I am really enjoying the addition of armies at the beginning of the game, but there is a side effect of some, in my opinion, major economy issues, especially for any players who will be relatively new or low on the experience scale. 

The militia and spear men are a huge drain on the starting gold production. If you are not lucky enough to get a merchant trait hero or have a wealthy sovereign, you can run into issues quite quickly, especially by the time you get your third hero. For example, I am playing a custom soverign Pariden game, and I have 2 spearmen, Panca Archers, and 2 heroes, and even on oppressive, I can not break even in tax revenue (I just founded my second city). This is with selling off every piece of equipment and sundries I have found. 

I would suggest maybe have a flag for starting armies, Volunteer or Inspired or some such that either removes the upkeep cost or halves (like the slave flag - I think). 

Now, I am going to forestall any sort of learn to play posts here by saying yes, with planning and careful juggling you can get by this hurdle relatively easily. I see this as a frustration issue for any newer players and a change could possible be a good thing to prevent them from getting worked up and stop playing.