Thank you players for helping to assist our new player! You all rock!!
xher25x, If you were to spy another player (brown, blue, purple or red depending on your tribe status) you can get a green report or a red report. A red report doesnt guarantee what troops are in a village. A green report tells you exactly how many troops a player has.
But as stated, barbarian villages do not have troops unless a player has put troops in there as stated above as a spike.
Barbs are usually used for what we call "farming" as in farming for supplies/resources. Attack the grey barbarian villages to get extra resources to help build your village quicker rather than solely waiting for your resource mills to replenish your warehouse.