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Well, I'm getting really tired of this.

I bought a marines codex the other day [my last three have broken] and by the other day, I mean friday.
already, the army selection [the important bit] is falling out.

now, I've barely touched this book. I've literally opened it up twice, and it's already falling apart. I keep it in a little hardcase [so it doesn't get W&T] and it still is falling apart.

are they so cheap that they will poorly bind a book, just to make an extra 50$? I mean, I'm not one for stealing, but after spending 200$ on the same material, I'm not too inclined not to just download them in future.

Can anyone explain this phenominon to me?

Umm... I've never had that issue, and I own 5 softback codexes, and 3 hardcover books (rulebook for 4th and 5th, and Apoc).

The Apoc is starting to give, but that's because my friend dropped it funny

And my one friend put his Witch Hunters codex in the microwave, not knowing there's aluminum stripping in it, set the cover on fire

=

Nope, never had a problem. I own boxes of GW books, and it's only the REALLY old ones that show signs of falling apart...

Just take it back ? .

Maybe it was handled badly by the shop, or their suppliers.

Yeah GW and their prices are getting beyond a joke, i suggest ebay for everything.

Two choices really:

First, give GW a call, they're generally pretty good about replacing defective product. It sounds like your book is in that category.

Second, take a trip to your local printer and just have the book spiral bound and maybe add some tougher covers. One of the chaps at my FLGS tends to do this with Codicies that he uses often/heavily. It looks good and it's pretty convenient.

They can fall apart
Saw pages fall out of a High Elf army book.
The lad had only had it a week!*

You should take them back! It is not good enough and not fit for purpose.

The store should at least replace the most recent one.

If they won't refund the others write to GW.
Army books ain't cheap so they damn well ought to be better made.

*I suggested to the lad's mother that it be returned.
She said that the staff were excellent and replaced it.
They told her that there had been complaints and it was a faulty batch.
Not wholly convinced by that as it there have been a lot of issues across a wide range of codices/army books.
Having said that so far there have been no issues with the replacement but give it time

You can get a codex laminated and bound for a few dollars, it's worth it.

It's not a bad idea Ordo, but the problem is with the binding, or lack thereof.

I have had the same problem. I am on my 2nd Tau codex and several of the pages a now loose again. I'd buy a third but I am hoping I have about a year to wait for the 5th Ed. and am trying to hold on till then. I've never had a rulebook break on me though, only codices.

Chibi Bodge-Battle wrote:It's not a bad idea Ordo, but the problem is with the binding, or lack thereof.

You can bind laminated pages @@

Yeah, I've seen people hole punch them and throw them into a binder. It's pretty easy fix.

Also, I've seen the troglodytes that I play the hobby with. Considering I have a 1/2 of a shelf filled with GW books that I flip through a lot and they are still in good shape, I bet it's more the owners.

Grease, salt water and cheeto crumbs can do terrible things to paper products.

You can bind laminated pages @@

If I pay just shy of 20 notes for a soft back book no thicker than a high end magazine I shouldn't need to start forking out for that sort of thing.

You have been on a run of bad luck with them.

GW bindings are crap and always have been. If you kept your receipt take it back to the store. About 1/3 codices have decent bindings.

MrGiggles wrote:Two choices really:

First, give GW a call, they're generally pretty good about replacing defective product. It sounds like your book is in that category.

Absolutely this, GW has an excelent policy for defective products, the only book from them that ever gave up the ghost was the old Astromomican and its still usable even if i do have to be carefull of all the pages falling out. return it and get a new one.

I like getting them spiral bound at Fed-Ex/Kinko's. Well, I've done that with
my Warmachine stuff at any rate.

I own just about every GW book they've made since 1998 and the only one that is of exceedingly poor quality is the General's Compendium. I always assumed that it falls apart so easy because too much awesome is packed into its pages. Even when I bought the book, they highly recommended getting it bound. Other then that, its just the plastic laminate on the covers that peals for me, all else has withstood W&T pretty well for me(knock on wood).

Just take your defective book back.

My copy of Rogue Trader has a couple of loose pages near the back, but I did but it in the very early nineties, so I am not too angry about it.

If they fall apart I just hole punch and put them in a binder. There's no way in hell I would buy another one at those prices when I already own all the info.

