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Just trying to gauge the amount of people who are full electronic (like myself) and who are still going dead tree, and perhaps points in between...

Personally my view on ebooks is:

1) If its a novel or story then ebooks are great. You go page to the next page just as good as in a real book with no need to look for chapters or flip back and forth all the time.

2) If its a reference book or otherwise any other material not read in one go start to finish - nearly always physical books. They are FAR easier to flip back and forth quickly with and I find I've got a roughly better concept of the layout and where to flip to for information of certain kinds (esp information that you might not otherwise create a dedicated bookmark for in a digital version).


So my gaming books are still physical.

For gaming the other aspect is power. If I have an ebook I've got to have power to the tablet to keep it running and if I forget to charge it or use it a lot in a day it can leave one with limited choice at the club when it comes to recharging it.



So I've no aversion to going digital and would do if there were no other choice, but given choice I prefer a physical book.

A good reply, thanks Overread.

I only have electronic, but for myself I've printed out the battleprimer they gave for free, and I generally print my Battlescribe army that has all information on it. And I've printed the ITC mission and rules. But I've never bought a GW print book sense 3rd edition.. so maybe I don't fit my own poll.

I agree withyou that sometimes flipping is not as good on the Tablet.

I prefer physical books for similar reasons to Overread. It's also easy to just chuck a physical codex into a bag for gaming and just always have it on hand when gaming. With a tablet there'll always be the time you forget to pack it or forget to pack a charger and I find phone screens too small to be of any use with for anything to do with codices or rulebooks.

Only print. Zero desire to stare at a screen while playing tabletop games. Easier to look things up too, instead of swiping or resorting to a search function.

I used to buy physical copies of all the codex books.

When they were softcover and $20/25, that was great. You could carry all of them in a backpack without hassle.

Hardcover $50 books? Not so much. They're wayyyy too expensive, and wayyyy too heavy to carry them all around.

A mix of both. I tend to have both a paper and electronic copy. I generally use electronic copies for projects where I am at my computer (making adventures for RPGs, working on my custom rule sets). Of late, I have been purging my physical library for electronic versions to free up storage space in the house (down to three 6’ bookshelves filled with books from eight such bookshelves about two years ago). Print copies get used when I want to stretch out on the couch and do some light reading or page flipping.

I’ve made several attempts at utilizing electronic versions during a game, but have generally found the bookmarking and page turning to be somewhat lacking compared to a paper copy - but I have managed to make it work and am getting better at utilizing the electronic version.

I was a print book only, but after some number of years, to move the game stuff was a pair of pickup loads. The novels another pair.

Then I moved 4 times in 3 years, and one huge donation to the Library system, and a massive Ebay sale, I’m now Electronic only! But as mentioned above, at times I will print out some stuff for the flip factor.

I have PDFs of almost every codex, but the armies I play, I buy the physical copy.

I do think GW needs to rethink the way they do codices though. With an evolving game, the codices need to be paperback, $25 or so, less material and should include space on the datasheet pages for edits/notes jotted down by the owner. We don't need hardbound quasi-tomes...that stuff can stick to the main rulebook, or be provided in campaign books and other methods. Heck put the fluff up for free online, and make the rulebooks solely about datasheets, etc. Regardless of how they do it, they need to change their methods.

Paper books are great, but they need to be priced correctly for an evolving game.

My personal feel is they should move from the Rules/Codex system all the way, and have an App that you get that has the rules and the mini rules in it. And its implemented into the Novels.

So you have an App, you pay a fee to have access, you use it as the rule book, and an army builder. If you open the Eldar tab maybe it has a cinematic, and a simple rundown, and an offer to buy the new Ulrad the Far Farseer novel off amazon for $9.95, hit this button. When you play you build the army, and you can print out the army list like Bscribe does. And When you open the rule book portion it has links to cinematics, and vids that show what the proper game play is, but you can print out the rules and have them, and it will tell you when your old print out is out of date.

Depends on the game.

Both have pros and cons.

For me print 100%, a couple of reasons

1. companies have to work quite hard to take them from me
2. they seldom run out of battery power
3. they are easy to make notes in or slip paper notes in various pages
4. the technology around the "bookmark" works as expected
5. they are great for swatting flies
6. they tend to be a lot faster to flip back and forth in to reference various bits
7. you can beat your opponent to death with a good one
8. carrying them provides valuable exercise
9. they make semi decent trays for carrying models around
10. you get the joy of realising you brought the wrong one occasionally
11. they can easily and legally be bought and sold second hand
12. its easy to extract elements via a scanner or photocopier to make reference sheets

To date I have bought one PDF, which is semi acceptable but not perfect, and electronic access to a couple of books which have either been revoked or are "non-transferable" or inaccessible when offline due to what can only be described as idiocy

 Elbows wrote:
I have PDFs of almost every codex, but the armies I play, I buy the physical copy.

