40k desperately needs the AoS App treatment....

[Mr Mystery]

How do?

So yesterday I waxed lyrical about the rather wonderful AoS App. And increasingly, I'm becoming convinced that it's the way forward.

For those unfamiliar? It's essentially a one-stop-shop (figuratively and literally) for all your AoS gaming needs.

Once you've downloaded it, you can set about downloading the basic Warscrolls for your unit. They're all there. Every single one of them. Current and 'Legacy' units. Nowt missing. You can either scrolls through all, by Faction Allegiance (Order, Chaos, Destruction, Death), or once on a Faction, by Sub-Faction (Ironjawz, Ironweld Arsenal etc). So it's dead easy to use.

And up until that point, 100% free.

For each game, you can click to add Scrolls to 'My Battle', a separate tab. This of course helps avoid lots of flicking back and forth.

Then comes the Premium Content (boo, hiss. I know, I know). Here, it's quite extensive. General's Handbook is a must (that's the one with the points in it), as it adds the points info to units you've selected for 'My Battle'.

Other Premium Content includes Time of War (general battlefield affecting rules), Battleplans (Missions), and of course Formations. These can be bought in one of two ways. Either separately on an 'as you need them' basis, or you can buy the book they're in as a digital copy via the App, unlocking them for use within the same. Which is pretty nifty. Then, like the basic Warscrolls, you can click to add them to 'My Battle', putting all the rules you'll be using for that game in one place. Good, eh?

Now, I'm going to go out on a limb here, and suggest you're already thinking what I'm thinking.....'dear deity of preference, that sounds exactly like what 40k needs to prevent me carrying around half a dozen separate sodding books, or having to knack my battery by constantly opening and closing digital copies'.

Unfortunately, I've absolutely no idea if this is on the way or not. If rumours of a new 40k base rules set (whether overhaul or tidy up) are true, I reckon we might see it then.


However, it's not quite all Peaches and Cream. There are a couple of flaws about the AoS App which annoy me.

The first? I can only add one copy of a given Warscroll to 'My Battle' - so it's not really good for list building. Which is disappointing to be honest, as it seems such a relatively simple addition (though if I've just missed something obvious, it may be me that's being simple).

The other? Regular readers of my gumph may note that I'm one for the physical product 99% of the time. I like a full bookcase, spesh when it's full of books and rules and that (though if someone has one full of bacon sandwiches, I'll have that and all). And at present, there's no way to let the App know I have those books. So all that Premium Content which would be unlocked if I'd bought digital.....remain locked.

Again, I'm hoping this is something GW eventually work on. Not being very good at pootery stuff, I've no idea what a practicable answer would be, but obvious suggestions include one-off codes for 'verified purchases' in-store, and perhaps some kind of amnesty period for those who have the books already if/when that's implemented.

- - - Updated - - -

Adding some pics....below are three pics showing what 'My Battle' looks like once you've made your selections (sans Time of War, as I don't have any unlocked)

First one shows the chosen Battle Plan and my Allegiance Ability.

Second shows how your scrolls as displayed initially.

Third shows the scrolls with their points.

Nifty, eh?