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I am looking at buying some codices and want to know how actually using a digital codex is compared to a physical codex. The physical codex has obvious benefits like having more info on a page, easy to flip to tabbed pages, no battery life or screen brightness to worry about. But for the digital codex, I can print specific pages that I commonly reference, and having it on a device means I can carry it around more and thus I will actually read it more. Also, I cannot lose my digital copy and can carry around my collection much easier than having to carry around a stack of paper books. How does using a digital codex work in practice? Or is the physical book still the gold standard? Thanks all!

I have all digital copies for a couple reasons: some are what you stated already, others I am not allowed to mention on Dakkadakka.

But along with the digital Codices, whenever I am going to be having a game I copy every unit in my list onto notecards for quick reference. I also copy the strategems. This helps me have all the info I need and works as a mnemonic device to better memorize everythin I need to know mid-game.

To play at my store you need a physical copy of the rules. Which sucks for some new people, if they couldn't get their hands on the white dwarf with something like assasin rules.

Neither really. I buy the physical one and read through it, but I don't really use it in games. I bring it along to games just in case, but it's primarily Battlescribe and datacards.

So I haven't voted for any of those options.

Digital Codex. At least with those I can print it out and scribble the errata into it if I need to.

The paper codexes are not worth the paper they are printed on. Not a single codex GW has produced in 8th has been error free. You'd think after 40+ years they would have learned how to proof-read.

The more army books GW wants me to buy to field a legal force the less inclined I am to break my back trying to haul around all their nonsensical lore books when I could just carry one tablet/laptop instead.

Digital:
- Gets updated so you only need to carry around Errata and FAQs for a short time.
- Can easily and conveniently carry many "books" around

Physical:
- Doesnt get updated, requires you to manually "patch" it
- Costs less, when you include the cost of a tablet, and fewer people want to steal it, unlike an iPad

Digital or 3rd party rule sources. Buying all the rules gets expensive and I really don't like the feeling of buying a rule set knowing it's going to become invalid soon. And before anyone brings up the argument of just about everything we buy is going to become obsolete and be replaced please note that for a lot of people it's a different thing when applied to hobby items and goods.

All of that and I'd rather spend the money on models, paints and stuff.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Fictional wrote:
Digital:
- Gets updated so you only need to carry around Errata and FAQs for a short time.
- Can easily and conveniently carry many "books" around

Physical:
- Doesnt get updated, requires you to manually "patch" it
- Costs less, when you include the cost of a tablet, and fewer people want to steal it, unlike an iPad

To be fair to the cost of a tablet it's not like it's only good for 40k rules. Heck a guy at my club used it to watch porn inbetween games (he was a very weird man).

To play at my store you need a physical copy of the rules. Which sucks for some new people, if they couldn't get their hands on the white dwarf with something like assasin rules.

So if you show up with the official Games Workshop digital version of the codex they wouldn't let you play with it? That's seven kinds of backwards.

I will not buy a printed book anymore. It can be outdated in a few weeks after release, and it surely is after a few months. The digital codex will not gather dust, will not take up space at home.

Physical...particularly with a GW product (where the PDF should be cheaper and almost never is). Also because GW does not update electronic codices with FAQs or fixes, etc.

I have a physical book, and then I create my own cheat-sheet for my armies consisting of the models I actually own/use. Far easier than either one - the book is always on hand for questions or clarification.

PS: With GW, either way you go - you'll have an outdated book very shortly.

 Elbows wrote:
Physical...particularly with a GW product (where the PDF should be cheaper and almost never is). Also because GW does not update electronic codices with FAQs or fixes, etc.

Wait, when did they stop doing that? I haven't bought any electronic versions for a while, but they certainly used to update them.

Additionally the epub doccument type they use is attrotcious.

Voss wrote:

 Elbows wrote:
Physical...particularly with a GW product (where the PDF should be cheaper and almost never is). Also because GW does not update electronic codices with FAQs or fixes, etc.

Wait, when did they stop doing that? I haven't bought any electronic versions for a while, but they certainly used to update them.

They still update them, it's just you have to buy the enhanced editions I believe, and they are only available on iOS afaik.

Karol wrote:
To play at my store you need a physical copy of the rules. Which sucks for some new people, if they couldn't get their hands on the white dwarf with something like assasin rules.

Is that a store owner or “club” rule? And does it even extend to the enhanced and e-pub versions?

Personally, I prefer digital copies these days, gives me more space for minis and less paraphernalia to carry around.

I stand by physical copies over digital.

I appreciate the digital medium, but if I'm reading a book I enjoy looking at the paper over the screens as much as I love tech it leaves my eyes feeling weary and sometimes I like to sit back with an actual book.

As well, a physical codex to me is more stable, doesn't need power to use it, is more durable from dropping it, someone sitting on it, hitting it, etc. ( speaking for the tablet here of course )

It's cheaper to replace a codex than replace a tablet that is pretty expensive, someone could want to steal, I have to worry of keeping safe when out and about, keep an eye on it. Who is going to try and swipe my earmarked, written all in codex ?

Edit: Also, if you want to you can go back and use it even when editions move on, if they just suck in the future. It's my only outlet for instance with warhammer fantasy, as I just don't like the AoS system feels too much like 40k and I loved the old time war from fantasy so I still have those old rule books and army books. I know you can still do that with digital but only with more pirate like means. As well I'm sure that is one reason people would favor digital, making the books free.

