Arbela

This game is the prototype of what eventually became Alexander the Great by Avalon Hill. It pre-dates both Guidon Games and Avalon Hill. It was sold in 1968 by the local game club, International Federation of Wargamers which Gary Gygax helped to found around that time. So this pre-dates both the Guidon and AH versions.

The game itself is definitely a labor of love. The rules and charts are copies of the originals, made that way for mass sale. All typed out on graph paper with hand inked mounted and cut counters. While the games aesthetic are "unpleasant" by today's standards, it is an incredibly rare piece of gaming history. The 6 sections of the black and white map are taped together.

To clarify, we are using our best assumption that this was a prototype of what eventually became Alexander the Great as the combat charts closely reflect what are in the Avalon Hill version. The are some similarities in the combat strengths and rules as well.

We have no idea how many of these games were actually created, but we can only surmise that this copy is likely to be one of only a few in existence and has striking value and importance to the Gary Gygax collector.