First allow me to share some of my gaming experience. I started playing computer games back in 85 or so, on a ZX Spectrum 48k.
Back then i became a fan of the work of a certain RT Smith.
He did war-games, namely WWII war games like Arnhem, Desert Rats and Vulcan.
Then he started a project called Encyclopedia of War. The First Chapter was named Ancient Battles. There was never a second chapter. His games are still among my favorites ever.

18 years later i'm reading through the credits of M:TW and what do i read? RT Smith is on the team. I even wrote CA and asked if he was the same, and yes he was.

I was very happy to realize he was still involved in my favorite games.

Ancient Battles is a very ambitious rendition of ancient warfare. You can pick any army from Ancient Egypt to Late Roman Empire, and pitch them on the battlefield. There is no campaign, if my memory serves me well, but you can stage tactical battles at your leisure. Units and names seem very historically accurate, so if you want to learn about things you are going to use in R:TW this would be a nice place to look.
You can find RT Smith works (including a DOS version of EW: Ancient wars) in abandon-ware sites like www.the-underdogs.org.