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Guys am I missing something? All the broken realm books were available as epubs but the new rule book and generals handbook seemingly aren't at all. Did they discontinue their Epub support for the new edition to force more expensive physical buys? I notice the handbook is now 50 cad as opposed to the digital's 20.

We think they're moving to a 40k App only model - we know there's a new AoS App coming soon.

beast_gts wrote:
We think they're moving to a 40k App only model - we know there's a new AoS App coming soon.

They explicitly said in the preview yesterday that the new Battletomes have the 40K style codes. We don't "think" that, it's the case.

 Platuan4th wrote:

beast_gts wrote:
We think they're moving to a 40k App only model - we know there's a new AoS App coming soon.

They explicitly said in the preview yesterday that the new Battletomes have the 40K style codes. We don't "think" that, it's the case.

Did they explicitly say there would be no ePub version?


This is from the accompanying article:

Both books include new subfaction rules,* and best of all, every battletome in the new edition contains a code that lets you access its rules in the upcoming Warhammer Age of Sigmar app, which is due to head into beta later this year.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Dominion doesn't have any PDF unit rules listed on the store page, so it looks like they're changing things up...

That's a shame. I like the epubs because it's actually the whole book and not just the rules, with navigation also being a lot more simple. Also I don't need to drive and buy a physical book/wait forever for shipping with a digital option; I could always get rules the day of release.

I agree that the lack of digital books is really disheartening. Doesn't help that if you want the digital code you must buy the physical book or get the code from someone else. Even then the digital versions are rather lackluster with having the actual book in digital form.

It's a good thing GW thinks about its carbon footprint with forcing printed copies.

Just like with 40k currently, it won’t stop me from getting PDFs of the rulebooks, it’ll just stop me from being able to give GW money for them.

beast_gts wrote:

 Platuan4th wrote:

beast_gts wrote:
We think they're moving to a 40k App only model - we know there's a new AoS App coming soon.

They explicitly said in the preview yesterday that the new Battletomes have the 40K style codes. We don't "think" that, it's the case.

Did they explicitly say there would be no ePub version?


This is from the accompanying article:

Both books include new subfaction rules,* and best of all, every battletome in the new edition contains a code that lets you access its rules in the upcoming Warhammer Age of Sigmar app, which is due to head into beta later this year.

Awesome. Nothing like codes for an app that isn't even in the beta stage yet.
Can't possibly see anything going wrong there.

Curious if anyone knows, but what's the infrastructure requirements for (now multiple) apps (with hopefully regular updates and presumably 'many' users) vs one-time delivery of ebooks from a storefront?

I had no problems with the current app or how it was working, and have kept buying content through it up to the latest releases. From my perspective it seems like GW is trying to fix what is not broken, and likely out of simple greed. Yeah, I am sure the new app will have fancy new features (hopefully without a bunch of bugs, but I am not holding my breath) but I do not want new features. I just want the app I have now to keep doing what it has been. If it is not profitable, I would be happy to pay higher prices.

But my anxiety about the 3rd edition ruleset was not borne out, so I will wait and see.

This is one of the most fethed business moves GW has made and it infuriates me. It's nothing but corporate greed for an ancillary product to their already expensive models. GW could make their rules all free and it wouldn't impact their bottom line at all.

This is gordon gecko level of greed is good bs

And they can't even do it in a competent manner. No, it has to be married to a buggy mess of an app that doesn't work properly. If the AoS one somehow works and isn't a trashfire like the 40k one, I'll eat a hat.

stratigo wrote:
This is one of the most fethed business moves GW has made and it infuriates me. It's nothing but corporate greed for an ancillary product to their already expensive models. GW could make their rules all free and it wouldn't impact their bottom line at all.

I'm sure their accountants etc know what'll affect their bottom line (and how) far better than you do.

stratigo wrote:
And they can't even do it in a competent manner. No, it has to be married to a buggy mess of an app that doesn't work properly. If the AoS one somehow works and isn't a trashfire like the 40k one, I'll eat a hat.

So just don't subscribe to the app.

Cronch wrote:
It's a good thing GW thinks about its carbon footprint with forcing printed copies.

yeah, already heard the argument on different places that because of the server load, devices needed to read them and the energy in general, printed books (shipped around the world) are much better for the envoirnment than epubs can ever be

Hmm, I'd want to see some stats on that. Especially when you need several large, high gloss books to play this game.

Also assuming this is based on continually accessing the epub from cloud storage, rather than saving locally once (with maybe an update every 6 months).

 Stux wrote:
Hmm, I'd want to see some stats on that. Especially when you need several large, high gloss books to play this game.

Also assuming this is based on continually accessing the epub from cloud storage, rather than saving locally once (with maybe an update every 6 months).

Hell of a less problems disposing of a book envrionmentally than electonic devices needed to use a app, plus the energy to extract the materials etc.

