In a wargame – if you consider Sparta a wargame – the key feature should be the battles.  Player decisions and battle strategy should be THE main factor that determines outcome. Sparta has only a few ways to engage in a battle and only a few options to determine outcome.

I am purposely disregarding the Persian Positions which throw out the fundamental game battle rules (I personally think the PP is a “lottery” and should be moved to the Casino Game division of Plarium’s products)

So what is left?  For the basic player who has not reached a level where attacking Pantheons or Capitals is an option: Raiding cities, besieging cities and raiding enemy-held Emporia.

Decisions: Number and type of troops, optimizing strength (elixirs, dominion activator, Off/Def bonuses), speed (using hidden paths), spying or not spying...  On defense: hold or hide?  Call in allied reinforcements if time permits.  Using these basics, there are a few additional variants which are bit like a Poker game, mostly recognizing your opponent’s style/weaknesses and taking advantage of it. Absolutely the most enjoyable part of the game.

I think Plarium could add one additional dimension: The open battle… the feature would allow the defender of a city who sees an incoming attack to send out a counter-attack to meet the attackers using offensive units.  The two armies would race against each other and if neither side blinked would clash in an open battle at sea or on land wherever they met.  This would entail different battle calculations as there would not be a “defender” but two attackers.  But it could be resolved using the attacking value of both sides disregarding defense.  If the incoming attacker defeated the defender’s counter-attack the attacker would proceed against the city (This would prevent a small skirmish force from halting an incoming raid)  Limiting counter attacks to one per Raid/Siege would also prevent the defender from sending an endless stream of one-unit counterattacks. It could add some interesting strategies…

Not 100% sure what it would do to the balance of the game, but an interesting idea I think. Do you?