I do think GW needs to rethink the way they do codices though. With an evolving game, the codices need to be paperback, $25 or so, less material and should include space on the datasheet pages for edits/notes jotted down by the owner. We don't need hardbound quasi-tomes...that stuff can stick to the main rulebook, or be provided in campaign books and other methods. Heck put the fluff up for free online, and make the rulebooks solely about datasheets, etc. Regardless of how they do it, they need to change their methods.

Paper books are great, but they need to be priced correctly for an evolving game.

I agree there should be paperback versions of the Codexes, but I would hope that they keep hardback options available as well (maybe as a sort of “deluxe version” - as opposed to their “collector’s edition”). It would be REALLY nice if they would offer “data sheet” only versions, akin to the Indexes - as a once a year, regularly updated thing with (hopefully) the same combined mixes as the 8E indexes. Perhaps even in datacard/A4 size format. Hell, even just datacards like they are doing with AoS and Imperial Knights would be welcome - easier to replace a single card than a whole book.

Electronic. Allows me to have access to the rules anywhere. I don't have to wonder about if a certain unit can be used in this army, this detachment, etc. Makes so much easier than having to wait until I get home or keep up with a stack of books.

SG

Print for me. I don't want to buy a super expensive device that has to be charged just so I can have a screen big enough. And what if it runs out of space for more books? Do I have to get a second device? No thanks. Ebooks are not cheap enough compared to hard copies to merit that investment, not to mention being more inconvenient than hard copies

But my main issue is the ease in which I can access a rule. I have never met a person in real life that can scroll to a rule on a device faster than I can flip to the page.
And I have tested it, sadly. I'm usually on the page before they've even unlocked heir device.

-

 Galef wrote:
Print for me. I don't want to buy a super expensive device that has to be charged just so I can have a screen big enough. And what if it runs out of space for more books? Do I have to get a second device? No thanks. Ebooks are not cheap enough compared to hard copies to merit that investment, not to mention being more inconvenient than hard copies

But my main issue is the ease in which I can access a rule. I have never met a person in real life that can scroll to a rule on a device faster than I can flip to the page.
And I have tested it, sadly. I'm usually on the page before they've even unlocked heir device.

-

You can buy a Amazon 7 inch able, plenty big to read on, for $49. And its got enough memory to hold every codex and novel ever printed about 40K and Age of sigmar. And a battery that should easily last 8 hours, and a extra external battery for another $10-$20 that would make it almost impossible to run short on battery even at the longest tournament, or slow play game.

Please lets not get too far in to hyperbole on the cost/battery.

Flipping, you might be right. If you have the book with you to flip too..

I'm paper all the way. I don't need or want some fancy schmancy electronic reading device. I'd just forget to charge it.

I also sound far older than I am....

Print mostly. I do have an e-ink reader (I hate reading on a tablet, I stare at a screen the whole day at work, I find it straining) that I read novels on, but most game books don't have a small screen layout so basically unless I've got a tablet the equivalent of the centre screen in a Tesla Model S, I'd rather have a physical book. There are not a lot of things that I hate more than squinting at a screen the size of a stamp (that's up to 10 inches in my world ) to pull information from it.
The tiny phone screens are already blighting web design by massively reducing the amount information per "page" so that many websites suck on a bigger screen, too, and I don't need that in my hobby. "That" being the choice between squinting and terribly low information density.

A4 sized gaming books are great.

Reemule wrote:

 Galef wrote:
Print for me. I don't want to buy a super expensive device that has to be charged just so I can have a screen big enough. And what if it runs out of space for more books? Do I have to get a second device? No thanks. Ebooks are not cheap enough compared to hard copies to merit that investment, not to mention being more inconvenient than hard copies

But my main issue is the ease in which I can access a rule. I have never met a person in real life that can scroll to a rule on a device faster than I can flip to the page.
And I have tested it, sadly. I'm usually on the page before they've even unlocked heir device.

-

You can buy a Amazon 7 inch able, plenty big to read on, for $49. And its got enough memory to hold every codex and novel ever printed about 40K and Age of sigmar. And a battery that should easily last 8 hours, and a extra external battery for another $10-$20 that would make it almost impossible to run short on battery even at the longest tournament, or slow play game.

Please lets not get too far in to hyperbole on the cost/battery.

Flipping, you might be right. If you have the book with you to flip too..

Nooooope. GW loves their Epub format for rules, and guess which format does not work on the Kindle?

Hard copies work out cheaper if you sell them at the right time. Cleared out my codices and an expensive forge world book when it became clear that 7th was drawing to a close. Good to know you'll always get some money back on your investment!

I really have no problem with the online FAQs and errata as a supplement to the print books.

I have no problem with digital copies! I just don't buy them because at the end of the day I want something in my possession that cannot be taken away or changed arbitrarily.

