I'm a new player in Ancients and wargaming in general.
But I'm impressed by how much fun I have playing this game in my club !
1) It is a game that the use of your units matter. In many games and especially DBX you can have 3 claims higher than your opponent and still he gets 6 and you get 2 and he wins ! In MEG you get a red dice and he gets a white. So in 5 or 6 he inflicts a wound (half kill) but you on 5 or 6 you get a kill (base removal) and on 3 or 4 you get a wound. It is the same possibilities of getting a wound and the added 33% possibility of inflicting a kill. So luck is a factor that does not play such a big role like in other games. This means that the game has strategic deepness. How you use your units matters.
2) In MEG the army lists follow the evolution of military technology. So there is no chance that Alexander would meet the French Knights of the 100 years war and would get away with it. An almost certain defeat(with equal dice). This makes the game more historical and forces the players to play at least games with opponents of about the same age. Even if the French never met the Ottomans, it would be a match that everybody would be interested to watch ! So the games become really what if and not completely science fiction.
3) It is a game that takes the best things from all previous ancient games. I consider it to be a new fog, with refinements but at the same time the battle is between files, like in DBX. And adds alternate activation and individual activation of units. The training of your units here matters. A new concept.
4) The command and control accurate, historical and fun. The alternate way of moving makes you think carefully what your opponents move will be next. And the cards restriction is a much better way to replicate fog of war. When you have 3 cards Red, Yellow and white, which is a very good hand, you have to think of a lot more and you can do a lot less things than if you have 6 pips. In that way ADLG gives the player more freedom. On the other hand FOG leaves you completely free. And this is its main drawback. After playing 2 games of MEG I don't think anyone could go back to FOG.
5) Huge Army Lists 650 or so armies. And FREE !
6) I read about the cost of dice and cards and that the book is not hard book. But the author says that this is intentional. You can print any change in the rules and include it in the folder. I know a hard book is beautiful, but the MEG book is more practical. And the cards and the dice are included in the book set, at the price of a hardback. I don't think is too much.
7) You can choose to invest in Generals or not. Good Generals means that most likely you will move almost everything you want and when you want ! But when the battle comes you will have less or inferior units to fight !
8) A real feeling of carnage ! When you lose you remove bases. You don't just put a marker. Furthermore the game is bloody. The units fall fast.
9) No geometry.
10) Very informative and helping sight and forum. Although I would like a Youtube series by the author to explain the basics. Because it is a really high learning curve. And this is said also by other more experienced players in Ancients than me in the club.
11) Large Armies on the board ! This is spectacular but also expensive, especially if you want to invest in more than one armies. And this is something that the game really provokes you to do. Every army is different and every age is different.
I'll stop here! I'm obviously an enthusiast. I'd like to hear you views…..
paints the prototypes for the Eureka Amazon Army.
