Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hi there, a thought occurred to me last night at games club as my opponent was using his iPad to look up at his FAQ pdf document during the game, what other things could the iPad be used for during a game? Perhaps keeping track of units or wounds or something similar perhaps? Maybe even something to do with army building, painting etc. I struggle to think of ways to use mine in the hobby you see.

Do any Dakka members use an iPad during gaming sessions? If so would you recommend any apps in particular?

You could get a dice rolling app. I just keep the FAQs handy on my phone.

It is great for FAQ, now if only you could legally get codexes on it it would be great.

I generally use mine to carry all of my pdf copies of my army books, errata, tournament scenario's, etc. It's also handy for back up dice incase you forget or lose yours while on the road. There are some army tools out there for Warhammer and Warmachine, but I have only used the Warmachine ones thus far. The Warhammer ones last I checked were not worth my money for what they offered.

I also use my iPad for Dark Heresy and other RPGs. Its a great device for players as well as game masters. I can play audio clips and other visuals for my players. Use the Initiative app to keep everyone in the proper order and track all of the status effects flying around the table, etc. Probably one of the best gaming aids I have found so far is my iPad.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

jacetms87 wrote:It is great for FAQ, now if only you could legally get codexes on it it would be great.

You can, assuming you live in Canada and own the codex.

jacetms87 wrote:It is great for FAQ, now if only you could legally get codexes on it it would be great.

digital mellienium copyright act in the US

you can make a digital copy of any preint media you own as logn as it is for personal use , not distributed and not used for profit in any way...

so as long as you do the scan yourself and don't distribute it then you're fine from a legal perspective

That is great. I was unaware of that fact, thank you.

Oh sure I have no problem with "acquiring" a pdf copy of my army book etc seeing as I own the hard copies anyway, but it would be great to have an official full colour version that's not scanned for example.

Role playing aid sounds brilliant, I just feel the iPad has a lot of potential to be great for gaming, it just needs the right developers... I plan on keeping my faq's for now, and the dice rolling app sounds interesting, but can it be as truly random as real dice?

G00fySmiley wrote:
so as long as you do the scan yourself and don't distribute it then you're fine from a legal perspective

Remember, downloading a scan is not the same as doing the scan yourself... which is the rub... people cut out the middle man and download a scan and think they are legal, they are not.

really any tablet is good for them codexes, FAQ and such

heck I have seen em on a nook color and that looked retty goof (though they saved aem as jpg i believe so they took up less data space)

redbristles wrote:Oh sure I have no problem with "acquiring" a pdf copy of my army book etc seeing as I own the hard copies anyway, but it would be great to have an official full colour version that's not scanned for example.

Role playing aid sounds brilliant, I just feel the iPad has a lot of potential to be great for gaming, it just needs the right developers... I plan on keeping my faq's for now, and the dice rolling app sounds interesting, but can it be as truly random as real dice?

It is actually more random, as it is jsut a random number generator, and dice unless perfect dice ( good luck) will be flawed ever so slightly and will favor certian results over others.

It is a great too for RPG chracter sheets, books you name it

jacetms87 wrote:It is actually more random, as it is jsut a random number generator, and dice unless perfect dice ( good luck) will be flawed ever so slightly and will favor certian results over others.

It is a great too for RPG chracter sheets, books you name it

Nice catch. I'm gonna need to try this sometime....
And having my Codices on it would make life so much easier.

ive had people try and use dice rolling apps

its stupid, if i wanted to sit around while you dick with your phone all day i'd work for a cell phone company.

Several members of our Rogue Trader group use them as data slates and keep a digital copy of the RT book on it for quick reference.

jacetms87 wrote:

It is actually more random, as it is jsut a random number generator, and dice unless perfect dice ( good luck) will be flawed ever so slightly and will favor certian results over others.

It is a great too for RPG chracter sheets, books you name it

Perhaps you have wondered how predictable machines like computers can generate randomness. In reality, most random numbers used in computer programs are pseudo-random, which means they are a generated in a predictable fashion using a mathematical formula. This is fine for many purposes, but it may not be random in the way you expect if you're used to dice rolls and lottery drawings.

As per Random.org

in other words you have no idea how random the generator is unless you write it.

I would like to see a mandatory dice rolling app for Ork players so that I don't have to sit around, bored while they roll 300 dice, 3 times or whatever.

Something that keeps track of how many models in the unit and how many attacks for each model with a toggle for charge and furious charge, etc. You just tap a button to note casualties so the app knows how many dice to roll for the next combat.

It would make games go so much more quickly.

There are dice applications like that, for android, I am unsure if there is such an app for iOS.

