The Waving Flag: Art de la Guerre V4 (ADLG) Tools

Art de la Guerre V4 (ADLG) Tools

This page is home for some tools I've written that I hope will be of use to both ADLG players and tournament organisers.  They are a simple list writing tool and a list search tool.

The tools, written with Google Sheets, utilise a database I prepared from the latest ADLG V4 lists published in April 2021.1, 2

These tools need to be held online in a personal Google Drive.3  They don't work with Excel or similar.4, 5

What do they do?

  • List Writer: with this you can create and edit a list whilst viewing all the basic list information before printing out a fully formatted list on paper or as a pdf.6
  • Search Tool: with this players can create lists of armies with certain terrain in a given period and find out which army features most often as an ally.  Tournament organisers can generate lists by date, period and sub-period as well as fine tune lists for themes.

Links
You must have a Google account and access to Sheets to use the following:

Tool Version Date
List Writer v4.02.09 Wed 07 February 2024
Search Tool v4.02.03 Mon 21 August, 2023

The links allow you to create your own copy. When you have written a list you want to use later save it using the "File | Make a copy" command in Sheets.

Updates
Having created your own copy you will need to repeat the process every so often to get the latest version.  I will correct errors & omissions quickly and post announcements on both Twitter, Mastodon and in the comments below.

Limitations:

  • Split lists: ADLG lists are compound lists and many needed to be split into sub-lists simple enough for inclusion in the database.7
  • Human error: the tools & the database involved a lot of work, manual data entry and some fiendish spreadsheet formulae.  Despite extensive testing8 there may still be the odd error.  If you find any please leave the details in a comment.

Notes:

  1. List writer for ADLG version 3 - design principles & how to guide. 

  2. List search for ADLG version 3 - how lists are split & analysis. 

  3. As the file is shared, and is not multi-user, it's best to create a copy otherwise you could find someone else changing your list or search at the same time as you are. 

  4. The tools use powerful spreadsheet functions that are unique to Google Sheets and are not in Excel or similar applications. 

  5. Alternative tool using Excel (ADLG website)

  6. Example pdf output

  7. A worked example of the splitting process

  8. Details of beta testing

13 comments :

Vexillia said...

Following the release of the first errata for ADLG V4 the database behind these tools has been checked and updated where necessary. There is no change to the functionality of either tool.

Please download a new copy to use the new data.

Vexillia said...

Updated list writer. Thanks to Paul for spotting this.

There was an error which meant the sheet was always adding a fortified camp to lists whether one was selected or not (adding one to the army size). This has been corrected.

There was also a formatting error on the print sheet when dealing with Sacred camps. This too has been corrected.

The latest version number is 4.02.00. Please download a new copy.

Vexillia said...

Updated list writer with a few minor formatting tweaks. The latest version number is 4.02.03. Please download a new copy.

Backpackbrewer said...

utterly brilliant Martin! thanks

Vexillia said...

Updated list writer with very small change in allies section. The latest version number is 4.02.04. Please download a new copy.

Vexillia said...

Both tools have been updated to incorporate this month's errata. There are changes to the allies for lists 155.1 & 248.1 which affect both tools.

Vexillia said...

List search has been updated to allow a general text search in the list name. Please download a new copy.

Vexillia said...

List search has been updated. The Theatre for list 195.2 Crusader (People's Crusade) was incorrectly set to "Middle East" not Crusades. Please download a new copy.

Vexillia said...

List of armies corrected: duplicate 255 changed to 255.1. Please download a new copy.

Teemu said...

Hi! I'm trying to figure out your very promising looking tool... I've given the army number I want (43 Ptolemaic)... should the unit choices appear into the Unit list? It's currently showing Timurid / Turkomen units, thatwere in the sheet when I copied it.

Vexillia said...

You will have to replace the Timurid units with those from List 43. Delete the entries in Quantity, Description, Type & Quality and enter your own list.

The units can't be auto-filled as the list logic is far too complex and inconsistent.

Hope this helps?

Vexillia said...

Updated to version 4.02.07 which smooths out a few wrinkles and fixes an edge case error or two. It also removes the blank app script that I forgot to delete.

Vexillia said...

Updated both writer (4.02.08) & search (4.02.03) tools. Added separate database entry for Muscovite Russian (Novgorod) as list 250.1: has a different end date to the main list.

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