Army Builder

Hey,

I use excel and the sum feature to create my army lists. However, Little Wars is instituting a new policy of Army Builder only. Is this pretty standard at events?

army builder isnt standard but its apreciated for most TO's. army builder does regular updates but they can get some minor point cost wrong on things when codex's and army books come out. they generally get it right after two months after the codex comes out. i remember for ardboyz we couldnt use army builder and had to hand calculate everything. im lazy so it was inconvienant to hand do it when i have a 30 dollar program to do it for me but i did it anyways.

I've always found issues with every army builder list. I see the TOs point of wanting one that is easily readable, but demanding one that you have to pay for is not fair. There are plenty of free ones such as Battle Scribe for 40k and iBodger for WMH. All have to be double checked as they are created by people. I would try and talk to the TO and see why they are demanding you use a $30+ program that you have tl pay for yearly.

I, personally, love army builder, and recommend to everyone that it is a very worthwhile investment. However, I have 2 reservations. 1: It seems extremely shiesty to me that a TO requires anything like army builder to be used. 2: It is always important to check all the points, because (as stated above) it is often incorrect. Although, Lone wolf is surprisingly diligent in fixing these bugs as they pop up, they do pop up.

So, I put up conscientious objection to Army Builder. Basically told them that I didn't understand the decision and would vote with my dollar by not attending this month's tournament.

I was told the following,

The store owner would allow anyone to use the store computer's copy of Army Builder for free but that there was a 5$ fee to print the list. I could make my list and then email the PDF to myself and print it from home.

Except, I live 45 minutes away? Except I work on my lists up to the day before which means I would need to drive to the store Friday night, send the list back to myself, drive home and print it. That's over 5$ there in gas. So while not being "forced" to buy it would be stupid not to.

I explained that no major tournament requires AB and that it's not even GW product.

I was told it was REQUIRED for BOLScon. I said no where in Wargamescon update does it say that... I was told they were talking about BOLScon not Wargamescon. /facepalm

Furthermore, they gave a list of pros for AB

-Limits Cheating (Need I comment?)
- Makes everything CRYSTAL CLEAR as there are no abbreviations or shorthand (It's a wall of text and tourney goers KNOW everything on it anyways? If not, it is required to bring one's codex.)

I don't understand WHY a TO for 40k wouldn't know shorthand. It's almost like not knowing the rules and if you see

Dreadnought 105
TLAC x2 20

and don't know what you're looking at... maybe skip being a TO?

I should talk to the store owner but he's so negative it's almost not worth my time. He's a Warmachine rules and 40k sucks but I have to tolerate the players because they give me $$ type a guy and if he's NOT that type of guy he seriously needs to embrace customer service aspect a bit more.

Is Jak's having a tourney this Sunday?

I'm all for requirements to prevent cheating or even requiring printed army lists that are easy to read but requiring army builder, would cause the loss of my business.
1. Battlescribe is free and works juat as well.
2. Army lists should be inspected before tourneys anyway because, army builder can be tweeked just as easy as printing out a hand typed list that is free. On this same note i'm all for collecting army lists prior to tourneys and comparing them to codex and faq. I want a fair game not just against cheating but at the tourny i last went to i mis pointed n shorted my self 100 pts(i dunno how lol)
3.Requiding people who already have to spend money, to get into the tourney, to spend more money is shady.

My 2 cents...

so did you tell them that bolscon hasnt existed since 2010? wargames con took its place. its run by the same people just different names. he really shouldnt be insisting that list are required. and you are right it says nothing about army builder in in wargames con or in the old bolscon 2010 tournament rules.

Sounds like they vibes heretic and myself got last time towards the 40k crowd were spot on. My suggestion is stop buying models from him. It sounds like the owner doesn't know, or worse doesn't care, about what is going on in his store. Wargames dont make as much money as CCG but they still provide income and should be treated respectfully.

Yes, jaks is running a tourny this Sunday. We welcome you to come and play, and hopefully have a good time without all the BS you get over there.

is it another free one? I'd like to make it out that way this sunday

I believe it's back to $5. The free one was because all the "hardcore" players were at Adepticon from what I understand. Still, $5 isn't bad considering you get a 10% off. He's a little overpriced on models, but paints and stuff are close for not being online.