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Now with the version change and new codexes appearing all the time, the updates to Armybuilder & others are either not coming or not updated often enough.

I've previously used Armybuilder, but there's no version 7 yet and the datafiles for Battlescribe are all over the map. Before both of these tools I used MS Excel, but found it tedious.

So how do you handle building your army? Or know the secret whereabouts of the latest datafiles for AB & BS?

I use Battlescribe, the files in the 40k repository are entirely up to date as far as Space Wolves, I haven't checked for GK though, but it'll only be a week at most.

Here's the repository for up to date files: http://battlescribedata.appspot.com/#/repos

40k last updated 26th August, presumably for GK.

edit: yes, GK v1 2014 is there. Completely up to date.

Naw wrote:
Now with the version change and new codexes appearing all the time, the updates to Armybuilder & others are either not coming or not updated often enough.

I've previously used Armybuilder, but there's no version 7 yet and the datafiles for Battlescribe are all over the map. Before both of these tools I used MS Excel, but found it tedious.

So how do you handle building your army? Or know the secret whereabouts of the latest datafiles for AB & BS?

I use Army Builder myself. I find it superior to Battlescribe and typing it out ion my own. To be honest there really doesn't need to be a 7th edition really. The various detachments can easily be handled engaging 'Apocalypse' under rules. Of course you will have to validate it yourself for unit amounts, but that is easy to eyeball.

andrewm9 wrote:

Naw wrote:
Now with the version change and new codexes appearing all the time, the updates to Armybuilder & others are either not coming or not updated often enough.

I've previously used Armybuilder, but there's no version 7 yet and the datafiles for Battlescribe are all over the map. Before both of these tools I used MS Excel, but found it tedious.

So how do you handle building your army? Or know the secret whereabouts of the latest datafiles for AB & BS?

I use Army Builder myself. I find it superior to Battlescribe and typing it out ion my own. To be honest there really doesn't need to be a 7th edition really. The various detachments can easily be handled engaging 'Apocalypse' under rules. Of course you will have to validate it yourself for unit amounts, but that is easy to eyeball.

Army builder DOES need an update. They still havent done imperial guard's codex update...

For a program you pay $40 to use they are so very far behind... And on their forums they dont really care either. They hide behind the 'we are volunteers, stfu' attitude.

I've been using QuarterMaster lately. It's easy to use and simple to add/change units when I find an error. Gets the job done.

There was a poll for this a month ago iirc if you want some stats.

Looks like I had an issue with upgrading pre-1.14 and datafiles. Reinstalling and reloading data files fixed any issues I had.

Looks like I won't be paying for AB.

1. I look at my models.

2. I write down on a piece of paper what equipment the units have right there on the models that I have already built and painted.

3. I select units that are good for the number of points my opponent is fielding (large units if he is using 1000-1500, small units if 1750-2500, etcetera).

4. I make a list that fits in the points limit for the army I am fielding.

If you have the time and desire, you could use the functions in Excel to automate a lot of the math of list-building.

With the VLOOKUP function, you could have your units, wargear options, vehicles, etc on tables in another tab, and then when you put in the name of the unit on the list, it will automatically add the points for that (or any other data you want to put into the table and reference).

Excel is pretty nifty when you get into it.

I use Excel now, personally. I used to use Army Builder, but it's fallen so far behind that I wonder if it will ever get updated anymore, and I've always found Battlescribe to be way too clunky with all of the menu navigation to get to everything. I basically put together a basic template for every detachment (with the required slots bolded), with one big column for writing in unit info/options, plus a column for point costs. A simple =SUM function adds up all the points automatically, so all I have to do is add up each unit cost in my head, which is generally not a challenge.

It helps that I'm a fast typist, so I can easily enter in all of the information much quicker than I can navigate to each option on AB or Battlescribe or what-have-you.

I am using Battlescribe and I honestly prefer those things over 'pen and paper'.
The amount of feedback that is just simply wrong is so incredibly high that my trust in 'pen and paper' is on the lowest point ever.
One of the latest was the feedback that a GK-Apothecary should be 20 points for the model.

