Alternative Chess Armies

Chess has many problems in the modern era, most notably the huge amount of opening theory required to play at a high level. Variations like Fischer Random Chess (Chess960) attempt to solve this by randomizing the starting position, but this often creates lopsided starting positions with undefended pawns or useless pieces, which undermines the beauty and symetry of Chess. Allowing players to customize their army with different pieces creates balance issues, because pieces don't really have a value in a vacuum; Chess is balanced by the composition of the entire army. Playing with alternative armies solves the problem of relying on opening theory while retaining the strategic nature of the opening and refocusing the game on tactics and counterplay. The largest sets of alternative armies come from Ralph Betza's work on 'Chess With Different Armies' and Daniel Lee's 'Empire Chess' series, but I am gathering here many more armies which are approximately balanced with the standard chess army. Perhaps this list can grow and be refined for improved balance and playability. This brings Chess to the modern era of gaming, where players can choose an army that suits their style of play and become practiced with those pieces and the openings that their army is capable of.