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Battlescribe is a free army building program (available for Windows, Mac, Linux and Android) that uses open-source data files and allows users to easily create and edit them without the need for any programming knowledge.

I've created files for all the current official Kings of War, Deadzone and Warpath armies, tested them for bugs, and they are now mostly error-free.

Here's a quick screenshot to show how awesome it is:



How to get started:

- Download the latest version of Battlescribe from: http://battlescribe.net/
- Open "Roster Editor" once you've installed it.
- Go to File > Data Repositories in Roster Editor, copy + paste the link below, click add, and then select it and click update.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27484619/index.xml

If successful, Battlescribe will download all the files from the repository, along with applying updates to existing files if a newer version exists on the server.

So, whenever you want to update files to the latest version of the army list, all it takes is a single click... just click "update" again, and you're sorted.

Enjoy!

I will be personally updating and maintaining all of the files. I'll post in this thread whenever a new update is live.

Also, if anything doesn't work, try updating your version of battlescribe first, then if that still doesn't fix the problem, post in this thread.

If you find any errors with the files, post in this thread and I'll fix them.

Current status: KoW 2.0 Lists completed. Warpath 1.0 Lists completed.

Next update (likely to be December 2011) will be to complete the optional rules descriptions and rework the twilight kin character layout, along with fixing any errors that get pointed out.

Disclaimer: Mantic's army lists and rules are already free to download and distribute. This project simply converts them into a format that can be read by the battlescribe software.

Update:

Corporation list added, Forgefathers and Marauders lists updated.

This is very useful.

Thanks.

It's nice to test builds and see what you can muck up, but that's the extent of it I've found. Not sure how to print from it. It also doesn't give the unit stats in the print out view, at least last time I checked...

@ScarletSquig - thanks for this. I don't play Kings of War, but the unit build is very similar to Hail Caesar. A few hours of messing around and I have a rough file built for my Crusades era Arab army.

@m14 - if the profile is populated in the Catalog, then unit stats are both included on the army roster print out and available as a popup within the roster editor.

m14 wrote:It's nice to test builds and see what you can muck up, but that's the extent of it I've found. Not sure how to print from it. It also doesn't give the unit stats in the print out view, at least last time I checked...

Roster Editor > View Roster > Layout Options allows you to choose what does and does not appear on the print-out.

Then, it's just View Roster > Print to print it.

The software has been in beta for some time, but the current build is very solid. I recommend updating it, that's probably your issue with the unit stats thing.

Update: Veer-myn army list added.

Also, the latest version of Battlescribe now automatically checks for updates to data repositories whenever you load the program.

So, basically, you no longer need to manually update the KoW and Warpath army lists... as soon as I publish a new list or edit an old one, battlescribe will automatically do this for you.

I'll still post details of major updates in this thread just to let people know that the new version is now live and available to play with right away.

Thank you for this!

Thank you so much for this!

Sweet!

All the Kings of War datafiles have now been updated to v3, including all the magic items and such after Mantic gave the go-ahead to hit publish on them.

As always, post any errors in this thread, and I'll fix them right away.

This is a pretty cool little program Squig, been messing around with some Veer-myn list in prepartion fom the Warpath kickstarter (I intend to play it when the full rules come out), very much liking how the force creation works in Warpath. Thanks Squig

.

Don't get too attached to the Warpath stuff, it's all going to be changed in a week or 2 when the 2.0 rules are released.

I've completed and uploaded all of the Warpath 2.0 datafiles.

You'll need to update Battlescribe to the latest version to make use of the files, which contain full descriptions for all rules, and profiles for all weapons.

Support for Allies has also been added in the latest version, and now works for both KoW and Warpath armies.

 scarletsquig wrote:
I've completed and uploaded all of the Warpath 2.0 datafiles.

You'll need to update Battlescribe to the latest version to make use of the files, which contain full descriptions for all rules, and profiles for all weapons.