 Paradigm wrote:
I use Battlescribe, the files in the 40k repository are entirely up to date as far as Space Wolves, I haven't checked for GK though, but it'll only be a week at most.

Lies!
I've had those done a week before the Codex was released, thanks to our friends from /tg/
But there were some mistakes, those are fixed and will be released before the weekend.

Wow, I just use the codex and a piece of paper.... Usually put lists I want to keep into a Word document.

 Psienesis wrote:
If you have the time and desire, you could use the functions in Excel to automate a lot of the math of list-building.

With the VLOOKUP function, you could have your units, wargear options, vehicles, etc on tables in another tab, and then when you put in the name of the unit on the list, it will automatically add the points for that (or any other data you want to put into the table and reference).

Excel is pretty nifty when you get into it.

Same here. I was happy to use Army Builder until they wanted me to start paying for the license on an annual basis. About the time 5th edition 40k came out I started building my own formulas in MS Excel that did it for me in a much cleaner and easier to read format than what Army Builder looks like. For each army I own, I build an MS Excel spreadsheet with a bunch of pre-made army lists that are separated by tabs at the bottom of the Excel sheet based on their point limit. For instance, for my Space Wolves I have about 7 tabs for 7 different 2000 point lists, I have 4 more tabs for armies at the 1850 level, another 5 lists for armies at the 1750 level and another 3 more at the 1500 point level. Most of these lists are printed out and keep them in sheet protectors in a binder just for my Space Wolves. (Yes, you can say I'm somewhat of an organize nut) To go a step further, that same binder that I keep my army lists in, I also keep a copy of the latest FAQ (If there is one) and a zip-pocket for a mini-rulebook.

Dragonzord wrote:

andrewm9 wrote:

Naw wrote:
Now with the version change and new codexes appearing all the time, the updates to Armybuilder & others are either not coming or not updated often enough.

I've previously used Armybuilder, but there's no version 7 yet and the datafiles for Battlescribe are all over the map. Before both of these tools I used MS Excel, but found it tedious.

So how do you handle building your army? Or know the secret whereabouts of the latest datafiles for AB & BS?

I use Army Builder myself. I find it superior to Battlescribe and typing it out ion my own. To be honest there really doesn't need to be a 7th edition really. The various detachments can easily be handled engaging 'Apocalypse' under rules. Of course you will have to validate it yourself for unit amounts, but that is easy to eyeball.

Army builder DOES need an update. They still havent done imperial guard's codex update...

For a program you pay $40 to use they are so very far behind... And on their forums they dont really care either. They hide behind the 'we are volunteers, stfu' attitude.

The people who do the actual updates aren't related to the company that makes the program. You can find their site here: http://www.ab40k.org/

I've noticed some pretty significant flaws in my buddy's battlescribe, including allowing Lord Commissars a chimera transport option and not permitting Space Marine characters to have more than one Chapter Relic.

EDIT:
And I know that's because of the 'datasheets' or whatever that he uses, but the fact that there's no way to check if a data sheet is flawed or not except by cross-referencing every single fiddly option with the codex, means that you might as well just use the codex.

I use battlescribe and have never had any issues with accuracy. I've built lists for old and new SW, eldar, daemons, tau and space marines. I cross checked them with the codex and they were all accurate. If there is an issue, you can post it in the battlescribe facebook and the file will be updated to fix it very quickly. The community is great. They are now beta testing a new battlescribe version with a better UI. I can't believe people pay for army builder and it's 6 months behind but battlescribe is free and updates within 48 hours of a new codex release.

Toofast wrote:
I use battlescribe and have never had any issues with accuracy. I've built lists for old and new SW, eldar, daemons, tau and space marines. I cross checked them with the codex and they were all accurate. If there is an issue, you can post it in the battlescribe facebook and the file will be updated to fix it very quickly. The community is great. They are now beta testing a new battlescribe version with a better UI. I can't believe people pay for army builder and it's 6 months behind but battlescribe is free and updates within 48 hours of a new codex release.

