Despite that, I lost all my troops and he lost 69 or so. In Italy my army was wiped out by a family member rebelling, even though he held only a single county with ~1000 troops and I sent in everything (~2500 troops).
In Ireland I just get stuck in a stalemate without any gains. But I've tried a few times in Ireland, and also in southern Italy. Lacking that, the preferred way to expand apparently is war. For instance, the Ireland start does not work anymore because you need 51% instead of 50% to create a duchy. I've just bought CK2 and apparently a recent patch has invalidated most if not all walkthroughs.
