What next II

[A Very Super Market]

Pontos and Hayasdan will be pure murder if you can't stand the Seleucids. You start out right next to them, and in Hayasdan's case, very near the Samartians as well. Pontos will have to duke it out in Asia minor, usually under attack by the Grey death, Yellow death, and sometimes the Maks. I vote for Sweboz too.

[Marcus Ulpius]

I think either Sauromatae or Sweboz.

Hayasdan or Pontos are extremely tough with Pontos being one of the most difficult in the game as they start next to AS and waves of phalanxes can start arriving sooner rather than later either from AS or from the Ptolies. Hayasdan is the one I always wanted to try myself, but I haven't done that yet. It could be one of the best campaigns because of their interesting reforms and background (restoring the old Persian Empire), but it is a hard campaign as they can be attacked by the AS from the south and by Sauromatae from the Steppes. Arverni is easier than the first 2, but you'll face Roman onslaught of full stacks of heavy infantry and you already start at war with the Aedui and a very long border to defend.
Sweboz looks like the easiest for reasons mentioned earlier by others. I personally didn't like it (but I didn't continue after 5-10 years) because of their poor economy where you're getting in the red very deep quickly, but may be I was simply doing something wrong. Can't say anything about the Sauros as I've never played a nomadic campaign, but people say HAs are great

[Titus Marcellus Scato]

Best thing to do with the Sweboz is to disband all your cavalry right at the start. You don't need it in seige battles, which is what the early battles will be - and it saves a lot of money. Your family members are the key to early success.

[Megalos Danielos Psychopatos]

1-Sauromatae: slow and calm game;only enemies are Saka-Rauka and (after many turns) Hayasdan usually; long distances so more time to react.
2- Sveboz: no enemies at the beggining but much more fights against eleutheroi settlements and armies; east and south ways of expansion are heavily defended.
3-Arverni: struggle against Aedui from the begginig; later fight against Rome, Sveboz and Lusotanians; sometimes this campaign is as hard as Hayasdan and Pontus but at the beggining is easier
4-Hayasdan: hard time consolidating Ur "mainland"; tough fighting against AS (slightly easier than Pontos becouse of longer distance and mountain border) and (later) Pahlava and (sometimes) Sauromatae.
5-Pontos: masochistic; hard beggining; AS are VERY close to you; later KH/Makedonia is coming for U, and very often Hayasdan want Your blood too...