I usually play as the Byzantines, and they are pretty easy if you keep your wits about you. You get a great northern frontier if you take Sofia, you can basically hold off the whole of Northern Europe from those three bridges. Plus, Constantinople, Nicaea and Thessalonica are economic powerhouses. As others have mentioned, the troop roster is a bit lacking, but i think that is pretty much in character with the military degeneration that occured around the period the game is set at. For house rules, I like to play on VH/VH, using only Constantinople & Nicaea, with Nicaea as a castle, sometimes keeping hold of Thessalonica as well. It makes it loads harder, and also makes it more fun to roleplay your generals and use assassins to achieve what your limited armies cannot. I also enjoy constantly trying to assassinate the pope, you get a neat special video! Bwahaha, Orthodox>RC!