How do you survive as any Spanish kingdom/duchy in 1066? The Muslims are much bigger than you and will gangbang you as soon as you're in one war. I can imagine one secret being to pick Castille or Leon and then to quickly grab the other, but in the meantime someone will overrun you.
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The truth is that things are very touch and go as a Spanish nation in the 1066 scenario. 9 out of 10 games will see the Christian factions dissolve into infighting that weakens all of them to the point that the Moors wipe the floor with them.
That being said, it is possible to hold back the Muslim tide if they themselves actually go about fighting one another instead of taking on you. I have been lucky before and seen all of the major Muslim players in Spain bicker among one another while I slowly gathered power, then struck.
Leon or Castille is likely the best choice but Barcelona can be a strong nation if you gather up all the little sheikdoms around you before they get big allies.
That being said, it is possible to hold back the Muslim tide if they themselves actually go about fighting one another instead of taking on you. I have been lucky before and seen all of the major Muslim players in Spain bicker among one another while I slowly gathered power, then struck.
Leon or Castille is likely the best choice but Barcelona can be a strong nation if you gather up all the little sheikdoms around you before they get big allies.
If you play as a county, you can try to grab a decent Moorish county and then submit to one of the bigger Moorish states. Consolidate power then break free.
It is very hard at the beginning, and one mistake can mean end of game 
I have managed to conquer all of Iberia as Barcelona.
One of the important things is to get going early, as the longer you wait, the longer the taifas gobble each other up. And then you end up with a huge Sevilla, Toledo or Badajoz. Start picking on the small taifas.
Be careful about starting wars elsewhere. As soon as your back is turned and attention is somewhere else, the taifas WILL declare war.
For a first time attempt I would suggest using Barcelona, as the other kingdoms are all interrelated, and the Jimenez brothers hate each other. So as Leon, when you are deep in a war with the moors, then your brother in Castille will attack you. It is also the major reason why the AI usually crumbles to the Moors.
I have managed to conquer all of Iberia as Barcelona.
One of the important things is to get going early, as the longer you wait, the longer the taifas gobble each other up. And then you end up with a huge Sevilla, Toledo or Badajoz. Start picking on the small taifas.
Be careful about starting wars elsewhere. As soon as your back is turned and attention is somewhere else, the taifas WILL declare war.
For a first time attempt I would suggest using Barcelona, as the other kingdoms are all interrelated, and the Jimenez brothers hate each other. So as Leon, when you are deep in a war with the moors, then your brother in Castille will attack you. It is also the major reason why the AI usually crumbles to the Moors.
The most important thing is to always have at least a 2-300 euros in the bank, and paying attention to the map.
Actually it is a bad perception to see 'muslims attack christians' inmediately, especially in the early game. What happens is an almost certain León-Castille clash, and a fight between the muslim states.
Usually every muslim DoW against a christian is preceeded by 3-4 DoWs against muslims.
When you see that the AI regiment leaves Cordoba or Zaragoza (the muslims are fighting each other), DoW, and take the empty province without fighting their army. When you (or Castille or León) take 2-3 duchies from the muslims, they are not a threat anymore.
Actually it is a bad perception to see 'muslims attack christians' inmediately, especially in the early game. What happens is an almost certain León-Castille clash, and a fight between the muslim states.
Usually every muslim DoW against a christian is preceeded by 3-4 DoWs against muslims.
When you see that the AI regiment leaves Cordoba or Zaragoza (the muslims are fighting each other), DoW, and take the empty province without fighting their army. When you (or Castille or León) take 2-3 duchies from the muslims, they are not a threat anymore.
Iberia 1066 is a cool place to be, because any mistake you might make would be probably fatal.
Check those two threads on the same subject, a number of good tips there...
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?t=403702
http://www.europa-universalis.com/forum/showthread.php?t=444727&page=2
I agree. Have even tested that once out of curiosity...
Post #5 in http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?t=405366
I remember uniting all of portugal and a bigger portion of iberia till i gave up due to boredom as the Duchy of Porto once.
Had to become a vassal of france at the start, though.
Had to become a vassal of france at the start, though.
Try Barcelona; Ramon Berenguer has no royal crown, but no one rules over him, and the weak crowns of Aragon and Navarre are within your graps just at the beginning. Usually, I marry one of my sons with the heiress either of Aragon or Navarra, while I conquer Lleida and Tarragona as fast as I can. Usually Albarracín, Calatayud or Zaragoza join the party too, in which case you still can handle it if you can summon troops from the counts of Urgell, Empúries and Roussillon.