Only paper codices for me. I much prefer flipping through pages than swiping, and a physical book never runs out of power or glitches out, not mention 40k is an opportunity to unplug.

I would ideally PREFER having paper codices, but a lot of the rules relevant to me are only a few pages (e.g. Vigilus Defiant) and I'm not willing to pay the premium prices they charge for hardback for things that are not worth that much in the long term. Kinda wish they stuck with paperback tbh, because the pricepoint of 20-40 dollars was okay enough that I would consider buying them, even multiple of different codices, but with each hardback being at least 60 dollars in most cases, or more, its nearing high end model/video game price territory. As others have mentioned, the constant changing ruleset also means that it's only really relevant for pick up games at best, and I mainly play with my group of friends so pdfs really are more convenient, and let's just say I pull out the Jolly Roger when it comes to getting to those rules

The hardbacks are $40. Not $60 'or more.' Not even the big SM codex.

The price point is silly for the page count, but it isn't *that* silly.

Voss wrote:
The hardbacks are $40. Not $60 'or more.' Not even the big SM codex.

The price point is silly for the page count, but it isn't *that* silly.

SM Codex ($40) + Your favorite chapter ($30) = $70

 Stormonu wrote:

Voss wrote:
The hardbacks are $40. Not $60 'or more.' Not even the big SM codex.

The price point is silly for the page count, but it isn't *that* silly.

SM Codex ($40) + Your favorite chapter ($30) = $70

He said 'each,' with a pricepoint of $20-40 being 'okay enough,' which where they actually fall.

Unless I want the pictures and lore, I probably won't ever buy another codex. They're massively overpriced in either format, and there's always a danger of them being replaced very quickly. For list buiding, I generally rely entirely on Battlescribe and for browsing other armies rules, there are always easy alternatives. Of course, the alternatives available to you will vary based on your location and local store/club policies. If you're unfortunate to have to play at a place as tyrannical as wherever Karol plays, it could be a case of pay-or-don't-play. Luckily, here in Vietnam, no one gives a gak when you rock in with a great big pile of photocopied codices.

Voss wrote:
The hardbacks are $40. Not $60 'or more.' Not even the big SM codex.

The price point is silly for the page count, but it isn't *that* silly.

I don't know why my flag says I'm American in the previous post, but in Canada they're around 50 dollars per, after tax they're basically 60 dollars.

Voss wrote:
The hardbacks are $40. Not $60 'or more.' Not even the big SM codex.

The price point is silly for the page count, but it isn't *that* silly.

Not sure about the new marine stuff, but here in Canada, the Necron Codex is $50 before tax, so ~$56.

 BaconCatBug wrote:
Digital Codex. At least with those I can print it out and scribble the errata into it if I need to.

The paper codexes are not worth the paper they are printed on. Not a single codex GW has produced in 8th has been error free. You'd think after 40+ years they would have learned how to proof-read.

This isn't in any way unique to Games Workshop. The Wargaming and RPG industry is littered with terrible proofreading and launch day errata.

It's complicated

For gaming I prefer having physical books, since you can just leave them lying around, are not prone to battery death/no internet connection problems and I'm quicker at finding datasheets in there than on my phone or in a pile of BattleScribe papers.

For list building, reading fluff, painting, arguing on YMDC and everything else not related to actually putting models on a table I use to prefer digital copies, since it's much more comfortable that getting books out of the gaming case. However, there are properly sorted and categorized databases with all the rules and errata in them out there, so I stopped using (and thus buying) fragmented non-searchable documents.
It's not a financial thing, but I'm not going to search through multipe EPUBss and PDFs if someone consolidated everything in one place. Heck, if GW just bought one of those databases I'd pay them to keep using them.

I've used the digital copies when I didn't have the cash for the books, but for me the books always trump digital editions.

 Tibs Ironblood wrote:

Fictional wrote:
Digital:
- Gets updated so you only need to carry around Errata and FAQs for a short time.
- Can easily and conveniently carry many "books" around

Physical:
- Doesnt get updated, requires you to manually "patch" it
- Costs less, when you include the cost of a tablet, and fewer people want to steal it, unlike an iPad

To be fair to the cost of a tablet it's not like it's only good for 40k rules. Heck a guy at my club used it to watch porn inbetween games (he was a very weird man).

Not everyone owns a tablet, but yes, unless you buy a very low end one, it can be used for other things too.

And I discounted phones, as I'd consider them too small to be useful, other than a quick reference.

I tried their digital once but I'm sorry that ePub format they use is just awful. I spent a week trying to find an eReader for my phone. I found one and it wouldn't let me zoom so I had to squint every time I used it. If they had a simple PDF format I would reconsider.

I agree that their ebook format is terrible. I havent found a reader for my tablet which works, i tried every epub3 reader in the google play store. I emailed GW, and their suggestions didnt work either. All that works for me, for their ebooks, is azardi at my pc, and even that has some text issues.

Its weird, this is the only game where I use paper first. Most of it is because GW's digital format is DRM'd Epub3 that just drinks my RAM like a wonton drunk.

This is one of the reason I like the idea of digital rules subscription service. Then they could release a mobile/print friendly.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Its weird, this is the only game where I use paper first. Most of it is because GW's digital format is DRM'd Epub3 that just drinks my RAM like a wonton drunk.

This is one of the reason I like the idea of digital rules subscription service. Then they could release a mobile/print friendly.