Ashdod's PD morale is pretty good IMHO. The Edomites are low-morale, but Gileadites have Morale 13 or so. Also, in practice their high HP seems to prevent them from easily routing. In SP, I seldom see a battle lost because of routing that would have been won if the PD had survived, which to me is what makes PD feel like "low morale." (Helheim has this problem, for instance, with PD < 20. Once the serfs are dead the Huskarls run away.) PD 10 will sometimes stand off barbarian attacks or even knight attacks, and PD 20 will often stand off knights and usually stand off barbarians. To me that's about all you can ask for in PD, although I don't concur with DonCorazon's opinion that the PD is "ridiculously tough" either (although *Hinnom*, pre-nerf, did have *ridiculously* tough PD for the price).
With Ashdod as strong as it is, though, I wouldn't object to seeing its PD nerfed a bit. I've previously suggested Edomites + humans, vs. the current Gileadites + Edomites.
Random thought: according to the EA Hinnom text for Qedesot, all Rephaim are male and rely on (Avvite) Qedesot to bear them sons. Ashdod doesn't seem to have any Qedesot left. Where do all the Bashanites, Gileadites, etc., come from? To me this is also part of the thematic justification for removing Rephaite Gileadites from Ashdod PD. Let them be a nation mostly composed of Edomites.
You could nerf Ashdod pretty hard-core by making Zamzummites cap-only. That would make me cry, and avoid Ashdod the way I avoid Helheim now that you can't make Svartalfs. The memory of what once was is tragic.
-Max
P.S. I think CBM makes Ktonian Necromancers cap-only. That also makes me cry. I would likewise object to restricting Sauromancers to the capital. Good recruitable-anywhere battlemages are my primary criteria for selecting a nation.