I have already used a bosmer sneak archer to go through the game, and it was very very unsatisfying. I'm thinking of rolling shield and sword on a nord or breton now. But I have to ask, is it hard playing this way since you have 0 range? I can't imagine how difficult it must be fighting dragon priest or frost mages with a straight melee.
I'm thinking of playing a Light armor dual wield of some sort. I know people say you need HA for defense since you have no block, but the stamina regen in Light armor seems awesome, I'm sure the mastery for 10% dodge chance will also help with survivability also.
Then I am also considering a Heavy armor sword and shield, but would it be better to do this in Light armor, especially on a Nord?

I have to admit one big reason I'm going with a warrior is because the finishers are awesome too.

Sadly there is no kind of dodge feature in skyrim, does that ever make playing a warrior get stale since it is just swing as fast as you can?
Or is it possible to side step certain attacks? I have done this a couple times on other characters but it just seems the hit box on some attacks is just to large to quickly move out of.

So if you have played a warrior any advice you can leave about your experience with it would be great, thanks.

With alchemy+smithing+echanting ENYTHING will work. Trust me.

Atronach stone early on and you will be fine. You could go for a Breton with Atronach stone and get the blocking perk for 50% less spell damage while blocking and you will shrug spells off like water.

I play a nord warrior who only uses two-handed weapons, very rarely uses a bow and never uses magic. The lack of ranged makes some battles tricky but none are impossible. Killing dragons is actually the easiest thing - I am hoping these get tougher as I go through the game (currently lvl 23). I have heavy armour and because I put 2/3 of my points into stamina (the remaining third into health) I don't have stamina issues. Not carrying any extra gear helps a lot - you don't need to loot in this game as you get more than enough gold anyway. I find being able to block crucial - I slightly regret not going 1-h and shield to defend against arrows, but otherwise the build is viable.

Would you recommend Light armor or heavy armor for sword and shield? Will it make a noticeable difference?

Does having more weight on you actually make you use up more stamina?? O.o

Just a couple things to start you off:

• If you're going a duel wield warrior, then definitely go with heavy armor, you'll get killed constantly using light armor cause you have no defense.
  
• If you're going the sword + board route, then I'd recommend light armor for extra stamina. Defense won't be that much as an issue as you'll be investing heavily in the block tree and you can also reach the armor cap in light armor anyway.

Unless you have visited a steed stone near Solitude. It gives "no armor penalty" bonus.

Just go one handed dual wielding and use power attacks. Dip in, attack, dip out. If you have one handed, smithing, and enchanting, you can't lose. And dragons die 1-2 power attacks on master once you're level 30 or so.