Only two of my books have ever begun to fall apart.
1) my 3rd Ed Tau codex which got used pretty much constantly and
2) My Imperial Armor Taros Campaign which just has a few loose pages.

A couple notes:
-The first runs of codex's and the like are always of a little worse quality. Happens all the time with DND books.
(and even if it is your third codex, your store may have stocked quite a bit when it came out and it is still an earlier printing)
-GW books, like just about every other book are bound with glue and string. The do go through quite a bit more wear and tear however. Think about it, you may read a novel once (maybe twice) and then it sits on a shelf. A codex you are leafing through, packing in and out of bags (probably going spine first right?) leaving it in your car in the [cold/hot].

Finally,

-Do you, like most people, press down on your codex to flatten in and make sure the page stays open to where you need it??? either when playing or writing lists?
This is probably the worst thing you can do to it, you might as well be cutting out the pages yourself. Each time you press down on the book you stretch out and loosen the strings in the binding, and crack the glue.

I have to assume from both my experiance and what I have read on here that besides for some defective codexs most are probably good. That being said, the way in which a codex is used probably requires a stronger binding, and will be a good codex if you take care of it.

You spend $X00s on foam cases for miniatures, why not spend 5 bucks to protect your books and actually take care of them.

tylermenz wrote:
You spend $X00s on foam cases for miniatures, why not spend 5 bucks to protect your books and actually take care of them.

Too true!

Let me explain about book bindings....

The pages of the book are put into a machine, that put them through some presses and pullies and gizmos, then through the warp core, then the hydo-electric ossifier, then finally through to the gluer. If the gluer is low on its supply of glue, then that glue also tends to be old.

Which means it does not bind as well, which is why you get books that fall apart.

Has nothing to do with GW being cheap, and everything to do with the printer.

Cut the pages out of the codex and put them in a 3 ring binder.

The binding has always been substandard,thats just part of the hassle of playing.

You can take it back,sure, but it is only going to fall out again after about page 3.

With the 3 ring binder, you can get the downloads and add them as well. Works great and is cheaper then getting mad about it.

Think of them as doing you a favor.

It's just some bad luck upon your part (however, under the Monte Carlo fallacy, you can now believe that your dice will roll well ).

It's just the printer's fault, not GW, but seriously, contact them. GW has a great replacement policy. In fact, you shouldn't have bought a second/third book, they might not reimburst you for multiple books. But that's just my guess, I'm not sure of their actual policy.

If this were true I'd be astounded. Unfortunately, given the OP's posting history, I'm inclined to consider the possibility that this is just silliness.

I've never had a problem with any books or Codexes, and any issues I've had with defective models have been handled with the utmost professionalism by GW.

I like the idea of spiral binding and laminating the codex, and other high use books.

Captain Solon wrote:Well, I'm getting really tired of this.

I bought a marines codex the other day [my last three have broken] and by the other day, I mean friday.
already, the army selection [the important bit] is falling out.

now, I've barely touched this book. I've literally opened it up twice, and it's already falling apart. I keep it in a little hardcase [so it doesn't get W&T] and it still is falling apart.

are they so cheap that they will poorly bind a book, just to make an extra 50$? I mean, I'm not one for stealing, but after spending 200$ on the same material, I'm not too inclined not to just download them in future.

Can anyone explain this phenominon to me?

I've sold a couple hundred marine codexes, had a couple come back with loose pages, same as any other game book.

And seriously, I don't understand you're problem. If you can walk into a store for a replacement and pay for it, you can walk in and ask for a FREE replacement. Or call GW mailorder and have them you ship one.

Solving this problem is as simple as picking up a phone.

General Hobbs wrote:

Let me explain about book bindings....

The pages of the book are put into a machine, that put them through some presses and pullies and gizmos, then through the warp core, then the hydo-electric ossifier, then finally through to the gluer. If the gluer is low on its supply of glue, then that glue also tends to be old.

Which means it does not bind as well, which is why you get books that fall apart.

Has nothing to do with GW being cheap, and everything to do with the printer.

This. +1. Machine is called a pony. You put the pages in, it trims the edges, slaps on glue, then introduces the cover. Some glue batches are better than other. Stuff I used came in ball pellet form. Wrong temprature can result in poor binding. Type of glue, as far as I know, not so much.