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For those of you who don't receive the newsletters from Lone Wolf, we have changed our licensing policy for Army Builder. Starting on August 1st, active Army Builder licenses will no longer require yearly extensions to access program and data file updates for Army Builder 3. As of that date, all Army Builder 3 licenses that have not yet expired will forever more remain "active" and never expire. Check out more information here: http://wolflair.com/index.php?context=newsletter&page=july_2013#armybuilder

Well, about time!

This is a good decision. It might even get me to re-purchase army builder, after manually downloading data files for what seems like forever... and I know I've purchased it at least twice in the past.

Good call, Lone Wolf, good call.

Probably going to stick with my unlicensed version as I only use it to print my finalized lists since I can use Battlescribe on my iPad.

Hooray! AB 4 LIFE!!!!

Good policy change, can easily recommend the software to people now. This should not have been a subscription service to begin with. Very useful software though, and I greatly prefer it to free alternatives.

Is it worth getting? I mean what does it do exactly? I thought it wasn't getting updated anymore.

How easy is it to update to the new codexes that come out? I see I can use it for Mac. Would I be able to use it on the iPad? If so, if I buy it for the Mac, can I also transfer it over to the iPad?

 Yonan wrote:
Good policy change, can easily recommend the software to people now. This should not have been a subscription service to begin with. Very useful software though, and I greatly prefer it to free alternatives.

Exactly! I could not recommend it before, paying $40 or so to "borrow" the product for a year (in such a niche market, too).

But now I can easily recommend it. I personally prefer it over free alternatives, and was glad to pay for it when I did... and so, may consider re-upping for a "permanent" version that can get updates.

Davor wrote:
Is it worth getting? I mean what does it do exactly? I thought it wasn't getting updated anymore.

How easy is it to update to the new codexes that come out? I see I can use it for Mac. Would I be able to use it on the iPad? If so, if I buy it for the Mac, can I also transfer it over to the iPad?

It's a little tricky because all of the updates to Warhammer and all of the game systems supported through Army Builder are created by a community of volunteers. They generally finish their updates 30 days after the codex releases.

As for iPads, we hope to have a roster viewer out for the iPad soon. You can read more information about that update here - http://wolflair.com/index.php?context=newsletter&page=may_2013#armybuilder :-)

Well, the iPad roster is great news. I won't have to mess around importing my lists as .pdf and not being able to edit anything when I see a mistake or need to retool on the fly.

Great product just renewed for 3 years didn't it was going free on me....


Still don't know what I do without it and now it's coming to I pad ..... Really good

LWDLiz wrote:

Davor wrote:
Is it worth getting? I mean what does it do exactly? I thought it wasn't getting updated anymore.

How easy is it to update to the new codexes that come out? I see I can use it for Mac. Would I be able to use it on the iPad? If so, if I buy it for the Mac, can I also transfer it over to the iPad?

It's a little tricky because all of the updates to Warhammer and all of the game systems supported through Army Builder are created by a community of volunteers. They generally finish their updates 30 days after the codex releases.

As for iPads, we hope to have a roster viewer out for the iPad soon. You can read more information about that update here - http://wolflair.com/index.php?context=newsletter&page=may_2013#armybuilder :-)

This is great. Wife wanted an iPad, so I got her one. Funny I use it more than her LOL, so I will be getting this now. Thank you.

@Akirakill, according to the newsletter if you have a license that runs past August 1st, they will give you a store credit for the pro-rated balance.

@RiTides, the product has been very mature for the last couple years. The "subscription" only gave access to new product updates, the software never turned off or stopped working if your subscription lapsed. I'm still running off the version I bought 3 years ago.

 Kolath wrote:
@Akirakill, according to the newsletter if you have a license that runs past August 1st, they will give you a store credit for the pro-rated balance.

@RiTides, the product has been very mature for the last couple years. The "subscription" only gave access to new product updates, the software never turned off or stopped working if your subscription lapsed. I'm still running off the version I bought 3 years ago.

That is such a crock. When it shifted version from 3.0 to 3.1 rtc etc etc, unless you had a license you could download a working version of the new one and seeing as files weren't backwards compatible it become worthless. So many people keep saying it didnt matter not having a license expire and they were always wrong.

I didn't mind terribly renewing the first time. -$20
The second time felt a little more irritating. -$20
Not having to do so again? Priceless.

This change is greatly appreciated.

Are you going to do it for Android anytime soon?

Too little, too late. I was burned by their archaic scheme, had a fruitless email exchange and won't be back to spend a penny. Onwards, to battlescribe, for free!

Yep, too little, too late.

Their software is no better than the free solutions out there.

Outdated methodology, outdated design, outdated company.

This isn't a new thing, it's a bandage on a festering wound of outdated design.

I didn't get the email, as mine ran out 2 weeks ago :(
But, for the price, I'll bite.
Being able to print out a full list of stats and abilities is handy for new players, even if it's now just page numbers in a lot of cases.

I've tried the other alternatives, but AB always made the most sense to me and was the easiest for me to use. I am happy about my license no longer expiring.

