After a lot of hard work and effort, we are delighted to announce that BKC-IV will be officially released on 6th April 2019, at the Salute show!
Our revision team, led by Mark Fry, have put a tremendous amount of effort into fixing the mistakes of BKC-III and getting a much-improved set of rules back into print and into your hands. We've also used an extensive feedback group to read through and playtest the new rules, and the response has been extremely positive. We're very excited about BKC-IV, and we hope you're going to like it too!
Replacement Copies
Now our first priority is to get a copy of BKC-IV out to everyone who bought BKC-III when it was released. How this is done will depend on how you purchased originally:
- Bought Online/Not Going to Salute 2019
- You will already be in the replacement queue and don't need to do anything. Your copy will ship out first, possibly before we leave for Salute, but most likely on the Monday/Tuesday after the show. If you've moved house since April 2017, you'll need to drop us an email with your new address.
- Bought Online/Going to Salute 2019
- Please contact us to let us know that you will be attending Salute, and we will pull your original order from the replacement queue. We'll bring your new copy along to Salute for you.
- Bought at Salute/Not Going to Salute 2019
- If you bought at Salute but won't be attending this year, we'll need you to either send us the cover of your BKC-III book, or a picture of it by email, along with the address that you'd like your replacement sending to. We apologize for the hassle involved in doing this, but it's the only way for us to verify that you bought a copy of BKC-III. If you're outside the U.K., it's probably easier to send a photo, but contact us if you're having any problems.
- Bought at Salute/Going to Salute 2019
- If you'll be attending Salute again this year, simply bring your copy of BKC-III along to the show and we'll swap it for a shiny new copy of BKC-IV! If you'd like to keep hold of the previous rules for any reason, we'll need to either remove the cover or mark the inside to show that the copy has been replaced.
- Bought on Wargame Vault
- You don't need to do anything at all, you will receive your new PDF copy of BKC-IV through Wargame Vault automatically. We don't have a confirmed date for this just yet, but you should receive your replacement PDF by Monday 8th at the latest.
If there's any queries on that, please let me know and we'll get you sorted out. If you've already been in touch or given us your BKC-III cover, then you're already in the replacement system and don't need to worry.
New Pre-Orders!
For anyone who didn't buy a copy of BKC-III, we have put BKC-IV up for pre-order on the Pendraken website now. Any new pre-orders will ship out after the replacement copies have been dealt with, so we're estimating April 11th/12th for that. BKC-IV will be available at a discounted launch price for a limited time, so grab yourself a copy for £20.00 GBP! (RRP £25.00 GBP). This offer will end and the rules will return to RRP when we get back to work after the Salute show on Monday, April 8th.
So What's New?
One question we know that people will be asking is 'What's changed in BKC-IV?', so here's a brief summary from our author:
Our overriding intention with BKC-IV was to show a natural evolution from BCK-II, retaining the best elements of BKC-III but at the same time remaining true to both the BKC tradition and the Commander series of rules mechanisms. In addition, we've added new game mechanisms, incorporated several widely used, tried and tested 'house rules', as well as tidying up the army lists. The design of BKC-IV will allow players to choose between a more formalized and higher-level game, back (almost) to BCK-I and BKC-II in many ways; or to play a much more granular game, almost but not quite down to a skirmish-level or 1:1-level game. We have also added (by request) more Example Tables, for ease of play and quick reference.
The significant changes are:
- 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.
Rather than a printed QRS supplied with the rules, we'll be putting up a PDF download for people to print off as many copies as they like. Along with this, we'll be creating a series of PDFs containing a variety of expanded Optional Rules – including Perilous Terrain, Armored Trains, and Refugees, amongst many others. More of these Optional Rules will be added to the archive going forward, as will more Army Lists (an ANZAC list is already on the workbench!).
If you are a long-standing BKC player or a new convert to WWII gaming or even a 'refugee' from another set of rules, we believe that BKC-IV will give you a fast-to-play, enjoyable, and realistic tabletop WWII gaming experience.
Thank You!
And finally, we'd like to apologize to everyone who bought a copy of BKC-III and has had to wait for us to get this fixed. We appreciate how patient and understanding you've been throughout this process, and we hope you enjoy BKC-IV. We'd also like to thank every single person who has helped us get this new ruleset into production, including the authors, the playtest groups, and anyone who has provided feedback or even just a supportive email or comment at a show. It's been a long road to get here, but we're there now and we can all start enjoying some BKC games again!