After playing 40k longer than a few weeks, you’ll know that 8th Edition is bloated with rules- Battlescribe may be the only thing holding it together.
Barring some Stratagems, Battlescribe has just about every relevant rule for units in 8th edition. Used as an army-building app, it’s got continuously updated points and rules wording for every faction in 40k.
It seems to be the glue that’s holding the game together right now and as funny as that sounds, we aren’t joking.
Battlescribe is the Glue Holding 40k Together: Change Our Mind
On top of multiple FAQs, we’ve also gone from supplements to codexes, to both Vigilus books, to the second wave of codexes, to new codex supplements for Marines, to all the new Psychic Awakening books, and to the White Dwarfs that have rules for Assassins, Inquisition, Deathwatch, and Harlequins all in different volumes… Whew!
In fact, depending on which faction you play, you may be pulling content from roughly 3-6 different books. Let’s take a common list that we’ve seen over and over. Chaos’ Possessed bomb and Knight list- You’d need the Chaos Knights codex, the Chaos Marine codex, Faith & Fury, and Vigilus Ablaze. That’s four books to give you all the rules for the units you’ll more than likely be running with Vigilus Ablaze giving you access to Specialist formations.
It gets even worse for an Imperial player wanting to run a Guard CP battery, some Blood Angels, and maybe an Inquisitor or Assassin. That brings White Dwarfs into the fold. A list running these three factions would potentially need six books. (IG codex, Ritual of the Damned, Blood Angel Codex, Blood of Baal, Vigilus Defiant, and a White Dwarf).
Now let’s look at this from a practical perspective. GW updates points on units left and right. The thing about a printed book is that as soon as anything changes it’s technically outdated. That means that people would have to go back into their books whenever a change is made, cross out the points, and update it with a pen. On top of having to do that for the 4+ books they need, they also would have to carry those books to events and write out lists by-hand.
There’s An App For That…
Luckily, there’s a free app called Battlescribe that has all of the updated points on every unit in 40k. It lets you throw units into detachments and even has some pre-game Stratagems you can use to build your list. Barring in-game Stratagems, it pretty much eliminates the need for you to take a book to your game. It’s got Warlord Traits, Psychic Powers, unit/weapon rules, and more ready at your fingertips.
All you have to do when you open the app is go to Manage Data.
From there, look for the Warhammer 40,000 file and unpack it onto your device.
From there, you can start plugging away at your units and get your next army list ready in minutes.
GW Announced A New 40k App: Let’s Hope They Did it Right
During all the 9th Edition excitement, Warhammer Community mentioned a new app:
This here might be some of the biggest news connected to the new edition. For years now, you’ve asked for an app to collect the rules and stats for your models… well, your cries have been heard – and answered. Alongside the new edition of Warhammer 40,000, there will be a rad new Warhammer 40,000 mobile app. This is going to be the most comprehensive digital support any of our games has ever had. Expect to find an army builder, rules for your collections, and more so you can travel light on your way to game night.
Army Builders shouldn’t be difficult for parent companies to make. We’ve seen great stuff for X-Wing in the past, for example. But for GW, it’s important to note that other apps/army builders like this have fizzled in the past aside from the Azyr app in Age of Sigmar. Azyr holds all of your lists in one place and is also a platform for digital Battletomes and rulebooks and is a huge help for players. The only downside is a $1 monthly subscription…which in the grand scheme of things, isn’t anything crazy. Did GW use the Azyr as a test for the new 40k app?
Ultimately, if this 40k app turns out to be quality and allows for players to customize every bit of wargear, then it’ll certainly help the game. However, if they hype everyone up for yet another army builder, only to see it fizzle out, it could seriously hurt the game. The key challenge that GW has to overcome is they have to make a product better than Battlescribe.
If they lock us into using it for points and updates just like FFG did with X-wing, well that may just do the trick.
What do you think about 8th Edition’s rules bloat? Would you like to see GW condense all the sources into one book? Is Battlescribe the glue holding Warhammer 40k together currently?
Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group, and make sure you enter the latest monthly giveaway for FREE today!
About the Author: Wesley Floyd
Wesley Floyd
Job Title: Staff Writer
Joined: 2018
Socials: @RealmbrushPainting
About Wesley Floyd: Wes has been in the Warhammer hobby since 2015 and joined the Spikey Bits writing team in 2018. He is known for his satirist takes on trending topics and imaginative yet amazingly affordable hobby solutions to painting Warhammer miniatures.
Imperial fanboy, tabletop fanatic, and the self-proclaimed King of Sprues. He knows for a fact that Mephiston red is the best-tasting paint and is the commission painting equivalent of a Wendy’s 4 for $4. If you like what he writes and want to contact him or have your tabletop minatures painted (to a mostly okayish standard), message him on Instagram.
