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From What's New Today for 19 December 2015:

The Warhammer Digital team have created a Gamers Edition range of products including 20 Codexes and the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook. Available on iOS devices, these handy downloads include just the rules content from the relevant Codex, enabling you to find the unit, weapon or rule you need mid-battle without having to flick back and forth through a book to find them. You can find out more about them by following this link.

Probably £5 more than I'd like them to be, but allowing for the GW tax, this is definitely something I'd consider should I ever need another Codex.

Well, those do help with the oppressive cost of rules. Will be nice moving forward, so I don’t need to pay for the same fluff again

I do love old fashioned books, but at the rate GW is going it was starting to look like I’d either have to choose new models or rules, not both.

And now we see the reason for the recent half assed faq's

With one hand, GW fixes one of the greatest complaints about 40k. With the other, "The hobby is buying Citadel miniatures!"

Huh... no Sororitas. Surprised they're not trying to double dip.

These are less than half price, that's really great!

 Revarien wrote:
Huh... no Sororitas. Surprised they're not trying to double dip.

Sad Kronk is sad.

Meh, nice idea, but i'll just buy the normal book and get the digital from elsewhere. Maybe if rules were better i'd think differently. Buying digital just annoys me in general, books, games, music, etc

This is actually pretty good. I've been hoping for something like this for a long time now. It seems GW finally learned why the mini-rulebook from the starter kits is so popular. Also refreshing to see GW do something decent for once, especially as this one slightly reduces the ridiculous "Price of the Rules" barrier to entry.

All that said, however... I'm super upset that this is iPad only, like a lot of their digital products. As a result of that limitation (since I'm sure as hell not gonna buy a second tablet just for GW products), this release doesn't actually help me personally.

It would be better if they had an Android/Windows version as well, and/or a small paper version, for those of us who don't have Apple-everythings.

I hate Apple far more than I hate GW (I actually like GW so this statement is already filled with about as many holes as cheese Scatbikes (wait, I have a scatbike army...)), but this almost makes me wish I had an iPad or something.

Almost.

I am 100% behind this idea! I will take the rules for half price any day. I can get fluff through the Black Library if I want it.

This is cool! Though I got the Skitarii codex eBook for the same price from the recent flash sale they had :-)

I will consider this if I need the cult Mechanicus rules later on, as the fluff in the Skitarii book was rather bland

Wish they made Kindle editions of their books.

I could do with them doing this in epub format too, who'd want an iPad?

 Bull0 wrote:
I could do with them doing this in epub format too, who'd want an iPad?

I've always found their ePub versions to be utterly dire. iBook versions are beefier memory wise but far, far nicer. Also, this gamer edition is interesting. Perhaps mr Rountree is more of a human being than Kirby and does actually realise that this isn't just a collectables hobby.

 Bull0 wrote:
I could do with them doing this in epub format too, who'd want an iPad?

Snap !

Nice idea but I refuse to go anywhere near apple.

 Rayvon wrote:

 Bull0 wrote:
I could do with them doing this in epub format too, who'd want an iPad?

Snap !

Nice idea but I refuse to go anywhere near apple.

Why's that? Besides the hugely expensive hardware I mean.

 angelofvengeance wrote:

 Bull0 wrote:
I could do with them doing this in epub format too, who'd want an iPad?

I've always found their ePub versions to be utterly dire. iBook versions are beefier memory wise but far, far nicer. Also, this gamer edition is interesting. Perhaps mr Rountree is more of a human being than Kirby and does actually realise that this isn't just a collectables hobby.

They just changed it so all upcoming ePub versions from Tau on look just like the printed books. Also... I would never touch a non-Apple tablet

Yeah what's with all the apple hate? Enjoy your all around inferior tablet experience with andriod and change some folder icons or whatever it is you can do on them that makes you feel like a pro hacker using it.

 angelofvengeance wrote:

 Rayvon wrote:

 Bull0 wrote:
I could do with them doing this in epub format too, who'd want an iPad?

Snap !

Nice idea but I refuse to go anywhere near apple.

Why's that? Besides the hugely expensive hardware I mean.

No, for me it's pretty much the expense. Overpriced and too locked down in terms of what you can do with them, basically. And yeah, black library's digital books have gotten a lot better recently.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Bottle wrote:
Yeah what's with all the apple hate? Enjoy your all around inferior tablet experience with andriod and change some folder icons or whatever it is you can do on them that makes you feel like a pro hacker using it.

...OK, will do.

I'll keep my superior Windows tablet, TYVM. No reason to downgrade to an iPad from a tablet that performs all of the functions of a normal PC.

These are near books, too bad GW doesn't want to make them easy for non-Apple users to use. Their DRM is a pain in the ass to remove, but not impossible.

If they keep stuff like this up, replacing a codex once a newer version is released is much less painless. Keep the old Codex for the fluff, get the Gamer Edition for the new rules.

Im just not an apple fan, It costs more and has less functionality plus I like to use many different types of media and have full control of it.
Up until the more recent air series I never really liked the aesthetics either, each to his own though as always.

I can totally see why GW initially go the apple route, the DRM is better and the tools available make it so much easier to design the apps for as well, stands to reason that they would go there first or exclusively.

The gamer's edition is really cool, with the hefty discount. It's kind of a cool version to get in addition to the printed version (with the fluff), for some people, too.

 Rayvon wrote:
Im just not an apple fan, It costs more and has less functionality plus I like to use many different types of media and have full control of it.
Up until the more recent air series I never really liked the aesthetics either, each to his own though as always.

I can totally see why GW initially go the apple route, the DRM is better and the tools available make it so much easier to design the apps for as well, stands to reason that they would go there first or exclusively.

