"FOW V4 Received Today" Topic

I just unpacked the new free rules that I got from TheWarStore about 10 minutes ago. I am in the US. Obviously I can't say much about them yet. The book states that it is for 1939-41 and 1944-45. I did flip thru the rules quickly and noticed that there are no stats for any units, AFVs, etc. I guess that you have to buy the theater supplement books to get them. I haven't bought any FOW supplements since "Blitzkrieg" was released in 2010!

Aren't the stats in the free period supplement aka Bliztkrieg and late war?

I am supposed to received the rules + 2 x supplements

I got mine today as well.

What you get is a rulebook that is aimed at owners of the old edition. There's a lot of stuff in there that allows you to use your old stuff with the new edition. The rule book has the new 4th Edition rules and replaces your old 3rd Edition. The second, smaller, book that you get allows you to convert special rules and teams to 4th Edition. It updates special rules to 4th Editions and tells you how to use some special units, like warriors, in the new edition. It also lists the rules that are obsolete in the old supplements.

So basically the update pack is only useful to people who have the old 3rd Edition stuff. So you would take your Blitzkrieg book and create a force and use the rules in these two books to use it in 4th Edition. You DO NOT get stat lines and team cards. But you DO get what you need to use these books with the new edition of the rules.

I'm sure in the months and years to come they will slowly replace the old supplements like they have in the past. Not a bad deal really.

Thought the rules were to be for mid war?
Waiting to get mine next week at Cold Wars. Hoping for the swap.
On a side note. If you don't have access to a swap if they do it again TheWarStore is the answer.
Check out their site for more details.
link

Grimm

There are a couple of mid-war books, set in North Africa available. Materials for Russians will be coming soon I hear. Price is reasonable for the new mid-war books.

There are two rule books out. The first is the brand new 4th Edition book, and yes, it's mid-war. It has a history section covering '42-'43. The back of the book has the special rules which I guess covers mid-war stuff too. The rules demonstration pictures are mid-war toys, but otherwise it's a 4th Edition rulebook.

The other rulebook is the one they are giving 4th Edition owners. This book is marked as being '39-41 and '44-'45. Which is early and late war. It looks like more of the same with many of the same pictures as the "mid-war" book. But there are late-war pictures there too. The special rules section seems to cover the whole war with what appears to be all of the special rules.

Honestly though there don't appear to be any huge differences between the two.

Remember what BF wants $$$ So don't be surprised!

Well, yeah, of course they are after your money. They are a business after all with people and bills to pay. Seesh, trust a cavalry type to state the obvious!

As long as they make a quality product that I can enjoy then the more power to them. So far I'm really enjoying what I'm seeing. I was never happy with 3rd Edition… too fussy and rather unwieldy to me. 4th Edition hits the spot for me with a nice, tight ruleset that is clear and brief.

You're mileage may very of course.

Buckaroo played this game using Version 4. He posted it elsewhere, but I thought you guys might find it interesting. It will give you an idea about how V4 works with the older supplements.

YouTube link

Looks like Battlefront is posting stuff on-line. Here's the conversion book that allows you to use the old 3rd Edition books in 4th Edition.

PDF link

And here is the QRF for the game too. It gives you a insight into the game.

PDF link

My copy is only being posted on Monday .

"Seesh, trust a cavalry type to state the obvious! evil grin."

but there it is. I have heard so many BF/FOG/TY fan boys saying oh it free there giving 4V away for FREE! Well they have and never will give it away any thing for "FREE!" with out a catch. Give them a year or two and 5V

And then the question comes up?

What was wrong with 1V,V2,3V that you have to put out 4V.

I like some of the things they have produced but to have to transition to a different version of the rules / OP's every few years is not fun or my cup of Ice Tea.

That's why I quit using W.R.G. Ancients at 7.

I figure we have 3 or so years before version 5. That seems to be their pacing.

I may drop out around then. Version 4 seems to be my sweet spot, like maybe 3 is yours.

I bought the fullsize V3 rulebook at a discount yesterday, because I may not be interested in getting very far into V4, even though I also have the free V4 books.

Haven't understood actually where you canfind the stats for LW.

Are you supposed to use the V3 stats?

Big Yawn……

Last weekend played with eight players FOW V3.
This weekend only two have interest in V4 on their world wide roll out weekend for the changeover. The other six have decided to wait it out, looking into other rules, or continue on with V3 only. All are veteran 5+ years FOW experienced players. I am in the wait and see camp, leaning to remain with V3.

Maybe time for a TMP poll next week….on the changeover and effect currently happening in your gaming region/location/group. I think BF will be surprised at the results but I doubt they will reveal the truth.

Meanwhile… Ebay is enlarging their listing of FOW material. Noted the listing count has jumped several% using the same search criteria. Picked up a dirt cheap new V3 MRB last month for a spare set.

@repaint

Yes, sort of. The new edition has the information that you need to convert V3 materials to V4.

Thanks TG, will look into it when my book arrives.

What was wrong with 1V,V2,3V that you have to put out 4V.

Let's see if I remember the big changes between versions…

V1 had more detail, like transport capacities and the chance for your CAS to actually attack you if you failed to range in on target. It also had much lower tripod MG rates of fire, and even had the 6pdrs in Crusader IIIs with the "Tally Ho" rule, which allowed them to easily shoot up side armor. The final piece was that it had nation-specific army books without much information as to which other books were contemporary.

V2 nearly doubled tripod MG rate of fire (up to ROF6), dropped transport capacity rules, and shifted to campaign books. And also took away the friendly fire rule from air support.

V3 was mostly a change to the defensive fire rules.

I've only skimmed through V4, but the major changes are the unit cards (and removal of a lot of the named special rules for simplified universal rules), and a complete rebuild of how air support works. Now, Air support is a single die roll, much like bringing a platoon in from Reserve. Artillery has also been changed, but I'm not aware of what those changes mean in practice.

I would toss in that the 4ed makes unit stats more crunchy and does so with out the special rules. In the past you only had three rating for skill and morale and everything tied into that with special rules tweaking them. 4ed moves everything to the cards so the special rules are right there in front of you instead of in a book and you're required to remember everything. The cards are such a simple "fix" but their impact is very powerful. It makes it easier for dopes like me to remember stuff.

most of the changes are simple, but significant. Like reducing the hit allocation rules from two pages to 2 paragraphs.