As time has gone on, I've found it to be a less useful tool than it once was. The licence system pissed me off because although I'd only use it on one computer at a time, I switch machines often enough that I'd be left without access to it on at least some, unless I paid them double.

Then, GW cracked down, so no longer can I right click an item and know what it does, I now just get a page reference to a codex. I own all the codexes, but don't really want to have to go digging in them each time I want to make a list and forget exactly what some piece of wargear does. While this isn't really ABs fault, it certainly makes it less useful to me.

Nice to hear that they're moving away from the screw your customer business model though. It never made sense to me that I needed to pay them every year for updates that are generated by unpaid 3rd party volunteers.

Right move. Great program. Easy sell now.

 fullheadofhair wrote:

 Kolath wrote:
@Akirakill, according to the newsletter if you have a license that runs past August 1st, they will give you a store credit for the pro-rated balance.

@RiTides, the product has been very mature for the last couple years. The "subscription" only gave access to new product updates, the software never turned off or stopped working if your subscription lapsed. I'm still running off the version I bought 3 years ago.

That is such a crock. When it shifted version from 3.0 to 3.1 rtc etc etc, unless you had a license you could download a working version of the new one and seeing as files weren't backwards compatible it become worthless. So many people keep saying it didnt matter not having a license expire and they were always wrong.

Yeah, I went through the same thing. The version moved up by .1 and suddenly my datafiles started acting strangely. Had to go back to earlier datafiles to get things working again, which meant no more new codex updates for me. If an upgrade makes datafiles incompatible, it's probably being disingenuous to call it a .1 version change. Now I'm back to pen, paper, Excel and Word and surviving just fine.

When I installed it, it wrote over other files on my hard drive. Causing programs not to work. A lot of reinstalling went on that week.
I still find files tagged as army builder files that aren't.

LWDLiz wrote:
For those of you who don't receive the newsletters from Lone Wolf, we have changed our licensing policy for Army Builder. Starting on August 1st, active Army Builder licenses will no longer require yearly extensions to access program and data file updates for Army Builder 3. As of that date, all Army Builder 3 licenses that have not yet expired will forever more remain "active" and never expire. Check out more information here: http://wolflair.com/index.php?context=newsletter&page=july_2013#armybuilder

So all of us that did subscribe for years but finally said to themselves, im tired of buying this over and over again and stopped, get nothing but told we can buy it yet again?

 Redbeard wrote:
As time has gone on, I've found it to be a less useful tool than it once was. The licence system pissed me off because although I'd only use it on one computer at a time, I switch machines often enough that I'd be left without access to it on at least some, unless I paid them double.

Then, GW cracked down, so no longer can I right click an item and know what it does, I now just get a page reference to a codex. I own all the codexes, but don't really want to have to go digging in them each time I want to make a list and forget exactly what some piece of wargear does. While this isn't really ABs fault, it certainly makes it less useful to me.

Nice to hear that they're moving away from the screw your customer business model though. It never made sense to me that I needed to pay them every year for updates that are generated by unpaid 3rd party volunteers.

pretty much sums up my thoughts.

I've been using Battlescribe on my Android tablet for some time now and am happy with it. Is there a reason for me to switch? Is it better software? Is it free? Is it avalible offline on Android?

Nice to hear that they're moving away from the screw your customer business model though. It never made sense to me that I needed to pay them every year for updates that are generated by unpaid 3rd party volunteers.

This cannot be emphasized enough. Lonewolf just makes the program, it's the fans that make the content and kept the content up to date. And yet Lonewolf kept all the money, released new versions just to make old versions obsolete to force people to update. I take issues with having to pay to "upgrade" something that works absolutely fine when the "upgrade" isn't really any better, it was just done to force you to pay for the same program all over again. I gave up on AB years ago, excel works just as well and has cost me a lot less (a LOT less, Open Office is freeware)

Lonewolf got $80 out of me for versions 1 and 2, I hope they enjoyed it because it's the last they'll see of me. Consider that bridge burned.

I bought one of the first versions. Refused to pay any kind of subscription/re-up fee.
While this is nice, I now play other games supported by army builders made by other companies or fans that work just as well as AB ever did.

Also always thought it was crap to rely on fans to have to generate the files.

 Kalamadea wrote:
[This cannot be emphasized enough. Lonewolf just makes the program, it's the fans that make the content and kept the content up to date. And yet Lonewolf kept all the money, released new versions just to make old versions obsolete to force people to update. I take issues with having to pay to "upgrade" something that works absolutely fine when the "upgrade" isn't really any better, it was just done to force you to pay for the same program all over again. I gave up on AB years ago, excel works just as well and has cost me a lot less (a LOT less, Open Office is freeware)

Lonewolf got $80 out of me for versions 1 and 2, I hope they enjoyed it because it's the last they'll see of me. Consider that bridge burned.

The updates Lone Wolf put out were bug fixes and stability fixes based on issues brought to the developers' attention by users. I am sorry to hear you had a negative experience with Army Builder.

Lonewolf also didn't charge you a subscription fee to be able to use free databases developed by volunteers.

Lonewolf charged a fee for you to be able to automatically have Lonewolf software install and update the databases. But you could still use it without it.

I just paid it because I'm lazy.