Hi Derfasciti, and welcome here

I'd say, for an easy campaign: Period - Sengoku Jidai, Clan - Uesugi. And of course, difficulty 'Easy'. Here's a little advice on the start of the campaign.. ** Move your army from Sado (north) into Dewa. Move your troops from Hida and Echigo into Shinano first turn to defend it from the Imagawa Clan. Take the high hill on the left on the region, have your archers spend all their arrows on the enemy Yari samurai, and charge down the mountain with all your men when the enemy gets close. Second turn, move the 1 (possibily damaged) ashigaru unit from Shinano back into Hida. Move the army in Dewa into echigo. Continuously create archers in Mutsu, spend the rest of your koku into your economy. (farms in mutsu, dewa and echigo, and/or mines in echigo and dewa.) Get your emissary to create alliances with the takeda, oda, mori and shimazu if possible. As soon as you can, invade the Hojo territory. Preferably first Hitachi, then Shimosa.**

Good luck!!