I say try Sicily or Milan.
Both start pretty much bang on in the centre of the map and both are fairly compact initially (Milan more so) and both have very, very decent unit roster.
Milan is a fantastic faction to play because their units are just so damn good without being too strong, so you still have a job to do winnig battles and all but you just know you can rely on your troops to do get the job done.
Sicily build up a lot slower and are tangibly poorer than Milan, but to counter that you train Norman knights right from the start IIRC and they munch Feudal K's for lunch, both mounted and on foot.
Both factions have equally big feelgood factor and are just pleasant to lead, my personal choice being Milan because of their awesome Genoese x-bows.