good races for/against newbies.

[Cainehill]

Edi said:
Abysia and Man are both solid options, depending on what kind of play style you use. Abysia and Ulm both suit me well, as does Vanheim. I'd stay away from some of the trickier ones like Pangaea and T'ien Chi until you get more familiar with the game.

Yeah, Abysia is easy and simple for a non-expert player to roll along with. The troops are solid, and simply by researching conjuration 3 (phoenix power) followed by evocation to 5 (falling fires), the mages & troops have incredible synergism : the troops are immune to fire, while the mages can pretty much all act as fire-based artillery without harming the troops at all.