Writing army lists vs. Army Builder

Need some crutches?

Oh hi!  I wanted to touch upon an very interesting topic as of late and I wanted your opinions.  As you can see by the title post, I wanted to talk about writing lists by hand vs. writing lists via army builder.  Call me old fashioned, or crazy, but I'm very much against the idea of army builder.  This is something unique in my personality because I also consider myself a tech junkie.  I love new tech, and I love using tools that make my life easier.  It min-maxes time, resources (brain power) and other finite little things that take up the most precious commodity of all:  Time.  Yes, I said it again for good measure.

The reason why I don't support army builder is because I feel that every gamer should know their armies inside and out.  I used to teach GW Academy.  My favorite seminar to teach aspiring nerds was how to build your army lists.  For me, building army lists is a hobby in itself.  Maybe it's because it hits my designer bone, but I love designing an army to play on the battlefield.  I pay for the models, I spend time putting them together, so why not give them a good showing on the table?  I strongly believe that writing army lists by hand makes you a better gamer.  You learn the rules quicker, you understand why you take certain weapon choices over others, you give your units definition and purpose, and you know how much they cost.  Your familiar units become almost second nature to you since you've committed them to memory.  I mean after all, you've written down the same units (unit bucket!) over and over and you really know them.  When the time comes and you've got to change to change your list from 2K competitive to 1750 casual, you can adjust your list in 30 seconds.

I don't believe Army Builder accomplishes the same thing.  It is merely a tool that allows you to add and subtract units with all the USRs and special rules written onto a piece of paper.  When someone asks you what that unit does (points at a unit on the battlefield) and what it's equipped with, most army builder dependent people pick up their sheet of paper, and then read off the rules.  Does this make you a better gamer?  Fuck no.  Does it save time for a player who doesn't care much about his gaming aptitude but instead likes the paint scheme of his models?  Most likely.  What if you had to cut a 2K competitive list down to 1750 casual as a army builder addict?  I'll see you in 30 minutes.

So what about you guys?  Army builder or no?

PS - WHFB new Empire book comes out this weekend.  I will have a review up ASAP :)