I'd go with Carthage, there's so many options for starting out. Do you blitz the Romans? Hunker down into your core territories? Pack up and move to Spain or Crete? The possibilities are endless.

(Oh, plus, you get elephants )

Interesting close to the campaign. The final battle proceeded almost exactly as a recent one I had when I was sieging a Gallic settlement with a full-stack inside. However, when they were engaging me fully I snuck a battering ram into the city and pounded away. All of a sudden there was this massive barbarian army that was regrouping. They were easily crushed.

Congrats and thank you for the Pentagon recommendation. However, I find military strategy much easier when it is 2,000 years out of date.