Battlescribe

Battlescribe is a free-to-use piece of software created by Jon Taylor. It allows you to build rosters for a huge array of game systems, and is regularly updated by the community in terms of points costs, special rules and wargear options.

***Please Note:** Rules that appear in Battlescribe are not 100% accurate due to the nature of it being community-driven, so if you see a conflict between the rulebook and Battlescribe, assume Battlescribe is wrong - the rulebook is "always" right when there is a dispute.*

## Setup

### Installing Battlescribe

To install Battlescribe, you can download the .exe from their website and the clicking on the appropriate operating system icon on the Downloads page. Once downloaded, simply install it and follow the steps in the installer.

### Adding data repositories

When you load Battlescribe for the first time, you will have no data repositories installed and will need to acquire some. To do this simply click on the Data Repository button in the top navigation bar.

This will open the data manager, and will allow you to see what data sources you have available to you. In a fresh install, your window will appear blank as shown in the following image. It may ask if you want to download some data now, just select No (as we need to use a different method for finding data than their method).

In the past you would be able to download the data from the Battlescribe data repository, however due to errors in the code an alternative method must now be used. To add data in this manner, you need to click on the Import Data button, and select Import Data from URL option.

Then paste the following weblink into the presented window: https://github.com/BSData/horus-heresy/releases/latest/download/horus-heresy.latest.bsi and click OK. If you did this correctly, it will tell you the data was successfully imported.

Next you may be presented with a pop-up window asking if you want to delete previous data while it downloads the newest data. It is recommended to select this option, as it prevents mismatched data and potential errors, but be aware that it may make previous rosters you made not work properly (and they will need to be redone). This is the only downside of keeping up-to-date however, so it is recommended to always let Battlescribe delete old data when prompted.

Once this is all finished, simply hit Done and you are ready to build an army roster. You may need to restart Battlescribe for these changes to take effect.

## Creating a roster

### Force selection and detachments

To begin creating a new roster, simply press the Create a New Roster button in the top left corner of the main window.

This will take you to the roster creation window. Here you can select several things for your upcoming roster.

* What game system you want to use
* How many points the roster is
* What detachments (forces) are in your roster

To add a force to your roster click on the Add Force Button. This will take you to the add force section of Battlescribe, where you can find the army list to draw your roster from and the type of detachment you want it to be. To find the options you want, simply explore through the dropdown windows and select the ones you want. In the example below, we will be creating Crusade detachment using the Legiones Astartes army list.

Then select the points value you want, and if you want to add any additional detachments in (such as allied detachments) you can do this. Don't worry about specific factions yet (such as Alpha Legion or Dark Angels), they are selected inside the roster itself. When you're ready, hit the OK button and your roster will be generated.

### Validation errors

Now that you have a blank roster, it's time to set up your faction. When your roster finishes loading, you will be presented with a list of options on the left, and a blank roster. This may look very confusing but don't panic. Firstly, you will see a big orange exclamation mark in the top right, this means that your roster has validation errors, and is essentially an illegal roster - these errors need to be correct before your roster is able to be used.

These errors can range from not having enough compulsory units for your current detachment, to being over your allocated points limit or not having a unit declared as your warlord. It can also include things such as not having a legion selected or an allegiance, which will be covered now.

Simply select the Legion and Allegiance option in the roster and make the appropriate selections on the right side of the window. In this case we will be selecting Traitor Sons of Horus for this roster.

This will now enable you to select unique units, wargear options and Rites of war available to that faction. The next step is to handle the Dedicated Transport Restrictions. Essentially this handles whether you are counting a dedicated transport as being part of the unit that takes them, or their own independent unit. Select whichever option you want to use for your game, although it is highly recommended to select the option "Dedicated transports are their own unit" as this is closer to the actual functionality of them in the rules.

Now that these are sorted, you're ready to add units to your roster!

## Roster unit management

### Compulsory units

The best place to start is to add your compulsory units into your roster. There are two main reasons for this.

1. It means that you are less likely to have a list that doesn't fulfil the minimum requirements in order to take it
2. It will allow you to more easily see if errors appear when adding units in the future

In a standard Crusade detachment, the compulsory elements are 1 HQ and 2 Troops. We'll add in a Centurion and 2 Tactical Squads in Rhinos to start with. To add a unit, simply find it on left window and double click on the unit to add it to the roster. Then, you can select the unit in the middle screen and modify its wargear, dedicated transports or other options in the right side of the screen. If you have any validation errors (such as illegal wargear options) they will be visible by expanding the validation error tab in the top navigation bar.

So with the Centurion and a single Tactical Squad added in, we're nearly there. The eagle-eyed will have spotted the points are blocked out; this is purely so we aren't showing off their points values here (if you want to see them you can see in Battlescribe yourself or by using the rulebooks sold by Forge World). We have two options for the second Tactical Squad, we can either add a new unit to the roster manually, or we can copy the previous squad and run it as an identical second squad. We'll do the second option, so to do this simply right click on the Tactical Squad and select the Duplicate option; this will now create an identical unit right below the first. That's the compulsory elements added and we can now move on to selecting the Warlord.

### Selecting your warlord

To select your warlord, simply click on the unit you wish to be your warlord (in this case the Centurion) and click the Warlord checkbox in the right window that appears. This will set him as your warlord, and if you've followed these steps you will now have a roster with no validation errors, and all your compulsory elements included.

### Removing units

If you add a unit and you later decide you don't want it, you can remove it from your roster by right clicking on it and click Remove Selection.

### Re-adding mandatory elements

If you accidentally delete something like your Legion or Rite of War, don't worry you can add them back again. Simply scroll down on the left side of the roster window and find the element you deleted, and double click to add it again. Simply set it up like before and you are ready to carry on.

### Customise unit name

If you purchase a lifetime subscription to Battlescribe (which is recommended as it supports them and is very cheap) you will have the option to customise the names of units in your roster. This can be very helpful for differentiating similar squads (such as Veterans with different combi-weapons). To do this, simply right click on the unit and click the Customise Name option, and type in the name you want for them. This will appear before the unit name itself, allowing you to see it very easily. This will also appear when you save the roster as an HTML or plain text file unless you specifically disable it.

## Saving your roster

When you have a roster you are happy with, you can save it by clicking the Save icon in the top navigation bar.

When exporting your roster or sending it to someone, it is recommended to do so as an HTML file. To save your roster as an HTML you will need to click on the Save as HTML button in the top navigation bar.

## View your roster

When playing a game, you may have a tablet or laptop handy, or if you are reviewing the list on your computer you may want to view certain information about it. To do this, click on the View Roster button in the top navigation bar.

This will load the view roster window, and will allow you to control how much information you are presented with, as well as the format it is presented in. By default, it shows you the file as an HTML file, and gives you the costs of units and upgrades, profiles for units and wargear and a full glossary of the rules at the bottom of the list. You can change this by clicking on the appropriate checkboxes in the left of the view roster window.

## Exporting your roster as a text file

If you want to export your roster as a text file, which is helpful for uploading it to a forum, emailing it to someone or otherwise pasting it in a place where an HTML export or file would cause issues. To do this, click on the Advanced Options checkbox at the bottom of the view roster window and you will be presented with more options of how to view your roster.

Simply select the Plain Text option from the dropdown window at the top, and it is recommended to have the following options selected.

This results in an army list which is compressed, easy-to-read and ready to be loaded to your clipboard. To do this simply click on the Copy to Clipboard icon at the top of the view roster window, and simply paste it wherever you want. You can also save this plain text output by clicking on the Save icon next to it, and this will save it as a text file.

That's it, you now know how to build a roster for games in the Horus Heresy using Battlescribe!