I'd also suggest using a mod or two. 'Deadly Seas' will keep water nations out of your game and water will be an 'out of bounds' area. And I wrote a small utility called DomBak (link in my sig) that easily backs up each turn for you. That way you can try a strategy, see if it works, quickly restore any past turn and try something different.
When I was starting I only used to play as MA Man because it seemed familiar.