(OLD) Warhammer 40,000:The App Hack 2.52.0 + Redeem Codes

I have given this app a try in the beta period and was charged my first month sub this week. A couple of items I like: the list building is really easy. All the data sheets being available in one spot instead of having to have my codex with me is nice.

A few things that need fixed: The Death Guard codex just released and for the entire month the company descriptions are not even filled out. You can select Poxmongers, Harbingers etc. but there is zero information in the description boxes. When reviewing some data sheets, mostly in the space marine codex while in your army list, at a certain scroll point the app always closes. There is no where in the app and I could not find a place on line to turn in a support ticket for a bug or problem. And you expect me to spend $3 month on this after I already purchased the codex. This should at least still be free. My army lists always disappear after an “update”. The access to the core rules is a mess. The rules are not all there. Really? GW needs to ask for a refund for who ever built this app. I feel like I am part of a bad Kickstarter at this point. I will give it one more month then cancel my subscription if a these problems are not fixed. I am not paying $3 a month for crap.

Now this app, from how it is, is actually pretty solid in my opinion. The price is steep for what Is basically the only useful part of the app for the moment but it provides a lot of content. Having access to every rule side of a codex from 8th and psychic awaking book for 5 dollars is pretty good, even though that has issues on its own. No army builder yet which is probably the most important part of this app.

However, the issues are what make me want to give this app a one star review. Even though I’m a subscriber, the app won’t recognize me as a subscriber and won’t let me have access to the content I subscribed too. Another issue I’m having with the app is that everything is in alphabetical order. At first this sounds great until you get to something like stratagems from let’s say, psychic awakening: Saga of the Beast. Everything is in alphabetical order for stratagems and they bunch it all up together, meaning it’s a mess to sort through things. I would much rather have it separated by army, like space wolves and orks THEN stratagems. This also applies to the units but I find it less of a issue, just wished they filtered it by their unit role at least.

Honestly, this would be a 2.5 but if I had to pick between 2 or 3, I would pick 3. App has so much potential and is getting fixed, but that shouldn’t stop mean it doesn’t get a bad review for the state it’s currently in.

5$ a month for All the books in one easy to use digital application, That’s great value. Compare to buying all the books, that’s Hundreds of Dollars and lots to slog around just for a few quick references and opposition research. The App is clearly superior here.

A lot of people mention BattleScribe, but BattleScribe doesn’t contain the stratagems, while the app does, along with a lot of other useful peripheral rules to the game.

Lastly is all the nerd neck scrubs who have a perpetual irrational hatred for GW. Many didn’t even buy the Subscription but gave a poor review. Many said the subscription service wasn’t working, it works fine. These inane critics just didn’t update their apps, and instead of taking personal responsibility decided to blame GW. Then there’s the unwillingness to support the community, they don’t want to support the app financially to help it grow and improve. They also don’t want to support it with honest reviews and instead focus on downvoting it to validate their own insane biases. Which can detract newcomers to the hobby from getting a useful product. But the best part is when you download the app and buy the subscription these rejects Aren’t Included. 5 Stars!

When selecting load outs for individual units the app frequently crashes. There should be separate selections for left and right arm and two-handed weapons that don’t allow a secondary should disable the options to take another weapon.

Kill Team Cassius shows up as a 9 unit kill team for 260 points but then the tally for the army shows 395?! The codex says 260 and the other two units are Chaplain Cassius and Codicier Natorian, but their points add up to 195 so I have no idea where they’re getting 395.

There is also little guidance in terms of which detachments are appropriate for the various army sizes. The notifications for validation are handy on a basic level but there are bugs. I take Supreme Command Detachment and add Watch Master but the app still says I can only take one supreme commander unit. Don’t put units in the list that aren’t valid! It’s a simple keywords filter bug.

Aside from that, this WILL be a great app when the bugs are worked out. It’s just irritating that you have to subscribe AND buy codexes to unlock content. IMO it should be either you subscribe OR buy codexes to permanently unlock all content for a faction/chapter. It would be really nice if we could unlock content at a discounted rate for codexes we have no plans to ever buy but still want to play as other factions.

So let’s suppose you downloaded this app and wanted to play Warhammer 40K. Were you planning on Matched Play GT? Because that’s all you can use this for. Period. Open Play, Crusade, Narrative, etc are simply not present in the app. Again, this would be fine if the app was called “The 40K Universal Match Play App that uses quarterly dataslates”.

So you just bought a 40K codex and some data cards right? And you were like, I’ll go download the app, make a list and use my codex. Well, nope. How about my data cards? Nope. Why? Again, that information has all changed like 4-6 times so it’s unreliable for Matched Play games. And again, that’s all this app does. The points, changes to the codex and data cards invalidate your codex and well, your data cards. For example, is your Tau Stormsurge 330 points or 400? Is you Custode Stratagem 2 CP use every round or 3 CP and one time use? Is that Admech unit core? Not core? Core again? The app invalidates the hard copy stuff. And since it doesn’t account for non-matched play you’re essentially buying a worthless book and deck of cards.

