Another suggestion, try the Polish! They may not seem like much but you can build a highly specialised army right away. You can make slav warroirs who are excellent in the first years, woodsmen that actually stay usefull because of their great charge and anti armour bonus, javelinman for general carnage and horsemen that are pretty decent early cavalry. You also get the best medium cavalry in the game with the retainer(you will have to wait a while before you can build them), and in moldavia you can build Avar Nobles who are unstoppable in early. To make it even more lovely, you get mounted crossbow that actually perform pretty well when used as light cavalry. If you like the battle aspect of the game the Polish are the one! Build a nice army and decimate the Germans.