Has anyone tried to play as a barbarian, allied with Rome vs other barbarians?

[PaleBlueDot]

In my current game I'm carving out a viking empire in central Italy. Pretty every barbarian faction is my friend and trade partner. The Romans are going down fast. Then it hit me: Would it not be fun to play as a barbarian allied with, rather than fighting against Rome? I imagine you would have to face very different types of enemies than normal, and the two Roman factions might be fewer but more profitable trade partners. Has anyone tried this, and which barbarian faction has a better chance of ever becoming the best friend and protector of Rome?

[Aeratus]

I'm currently allied with WRE in my Jutes campaign. Since WRE is at war with just about anyone, you can get high relations with the WRE by conquering the nearby barbarians. Also, conquering other barbarians is more convenient than conquering Roman settlements, because you don't need to convert the settlement building that you conquer. I didn't ally with the WRE right away, however. I first let the barbarians conquer a big chunk of the WRE, so that I can reconquer them for myself, lol.

[Bramborough]

Have played Saxons, Geats, and Ostrogoths in the past. Never actually allied with WRE, but at some point in each campaign, would've been pretty easy to do so, since if you wind up fighting anybody other than Romans, it's almost certainly a common foe. Which oh by the way, is one of the more subtle effects of the Huns in this game...you can drastically improve your relations which almost any faction you want by taking on a Hun stack or two.

If you do go this route, I'll point out that it's in your interest to protect WRE's Mediolanum and Genua (your trade route with them will probably run between them). If you can, station an army in position to reinforce, in order to deter would-be besiegers and keep the trade flowing. Whether this is cost-effective or not depends on the value of the trade route of course. It's definitely worth it for ERE (for whom WRE trade alone can probably support 4-5 armies), but may not be so for a barb faction.

As far as good candidates to do this with, Ostrogoths might be a good choice. Fight with WRE early to establish yourself in Pannonia/Dalmatia, but then make nice and grow diplo by fighting Huns or whoever else.
1. Secure trade route across the Adriatic and/or through Aquileia.
2. You're in position to help WRE out in Italy without having to march too far.
3. ERE protects your southern flank (hopefully).
4. Adriatic coast can be well-protected from transport armies by even just a partial-stack fleet.
5. This leaves your northeast border as the main vulnerability (primarily against Huns), but the Danube river system helps a lot in impeding attacks from this direction.

This is pretty much how I played my Ostrogoth campaign, the only difference being that I didn't ally with WRE or help them out. I think I did trade with them, though. It's not very dynamic; a rather defensive playstyle. But I thought it was somewhat realistic, and had lots of good battles nevertheless.