GamesWorkshop needs to finish this app and include printed codex/data card points/rules. No weird sideways excuses either, just finish your product.

GW has updated it, yes. But to say it was an update would be very misleading. I have been subscribed since June, waiting for the updates they have promised, but while they have come through on a few things, many of the main features that they sold it as never materialized. That said I do understand that many will get some use out of it... right up till their codex gets updated and they now have to buy a new one. It’s a great idea, but so poorly executed.
If you like reading the lore, this isn’t for you. If you want to play crusade (something I really wanted included, but no rules for it here) this isn’t for you. If you have an army that is or will soon be updated to 9th edition, this isn’t for you.
The only people I can see this being for is if you like having digital access to the main rule book (well an index of it anyway, good for rule searching), or you want to take a peak at what 8th edition army rules look like. And if its the later reason then just use battle scribe, its free and wont automatically become locked out when a 8th army is replaced by 9th. So dont waste your time and money like I did. But hey, its up to you.

Have used it for about a year or so, with varying issues during that time, however after playing with it I’ve grown to use it in lieu of other options, hence the 4 stars. They are actively updating it and it does get updates for points and rules.
Qualms would be around semi-frequent crashing with certain actions during list building (say you add an Inquisitor to a chapter or are trying to choose wargear on a vet), nothing terrible, restart and remove.
Some things don’t seem to line up with the codices, for better and worse, whether wargear that can be taken by model or unit, the count doesn’t match for unit and the next can take more then allotted.
The majority of point issues seem to have been cleared up, an example being a power sword on your Intercessor srg would jump the 105 cost up to 120, that is NO longer an issue.
It does provide a fair amount of rules (some tied to your purchase of whatever codex) and has been set up for GT or EW play.
Would like to see further polish as time goes by and potentially more functionality, barring the intent to create a separate app for Kill Team or even Apocalypse, maybe even HH army building, but that’s also just as fine an expected to be its own format and app.

If in doubt, try it for the month, play with it and keep fiddling, if you take to it then keep it, if you don’t move along and check it out another year.

Now I know a lot of people hate GW for existing and criticize them for everything they do, but this is not one of those times. The app’s UI is a nightmare and it’s genuinely a pain to use. Furthermore there’s stuff missing (chapter command relics) and the search bar doesn’t let me type three letters without freezing the app. Also all the data sheets are in alphabetical order- which is okay- but not in order of battlefield role (HQ, troops choice)Organized by battlefield role is standard practice by GW, which means that while this issue in and of itself isn’t major, it shows the app was made neither in house nor by people who were familiar with Warhammer. Another example of this- all necron units are called by their name, other than warriors which is labeled “necron warriors” this means whoever created the app was either not paying enough attention to get the names right, or they didn’t know any better. Once again this shows that the app was outsourced to the lowest bidder who was not at all familiar with Warhammer. This app is an absolute downgrade from PDFs in every conceivable way.

Okay finally battle forge is here and it works... sort of. I was able to create a roster and organize it and add weapons and relic (singular intentional). I’m very happy to see it. Unfortunately, it’s got a long way to go... all pregame stratagems were not available including relics of the chapter. Couldn’t actually add the second relic for artisan of war. Couldn’t figure out how to name the army. If you can it wasn’t intuitive for me. Organization of units is as bad as army book organization.
On the positive side points were correct and I was able to change load outs and squad sizes.
Overall this feels like what probably should have been available at launch. Unfortunately, launch was 5 or 6 months ago and now it’s just borderline acceptable. So upgraded from 1 star to 3 stars. Still got a ways to go. Also the rest of the app is still annoying and difficult to navigate and make sense of anything, kinda feel like taking it back to two stars but meh.

Honestly the creators of this app need to quit and start over, it’s absolutely ridiculous that Warhammer has been around this long and you can’t even get a decent app. Every time someone does come up with a great idea that could actually help you guys you sue them and then you come out with this garbage. You want us to pay a $5 a month subscription fee and you app isn’t up to par. You’ve raised prices in store for what? You need to scrap this app and start over and have it for free for the community until you completely finish the app that would make a lot more sense BattleScribe is a better option in my opinion you can create battle forged armies and get information for your units for FREE and until you guys understand that, this app will continue to be an absolute failure. Completely disgusted Gameworkshop completely. Give the people what they want not what you think is best because obviously you still have no clue since 1987. The world is changing put more focus into the future instead of comics. I’m really upset with you all.