Aaron  24/04/2006 - 20:11   

[Many thanks to aaron for sending in this review of Army Builder 3 which was originally intended for Portent but was lost for a year down the back of someones sofa --Nick]

I have to start this review with an apology. The apology is needed because this review is late. How late? Well, it was originally supposed to appear on Portent! Luckily, this has turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It has given Army Builder 3 time to mature and time for the legion of dedicated data file writers time to release data files for all of the most popular wargames. Well, that is my excuse and I am sticking to it!

For anyone not familiar with the previous versions, Army Builder is a PC-based alternative to the traditional pen-and-paper method for creating army lists for wargames. Army Builder takes all of the hard work out of army creation by working out all of the numbers for you and checking to make sure your army list is legal.

When the software loads up, it asks you to select a game system.

Army Builder supports most of the popular wargames including Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000, Lord of the Rings and Warmachine. The next step is to select the army you wish to use, the points level of the game being played and any special rules in play.

From there, it loads all of relevant options for your army and allows you to pick and choose your army without you needing to worry about calculating points costs and worrying about whether your army selection is legal. Army Builder cleverly keeps a track of your total points spent and other army selection criteria, such as minimum and maximum unit numbers. If you select an illegal army, such as taking 3 HQ choices in a Warhammer 40,000 army, then it will flag the problem before you print your roster.

Army Builder is also great for quickly sketching out future army purchases and provides a quick answer to such burning questions as "how many Fire Dragons can I fit in a 1,500pt 40K army?". I also find it great for keeping track of my entire miniature collection. I can start with a saved file containing every model I own for a certain race and slowly whittle the selection down until it satisfies the size of the game my opponent and I have agreed on.

However, the real ace up Army Builder's sleeve is the way in which it prints army lists. After choosing your army, select the print option and Army Builder outputs a personalized reference sheet. Not only does it list what you have taken but it also lists all of the relevant stats and descriptions for your units, weapons and spells. I have found this to be an invaluable time saver in the heat of battle!

Check out an example of the output.

For those experienced with the previous version, Army Builder 3 offers some interesting new functionality, with just a few caveats.

The most noticeable improvement is the speed in which Army Builder 3 opens large data files for games like Warhammer 40,000. The wait has dropped from an agonizing ten seconds to opening data files in an instant. This is mirrored across the application and the whole application feels more responsive. This kind of change is greatly received by someone as impatient as me.

Another area of improvement is in the flexibility offered to data file developers. Although this will not be immediately noticeable to the end user, it will allow Army Builder 3 to support more games than ever before and produce better rosters. For example, the Warmachine data file now includes the option to print out damage grids for your warjacks with the army list. Anyone who has played Warmachine will no doubt agree that this is an excellent addition. Whilst on the subject of roster printing, users can now pick and choose the stats to be printed and can even “watermark

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