In the time i have spent playing total war i have noticed a few reccuring things.
1) The Byzantines and Egyptians gang up on the turks, destroying them and then fight each other
2)The sicilians and the pope fight over naples after one of them takes it
3) The spanish alway crush the almohads and the aragonese and sometimes the Egyptians aswell
4) The french always bulldoze the english and germans and end up owning all of the british isles and half of germany
5) The russians and danes don't do any thing (in some games the russians conquer some of the steepes)
6) Germany is hit on the other side by poland and hungary
7) In most games, by the start of the high period the byzantines own all of the steepes, poland and the turkish provinces

i was wondering if anyone had found anything similar

note: i always start in the early period