What is WarFoundry?

[Briggsy]

Hi IBBoard,

OK, as the title of this post would suggest I'm asking what WarFoundry is, I know it's an application into creating army lists?

Can you give details as to when and why you would use one? Is it something I would benefit from? Or to make things easier, is there a post on this forum answering my above questions?

Thanks

[snowblizz]

Hi IBBoard,

OK, as the title of this post would suggest I'm asking what WarFoundry is, I know it's an application into creating army lists?

Can you give details as to when and why you would use one? Is it something I would benefit from? Or to make things easier, is there a post on this forum answering my above questions?

Thanks

My god! We have monumentally failed in providing information it seems!

WarFoundry is an application that should make it easier to create armylists as you say. When you play Warhammer it is customary to have a roster with you listing all the models/units/items you are currently using. An inventory of sorts of what you have on the table.
It has two purposes, 1) to prove to your opponent that you indeed have complied with the rules regarding armycomposition and show you have "bought" the stuff you field, say ex a certain type of upgrade. 2) and probably most importantly it provides *you* with a "reference sheet" (if you print out the "army list") of sorts of what you have so you can reduce the amount of time you need to flip through the armybook to check statistics and rules etc etc.

Normally you will have written the armylist in advance, indeed the current main rules expect you to as you must note what magic lore you take at the time of creating the army.Whether you benefit or not is your call to make. But I would never consign myself to writing and calculating an armylist manually anymore since I found software to do this for me.

[Briggsy]

Thanks Snowblizz,

Is WarFoundry the most commonly used army list application, or is there others more popular?

Thanks

[snowblizz]

Thanks Snowblizz,

Is WarFoundry the most commonly used army list application, or is there others more popular?

Thanks

We're not the most commonly used by a long shot! We're small fish swimming around trying to avoid getting gobbled by the Whales of the industry. Well there's one, which I won't name here after they threatened lawsuits. And I resolved if they are going to anal about it I'm not going to give them free advertising by talking about them anymore.

If you check Warfoundry's webpages there should be information about some alternatives and why we think WarFOudry is, or at least will be, better.
http://www.warfoundry.co.uk/

[Briggsy]

Cool, so I take it you and IBBoard are the developers and maintainers of WarFoundry?

As you can probably tell I know little or nothing about Warhammer and everything surrounding it, but I am loving the hobby and appreciate an advice you and IBBoard have given as I plan to have this hobby for a every long time.

My focus atm is modeling and painting, once I have assembled a good sized army, I want to play, learn and hopefully go into tournaments

Thanks

[snowblizz]

Cool, so I take it you and IBBoard are the developers and maintainers of WarFoundry?

IBBoard is. He is the lead developer and brain behind the idea to do this open source software.

I'm mainly a datafile writer. Though I like to think I have helped push it along quite significantly by bugging (not to mention all the wacky stuff he never thought of doing!) IBBoard and giving him someone to brainstorm with. I've had all kinds of demands.
I've done a bit developing admittedly but it's rather simple stuff really.

We also have Tudisco who is writing a datafile creator. And one or two random other people I think that pop in some time or another. A couple of translators as well. Which I also do.

[IBBoard]

Snowblizz has (as per usual) jumped in before me and done a good job of covering most of the bases

As Snowblizz said, I'm the main developer/project lead. Snowblizz is the main data file writer, software tester, suggestions/priorities man and has even been dabbling in the code base quite successfully of late. We then also have Tsudico, who is writing WarFoundry Forge (the data file creation app - until now it is all by hand with a text editor). More on the team is here. We've also had a few other interested parties and testers, but Snowblizz and Tsudico are currently the most active.

We're definitely not a big player yet, but through good UI design, wide data file support (which is possible but not extensively written), and general customisability/extensibility combined with being open source (i.e. anyone can view the source code, edit it and make contributions back) we hope to grow and grow. I'd also say that we're facing sharks rather than whales, especially if you read the dubious claims made (which are documented on the main WF website somewhere) See for your self how we compare to some alternatives (completely unbiased of course, but definitely true AFAIK)

If you're just starting then you may be an ideal user, if you've got time to spare to help us. The roster creation apps are intended to help people build armies and army lists. Lots of people write them by hand (I always used to), but that involves a calculator and knowing the rules. A roster creation app isn't a complete replacement for knowing the rules, but it can definitely support you in defining your army.

Although it would help to have developers, it also helps to have users/testers who can say things like how usable the interface is, what features they need, what doesn't behave how they expect and what they think we are generally doing right/wrong. As a new gamer then I'd hope that you'd be able to say how it helps from a blank sheet compared to your first paper rosters. It isn't a guaranteed thing - we're still in the early versions and it might be more difficult, but me, Snowblizz and others are around to help

Incidentally, it was just earlier today that I was wondering if the main WarFoundry site was as accessible as it needed to be and had the right bits available for easy navigation. I'm okay with it, but I know what is there. I'll dig up the old topic or start a new one about navigation if I can't find the old one.

[Briggsy]

Thanks IBBoard, I'll defiantly take a look and give some feedback, as I'm building my armies now, as you said, I will need to roster, so I will test out WarFoundry and let you know how I think it looks and works for someone who is new to the game.

Thanks

[IBBoard]

That'd be great, thanks. If you have any problems with the software then report a bug or make a request on the dev site (it is the same process, but a different report type), and if you have problems on the dev site then ask in an appropriate topic on the forums (new or existing). If you've got an idea but you're not sure about it then post it on the forums and we'll discuss it