I think GW is doing a fine job providing both formats and they absolutely should not go "digital only". The recent SW codex traits shenanigan proves that this company has changed, for now at least, and that they are willing to admit mistakes and correct them.

Also, I am glad to see that out of the 30 odd people that voted at the time of writing, almost all of us buy books.

Reemule wrote:
My personal feel is they should move from the Rules/Codex system all the way, and have an App that you get that has the rules and the mini rules in it. And its implemented into the Novels.

So you have an App, you pay a fee to have access, you use it as the rule book, and an army builder. If you open the Eldar tab maybe it has a cinematic, and a simple rundown, and an offer to buy the new Ulrad the Far Farseer novel off amazon for $9.95, hit this button. When you play you build the army, and you can print out the army list like Bscribe does. And When you open the rule book portion it has links to cinematics, and vids that show what the proper game play is, but you can print out the rules and have them, and it will tell you when your old print out is out of date.

I don't have a smart phone. I have no plans on getting one. I'm not getting a smart phone or a tablet or something to play a tabletop miniature game. I'm not using an app to play a real life game. That is silly.

I only buy print books to play tabletop games.

If I'm paying hard cash i and a hard copy. I don't like the idea of digital content because when somebody brings their army to the table all the rules are on his computer. It means they will be able to pull fast one or get the drop on you and you just hacve take their word on it. Inocent error or purpose manipulation.

Heafstaag wrote:

Reemule wrote:
My personal feel is they should move from the Rules/Codex system all the way, and have an App that you get that has the rules and the mini rules in it. And its implemented into the Novels.

So you have an App, you pay a fee to have access, you use it as the rule book, and an army builder. If you open the Eldar tab maybe it has a cinematic, and a simple rundown, and an offer to buy the new Ulrad the Far Farseer novel off amazon for $9.95, hit this button. When you play you build the army, and you can print out the army list like Bscribe does. And When you open the rule book portion it has links to cinematics, and vids that show what the proper game play is, but you can print out the rules and have them, and it will tell you when your old print out is out of date.

I don't have a smart phone. I have no plans on getting one. I'm not getting a smart phone or a tablet or something to play a tabletop miniature game. I'm not using an app to play a real life game. That is silly.

I only buy print books to play tabletop games.

And that is great for you!

But you have to realize that your a tiny minority and getting smaller, so development dollars wouldnt be flowing that way.

But we cant tell the future, so im sure youll be supported for a bit.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
My epub format lasts about 20 minutes till they are pdf for ease of use.

I'm an electronic only and here is why .. I take my phone with me everywhere. And if I have a few mins of downtime, I pull my phone out and study my books. When I'm laying in bed, on my lunch break, taking the kids to the pool, waiting for an appointment... I'll pull my phone out and read. Times when I don't really want a hard copy book or can't have a hard copy are often times the easiest for me to read.

Since i can study anytime I know my army well enough that I rarely need to reference my rulebooks while playing. I can play from memory and thus be more intuitive with my decision making.

leopard wrote:
For me print 100%, a couple of reasons

1. companies have to work quite hard to take them from me
2. they seldom run out of battery power
3. they are easy to make notes in or slip paper notes in various pages
4. the technology around the "bookmark" works as expected
5. they are great for swatting flies
6. they tend to be a lot faster to flip back and forth in to reference various bits
7. you can beat your opponent to death with a good one
8. carrying them provides valuable exercise
9. they make semi decent trays for carrying models around
10. you get the joy of realising you brought the wrong one occasionally
11. they can easily and legally be bought and sold second hand
12. its easy to extract elements via a scanner or photocopier to make reference sheets

To date I have bought one PDF, which is semi acceptable but not perfect, and electronic access to a couple of books which have either been revoked or are "non-transferable" or inaccessible when offline due to what can only be described as idiocy

^100%.

Plus they look great on my bookshelf!

I buy both. I prefer print books though. It's easier to flip through a print book, they don't tend too break when you drop them, and don't use batteries.

PDF books are easier to print out specific pages from though, and in a couple of years I won't have to haul them all back home from Japan. Plus they're a bit cheaper.

I literally cannot read large amounts of text on a screen without getting terrible migraines (which is incidentally why I don't post here very often). So I need physical books in order to participate in this hobby. Accessing the rules through a tablet or smartphone is just not an option for me.

Paper all the way. To me it has a better feel than reading on a screen and I somehow can't seem to read correctly on those .
Like seriously. The amount of misspelling I get to do on a screen makes me sound like I'm drunk. So for gaming usage where actually understanding what the little letters mean so as to follow the rules, I feel more comfy with mass-slaughtered-tree stuff.

My rule of thumb. If it's book I need on gaming table physical. If it's more of reference for non-game board thing(many RPG and battletech supplements fall in this) electronics is fine. Alternatively if I don't need all that many pages so like FW indexes as I don't likely have many FW units on board at once.

Electric books strain my eyes and for me slower than physical books to find stuff so that's why for game board use it's physical book.