Oh, and what nations will you play? I was thinking of playing Arcoscephale, but I would also be happy with Ulm, Man, Marignon, Pythium, Jotumheim, Vanheim, Machaka, ...
Hm. I just played a few rounds of single-player with independent strength 3 and it was sort of boring -- you could almost treat independent provinces as empty provinces and just attack with whatever army you had nearby.