Well I like the Saxons as sometimes it's nice to be a superior force and bully your neighbours into submission with your heavy troops that make the celtic style warriors flee in panic. I think the Saxon campaign is the only MTW campaign I ever finished.... by winning.

I like the Welsh too. Played their campaign just to get the Welsh Bandits. Of course many, many years in and I'm no closer to getting them and I suspect the fate of the Welsh is decided well before you can train them. Their celtic warriors are interesting too - just throw them at the enemy spearmen and watch them slaughter them.... whilst dying horribly themselves. It's an interesting campaign being stuck next to the two most powerful factions in the campaign: the Mercians and Saxons, (the Vikings never do much). Whoever you attempt to attack, the other one just ends up growing more powerful whilst you find yourself stretched. I stopped playing the campaign when after beating the Saxons, I was faced with a mega-rich Mercian army bordering half my regions and with massive spearmen armies led by about 10 x 6-8* generals. How can my puny celtic warriors compete, especially when the Huscarles finally arrive?? Heh I must continue the campaign to see.

So overall, I'm torn between the Saxons and Welsh. If I could train those Welsh bandits without needing a ridiculous level of technology then I'd definitely opt for the men from the valleys.