Spearmen were the basic military unit in Classical Greece. To build your first spearman in Ancient Wars: Sparta you must:

Build a barracks
Build a forge
Build a workshop
Research “cold forging” at the forge
Research spears at the workshop
Design a unit that can use a spear at the barracks
Build unit

If you want him to have a shield, you have to research that, too, and then add a shield to the design. This, of course, adds to the cost of the unit.

If you want the spearman to be more than a useless-in-melee psiloi (skirmisher), you need to build a gymnasium and research Spartiates so you can design a spearman with some staying power.

There should be an easier way to do this.