Units weapons and armors!

[Shigawire]

and accurate barbarian armies would have been incredibly boring (i.e. warband infantry, juvenile skirmishers with mixed missile weapons and cavalry and/or chariots)

I don't think I follow you here. Barbarian armies aren't so boring once you see how varied they were. Far more varied than Rome TW would portray.

what made the vanilla game unplayable for me was the Mummy Returns Egyptians - not least as they invariably became a superpower and eventually had to be fought even if you refused to play as them.

LOL That was indeed a stain upon the reputation of CA for me. Hopefully they have learned... we can only hope.