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For the past 4 months we have been developing an online army builder called Army Roster. This new website will be going live for Beta testing on the 31st of October.

What is it?
Army Roster(as you may have guessed) is a tool for all Warhammer players to build their armies online for free. The only thing you will need to accomplish a well made army list is the Armies Book of your race! As Army Roster has very little constraints on what you can do with your army you will need to validate them yourself with your own Armies Codex.

What armies are available?
For our Beta launch we will have every WHFB army in the database. All of the current 7th edition armies and all of the other 6th edition armies which have not yet been updated by GW. We plan on eventually adding the other games of GW as well as more editions of WHFB and 40K, but this first run is to see just how well Army Roster is received by the Warhammer community... AKA you guys

What does it cost?
NOTHING! Every function of Army Roster will be free to use with slight restrictions on allowance, although there will be a sponsorship option for those devoted fans. Buying a very low priced Sponsorship will gain you many different benefits which will be explained in greater length during Beta.

Do we need help?
As a matter of fact yes! If you would like to become an Army Roster Moderator then please drop Benny (AR founder) a line at:

benny@armyroster.com

Give a few reasons why you think you would make a good Moderator for Army Roster and maybe some reference if you really feel up to it.

All Army Roster Moderators will get a free Sponsorship account.

Final thoughts?
If you guys think Army Roster is worth your time then please check it out. Please refrain from sending hate mail or non constructive criticisms, we don't need them.

On the other hand if you wish to be a part of the Army Roster evolution please do not be afraid to use our suggestion messaging system for anything you think we are missing!

Thanks for your attention guys. See you on the battlefield!

The ArmyRoster.com team

I hope you don't get sued : )

wish it did 40k..

watch out for GWs closet full of Ninja-lawyers!!!

/shock
/gasp
/outrage

How DARE Games Workshop protect their IPs in this increasingly competitive environment! FOR SHAME!

/end sarcasm

Operator: Main screen turn on.
Captain: It's you !!
GW LAW DEPT: How are you gentlemen !!
GW LAW DEPT: All your base are belong to us.

How would this differ from say Armybuilder from a legal perspective?

@Armyroster.com Are you planning to expand this to other games such as FoW?

George Spiggott wrote:How would this differ from say Armybuilder from a legal perspective?

Lone Wolf, the company that makes AB, does not support ANY game system. All the files are user generated by volunteers who receive no compensation for their efforts.

This site, on the other hand, seems to host all of the info within itself and, as of right now, seems to be marketed specifically towards ONE GAME.

It's just a matter of time, really...



Eric

I've always wondered about army builder and how other sites can get away with hosting
the user created content.

MagickalMemories wrote:Lone Wolf, the company that makes AB, does not support ANY game system. All the files are user generated by volunteers who receive no compensation for their efforts.

This site, on the other hand, seems to host all of the info within itself and, as of right now, seems to be marketed specifically towards ONE GAME.

There's no indication of compensation here and I don't see how the material being outsourced makes any difference, it's still available to the end user through the Armybuilder program. I don't see how only using copyright material of only one company has any bearing either.

Similar distancing between provider and content hasn't helped torrent sites.

If you can pay (and you can) then you get more. That makes it different by far from the AB files, which get a free pass.

This? Well, C&D letters aren't fun. Hope you enjoy yours.

Hi guys,

Benny here (Creator). I understand where all of you pesmistic people are coming from so let me try and put my point of view to ya.

Do any of you remember "TheGreatUncleanOne.com"? My friend Matt had that site up and working for 4 years and the only reason it went down was because he did not have time to run it anymore. Now, on his site there was loads more copyrighted material such as magic item descriptions and rules... Army Roster does not contain any magic item, unit, or army special rules. You MUST have an armies book to use it effectively.

As for the pricing and what not. You do not have to spend any money to use Army Roster. Army Builder on the other had requires you to buy a license before you can make a full army list. The Army Roster sponsorship is not mandatory and very minimal anyways. As said in the advert up top, you can use EVERY function of Army Roster for free.

Other benefits of AR over AB is the fact that our forums have a system implemented to allow you to add your army lists to new threads for review from the others in the community.

I am currently in contact with GW about legal issues and will let you all know how it goes. If you have anymore questions just post em below

@Amen Brick : we will eventually have 40k mon ami

@George Spiggott : As of right now just focusing on GW, but it could go to other games! who knows?!

Benny

PS by the by, I am doing this for the Warhammer community (you guys) so those negative sarcastic remarks aren't helping anybody.

Good luck to you Benny! I hope that this goes well for you guys at your site, so you can concentrate on getting 40k files up and running!

Thank you Grim. I must say, the support for adding a 40K section to the website is HUGE. I have gotten at least 40 queries about adding 40k so as of right now the reality of getting 40k on there may happen a lot sooner than I had anticipated.

If this scheduling is pushed ahead I may start look for people to start sending me army details for the builder.... will keep you all updated.

Benny

Consider it 41 queries to get 40k on the site

Good luck with everything. Don't let the haterz get you down. People like to poo-poo everything around here.

Ozymandias, King of Kings

And there are just as many GW sycophants as there are GW 'haterz' here Ozzy.