You only pay for Army Builder once now (ever), but that's only if you want to download updates through the program, you can do manual updates without a license (or build your own .dat files if you really want). And the 40k Maintainer team is usually only a month behind on codexes. Part of that might have to do with their run ins with GW's legal arm though.

I used army builder for a while, but now I just use Excel. It's easy, and I can format it however I fething want.

In answer to Naw.
In my opinion this is the best place for the datafiles: http://battlescribedata.appspot.com/#/repos
In the last 5 months they had around 400 updates, so I think that tells us how fast bugs and new codices get changed.

Toofast wrote:
I use battlescribe and have never had any issues with accuracy. I've built lists for old and new SW, eldar, daemons, tau and space marines. I cross checked them with the codex and they were all accurate. If there is an issue, you can post it in the battlescribe facebook and the file will be updated to fix it very quickly. The community is great. They are now beta testing a new battlescribe version with a better UI. I can't believe people pay for army builder and it's 6 months behind but battlescribe is free and updates within 48 hours of a new codex release.

The problem is that we can't just discuss 'Battlescribe' as one single program because there are a lot of different repositories with data.

Like what Unit1126PPL says: He found a fault with the Relics in Battlescribe.
But BSdata doesn't have that mistake, which means he is probably using either outdated files or files from another group.

And the creator of Battlescribe has nothing to do with the files.
So posting on his Facebook that Space Marines have an error will not accomplish anything, it's just a coincidence
The data-files are done by other people, anyone could do that because it's really easy to do.

@Kangodo: Okay, I threw away other repos and no longer have any issues.

It is so quick to test different compositions with a program instead of PnP. I also do not have the time (and I would not even want) to create everything in Excel.

I used to use Army Builder, but switched to Excel some time back. I've sort of an established template which is really fast for me to build armies. I've recently started on Battlescribe. Pretty cool, but most of my lists are still on excel for now

Kangodo wrote:
In answer to Naw.
In my opinion this is the best place for the datafiles: http://battlescribedata.appspot.com/#/repos
In the last 5 months they had around 400 updates, so I think that tells us how fast bugs and new codices get changed.

Toofast wrote:
I use battlescribe and have never had any issues with accuracy. I've built lists for old and new SW, eldar, daemons, tau and space marines. I cross checked them with the codex and they were all accurate. If there is an issue, you can post it in the battlescribe facebook and the file will be updated to fix it very quickly. The community is great. They are now beta testing a new battlescribe version with a better UI. I can't believe people pay for army builder and it's 6 months behind but battlescribe is free and updates within 48 hours of a new codex release.

The problem is that we can't just discuss 'Battlescribe' as one single program because there are a lot of different repositories with data.

Like what Unit1126PPL says: He found a fault with the Relics in Battlescribe.
But BSdata doesn't have that mistake, which means he is probably using either outdated files or files from another group.

And the creator of Battlescribe has nothing to do with the files.
So posting on his Facebook that Space Marines have an error will not accomplish anything, it's just a coincidence
The data-files are done by other people, anyone could do that because it's really easy to do.

Most of the people that make the BS files are in that group. There have been 2 cases where I posted an issue, the file creator saw it, fixed it, then commented and tagged me to let me know it was fixed.

I've used both Battlescribe and Army Builder.

Army Builder is great for making pretty lists on your computer with pics of your models etc but it's not versatile.

I have found that Battlescribe is much more versatile. It's mobile, easy to share lists and more up-to-date (depends on the repository +1 for BSdata/Appspot Repositories) and one of the few apps I've purchased. The program itself is under continual development and every version gets better IMHO.

An A4 lined piece of paper or Microsoft Word does me fine.

Pen and Paper. It helps that I'm very quick on mental arithmetic, and I've always found online builders clunky. and not to my taste. I will put army lists into word documents if I think I'll use them for a while.

This is a shameless plug, but I wrote a list-building app (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/warforge/id799290640?mt=8) for iOS that I think is pretty good.

It's pretty new, so there are no repositories of data created by users, but I've built a few army templates and can send you a link to my Google Drive if anyone has the app and is interested.

Quartermaster

Battlescribe all the way