I think Barcelona is the strongest option, and one of the funniest, to take over Iberia. The problem comes when Toledo, Badajoz and other powerful emirates declare themselves vassals of the Seljuks (a common error in this game). Then the Seljuks will come, no matter what's their situation, with an army of more than 80.000-100.000 men, to kick you ass with no solution.
You can still try to avoid this by keeping good relations with the Muslim territories while they are vassals of the Seljuks. Eventually, they will collapse and you will be waiting for it. Meanwhile, fight against your Christian brothers.
By the way, this game needs a way to recreate the weak Muslim emirates being "parias", dependant territories, of the Christian kingdoms, with the Muslims paying a tribute to keep the Christian warbands away.
Take care!
I think Barcelona is the strongest option, and one of the funniest, to take over Iberia. The problem comes when Toledo, Badajoz and other powerful emirates declare themselves vassals of the Seljuks (a common error in this game). Then the Seljuks will come, no matter what's their situation, with an army of more than 80.000-100.000 men, to kick you ass with no solution.
You can still try to avoid this by keeping good relations with the Muslim territories while they are vassals of the Seljuks. Eventually, they will collapse and you will be waiting for it. Meanwhile, fight against your Christian brothers.
By the way, this game needs a way to recreate the weak Muslim emirates being "parias", dependant territories, of the Christian kingdoms, with the Muslims paying a tribute to keep the Christian warbands away.
Take care!
Really?? ... I haven't seen that since the relations-bug was fixed in the beta-patch.
Its also possible, when playing Castille or Leon to wait out your main rival (Castille or Leon), and pound as soon as they are in a war with muslims.
You have claim on the king title. Take the king's demesne and "voila" you have doubbled your size.
After that, focus on picking up weak muslim land.
You will sooner or later have a big showdown with the biggest muslim state so stay out of Crusades and other wars until Iberia is yours, because you will be stabbed if you send your troops out of the country.
When Iberia is yours, you are a powerhouse!
You have claim on the king title. Take the king's demesne and "voila" you have doubbled your size.
After that, focus on picking up weak muslim land.
You will sooner or later have a big showdown with the biggest muslim state so stay out of Crusades and other wars until Iberia is yours, because you will be stabbed if you send your troops out of the country.
When Iberia is yours, you are a powerhouse!
In that case, I think it's preferable to play as Castille because you also have a claim on one of the guy's counties. So you enlarge your king's personal demesne (please tell me someone gets this).
You are right.
But a claim on a count title will not matter much in the long run.
If you want an easier game, I think Barcelona is it. It is nearly as powerful as Castille/Leon, BUT can become a vassal of France if needed (when you grab the Aragon king title you will become free from them).
The harder would be definietly Navarra or Aragon. Maybe Portugal too, never tried them.
I usually focus to fighting against neigboring Taifas and form continuous realm. I don't bother if some South Iberian Taifa declares war to me, especially if those are inland territories. It takes months before they march their troops across the mountains and your actual war has ended long time before they arrive. I just keep sending them white peace offers and if they don't accept I crush their troops once they reach my territory.
Sure sometimes I end up being at war with them for years, but as long as major Muslim power doesn't send their troops there's no real problem. It isn't rare that Taifa troops never arrive from Southern Iberia, because their neighbour has attacked them while they were moving their troops against me and annexed them. Eventually even larger Taifas usually surrender when you have defeated their troops in battle and conquered few of their vassals, because their neighbours backstab them when they run out of troops.
Iberian Kingdoms and Barcelona are easy realms to play. If you play as Porto it's easy to pledge allegiance to Leon and conquer Southern Portugal. Then you can form your own kingdom and you should be strong enough to take the Taifas on your own.
Sure sometimes I end up being at war with them for years, but as long as major Muslim power doesn't send their troops there's no real problem. It isn't rare that Taifa troops never arrive from Southern Iberia, because their neighbour has attacked them while they were moving their troops against me and annexed them. Eventually even larger Taifas usually surrender when you have defeated their troops in battle and conquered few of their vassals, because their neighbours backstab them when they run out of troops.
Iberian Kingdoms and Barcelona are easy realms to play. If you play as Porto it's easy to pledge allegiance to Leon and conquer Southern Portugal. Then you can form your own kingdom and you should be strong enough to take the Taifas on your own.