"Blitzkreig Commander -- new edition" Topic

"p.s. I'd wait on BKC, a new edition is currently in the works."

Can anyone give me any information on the status of this 'new edition'.

That's news to me…

Later this year I thought. I think its an update…bringing the rules inline with cold war commander and clearing up some stuff.

check the website as there is an updated news item about it – also lists the main changes etc – mostly bringing in line with CWC and FWC

It was in initially plaaned for release around april time but is now sometime later in the year, no confirmed date yet.

its all on the website…..

Best WW2 rules on the market and about to be improved. The forum has encouraged feedback from players of the first version. So all good.

BKCII has a provisional release date of 1st August 2009, with advanced orders from 1st July

In spite of enthusastic support for BKC I've seen some critic of BKC over armor combat resolution: something about armor having "hit points", and armor suppression by rifle fire, etc. And the critics complain that it was an ancients rule set and not enough thought was given in converting it to armored warefare.

Having said that…I've never played with the rule set, so I wouldn't know. But what I read was enough to put me off from buying the rules. So has BKCII which is coming out, done anything to change how armor combat is resolved?

I thought it beautifully captured the level of command it was squarely aimed at. You had command & Control issues. There was no fixed IGOUGO with a guarantee every unit gets to do it's thing.

At the core of the game is issuing commands. If you pass your roll, the unit can do something. You can keep rolling, and keep doing things, until you fail your roll.

So you might get a bunch of things done this turn, or very little. So there was "friction". Gamers who don't like friction didn't like BKC.

I never found fault with how armour combat worked.

There are different levels of complexity, and whatever you prefer is what you should game. Some want to roll to see where the shell hits, and want to do armour penetration rolls based on the angle of the shot and the armour, etc. Good for them. Others wanna roll a d6 and on a 6 it's a kill. Good for them.

BKC used as the starting framework Warmaster from GW. So not an ancients ruleset, but fantasy. But it was heavily modified, keeping though the core command structure.

The game was in development for a long time, and Pete is open to suggestions and has an active forum. Improvements were incorporated into Cold War Commander, and ultimately, Future War Commander. Now he's going back and updating the initial game, BKC.

I was a big fan of the game, but ultimately decided that I prefer lower scale (one vehicle is a vehicle, one figure is a single trooper) than BKC, so I sold my old rules. But if I ever come across someone who likes that level of play, I wouldn't hesitate to pick them up again and start gaming. My buddies just weren't into that level and so I decided to stop fighting the tide.

YMMV of course.

So has BKCII which is coming out, done anything to change how armor combat is resolved?

One of the main problems for me too. As has been mentioned elsewhere I found that for me the units of the different side sides didn't feel different enough when playing and I found it all a bit boring. Each to their own of course but I don't think I'll purchase these unless there are some significant changes.

The most obvious change is seperate stats now for AP and HE

But the other changes are:

The attacks have been split into two: AT and AP (this has simplified the rules and is more historically accurate)
Artillery support units have been added to the army lists (they are on-table versions of off-table artillery)
The limits in the army lists now reflect Battalion (Max per 1000) and Regimental level (Max per Battlegroup) allocations
Removed the Min limit from the army lists
Removed the rule for howitzers
Revised the way in which British artillery plays in the game
Added Weapon Pits, AFV Pits and Command Posts to field defences
Added save values to buildings, fortifications and certain field defences
All the unit stats have been revised
Lots of new units have been added, including different types of infantry
Added a new list covering Slovakia
Split the Hungarian army list into two
Merged two of the Italian army lists

and armor suppression by rifle fire, etc.

I like the way infantry can scare off a tank even though the best they can do is use small arms fire.

I've read of AFV's retiring under heavy fire. Remember they dont know if the infantry giving them a hard time, have a weapon that can penetrate and just hasn't done so yet. They are also not likely to hang around and find out.

Crikey…there are lots of instances of tanks withdrawing without having to be knocked out to prove the enemy resistance is pretty heavy.

In BKC a tank will occasionally….and I stress occasionally….receive enough hits from infantry and HE rounds that although they cant actually penetrate, the tankies have second thoughts and pull back a bit. That seems pretty realistic to me.

It is also not likely to happen very often. But when it does, it simply reflects the AFV crew deciding that discretion is the better part of valour!!!

If it's not very likely to happen, but the rules allow it to happen regularly, then what does that say for the rules?

I said its NOT likely to happen. Certainly not in my experience with the rules during the past few years. I dont know if you have experience with someone waggling the rules, but it should not happen often.