Re: What\'s a good starting nation for newbies?
 

You forgot about the Svartalves. They open up Earth.

Re: What\'s a good starting nation for newbies?
 

Try early or middle era abysia. Decent magic ability, fairly heavy troops, good priests, access to but not reliance upon blood and assasins. They can be quite forgiving and fun to play (try e9-10 and some blood on a pretender, keeps your fire mages blasting, makes your burning ones tougher and longer lasting and gives you access to demon knights and father illearth)

Re: What\'s a good starting nation for newbies?
 

Yeah, for some reason I did. Too short, I guess http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

(They're expensive, and not being Sacred, they cost more in upkeep, that's probably why I forgot about them. But I guess I'll think about them again when I start meeting real armies)

Re: What\'s a good starting nation for newbies?
 

Try Sauromatia, all their troops and mages are good. You can even do a bless. Not to mention the hydras can teach you a mean lesson about troop placement.

Re: What\'s a good starting nation for newbies?
 

I would also suggest starting with a water nation if you're worried about losing. If you play a map where you are the only water nation then you should last a long time without any threats. As you get more experienced I would advise not playing the water nations unless the map is mostly water and your opponents are also water nations and/or easily able to travel into the water... another exception is if you're playing multiplayer.