[VedalkenBear]

Hm, I see the usual suspects mentioned here. However, I might suggest that the nation a player starts with sometimes colors their view of the game. I would therefore give a slightly more varied nation. (Man and Ulm, particularly, are not very varied.)

I would suggest Midgard. Einhere spam is incredibly easy to do, and leads to easy expansion. You _can_ look into Blood, but don't have to. You _can_ do buffing by Volvas, or Battlemagic from the Galdermen, but don't have. Basically, this is a nation that you can give to a newbie and expect them to do well, but also something they can progress with for more than a few games.