>>8484046I would say the Romans are the first choice of the two. They have a very iconic look, they make for a nice army group (at least if you can also get you hands on the boxed 6-pack of legionaries 5393 at a good price in the US), and as the center of the classic Western world they can eventually play with Barbarians, Greeks, Egyptians and even the Nativity sets (btw I suppose 5588 will be available in the US at some point, I think it looks much better than 9494).
Egyptians on the other hand have a lot of play potential with pyramids, pharaohs, mummies, tomb raiders, desert bandits and it can get pretty amazing. I think they are less dependant on your ability to army build to have fun so you can get a bit of variety of figures in low numbers if you don't want to spend too much.