[Lars Dangly]

I am naturally predisposed to a game like this because I really like historical fantasy settings. But, the discription of the game in this and earlier reviews sounds like it has some unnecessarily rough spots. Like, character creation sounds like a chore and the combat system sounds like it could take a long time to resolve. One earlier review made credible sounding arguments that the game was a mess for these reasons. You obviously like it, but could you tell us how its basic mechanics (char gen; task resolution; combat) compare with similar games, such as Ars Magica?