"Army lists" Topic

So as a soloists, do you use army lists or do you make your own?

Depends on what I am gaming – for historical I usually use an army list but have made my own on occasion

I usually make my own TOEs.

I generally try to use historical TO&Es for games, though some specific scenarios may have less, especially if I am lacking the needed/appropriate miniatures.

For Sci-Fi though, I make up my own, frequently derived from historical orgs too.

I keep my larger ( Napoleonic) units historical but if not recreating a battle pit those larger units against each other.

For my Darkest Africa games using TMWWBKs I've been writing my own. The ones in the back of the book are rather generic, as you would expect for a set of rules covering 19th century colonial wars, and didn't really fit my research into the subject.

Having said that I have no problem using written lists if they either match my own ideas or I haven't done enough research into a period myself.

Right now I am playing around with a list for Somerled.
The rules I use are War & Conquest (which is similar to Warhammer Historical).
I go back and forth between using the W&C list, using the Shieldwall list or kind of Frankensteining a combo of the two.
To complicate further, I don't think there is a lot of documentation in this era and area – so who really knows.

It is always a struggle between getting something right and matching the figures I have in a reasonable way. Some are new, some are very old (Ral Partha historicals)

I believe Somerled had a nucleus of Irish retainers and I want them to have two handed axes – because I just do. They're cooler that way.

I think when you go for something, for a want of a better word, niche, like Somerled, you have to go with your own research and make your own lists or modify current lists.

Generally for the most popular periods the army lists are pretty well researched and work.

Also as it's solo whose going to argue with your interpretation ;)