Proceed to acquire trade rights from nearby factions. Do the same in Genoa.Ĭontinue to press your army on towards Florence and lay siege. To fill up the garrison and make up for you moving the others into your army headed for Florence. I recommend the first farming upgrade to boost population and combat any upping of the tax rate. To boost your reputation with the pope, all important as within a few turns one of your neighbours will be knocking at your walls. Besides you are in deep trouble if your florins run low in the early stages of the game. I typically leave them up there at very high, the public order will be restored next turn following recruitment. Finally, take the troop garrison in Genoa and join it with your army headed for Florence and send the troop garrison in Milan down towards Florence along the path shown in the next screenshot. You should also send your spy in this direction to keep an eye on the Holy Roman Empire in Bologna.

Next take the army west of Genoa and head straight for Florence, before the Holy Roman Empire or Venice snatch it up. Move your merchant towards one of the silver mines north-east of Venice. Leave your Cardinal in the province of Milan, as it has the lowest Christian population. The first order of business should be to send your diplomat to secure trade rights with your immediate neighbours (and if you opt for the Papal States an alliance would be useful). This guide was written for the Very Hard difficulty, but can easily be adapted for any other difficulty you play. This guide focuses on the first few turns as Milan, it is neither a concrete strategy nor a recipe for an easy game but it should set a foundation for a strong and secure homeland for Milan in your grand campaign. So I sit back and try to wonder how and when it could have all gone wrong, and my conclusion was that I was a fool during the opening moves of my campaign.

I frantically try to regroup, retrain and hold off the assault from all sides but am slowly being ground down. Now Venice marches on their former capital from the east and Sicily has recaptured Palermo. I was under attack, The Holy Roman Empire poured through the alps, the French swarmed all over Marseille, the Spanish and/or Portugese consistently tried to yank Ajaccio and Cagliari from my grasp. Then around turn 30 the whole thing soured. Everything was peachy, waging crusades in the east and snatching up rebel settlements. I am currently playing a campaign as Milan.

Rome total war starting map