Don't know if my game is updated properly (since shield bash isn't working) but training an army is very hard at the moment.
Reasons:
*The only bandits I've come across are helots in the Peloponnesos area, but since they spawn around 20 max units, training only goes so far before your party get's too slow.. (walked around Crete for awhile without and Cretan spawning.)
*Caravan hunting is based on luck, meaning that you have to be lucky that your faction is at war with the caravan's owner, which can change again in an instance.
Maybe I've failed to see any good training methods, but maybe someone experience the same issue's..
Lynores, the mod is great, only thing I can think of that should be changed, is the spamming of the diplomacy (already said), other than that nothing comes to mind.