Welcome to the MkII version of Warscroll Designer Tool! This has been a long time coming (6+ years) and required a rewrite from the ground up to fix
various usability issues, implement improvements and sort out things like the new Google Sign In mechanism. Broadly speaking the tool should be familiar to
all users of the original. You have an Editor which allows you to enter all of your unit details in. This is then rendered into a Warscroll layout which
can be downloaded as a JPG or PDF. You can save Warscrolls either to your local browser or if you sign in with a Google account, they can be saved to a
server.
Although the functionality is very similar to the original, I've implemented lots of additional security and improvements to make sure that it's a rock
solid web application that hopefully will continue to be useful for years to come. Here's a rough outline of the major changes.
Issue Tracker & Feature Request
There is now an issue tracker & feature request on GitHub for you to
register any problems or suggestions. Previously flagging problems up was reliant on you tracking me down on a social media account and messaging me. Using
an issue tracker allows everyone to see any problems that exist and monitor their progress. Feature Requests are going to be how I drive most of the larger
future developments, and allow the wider community the ability to make suggestions and contributions to those features.
Mobile Friendly
One massive change I've made is to make the tool a lot more mobile friendly. The editor is now fully responsive, which means that providing you have some
kind of mobile phone signal, you'll be able to edit warscrolls on the go without having to struggle with a desktop only website. Currently only the editor
is shown on mobile - a mobile friendly Warscroll will come very shortly! This hasn't compromised the desktop version, which should work even more
optimally.
Text Editors & HTML
I have removed the ability (and need) to use HTML in the various text blocks. Instead line feeds get rendered as line feeds and for some text blocks there
is an editor that allows you to mark text as bold or italic (Warscrolls don't use anything other than these two formats). This uses a simplified markdown
code where bold text is wrapped in double asterisks (**bold**) and italics are wrapped in underscores (_italic_). Existing saved warscrolls should get their
text blocks updated when you first view them. If you find something isn't right, let me know which warscroll isn't working.
As part of this, "rules blocks" now appear as a popup dialog with heading, rule text and in many cases flavour text. This helps to neatly group them
together.
New Fields
The original version was written back in the depths of time before the first Generals Handbook had even been released. Warscrolls have changed quite a
lot! I won't go over all of them, but a few of note are the addition of Grand Alliance and points fields. Priests can rejoice to their respective Gods as
Prayers now appear as a separate section underneath the Priest field.
I've also added a number of plain text boxes that allow you to enter what I'm calling "flavour text". This is the little bit of descriptive lore /
background that appears in various places in an italic font. By separating this out, I have more control over how / if it gets displayed on the final
warscroll (a feature I'll use on the mobile Warscroll)
Keywords
One thing I had noticed is that many people didn't use or like the way you added keywords on the original version. I've ditched this mechanism entirely and
now you have a popup dialog to enter keywords, one keyword phrase per line. Custom keywords may not necessarily convert over correctly however, so you might
need to edit them manually.
I've also removed the type ahead / autocomplete functionality. Two reasons for this - firstly I wasn't convinced people used it, secondly maintaining the
list of keywords was always a challenge without purchasing every battletome released. If this is something you'd like to see added, please add it as a
feature request, as we could possibly crowd source the data.
Updated Template
Probably the most requested change when new versions of the game come out is to update the old v1 warscroll layout. I've now created a new version 3 and
removed the old one (at least for now). The new one isn't a 100% match for the physical warscroll cards because I don't have the artwork for them, however
they should be the same size as the physical warscrolls.
I have also tweaked how the main 3 columns actually lay out the text of the Warscroll. This still uses built in functionality from your browser, so there
isn't a huge amount of things I can do, however I feel it is a slight improvement over the original and small warscrolls don't look quite so bad.
Alongside this I have collected together and improved all of the layout settings into one place. You can now select your layout variation, page
orientation, margins etc in one place along with providing the option to disable the main background graphic. I'm also very happy to say that you have
options to control the font size - no more miniscule text for those simple warscrolls!
Under the Bonnet
Web Browsers have changed a lot over the past few years. Gone is the horrific monstrosity of Internet Explorer and now the vast majority of browsers are
based on a chromium core. I have created Warscroll Designer using ECMA 6 and to work with the latest version of most chromium browsers - Chrome, Brave,
Opera etc should all work without any issues. Older browsers may have issues due to ECMA 6, this includes Safari older than version 9 and Internet
Explorer. If you find any problem, please raise an issue - make sure you tell me the browser you're using too
One thing that I'm exceptionally pleased with is that I've moved away from the designer being built around the concept of a Warscroll, instead at its core I
have a highly configurable "DataSet". What this means in practice is that if something majorly changes (e.g. the return of Toughness and Strength), it will
be significantly easier to implement that change. In reality we could even maintain multiple DataSets, supporting older versions of the game system.
