Essential tools: Army Builder

Right, now I'm going to do a bit of promotion, and chances are I'm preaching to the choir, so bear with me please

Army Builder by Lone Wolf Development, Inc. is a stand-alone program allowing you to construct army lists very easily. Army lists are downloadable for many (if not most) miniature games, and all downloads are free. Of course, the program isn't free, coming in at $39.99 for a new license, which includes one year of subscription. After that, subscription renewal runs at about $12.50 per year. There is a free-trial, but that doesn't allow you to save army-lists above 500 pts (for the game systems I use).



A US Rifle Company list with added pictures.

Click here for full size.

Is it worth the price? Well, that depends, but for my personal use I would say absolutely. I literally spend hours tinkering about with army-lists, both that of my own and that of my opponents, scheeming as I go. The program is regularly updated to include new features - which includes saving your list in a pretty .pdf format with pictures - and the game systems are updated all the time. The program is based on a fairly simple data-base system, which means that if you're technically savvy, you can make your own game system. This is a genious move on Lone Wolf Development's part, as they don't have to do squat when it comes to furnishing the users with army lists - the users do that themselves!

The interface is intuitive and easy to use, and you soon discover all the different features, allowing you to come to your game prepared with a gorgeous list representing your force. This might seem redundant as the information provided in these lists are all covered in the various game supplements, but it's extremely handy to have a short list containing all your army's stats and values.

There are a few bugs in the system. For example, I tried my darndest to add a picture to a HMG platoon and a section of air support. For some reason, the picture for one of them was transferred to the other whenever I clicked any of them, causing me to pull my hair in frustration after the tenth time it happened. I eventually managed to solve it by adding the picture through a different menue. Complaining about bugs is sort of useless, though, as it's better to just report them. As I said, the program is updated regularly, and kinks like this are sorted out.

To summarize, Army Builder is an essential tool for me, and it allows me to easily work out army lists without having to flip through rule books with a pen and paper and a calculator.