1. I probably got confused, I thought Melvin was supposed to move the already deployed character. I guess I must have misread it, but a visual cue here would maybe help.
3. I think there are points to be made about generic fantasy being boring, but safe. There was this old design approach I recall, that 80% of your thing should be familiar to the user, and 20% should be new, so they don't feel overwhelmed and run away. For most players going beyond the great leaders should probably be treated as showing them the "new". I think Civ does real work not to feel like a history class, which unfortunately for most people wouldn't be a positive. I honestly have no idea where the balance lies though.