Should Carloman die before you (which you can help with) you can choose to claim his lands, and conquer his (horribly well-defended) capital. You’ve been given a huge, long thin strip of provinces wrapped around your brother’s territory, and you start with armies in exactly the wrong places to defend against the Saxons in Northern Germany and Gascons in Southern France. The huge kingdom of the Franks has been split between you and your brother Carloman after the death of your father, and along quite stupid lines, really. The big faction though, is the Kingdom of Charlemagne. Sometimes you just need to give up on a campaign, lick your wounds, and return later. Essentially, these guys do guerrilla warfare really well. The faction’s two quirks allow the razing and abandonment of their own settlements, in the face of an advancing enemy, and a hugely-increased ambush chance.
Though their troops are merely yawnworthy, it’s easy to rebuild the burned provinces and suddenly have huge amounts of money and food rolling in, allowing you to pick off the isolated factions to your East and then take on the Emirate of Cordoba.
In the Northern corner of Spain, behind a line of razed provinces, sits the kingdom of Asturias-the easiest of the campaigns.
