Anyone else?
Perhaps we should indeed start another thread it it’s gonna be Medieval 2. Or heck, even Medieval 1 (which I don’t have installed on my new PC but if you start another thread I might install it but probably won’t.)
If we do 2, can I suggest a change? I know it’s not as good from a role-playing perspective but can we make the gaming length a minimum of 10 turns and a maximum of 40 (i.e. if the monarch you’re playing dies before the 10th turn, you get to play 'till the end of the 10th turn and then hand it over. If the first monarch you got is still alive and kicking after the 40th turn, hand it over regardless.) There is some historical precedence for regencies and palace coups which lead to the differing policies under the same monarch. I just feel that sometimes the games stagnate when one person’s had the file for so long, and I have been burnt myself when my king died after only 3 or 4 turns.
I’m fine with the idea of turning it over on a turn-number basis. I also think that if there’s just the three of us playing, it’ll matter less, because we’ll each get more turns.
If you two want to get going, you’re welcome to. I’m not on winter break until Dec. 15, and I’m not going to be able to put in serious playing time until then.
So are we doing this?