Though I haven't found a whole lot, I did happen to find a Mathhammer app for iPhone.
http://itunes.apple.com/app/i40k/id301052410?mt=8
Let me know if you guys find anything else of use.

Smartphones can do all of this too....

(Android user here)

True, and for dice apps, they are great, but for viewing large pdfs quickly unless you have one of the brand new duel cores, then a tablet will most likely be better for it.

1. The faster, hardware.
2. The larger screen simply makes reading it far easier

I have no problem using my droid bionic for reading it however it is still easier on a tablet.

A buddy and I went to the game store to play last week and we realized that neither of us had brought a scatter die. I quickly went to the Android marketplace, downloaded a free app called WarHammer Dice Lite for my smartphone, and found a scatter die. We would set the smartphone down next to the unit affected and then hit the button to run the dice.

The really nice thing about this was that instead of rolling the scatter die in the general vicinity of the unit and hoped that it would land close so that you didn't have to do too much approximation for the direction of the scatter die, by setting the phone next to the unit when the die came up for scatter you didn't have to worry much about getting the direction wrong.

If only 40k had an app like iBodger.

We play WM/Hordes now--and iBodger is just awesome. You can reference rules, build army lists, links to the Battle College for tactics...just awesome.

jacetms87 wrote:True, and for dice apps, they are great, but for viewing large pdfs quickly unless you have one of the brand new duel cores, then a tablet will most likely be better for it.

1. The faster, hardware.
2. The larger screen simply makes reading it far easier

I have no problem using my droid bionic for reading it however it is still easier on a tablet.

Not trying to go off topic, but the Ipad 2 is not as fast as every phone, it has a dual core 900 MHz processor, where the Motorola Atrix has a 1GHz dual core.

Obviously the screen on a tablet is going to be better, ya got me there. I get pretty tired of having to zoom to read threads on Dakka while on my phone :(

As soon as a tablet comparable to an iPad 2 is on the market, without such a high price, you bet I'll have one.

True the atrix does have 1ghz duel core, however no software can really utilize it, also there is the argument over achitecure.

I did also specify "True, and for dice apps, they are great, but for viewing large pdfs quickly unless you have one of the brand new duel cores, then a tablet will most likely be better for it."

But these really are semantics, I found that a tablet works better but to each thier own.

I'm leary of hax in the regular die rolling situation. Scatter die I'm cool with - throw 26 die, then the 11 that wounded - not so much. I'm a luddite in that singular respect. Online Faqs and scanned codices, bring em on.

I also remember that Iphone has a laser(or sonic) tape measure (rangefinder). A couple of guys at showed me it and it was pretty cool. It's kind of a point A to point B type of tool, probably not 100% useful.

All this talk about apps and iPads and copyright and stuff makes my head spin. Wouldn't in just be simpler and cheaper to get a small bag of dice?

Dice continue to work when batteries run flat.

But the app has it's advantages when having to roll 40/50/60 + dice. For small numbers actual dice are far better but if I've given FRSSRF to 40 blobbed guardsmen that's a whole bunch of roll and roll again ...

I've got one... I've got iBodger on it, which is really handiy for cooking up a list on the fly, and have used the basic notes app to cook my 40k lists... I've got a dice roller, but it's nothing really usefull... main gaming thing I have on it are my complete stash of Specialist Games PDFs (all straight from GW and perfectly legal) and Apoc Datasheets..

BrookM wrote:Several members of our Rogue Trader group use them as data slates and keep a digital copy of the RT book on it for quick reference.

How well can you read it on the Ipad? I'm torn between an Ipad and a jumbo sized kindel.

Strimen wrote:I generally use mine to carry all of my pdf copies of my army books, errata, tournament scenario's, etc. It's also handy for back up dice incase you forget or lose yours while on the road. There are some army tools out there for Warhammer and Warmachine, but I have only used the Warmachine ones thus far. The Warhammer ones last I checked were not worth my money for what they offered.

I also use my iPad for Dark Heresy and other RPGs. Its a great device for players as well as game masters. I can play audio clips and other visuals for my players. Use the Initiative app to keep everyone in the proper order and track all of the status effects flying around the table, etc. Probably one of the best gaming aids I have found so far is my iPad.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

jacetms87 wrote:It is great for FAQ, now if only you could legally get codexes on it it would be great.

You can, assuming you live in Canada and own the codex.

If you have the hardcopy you're legally allowed a digital one.

Ultimately, when I get my android tab I'll be putting my codexes and rulebook on there, I'll have faqs etc and I'll have my Extended codex in there too.

For note-taking, rules etc it's a great tool.