"Pendraken's Forum - registration disabled?" Topic

I can't seem to register on their forum. I've got some questions concerning Blitzkrieg Commander II. I am aware that BKC IV is well advanced in playtesting, but was still hoping for some answers concerning BKC II, and perhaps expose some vestigial holes and cruft that should be eliminated from BKC IV. There was a post on the Pendraken forum, asking players to submit any errors and unclear rules they've found in BKC II. I was hoping to post there, but I'm can't register.

What the heck. I'll ask them here. Perhaps someone will know the answers, or someone on the BKC IV team will see this! The odd thing is that we've played BKC both editions before (more first edition than second) but last night I sat down and REALLY read the rules and found a few things I'm stumped on.

1. Support Guns and infantry guns. On page 26, it is explained that support artillery use the same rules as infantry guns, page 24. Turning to that page, it is explained that IG can use either direct fire (if the target is in LOS of the gun itself) or indirect fire, if the target is in sight of of a friendly unit within 20cm of a command unit. So, what pray tell is indirect fire? I can't find any reference to that term anywhere else. Do we use the same rules as artillery strikes for offboard artillery, with deviation and beaten zones? Or do we use the indirect rules for mortars – up to 120mm I'll note – which just target a single enemy unit.

2. The Japanese list (page 113)says they use the fanatical tactical doctrine. Except that there are only three types of doctrine listed in the rules – normal, rigid and flexible.

3. On page 43, this is a nice little chart to determine how many points you get to build an army, so that a 1945 German force will tend to be outnumbered by an American force. To do this, you roll, and add a modifier to determine the final point total you can use. Unfortunately I can't find these modifiers anywhere.

4. Flamethrowers. The rules (page 21) are a bit unclear, and seem to have some leftover bits from playtesting or first edition.
– "Suppressed units are knocked out". Do they need to be hit at all, or is it automatic once an attack is declared? (Mind you, rolling twelve dice, no saving throws and needing 4+ it is fairly likely that there should be a hit. But sometimes I am rolling the dice, so it is often the case I get all ones).
– "Unsuppressed units are automatically suppressed and must roll for fall back instead". Again, are hits needed? The next bullet point says "Troops in fortifications are knocked out when forced to fall back". So, if troops in fortifications are unsuppressed, then hit with an AFV flamethrower, they are automatically suppressed and therefore must fall back, which means they are destroyed. It might be easier to just say that troops in fortifications are destroyed when a flamethrower hits them.
– "dug in troops must fall back, even if the distance is less than 10cm.". I am baffled by this statement. Firstly, the term "dug in" is not explained anywhere in the rules, as far as I can find. I gave away my first edition copy, but I seem to remember a dug in rule in that ruleset. So, I suspect this is a bit of first edition cruft.

5. A minor point, but finding such things in rules is a bit dismaying, as it implies poor proofreading and perhaps playtesting. In the fallback section, page 21, the first bullet point explains that all units falling back more than 10cm are knocked out. Then the fifth bullet point explains that troops in fortifications , "dug in" troops (see my point 4 above) and deployed guns are knocked out when they fall back more than 10cm. So, why is this information repeated, as all those units types fall under the first bullet point? Is is sloppiness or is the distance of 10cm incorrect in the final bullet point line? Maybe it should be 5cm?

None of these niggling points subtracted from our enjoyment of the game I hasten to add. We quite like the rules, and are planning on playing them again in a couple of weeks.

Hi Tony, unfortunately we've had to turn the Forum registration off while we update some of the software behind the scenes, but I can register you manually, no bother at all. If you can drop me an email to confirm what you'd like your username to be, we can get you registered straightaway.

On the questions, I'll do my best to answer a few of those but the BKC guys will be able to give a better run through:

2. The Fanatical Doctrine info is at the end of the Japanese army list, on pg 114 of BKC2, to the side of the Special Rules / Assets, etc.

3. On pg 44 'Army Lists' there's a table with the modifiers for your army. The scenarios give the ratio for defender/attacker (same points, 50% more, 50% less, etc) and then you pop the modifier on that figure.

5. If I remember right, most units will fall back a distance equal to a dice roll, based on 1d6 per unsaved hit. So 3 hits = 3d6 and a roll of 1 + 3 + 4 would mean a fall-back of 8cm. If that distance had been more than 10cm, then the unit is automatically Knocked-Out.
For the dug-in units, guns or those in fortifications, any value under 10cm would mean that they don't move, as they're in a fixed position. If the roll is over 10cm though, then they're immediately Knocked-Out, which is why there's a separate bullet point for them I think.

It's probably not the best wording though, which is one of the things we're currently fixing in BKC-IV!

Let me know on that username and I'll get you activated on the Forum.

Hi Leon, thanks for the detailed response. I'll pop an email to you after this.

I'm thinking there was a reprint of BKC2 that fixed some things. Unfortunately, in my copy, page 114 is the Norwegian army. The Japanese list finishes on 113, and doesn't explain "Fanatical".

Same kind of thing with the modifiers to army strength. The chart is on page 43 for my book, and unfortunately none of the army lists have a modifier.

You're almost right with the fall back mechanism, but it only applies to suppressed units. At least, that's according to the rules I have! Because they also unfortunately do not mention that guns, or units in fortifications do not fall back. (I was thinking we would need to limber guns, if they are not small and man packed if they need to fallback, although nothing is explicitly mentioned about this). Still can't find anything concerning "dug in" troops though.

Was there a BKC 2.5 PDF version or something? We were playing BKC 1 a fair bit, so I immediately bought the 2nd edition when it was printed in 2009. Seems like a few bugs were still in that copy!

There was a series of things that were ironed out on the BKC forum but I'm not sure about whether the rule files were ever changed or updated for pdf/Lulu sales.

I think fall-back only ever applies to suppressed units, but I might be wrong! I've looked at so many versions of the rules now as bounce around the edits that I've lost track of what was in each edition!

I've got your email as well so I'll pop a reply through to you there.