Better late than never? I regret not making time to review this RPG back when I first got it, but on the plus side I've had plenty of time to think about what to write. Maybe?

So, I came across the first edition of the Army Ants RPG back in 1997. Not sure how my local comics/game store even got a copy, but the cover and concept of anthropomorphic ants caught my attention and I bought it. From there I collected the Army Ant comics. Simple, B&W art with an interesting style and enjoyable characters. I bought the second edition of the Army Ants RPG the following year, which was a much higher quality product as far as production value. In 2013, I supported the Kickstarter and got a soft cover of the third edtion of the Army Ants RPG (this Legacy Edition).

The RPG game system changed quite a bit from the second to the third edition, but seems perfectly fine for the setting. Well, I've never liked having a level system in my RPGs since I started playing Chaosium RPGs back in the day, but that's more about me than the rules in this Legacy Edition being unplayable or bad in some way. I've only taken the time to learn three new RPG game systems in the past 20 years and I've forgotten most of how ONE of those worked.

So, all this time Army Ants has been on my list of RPGs I'd like to play in or run a campaign for someday. I'm still not keen on learning the details of the game system though, but I found out in the last several years that I really just need the setting details and an easy and familiar game system to run adventures in. I'm actually in the process of converting a BRP (Basic Role Playing) character sheet to use for an Army Ants BRP campaign. The BRP game system is easy to teach to new players (everyone gets it when you point them to their percentage chance with a Skill) and with no worries about remembering the rules I can focus on bringing out the fantastic setting. And that is the real strength of the Army Ants RPG Legacy Edition -the unique setting. At this discount price, just grab a copy and use whatever game system you want. Pretty much any RPG that can handle modern firearms can be used to play Army Ants. You may even prefer the rules as written, which would make running a campaign even easier.

Now, I gave it a four out of five star but I'd go four and a half stars if I could. I dislike leaving no room for improvement. No RPG game system is perfect.

It really bothered me that there are no reviews for this fine product so I have decided to step out of habit and make one.

I must admit I have really liked the Army Ants RPG Legacy Edition. It structure and layout is very clear and the writing is easy to follow and understand. No outstanding art though, but I am a content person anyway.

The setting is very unique in style, and basically you are playing a “humanoid” ant soldier or other insect such as beetle, Cricket, ladybug or Potato Bug (in some sense you can call it your “race”) in a fight against the evil wasp empire. Now, this is definitely not your standard everyday fantasy, sci-fi or steampunk setting but it is fresh and exciting.

The rules are simple yet give a rich, satisfying and elegant feeling (I must admit I am all in for light and simple systems nowadays). It is based on a combination of Level, Attributes and Traits using a point-buy method for character generation and development (each level you get Character Points to spend). There are only 4 Attributes covering all character activities – Body, Mind, Prowess and Spirit, with each Attribute assigned a dice rating in a scaling order (D4, D6, D8, etc. the higher the better). Traits are a mix of skills and talents and are rated with a flat bonus from +1 to +6. Some of the Traits rules, such as Moxy, Munitions, Mentalism, and Mysticism, are used in a very nice way giving a great flavor to the game. To perform an action you roll your Attribute dice and add the Trait bonus. The result is compared against an opposed roll or a difficulty target.

The rules are pretty extensive covering anything I could have thought about including all the regular RPG stuff, Vehicles, mass combat and even simplified cybernetics (yes, cybernetics for ants!). I have encountered with several dice scaling style systems but this one has put everything together most smoothly. The only thing I would have change is the use of levels and the level based Attributes feat rolls, making it a pure skill-based system (by the way, the system could be very easily adjusted and be adapted to fit any standard RPG setting. I myself have found it easily used for my favorite Mutant Chronicles dark techno-fantasy setting).

All in all this is a very good and interesting product, I have bought it at the original price and now that it is at such a low cost it is more than worth it for anyone looking for a fresh setting or a cool simple rule system.

I'm writing this, my first review of anything ever, so this piece of work gets more viewers, meaning possibly more players, meaning more people are enjoying this. I'm no exert on RPG's, but 5$(price during review) seems wayyyyy cheap in comparison to others I've seen, and based on previous experiences, this RPG offers roughly the same amount of game material, but is also packed wit ha whole new perspective of setting. I'm going to cover what I can be bothered writing about but TLDR- It's worth the money (5$- that's like as shell out from your parents, or at most two muggings).

Setting- The RPG provides a fascinating setting, giving detailed information of the fantastic 6mm factions masterminded by MTD. I highly recommend reading the comics the author produced if in need of more background fluff (or Micheal's online comic http://armyants.thecomicseries.com/comics/ ), but the setting is quite versatile. Micheal gives a run down of the various insect factions that inhabit the world, including the needed differences from a normal insect compared to the featured insects in order to give them smart missiles and assault rifles. The spectrum of allies,enemies and natural dangerous is quite vast, and although a detailed few pages are dedicated to describing the war torn backyard, I quickly found myself mapping out my own house and yard to become my groups RPG setting. I my be sounding like a salesmen for this game, but if you play RPG's for the same reason as me (To feel as though your a character in an entirely different world) Then this game is for you.)

Game play- The main dice mechanism presented in the book relies on about 5 different types of dice, but being a simpleton, I ended up using the D6 version of the game, Which still ended up being quite versatile.) Stats are simple, with four attributes covering nearly all situations. To resolve a action, you roll a number of dice equal to your char attributes, then add points based on your skills and try to have a higher score than a difficulty target. Quite basic, but I found it worked quite while, especially when you add in the attached rules for dice explosions, stealth combat and battling gargantuan, deadly sparrows and Gekos. Also in the book are some watertight but super entertaining and effective rules for massed combat and vehicular warfare, including super tanks weighing in the grams!

Overall- As I said, I'm not the best at writing a consistent paragraph online, but the general tone is that I really enjoyed MTDAA, and will have many a blast with my group fighting with and against, wasps,ladybugs,flies and earwigs in and around my meter high water tank. Without a doubt, This RPG is worth it, and if your question starts with does it have..? The answer is yes. BUY IT