Game 4 (post 17): INWA 2, INA 0, ERENE 2.This was a very ahistorical game. First of all, Harold survived; unfortunately England was extremely unstable. Second, in INWA, both Castille and Leon survived and grew. They pushed back the muslims until, by the 1120s, they had just under half of Iberia. The HRE then entered the game and took eastern Iberia from the muslims. The reconquista ended in the 1240s. In the 1340s, there was a muslim pushback that lasted until the 1370s. Thereafter, the christian states pushed back further and further into NWA. It would have been faster if the French hadn't decided to act as spoilers. The HRE itself fell apart c1080, but gradually worked its way back to the eminence you see. INA was remarkably static. The Pope took most of Sicily in the 1080s, and it remained that way throughout. Very little back-and-forth, either in Italy or in NA. In ERENE, every single crusade failed, except the first. Unfortunately, the crusaders took only a few counties (coincided with Fatimid disintegration) and the Kingdom of Scotland was not strong enough to defend them beyond the 1220s. (Incidentally, I believe every jihad failed as well, other than the first sunni.) Third, most of the action occurred in and around the ERE. The Seljuk invasion failed. So did the shia jihad for Anatolia. Only in 1115, after nearly 50 years of non-stop warfare, did the ERE concede Anatolia to the sunnis, and the Seljuks entered through the back door. However, as the ERE had not lost Armenia, it was able to grow back. The Seljuks were reasonably strong, but were crushed between an extremely strong Egypt, a strong ERE and the Ilkhans. At its peak c.1200, the ERE had taken back Anatolia, and expanded well into Syria and Mesopotamia, as well as aborbing Croatia, parts of Hungary and all the land around the Black Sea. Unfortunately, in 1201, a 0-0-0-0-0-statted 2-year-old inherited the imperial throne, and all the good work was undone. (He was murdered in 1204, and then there were three EREs in quick succession.) Nonetheless, the ERE regrouped and hit back, under four different dynasties (including one of German descent and culture). The Ilkhans were reasonably successful (and eventually turned sunni), but the GH made short work of a relatively weak Rus and reached into Scandinavia, before Ruthenia, which was a major power from 1200 to the end of the game, started to engage them in war. Eventually the GH converted to catholicism. In the Middle East, the umpteenth Egyptian successor state conquered the Ilkhans in the 1340s and was able to stymie the Timurids. (They are currently in a reasonably successful invasion of Armenia.) Oh - and in France, the house of Burgundy usurped the French throne and then inherited England. These are just the highlights of a very dynamic game everwhere but in Italy (except for the first fifty years or so, when everyone was independent of the HRE).(NB: France and Egypt in the midst of succession crises, otherwise whole).PS: the Kingdom of Wales formed (with Brittany), relatively early on. They even went adventuring in Iberia, against Leon.PPS: The amount of assassinations in the ERE, often to the detriment of the Empire, was insane. Maybe 2/3 of the emperors and their children were murdered.PPPS: It's time to give my poor old computer a rest. But submissions from third parties are very welcome.