Support for Allies has also been added in the latest version, and now works for both KoW and Warpath armies.

Nice work on the datafile updates. Do you know how to add allies to a roster because I can't find the option anywhere?

^ Click on "new roster", and then click on the big green + button to add more than one datafile to the roster you are creating.

Awesome job Scarletquig. Kudos for another BS catalogue maintainer.

How well does Battlescribe work on tablets? I'm trying to decide between an e-book reader or something more powerful, and this might be a tipping point.

JoshInJapan wrote:
How well does Battlescribe work on tablets? I'm trying to decide between an e-book reader or something more powerful, and this might be a tipping point.

I can only comment on using the IOS version on an iPad (1). It's an iPhone app so isn't making best use of the iPad's screen size and the user interface is a bit weird (it uses subscreens with lists extensively when you expect dropdown lists) but this doesn't make it hard to use. I'm also not 100% sure how you are meant to export rosters if you want them outside the tablet app (I've been using the extensive share by email options to just mail an HTML version to my laptop).

However, it is free (in banner-ad supported mode but the no-ads pro version is only 2 quid) and the datafiles are the same as the desktop version so you can get the latest versions easily. It took me only a few minutes of playing around to be able to create fully fledged rosters with allies etc even with the non-IOS standard interface design. I like it as a handy way to carry rosters around but accept that I could do that using the desktop version, printing my rosters to PDF files and then putting them in iBooks. It is nice to be able to knock a quick new list up on the fly for a one-off game against an unexpected opponent at my local club though.

Very handy! Using it for Kings of War - doing up my Dwarf and Undead rosters right now. Thanks for the work you did on the army lists.

Letting the rest of my group know about this program, simple, intuitive interface.


The Auld Grump

Quick update to say that Deadzone files have been added to this and are now available to use. No campaign tracking stuff unfortunately, battlescribe isn't the tool for that job.

Now that that's over I can get on with finishing the major overhaul of the KoW files (they were written years ago based on a much earlier version of the software, there's a lot more I can do with them now).

I'll try to get all the new magic items and army lists (and special rules formatting overhaul) for KoW done before Xmas.

Okay, I know it has been a while (health problems unfortunately :( ), but I've finally updated all the KoW files to include all the new magic items and finished the Basilean list. I've overhauled and reformatted every single KoW list to use battlescribe's shared entries feature, almost as much work as writing them in the first place!

However:

- The new format for magic items may break older rosters you've made that have magic items in them.

This was necessary, unfortunately. Battlescribe has been in development for over three years now and was very primitive when it first started... the KoW files were made ages ago and there are much better ways of keeping the files organized and easily updated. However the change means that I had to delete the old magic items sections attached to each individual unit.

In short, the way I've revamped the magic items (to link to a single shared magic items entry rather than hundreds of magic item lists across hundreds of units)

It was either this, or I'd have had to manually copy and paste each and every new magic item into each and every unit in all of the armies, sticking the older way of doing things that would take ages to maintain in future.

To fix this, and still have access to your older lists with magic items in them: (yes, I planned for this!)

Download this:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/27484619/Mantic/Old%20Mantic%20Battlescribe%20files.zip

That is a zip file containing all the old battlescribe files, prior to this update, open up the catalogues folder, take out the .cat files and paste them into the catalogues folder of battlescribe, Your old rosters will then work fine.

I recommend copy + pasting your battlescribe folder, marking one as "Old" or "Legacy" and then putting the old catalogue files into it, along with all your old rosters so that you can still access them.

Sorry I couldn't make this any easier and apologies for the inconvenience, but there really was no other way to continue keeping it all updated without this overhaul.

The advantage of having reformatted the files using the much cleaner newer techniques is that it will be easier for me to update and maintain in future.

Also, the files themselves are now massively smaller since I'm not copy+pasting the magic items and special rules over and over and over within every file. This should make things a lot easier for mobile users.

Coming up next - Ogres, Kings and Legends characters.