Crime & Punishment

Battle cruisers are a nice balance between damage, tank and speed, and are relatively inexpensive. A t2 fit huricane costs 80M (t1 rigs). If you are shooting mission ships, their tank is at best 300dps, and a armor cane does about 600dps. You can also mismatch your ammo to the rats, so you see gurista rats with your customer, you pack EMP or hail, because hail rocks your socks.

BC's also have a few utility mids. The harbinger and the hurricane have 4 mids, so if you go armor, that leaves 2 mids for either dual webs, or a web and a fun toy, like a turret disruptor.

You can always use a sacrilege too. They have a very nice tank, they are much faster than a BC, and you can select the damage appropriate to your target. Again, you see a raven fighting guristas, and you load mjolnir rage. An abaddon fighting sansha, scourge or nova rage. The bonus to MWD sig also is a big plus over a BC.

If I were starting out, I'd fly BC's until I got comfortable, then switch to sacrileges. Hopefully the newbs you are shooting don't have micro jump drives, or you are using a scram.