That assumes you purchased the device only to play warhammer, and that the books last you a long time. We, in fact, know that it's not true and GW will release a) erratas you need to print out on top of the book, and b) will invalidate the book within 2-3 years with next edition.
So yes, if we considered one book's impact on the environment vs one device, and assumed one device=one book, then yes. If we assume that the device can be used for multiple purposes and you most likely already have one and that the books' lifespan isn't 10-20 years like a normal book but 2-4 years where then it has to be replaced (GW's printed goods have more planned obsolescence than any electronic device), I'm not really sure it still holds true.

 Stux wrote:
Hmm, I'd want to see some stats on that. Especially when you need several large, high gloss books to play this game.

Also assuming this is based on continually accessing the epub from cloud storage, rather than saving locally once (with maybe an update every 6 months).

there are several studies out there

usually with an iPad, it takes 10-30 books (plain text 400 pages) printed in the US to break even on Carbon Footprint, if the iPad was only purchased to read those books
if it is used for other stuff and/or mainly bought for something else and you use it to read books too, it comes down to 4-8 books

depending on what ink is used and where the trees were cut for the paper the numbers vary a lot (and we have accurate data for printing in china, although transport has a minor impact, the calculations are done with local products and not oversea shipping)

now we are talking about 2 hardback all 3 years (rulebook and battledome/codex) and a "softcover" (GHB) each year, printed in China, shipped to the UK/US at minimum which would mean that if you bought an iPad only to read AoS books, you need to stay 9 years in the Hobby to be better off with digital books

Does it take into account the amount of wasted books? Cause I still see 1st and 2nd edition battletomes that are essentially wasted energy since they will never ever be used now.

And of course these days it's not 2 hardbacks, you also get to buy Broken Realms/Whatever Battelzone campaign books which usually have 2-4 pages you actually need to run your army...and that assumes you only use your ipad for warhammer, not other games or books or indeed streaming. Which I find unlikely as heck.

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
I had no problems with the current app or how it was working, and have kept buying content through it up to the latest releases. From my perspective it seems like GW is trying to fix what is not broken, and likely out of simple greed. Yeah, I am sure the new app will have fancy new features (hopefully without a bunch of bugs, but I am not holding my breath) but I do not want new features. I just want the app I have now to keep doing what it has been. If it is not profitable, I would be happy to pay higher prices.

But my anxiety about the 3rd edition ruleset was not borne out, so I will wait and see.

I never used the AOS app but heard it was quality. For the new sisters release it took 3 days of reinstalling and relogging before the app had the updated rules; can't wait to go through the same frustration for all their main game systems.

Hoping the warscrolls are still going to be free on the GW site. For me, that's one of AoS's big selling points.

They're not there for the Dominion box so...make of that what you will.

I would assume that's because its supposed to be "limited edition" so the store page isn't planned for long term.

beast_gts wrote:

 Platuan4th wrote:

beast_gts wrote:
We think they're moving to a 40k App only model - we know there's a new AoS App coming soon.

They explicitly said in the preview yesterday that the new Battletomes have the 40K style codes. We don't "think" that, it's the case.

Did they explicitly say there would be no ePub version?

Doesn't matter if they didn't. They didn't say they were discontinuing epubs for 40k codecies either, and yet...

chaos0xomega wrote:

beast_gts wrote:

 Platuan4th wrote:

beast_gts wrote:
We think they're moving to a 40k App only model - we know there's a new AoS App coming soon.

They explicitly said in the preview yesterday that the new Battletomes have the 40K style codes. We don't "think" that, it's the case.

Did they explicitly say there would be no ePub version?

Doesn't matter if they didn't. They didn't say they were discontinuing epubs for 40k codecies either, and yet...

This. Dominion's press stuff follows the Indomitus stuff from last year to a T. The moment they said codes would be used, that was them saying no more digital just like last year.

Also note that the Warcry rulebooks published last year (e.g., Tome of Champions 2020, Sentinels of Order, etc.) did not receive a digital release.

Seems like this would be a good marriage of casual and competitive players in some cases. My competition minded buddy and I can throw in to buy a physical book. I keep the book and he uses the code.

Unfortunately if it’s like 40k, the app doesn’t actually have all the rules from the physical book.

Also from what I've seen most tournaments (at least the upper tier ones) require you to have a physical rulebook as a reference. The app is just for listbuilding basically.

Ah. I should have figured GW would make sure nobody “got over”. Don’t stay the granddaddy giving people a break.

I really enjoy the current AoS app. There are big shoes to fill in making sure the next one works as well. At least army building in AoS is a lot less complicated than 40k, so there shouldn't be as many issues.

I personally don't like reading digital books, so I always buy the physical version regardless. I like having something I can put on the bookshelf.