ADLG: Army List Writer

Updated: Sun 01 August, 2021
If you are looking for a List Writer for ADLG v4 please visit my ADLG V4 Tools page. What follows refers to ADLG V3 but the design philosophy and the general approach are the same for both the V3 & V4 tools.

Introduction
Recently, I felt the urge to write a new Art de la Guerre (ADLG) army list¹.  All my old lists were created with the Little Army Builder website but when I checked recently the original site was no more.  Thankfully, this is only a domain name registration glitch and the application, and my lists, are available elsewhere².

Before I found the new location, I tried the free Excel sheet available from the main ADLG site³.  In use this sheet is straightforward but, as I began writing a new list, I soon realised it did not suit me as a working document⁴.  So I reverse engineered the free sheet and wrote my own: otherwise known as building a better mousetrap.

Design Philosophy & How It Works
I wanted more focus on data entry and less emphasis on filling in the final form.   I knew I could automate the form filling once the right data was present somewhere.  I also wanted everything on one screen and useable without scrolling up and down.   Here's the result with the basic flow:

I've colour coded and numbered the sheet above to illustrate how the sheet works:

1. Enter list number and the top level list details will automatically appear in the blue section on the right⁵.  Add the date for the list and any option or strategist taken (and available).  Finally add a fortified camp & fortifications if required.
2. Add the various generals and their competence.  The points accrued will increase automatically as will the command points.  If you overspend on command the unused command point total will be negative and highlighted in red.
3. Add allied commands here if any.  The available allies will be automatically listed in the blue section.
4. Finally enter the details of each command.  The Quantity/Description/Type/Quality cells can be cut and pasted which is real advantage as you optimise the list⁶.
5. As you add items the points total will appear in the grey section on the left.  The army initiative is shown in the top right hand corner of the dark green section.
6. Obviously, you can back track and make changes at any time but the above flow is the quickest way to a draft list.

I think this spreadsheet will help me write stronger lists and make less errors.  It's good not to be totally dependent on a niche online application which could disappear at anytime.  Plus I learnt a lot about data manipulation using Google Sheets.

Printing The List
Once you are happy with your list, printing is easy.  There is a second "Print" tab where all the data from the "List" tab has been used to automatically populate the standard template:

The form is designed to be printed on two sides of A4 or duplex printed on one piece of A4.  The second side is solely for your notes and can be skipped.

Want To Try It For Yourself?
The spreadsheet is online in draft form⁷ as a Google Sheet⁸ but you don't need a Google account to try it.

Create A Personal Copy
When the online spreadsheet was shared there were problems when two or more people were trying to use it at the same time because it's not a multi-user database.

To avoid these problems, and if you have a Google account, use the link provided below⁹ to copy the sheet to your Google Drive as a separate, "unshared" copy.

Acknowledgements
I'd like to thank whoever wrote the spreadsheet on the ADLG website. Their approach to some of the calculations was re-used as was the list of categories and troop types.

Footnotes

1. It must be the impending end of Lockdown III here in the UK. ↩
2. Little Army Builder - ADLG ↩
3. ADLG Army List Form v3.2 ↩
4. Every time I moved a line I managed to break the calculations within the sheet.  I think you're meant to rewrite lines not cut & paste cells.  As of 17 March this doesn't happen with my sheet. ↩
5. This is thanks to an extensive Army List database that I have written.  It is still under development but is now online: ADLG Army List Data V3.01.01. ↩
6. A clear separation of the list data from the print formatting is the real benefit for me.  It makes messing about with a list so much quicker and safer.  It's that much harder to break the various calculations. ↩
7. View a sample of the List Writer V3.02.06 (via Google Sheets).  This is "view only": you cannot change anything.  Google account not required.  See note 9 if you want a copy. ↩
8. The sheet is written using a couple of powerful functions which are unique to Google Sheets.  As they are not available in Excel, or OpenOffice Calc, there will never be a downloadable version unless Microsoft catches up. ↩
9. Save a personal copy to your Google Drive: ADLG Army Army List Writer V3.02.06 . You may be asked to log into your Google account first. ↩