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> I have been asked a time or two about Spartan Chess sets;
> is there a plan to make one? At this time the answer is no.

For those that can handle a saw it is not that difficult to get
good-quality 3-d pieces: just buy two identical chess sets. One you leave
untouched, to play FIDE Chess. To play Spartan, you turn the Rooks
upside-down to make the Captains, reminding you they are Rook-like, but
slightly different. The Bishops of the second set can act as lieutenants;
to distinguish them from ordinary Bishops you make a second cut in the head
to remove a V-shaped chunk out of the top. The King of the second set
completes the Spartan King pair. So now you only need General and Warlord.
As the General is also Rook-like, you can make it by putting a Rook of the
second set onto a pedestal. Sometimes Knights have detachable bases, (or
you could cut the head off with a saw), and you could put one Rook on top
of that. Or you could glue it on top of one or two draughts chips. You
could glue the head of the Knight on top of the other Rook to make the
Warlord. (Or cut off the head of a Queen and replace it by the upper part
of the Knight. But it is always handy to have a spare Queen, so maybe you
don't want to demolish it.)

So the only work is really:
1) Complete the V-shaped cut in the Bishop heads.
2) Cut a Knight in two.
3) Combine the two Knight halves with the two Rooks (glue).

And you only have to do that for black!