I managed to keep my empire intact by hiring 30 thousand mercenaries, but then the Aztecs converted to Catholicism so I couldn't attack them without bringing the Pope down on my head. Lost almost all of my 70 thousand men which led to my empire rising up against me in various wars for independence/ claims on the throne etc.
My campaign went bad because none of the vassals liked John and the Aztecs landed in Ireland and Southern Spain within weeks of each other. When Henry dies you can play as the famous Richard Lionheart (although his treacherous shit of a brother assassinated him in my game). You can press your vassals' claims and take all of Ireland, large parts of France/ Brittany and are in a prime position to expand into North Africa through Holy Wars. This means that the Pope gives you basically the southern half of Spain. Crusader Kings II is a grand strategy video game developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive. The Pope calls a crusade for Andalusia fairly quickly and you can quickly win the war with your 40,000 troops and large navy.
