spartans do not ask how many, only where the enemy are

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Hi Guyus Germanicus,
Perhaps this mod will interest you. I am quite sure that it covers the period which you are interested in.
Hope this helps, cheers!
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Are Spartans overpowered. That is a very difficult question, although my automatic reaction is to say yes. Then again though, after playing M:TW, I have recently realised that every unit is overpowered or underpowered for one reason or another. I also find the battles go at light speed, and the game is rather easy, although they are topics to be discussed on another day.

The first point I wish to make is that every unit doesn't beat something. Yes, you should have your useless peasant sword fodder as a distraction, but above that, everything ought to work on a solid rock-paper-scissors mechanism. This was shown in M:TW - cavalry beat infantry, spearmen beat cavalry and infantry beat spearmen, but this is not displayed in R:TW. It's all about elitism - in other words, the best units can annihilate everything. This removes the purpose of many units, rendering them almost useless once the better units have been reached on the tech-tree.

In M:TW, the monetary balance was also almost perfectly optimised. The powerful knights were impossible to afford stacks and stacks of, even with a large empire. This forced the player to turn to the weaker units preventing him or her from steamrollering across the map. In R:TW, this isn't true - the elites can be pumped out stack after stack by any empire with more than six provinces. This is less if the faction holds more wealthy regions.

Combine these two factors, and the player gains full stacks of invincible warriors. Once gained, steam rolling will commence and the game might as well be over for your foes.