I'm also not an Apple fan (though we do have two iPads in the house, an Air and a Mini 2). If these were available for Surface Pro, I'd buy all the factions I play in a heartbeat, as that's what I use in gaming.

The DRM aspect is not very good for iPad, IMO. Most people don't care that much about the interactive aspects of it, and the people who pirate the iPad version just snapshot each page, which is very easy to do on an iPad. I really don't think it's worth it for GW to throw up DRM barriers, as things like the codex are easy to rip off if someone wants a pirated copy; and they people who are willing and want to buy paid copies (or even paid + printed) will do so anyhow.

The Interactive aspect of the iPad codex is really neat. I have 1 codex on my iPad (mostly because I wanted to see what it was like), and it's cool. But frankly, after I'm familiar with a faction, I bookmark a few pages and use them as reference, and pretty much everything else is looking at army list options and point values anyhow.

Gamers Edition, because non gamers buy a rulebook and enjoy reading rules they will never use.

What does the non-gamers edition feature that the standard book doesn't have?

So far we have a 'Gamers Edition' and an 'inbetweeners' edition. Now we need a 'Modellers Edition'.

 Talys wrote:
The gamer's edition is really cool, with the hefty discount. It's kind of a cool version to get in addition to the printed version (with the fluff), for some people, too.

 Rayvon wrote:
Im just not an apple fan, It costs more and has less functionality plus I like to use many different types of media and have full control of it.
Up until the more recent air series I never really liked the aesthetics either, each to his own though as always.

I can totally see why GW initially go the apple route, the DRM is better and the tools available make it so much easier to design the apps for as well, stands to reason that they would go there first or exclusively.

I'm also not an Apple fan (though we do have two iPads in the house, an Air and a Mini 2). If these were available for Surface Pro, I'd buy all the factions I play in a heartbeat, as that's what I use in gaming.

The DRM aspect is not very good for iPad, IMO. Most people don't care that much about the interactive aspects of it, and the people who pirate the iPad version just snapshot each page, which is very easy to do on an iPad. I really don't think it's worth it for GW to throw up DRM barriers, as things like the codex are easy to rip off if someone wants a pirated copy; and they people who are willing and want to buy paid copies (or even paid + printed) will do so anyhow.

The Interactive aspect of the iPad codex is really neat. I have 1 codex on my iPad (mostly because I wanted to see what it was like), and it's cool. But frankly, after I'm familiar with a faction, I bookmark a few pages and use them as reference, and pretty much everything else is looking at army list options and point values anyhow.

If you screenshot the iPad versions they just become a much worse version of the ePub versions, and you would probably want to download those instead. So I'd actually say the DRM is very successful in doing what it's supposed to: forcing people who want the interactive versions to buy them.

The iBook versions are actually a pain to screenshot as they have most of the rules in the pop ups.

I've seen screenshot iPad versions -- they just screenshot each popup.

I personally think the iPad version looks a lot better than the ePub version.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Wulfmar wrote:
Gamers Edition, because non gamers buy a rulebook and enjoy reading rules they will never use.

What does the non-gamers edition feature that the standard book doesn't have?

So far we have a 'Gamers Edition' and an 'inbetweeners' edition. Now we need a 'Modellers Edition'.

The Gamers edition doesn't have the fluff and the artwork in the first half (or so) of the codex. I think it's great idea, as a lot of people never read the fluff anyways. A modelers edition wouldn't work, at least not in the context of just pulling out half the pages, as the most important photos for modelling are often on the dataslates.

What they need now is a paper version in black and white with just the back half. For gaming, it would be superior, IMO, being lighter, thinner, etch.

I generally just create a reference sheet that includes everything my army uses. Pretty much removes the requirement for having an extra book around. I figure if I'm going to spend 9238479 days painting them, I can at least make a reference sheet (and make it look fancy too!). However, the rulebook is not something I do that with on account of there being far too much information to condense. It turns into an 8 page beast which is still very useful, but I like having a mini-rulebook handy.

I wish they would just sell the mini rulebook by itself (and not for $50 like on eBay). Without the fluff and other nonsense that isn't required for day to day gaming.

 Talys wrote:

Spoiler:

I've seen screenshot iPad versions -- they just screenshot each popup.

I personally think the iPad version looks a lot better than the ePub version.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Wulfmar wrote:
Gamers Edition, because non gamers buy a rulebook and enjoy reading rules they will never use.

What does the non-gamers edition feature that the standard book doesn't have?

So far we have a 'Gamers Edition' and an 'inbetweeners' edition. Now we need a 'Modellers Edition'.

The Gamers edition doesn't have the fluff and the artwork in the first half (or so) of the codex. I think it's great idea, as a lot of people never read the fluff anyways. A modelers edition wouldn't work, at least not in the context of just pulling out half the pages, as the most important photos for modelling are often on the dataslates.

What they need now is a paper version in black and white with just the back half. For gaming, it would be superior, IMO, being lighter, thinner, etch.

Aye indeed, I agree with you. I think the pure rulebook is a good idea. I was making snark comment about GWs ideas on this though. They are apparently a model shop first. Are they suggesting the original rulebook Is for modellers and this new rulebook for the gamers? Or was the original rulebook an in-between and, if so, where is the book for the modellers (not literally asking you, I'm just being an arse towards GW and writing out my thoughts).

When they did the 3 books deal with one being rules, one being fluff and the third art - that was a good idea. Making them all available separately an even better idea. Having this gamers version from the beginning rather than forcing everyone to buy the more expensive complete book would be a nice way of not fleecing money out of people who dont want the fluff.

Essentially, they should have released this in the first place, it would reduce I'll feeling towards them