Considering the eCodex

The Gutenberg Bible. Wikipedia.

For the last several releases of Games Workshop Warhammer 40k Codices, I have been purchasing the electronic iBook versions, most recently the new Space Marine Codex. They have some very convenient features and (I think) some powerful ramifications for the future of the wargaming hobby.

I was, at first, skeptical. But I like having the books for all the armies I play or might encounter readily available, and that means I buy a lot of books and then have to store them, cart them around to tournaments, and keep up with the FAQs and errata.  So, I figured, what the hell, and bought the last (5th ed) Space Marine Codex .  Since then, I have kept purchasing them.  They are horribly expensive (but so are the paper versions.) Other than that I have been favorably impressed.

The iBook version of a GW Codex is laid out similarly to the printed version, with the same headings, top and bottom art widgets, and pictures.  To accommodate the iPad's size, each page has been split in half (more or less), so that each page in the physical book is two pages on the iPad. There are the usual sections: an introduction, a background section, the rules for the units, pictures of the models, the actual army list, and then some reference sheets.

Navigation (as on any ebook) is something of a pain. I quickly realized exactly why western culture abandoned the scroll about 1400 years ago. (1)  However, you can return to each section's ToC with a finger gesture, and then cycle through the sections.  You can also scroll through the whole book.

The iBook is extensively hot-linked.  If you click on any game rule, a box will pop up containing that rules' complete text.  It's incredibly handy for referencing rules without searching.  (What does "Zealot" do again?) Some rules are, however, hidden in these boxes.  If you want to know what a psychic power or warlord trait does instead of just reading its fluff text, you have to click on it -- annoying. The different sections are also hot-linked together; if you are in the description section and want to see the model or move to the army list, you can (in theory) click a link to do that. I've found it's only hit and miss, whether it works properly all the time.  GW quality control at its finest.

There are also some multimedia features.  You can rotate the images of some of the models, to view them from all angles.  There are little buttons in the Space Marine codex, that when you click on them, will read the flavor text boxes out loud.  Why you'd ever want to do this, I have no idea.  It is also impossible to make them STOP if you click the play button by accident.  (Strangely, they are also read in an American accent.  Isn't the grim darkness of the far future British?)

The iBooks are constantly updated.  Whenever there is a new errata or FAQ, an update becomes available for the codex, and the text is replaced or otherwise fixed.  I love, love, love this part of the iBook.

Games Workshop keeps adding new features to their ebooks. At first, the iBooks only had the 360 degree pictures, hot-linking, and updates. The 6th ed. Space Marine Codex is the first to add (useless) sound.  I was also pleasantly surprised to see that it updated (yesterday?!) to include Apocalypse data sheets and a mini army list program.  (This being GW, the army list program doesn't actually seem completely functional yet, but it's still a nifty thing.)  They are also branching out from the Apple platform.  You can now get versions for other tablets; these cost less, but have fewer features.  Never having used one, I'm not sure which features are missing.  If they are complete static, this would be a shame and considerably reduce their utility.

I'm thinking eBooks are the future of wargaming rules.  Wargames companies spend an ridiculous amount of energy printing, distributing, updating paper books, and wargamers spend ludicrous amounts of money buying them, storing them, and giving themselves lower back pain hauling them around. The difficulty of printing and distributing is also a hurdle for anyone who wants to write and sell a game.

But the bit that has me really excited is the capacity of the iBook to push updates.  This feature alone has enormous potential ramifications as I will elaborate in my next post.


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(1) Your useless trivia for the day.  "Codex" is the Latin term for a bound book, with a spine and pages, as opposed to the older technology, the scroll.  Therefore, as a historian I find it hugely ironic that I must now "scroll" through my Games Workshop "codex."