I have played the game at least 20 times, and I liked it; despite the fact that you have no hexes, the number of options open to your strategy are very high.
Unfortunately the game suffered from balance problems : the Roman player could only win with enormous LUCK : also if he was able to enter "close combat" with the main slave army, Spartacus was always able to go out and live Italy before the end.
What I also liked in this game was the combat system : after having deployed your armies, the player with more units was able to "flank" the enemy and thus start (with some luck from the "gods") to crash the opponents line.
The Physical look of the opposite armies was nice to see as you deployed units in different lines, moving the back ranks upfront when a unit died, and thus starting to mix up troops in a general melee.
Of course the stubborness of the Roman legions was such that you (as Kirk-Spartacus) very rarely tried a large attack : for the slaves it was important to attack garrisons, when possible, and convert provinces in order to have faster moves in the next turn.
As I said before it was somwhat frustrating for the Roman to arrive always close to the main battle and see your opponents fly ...
I think that this game is really fun to play (for competitive play you have to play it twice, one as the Romans and one as Spartacus).
Also do not forget the following KIT : Pyrrus. Now the Romans may have their revenge.
If some other consimers have this game and tried to balance it, it will be nice to hear what they tried and what results they obtained.