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evening dakka,

I currently use battlescribe to build my 40k lists. it gets the job done, but I'm not overjoyed with it. there's no catalog standard for 40k files (understandable, since the software is meant to be generic and support any gaming system). every data file arthur does things differently and sometimes not even consistently within their own file. there's no easy way to locate regularly updated data files (again, I understand why this is). maintaining your own files isn't very intuitive, due in large part to how flexible the software is. there are often several ways to model any particular rule, but just as often none of those ways gets it quite right. I have short list of other quibbles as well, but they aren't worth mentioning. all that said, battlescribe is far from terrible. I'd give it a solid B rating, assuming you can find a good data file for your army. kudos to their developer community, too; people are always willing to help with catalog questions/bugs on their forums.

I'm looking for alternatives, though. how does battlescribe compare to army builder? cost aside (I'm happy to pay for quality tools), does army builder do anything significantly better? is it easier to find regularly maintained data files for it? is it a more flexible tool in terms of how you can format your printed lists? anything you particularly hate about army builder that battlescribe does better?

is there a third option? army builder and battlescribe are the two names that come up time and again when I search around. I've already looked into hq-builder.com (it's promising, but has some maturing to do to bring it in par with other offerings, imo).

cheers

I have used both. Army builder costs money but makes better list printouts. Battlescribe is free and inconsistent with the quality of lists and other things, though you can make your own if you have the patience.

I will probably never go back to battlescribe.

I'm using battlescribe atm myself, sure i gotta update it more often... go trough the list after iv'e made it to check for errors but it's pretty good for being a free choise.
Been thinking of getting Army builder tough can allways split it with a friend as you get two acces codes.

I use both, but Battlescribe only gets used at the table to throw quick lists together.
Army builder is a sit-down-and-write app, as making changes is much easier.

When the Eldar codex is out, I'll be adjusting the data to show the written rules summaries in Army Builder. I just hope it's easy to do, buty I'll give it a go anyway. Having the rules to hand makes the game go so much faster.

The ony problems I have with Battlescribe is the insistence of updating every time I open it. It might hang on loading for 5 minutes, while I'm wanting to get a game going.

I never have that problem with Battlescribe Mobile. Just turn off 3G and Wifi and it only flashes the update screen for a second before it realizes there's no connection.

 -Loki- wrote:
I never have that problem with Battlescribe Mobile. Just turn off 3G and Wifi and it only flashes the update screen for a second before it realizes there's no connection.

It's a poorly made piece of software that forces you to make it fail a check deliberately for it to work better than intended.

 Purifier wrote:

 -Loki- wrote:
I never have that problem with Battlescribe Mobile. Just turn off 3G and Wifi and it only flashes the update screen for a second before it realizes there's no connection.

It's a poorly made piece of software that forces you to make it fail a check deliberately for it to work better than intended.

That's one interpretation. I will say this: I've had several instances in a tournament scenario where someone brought an illegal list because Army Builder had it wrong.

I use Battlescribe. Never had that problem. I understand that it can be annoying to have to go to the Battlescribe forums and get the latest army repository, but once it's finalized for 6th, you won't have to do it again for years.

Clearly, I'm a battlescribe fan.

Edit: I've also never had problems with the updating. I have an Android Razr HD with 4g, so maybe that makes a difference, but my Battlescribe loads in 5 seconds every time.

I never have the problem that Battlescribe hangs.
It's also my favourite program.

The fact that the catalogues and game systems are community driven means that things are updated much faster and that error get fixed faster.

The hardest part about BattleScribe is finding a good place where people upload and mantain those files.
But once you find that site, it's quite easy and in my opinion superior to those paid-options.

MadmanMSU wrote:
but my Battlescribe loads in 5 seconds every time.

Why does it take so long?
My HTC one X takes around a second or two for it to load.

MadmanMSU wrote:

 Purifier wrote:
I've had several instances in a tournament scenario where someone brought an illegal list because Army Builder had it wrong. .

If you're going to a tournament and you just trust your speedlist program you're doing it wrong.

And I'm actually a battlescribe user myself.