For EA, I'm on Aby too, I'd say if it's your first games - take an Imprisoned pretender with strong scales and you'll learn a lot on using the shielded troops to protect the damage dealing unshielded ones from arrows - use battlemagic - straightforward rituals...
Still for EA, Ulm is generally quite simple too (you can pick decent scales and a dormant Red Dragon to help expanding in Dragon form or eventually casting Flaming Arrows in human form), and also Niefelheim for starting to get an idea of blessed SCs, Helheim and Vanheim for strong blessed troops, Yomi for straightforward battle magic, stealthy troops and mid-game SCs which make use of self-buffs and equipment.
