@ G^2:

Cool thanks.

I might go with them anyway. I've decided that for my first m2 campaign I would accept the "game's challenge" and only select my faction from the ones first available (as opposed to unlocking the others manually).

I spent a good 3 hours in custom battles last night on h and vh with venice vs france...in all sorts of scenarios. Was fun stuff, and yeah Venice seems to go in line with my infantry sided mindset.

I'm going to try out France, England and Spain a bit tonight just to be sure...but from what I already know of them, Venice might be a good place to start.