BYE

ArmyRoster.com wrote:Hi guys,
I am doing this for the Warhammer community (you guys) so those negative sarcastic remarks aren't helping anybody.

I think that the negative comments arent directed against the website, as much as warning you that there may be some issues. Personally I think that you shouldnt run into too much IP issues, as long as you do not force people to pay, like you say.

Regardless of any issues, best of luck for the website and I can't wait for a 40k version.

ArmyRoster.com wrote:For the past 4 months we have been developing an online army builder called Army Roster. This new website will be going live for Beta testing on the 31st of October.

What is it?
Army Roster(as you may have guessed) is a tool for all Warhammer players to build their armies online for free. The only thing you will need to accomplish a well made army list is the Armies Book of your race! As Army Roster has very little constraints on what you can do with your army you will need to validate them yourself with your own Armies Codex.

What armies are available?
For our Beta launch we will have every WHFB army in the database. All of the current 7th edition armies and all of the other 6th edition armies which have not yet been updated by GW. We plan on eventually adding the other games of GW as well as more editions of WHFB and 40K, but this first run is to see just how well Army Roster is received by the Warhammer community... AKA you guys

What does it cost?
NOTHING! Every function of Army Roster will be free to use with slight restrictions on allowance, although there will be a sponsorship option for those devoted fans. Buying a very low priced Sponsorship will gain you many different benefits which will be explained in greater length during Beta.

Do we need help?
As a matter of fact yes! If you would like to become an Army Roster Moderator then please drop Benny (AR founder) a line at:

benny@armyroster.com

Give a few reasons why you think you would make a good Moderator for Army Roster and maybe some reference if you really feel up to it.

All Army Roster Moderators will get a free Sponsorship account.

Final thoughts?
If you guys think Army Roster is worth your time then please check it out. Please refrain from sending hate mail or non constructive criticisms, we don't need them.

On the other hand if you wish to be a part of the Army Roster evolution please do not be afraid to use our suggestion messaging system for anything you think we are missing!

Thanks for your attention guys. See you on the battlefield!

The ArmyRoster.com team

Here is a question I'd be interested in you adding to the FAQ:

How are you able to do this?

Not trying to be confrontational. I'm curious about the how. Do you have some sort
of agreement as a fansite? How does this jive with GW when GW once tried to do their
own kind of army building program?

Did you ever use TGUO?. That site was up and running for 4 years with the OK from GW. My friend Matt (TGUO owner) closed it down for lack of time on his hands. Army Roster is NOT a full fledged army book. You must have the army book of your selected race to make a legal list. There are not many limits on some things and NO limits on others, There are no special rule descriptions of any kind on the website. Essentially AR is just supplying a way for you to take what you normally write down and have it created and saved electronically. There is also a printable view of your army which allows you to take all of your created armies with you.

I am in contact with GW right now and I do not foresee any IP issues.

Benny

Never used it before, so that clears things up, thanks.

No problem glad to clear things up.

ATTN all: Progress for the Beta is moving ahead steadily. By the looks of it less things will be ready than I had initially anticipated but the forums and the army builder will both be working (most of the army lists will be up and the remaining ones will be added within a day or two) I will be working frantically on friday to make sure everything launches smoothly.

I am scheduling the Beta launch for 12pm GMT - Friday October 31st 2008

I hope you all come and check it out!

Benny

PS Please guys during the launch, use the forums to report any bugs you find. The early parts of this beta are just to get everything working and to stress test.

Not trying to discourage you and I wish you well but....

Army Roster does not contain any magic item, unit, or army special rules.

This is how army builder is able to do it. They dont get sued because they do not have rules posted and you NEED to buy the army books for the list to make any sense.

H.B.M.C. wrote:And there are just as many GW sycophants as there are GW 'haterz' here Ozzy.

BYE

I didn't say anything about GW.

And don't simplify, I will call GW out when I feel its necessary (for example, the new SM codex vs. the DA dex) just as you will point out the things they do well (like terrain).

Ozymandias, King of Kings

Well, The Star Wars Miniatures Shoebox does something very similar for Star Wars Miniatures and the lawyers from Hasbro and Lucasfilm are usually very hardcore IP defenders.

Heroforge does something even more elaborate for Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 Edition without invoking the OGL or bringing down the wrath of IP lawyers.

Of course, those products are made by U.S. companies. I've been lead to believe that the U.K. has some "interesting" laws regarding the IP of companies that pay U.K. taxes that other nations might find unreasonable, but must otherwise abide due to treaty negotiations. The concept of "Fair Use," doesn't go nearly as far with G.W. as it seems to go for most companies.

Heroscapers, the Heroscape codex, and several other sites perform similar functions for that game as well, without Hasbro breathing down their necks. Actually, they've gotten pretty good support from the develoeprs of the game.

ArmyRoster.com will be going live in 10 minutes (so by the time most of you read this it will be live). Please give it a go and leave some feedback either here or on the feedback section of the site. All C+C will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

The ArmyRoster.com team.

So it's live now right?
EDIT: Oh, I thought it was for 40k too. Whoops. Still, it's an awesome idea

Do you have a direct link to the roster maker? The home page only has links to the forum.

You have to register and login to use the army builder. Also the control panel menus will not work with IE6 or before you must have IE7. it will work in several other editions of the other popular browesers