"First Look at BKC IV" Topic

Took me a little while, but I figured out how to download my free replacement copy of BKC IV from Wargame Vault.

Kudos to Pendraken for stating their plan to address the BKC III debacle, and actually following through, at least with the pdf version. I haven't received my replacement BKC IV hard copy yet, but as of now I don't have any reason to suspect I won't.

As you can perhaps deduce from the previous paragraph, I am not one of these "fanboys" who is willing to give anyone any kind of a pass on quality, commitment, etc., or be beguiled just by shiny new stuff. I started the following thread back on 27 April 2017, very shortly after BKC III came out, and actually took a look at it: TMP link

It took me a bit to find it using TMP's search "feature", but I finally did, and I went through it quickly, looking at BKC IV:

1. The term "Reaction" is far less prevalent in BKC IV, it appears the term is now "Opportunity Fire". It does appear it can occur in both the Initiative and Command phases. As I said in my previous BKC III thread, will have to actually play to see how it works.

2. In BKC III, there were no longer separate FACs. FOs, previously called FAOs, requested both air and artillery. Separate FACs and FAOs are back, so there is a delineation between a nation's artillery support doctrine/ability and their air support doctrine/ability.

3. I, and some others, noted several issues with the army lists. Almost all appear to have been addressed/fixed. One that didn't is there is only one entry for "Elephant/Ferdinand". It has the "Notes/Abilities" of "No Machine Guns". Seems like this should have been two different entries, with only the Ferdinand saying "No Machine Guns". Can address with a scenario house rule I suppose.

4. Field defenses have costs listed for them again.

5. Breakpoint is back to being based on the number of units a side started with and lost, instead of points.

6. The .pdf copy does not include a QRS, you have to go to the Pendraken forum to get it. It is already there, along with 4 other docs: General Optional Rules, Off Table Artillery, Deployment & Formations, and Weather & Terrain. One issue, for me at least: the direct hyperlink in my pdf copy to the Pendraken forum didn't work; however, the link to the main Pendraken site an inch above it did, so I was able to get to the forum.

7. One last note, related to the hyperlink issue above: before trying the link to the main Pendraken site, I tried to cut & paste the direct URL to the Pendraken forum into my browser (Chrome). This didn't work either. I believe this is a .pdf issue/feature, as I also wasn't able to cut & paste example text out of it into this thread above. A copyright protection I suppose, but very annoying when you're trying to do something like this thread, or make your own Army List spreadsheets.

Still, to reiterate what I said above, Bravo Zulu to Pendraken following through on BKC IV. Hope to play a game sometime soon!

P.S. My comment about to the direct link to the Pendraken forum not working was WRT the link on the 3rd page of the pdf. There are other direct links to the Pendraken forum on page 7 (8th page of the pdf) and on page 78 (79th page of the pdf), and they did work for me.

With just a cursory look at an army list … I noted problems for example with the US Tunisia List; does not have the M3 Lee or any of the M 3 halftrack based gun systems (T30, T19, M3 75mm ATG, etc.). Also shows the M-8 Scott which was not in Africa. I hope this is not indicative of all the army lists.

So whats the actual difference with BKC II ?

Or BKC I.

Thanks for the review, your physical copy would have been shipped on Mon/Tues so should be over to you very soon. I'll get that link fixed in the pdf as well, I've had a look and it's just a text fault, the pdf software left the 'example.com' text in place before my pasted link, easy fix.

Our author is away on holiday for a couple of weeks, so we'll give leave folks to get some games in and post any queries to the Pendraken Forum and then we can answer anything that comes up.

@ Nick B:

These are the main changes from BKC-II:
• An enhanced and expanded Reconnaissance section – making Recce a more important and integral part of the game.
• Introduction of Snipers and their effect on the battlefield.
• Changes to the way Infantry Anti-Tank Weapons work to make them more cost effective and realistic.
• Changes to the Artillery Barrage rules – to remove a potential for imbalance.
• The correction of an anomaly around Naval Guns and FAOs.
• Adding a new Tactical Doctrine for Guerrillas/Partisans, with additional features to make playing an insurgency or resistance style game possible.
• Re-working and clarifying the Scenarios.
• Adding to, re-wording and editing the list of Special Characteristics.

@ 28mm Fanatik:

The changes from BKC-I to BKC-II were before we bought the rules but I think Pete Jones listed them in BKC-II somewhere. I'll see if I can find it.

I like BKC a lot , the difference between the version 1 and 2 wasn't, some thing l got to grips with , the reason being I bought a copy of version 1 not realising it had been replaced by v 2 , was entranced and informed a wargame friend of mine he obtained a copy , then we created our armies using the points system and when we met for the game realised that we had both difference versions of the rules and the costs for units were very different In the two versions, I used his version for the game. Obtained version 2 and never used version 1 , as far as I could see version one had a little bit more character as it had example battle groups and more photos , still got my copy .

For BKC I to BKC II, IIRC, one major change was having separate AP (Anti-Personnel) and AT (Anti-Tank) ratings.

What @codiver said re BKCI to BKCII – that was a huge (positive) change

FYI, I received my free "replacement" hard copy of BKC IV late last week, so they are making to the U.S.

While I still applaud Pendraken for what they did WRT BKC III -> IV, I am personally disappointed with the number of list issues (don't care why they are there, cut & paste mistakes are still issues) given it's the 4th version overall, and the whole point of IV was to fix [all of] the problems with III. These issues are being identified on the Pendraken forum: link