This has allowed me to create the layout template as a self contained entity. What this means is that I can create new templates without needing to update
any other code and know it will work straight away, because the field linkage lives within the template and not the editor.
Offline Access
One compromise I've had to make is to remove the ability to have the tool work in an offline mode. Sorry - the complexities of running this were simply too
high to continue maintaining this option at the present.
What's in the Future?
By future I will clarify this as "somewhen after today". Working on Warscroll Designer means using time when I'd normally be doing some other kind of
hobby. I work full time as a web developer, so spending 8 to 9 hours coding at work followed by another 4+ at home isn't a great work/life balance. My
intention is to try and spend a few hours a week working on new features in conjunction with keeping up painting and the rest of my hobby.
I have a handful of items on my immediate list, these were things that I didn't quite get launched prior to going live.
- You lose entered data when you log in
- There isn't a mobile template
My intention is to get these all done during April along with any bugs that are discovered. Once they're done I've got the following items on my radar -
most of these have been added as feature requests within GitHub so please show your support of which ones you're most interested in!
A Library Management tool that allows you to organise and delete warscrolls.
Warscroll sharing is something that I always intended to add to Warscrolls saved on the server. This would generate a unique URL you could share with your
friends, they could then take a copy of it to modify themselves or save an immutable version within their Library.
Version control is something that I will be adding as time goes on with an option to either display a sequential version number or the date of the last edit
(or neither of these). I've thought this has been needed on the official warscrolls for some time.
A new optional field that lists the matched play details of the unit the warscroll represents - so things like if the unit is Battleline, Leader and
reinforcement options.
I've then got some pretty hefty side-projects. The first is a 40k version of the tool. With the improvements I've made under the bonnet, I'm no longer
tied into the tool specifically generating only AoS Warscrolls. The template and DataSet are procedurally generated, so really it's only a custom editor and
bit of styling required to make a Datasheet. I need to know a bit more about the new Datasheet before I fully commit to this.
I'd like to create an Anvil of Apotheosis style editor. Creating your own characters is for me one of the joys of gaming, allowing you to create an avatar
that represents you on the battlefield, an arch nemesis or just seeing what kind of crazy monstrosity you can dream up. Games Workshop's Anvils of
Apotheosis provides a great structured starting point for this and I feel is a natural fit to generate a Warscroll which you can then modify in Warscroll
Designer.
One item that "looms" is providing some kind of offline access for mobile devices. Most of us will have a mobile phone with us when we game, which means we
may want to access our units out in the wilds. The mobile update added in this version will help a lot, but mobile phone signals are often poor where we go
gaming. I need to work out the best way of providing offline access, because there's a whole host of complications involved with this. One possibility is
an Android & iOS app - however these need various commitments and signing up as a registered app developer to create.
It is my intention to add a Kofi donations link. I'll very quickly throw in that I'm not looking to make money from Warscroll Designer, I am more than
happy to put my time and support to grow the tool for years to come. I have though had a number of people over the years wanting to contribute via Patreon
or other means and this would allow them to do this. My intention will be to donate money raised towards a charity (that is unless it raises millions in a
month in which case I'll retire to the Caribbean and work on more free tools).
Pre-emptive Questions
I've found a bug!
Damnit, those bugs get everywhere. If you could register it on GitHub
that would be appreciated. Failing that, please contact me on Twitter/Instagram - I can't guarantee how quickly I'll get back to you but I'll do my best.
My warscroll looks rubbish!
Sorry about that, I use a lot of browser controlled layout items so there are cases where things might not look quite right. Could you make sure you're
logged in with Google and save the Warscroll. Then register the issue on
GitHub with the name you've used so that I can have a look at it.
I've got this amazing idea...
Fantastic! Head on over to GitHub and create a feature request with as
much information as you can possibly add! No guarantees it'll get done or how long it'll take, but you never know 😊
How Can I Help?
The absolute best way to help would be to use the tool, register any bugs you find and share it far and wide!
I love this tool, can I give you money?!
Thanks for the compliment 😊 I'm not doing this project to make money, but will shortly be creating a Kofi account where you can make a donation which I'll
collect together and donate to charity.
Can I add images to my Warscroll?
The quick answer is no to this. Although I know how to implement this functionality, there are a number of associated complications involved with adding
this. Firstly there is a cost implication with hosting hundreds of images, this would be something that would likely grow exponentially. Secondly (and more
crucially) there really needs to be some kind of vetting process to prevent people from uploading anything copyrighted or inappropriate - even more so when I
allow Warscrolls to be shared. This isn't a definitive "never", if I can work out how to vet without human interaction then this is something I'd certainly
love to have.
I'm a Developer Too - can I help code?
Thanks for the offer, at the present time I'm running this as a one-man-band show as coordinating a group of devs feels far too much like my day job!
