Very well thought out army lists
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Funnily enough I think the army lists are cauting more contention over whether they are value for money than the rules, (which most people agree are an excellent set of rules)
Well here is my opinion:-
Do you like the rules (I do) - then you have to buy at least the army lists for the period you are interested in or you can't play the game! Having said that I intend to buy the lists for periods I do not currently have armies for as I find them excellent and interesting books to read.
I have seen a lot of people say "they are more expensive than DBM lists". Yes they are but their production values etc are much higher. I think it would be fairer to compare them with WAB army list books which have similar high production values, make interesting reads and cost as I remember about twice as much!!
Particularly if you buy them at Amazon where they are offered at a considerable discount I think they are good value for money
So I would say.
If you don't intend to play the game - don't buy the army lists
If you aren't sure do as I did and buy the rules plus one army list book
If you like the rules but don't have too much money to spare just buy the army books you have to buy for your army
If you have a little more money to waste on frivolous purchases then these are an excellent candidate, and let's be honest how many things do we buy that we don't "need"? Quite a lot :)
Andy
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Not many lists for your money
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The lists are nicely presented and well structured. However about 18 army lists with a number of additional ally lists is quite a small number for the money. To get the same amount of coverage as the DBM/DBMM lists (70 + per book) will therefore take something like 16 books. The snag with this is that I for one will not buy them all and this means you lose out on the "That army looks fun" you get through browsing through a large number of less prettily presented lists.
It is also dissapointing that the lists that are going to be published are basically focused on post 500 BC Europe and the Near East. This is a shame for those of interested in earlier periods and a wider Geographical area.
The army backgrounds are a good idea for the beginner, possibly a bit passe for the veteran.
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Sweet but a bit short
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Production and presentation exemplary, as expected.
Each army is prefaced with a short introduction and also some very nice Osprey imagery and even the odd painted figure snapshot. Nothing amazingly useful for the hardened game/historian, but it doesn't claim to be a history book. As an introduction to any period, however, it's really nice material to whet the appetite.
As the previous reviewer noted, it could well have been filled out with more lists. All the classics are covered, but the "unsuals" have been left out, probably because they are not part of the quite narrow theme of the book. Some of the quirkier options form old army lists are omitted. Possible because those oddities caused too many problems or were rarer than rare in actuality. No doubt some of these will be claimed by later books.
The author has seemed to made good efforts in making FoG armies not vary too much from your old DBM army. My Gaul army, for example, was almost the same,base for base, in DBM or FoG. Useful. Most armies have different allied sub-lists to add also, just as was done in DBM.
ARMIES COVERED IN THIS BOOK
MID-REPUBLICAN ROMAN, LATE REPUBLICAN ROMAN, GALLIC, PYRRHIC, LATER CARTHAGINIAN,ILLYRIAN, ANCIENT SPANISH, LATER MACEDONIAN, ATTALID PERGAMENE,NUMIDIAN OR EARLY MOORISH, LATER SELEUCID, LATER PTOLEMAIC,PONTIC, SPARTACUS SLAVE REVOLT, EARLY ARMENIAN,PARTHIAN,LATER JEWISH , BOSPORAN.
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Disappointing.
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Adequately presented, but eighteen lists isn't a lot for the money, and there seems to be much less original thought in this volume than in the rules themselves.
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