BKC-III Decision Reached - Please Read!

Started by Leon, 08 May 2017, 11:15:01 PM

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toxicpixie

Stirring stuff, lay on MacDuff!

Likely to be out for Xmas?

Also, I hope you cover FAO's flank marching ;)
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hakejumble

REALLY looking forward to having a go at this!
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Leon

Quote from: toxicpixie on 11 November 2017, 10:09:45 AM
Likely to be out for Xmas?

Unlikely, the rules queries are going to take some time to work through online, plus it's a 3 week turnaround at the printers.
www.pendraken.co.uk - Now home to over 7000 products, including 4500 items for 10mm wargaming, plus MDF bases, Battlescale buildings, I-94 decals, Litko Gaming Aids, Militia Miniatures, Raiden Miniatures 1/285th aircraft, Red Vectors MDF products, Vallejo paints and much, much more!

Ithoriel

So what you're saying, Leon, is that they WILL be ready for Christmas .... just not this coming one :-D
There are 100 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who can work from incomplete data

T13A

Hi Leon

Many thanks for the update and all the work involved in getting the army lists straight. As far as getting the rules sorted, as far as I am concerned take as much time as is required.

However that said I do have one concern and that is, if I remember correctly from previous posts, you are starting from a base line of BKC-III rather than BKC-II.

Now I am one of those who thought that there was not much wrong with BKC-II in the first place that some very minor tweaking and some slightly clearer explanations of some of the mechanics (e.g. visibility and concealment) wouldn't fairly easily put right. I thought that the most of the 'changes' to the rules that appeared in BKC-III were either unnecessary or simply poor (e.g. the change from 'built-up-areas' to defining them as Cities, Towns, Villages, and ruins and where villages are classified as "predominantly wooden structures with a few stone buildings". Try telling that to one of the veterans marking armistice day today that fought in Normandy or Italy).

Hence my worry that by using BKC-III as a starting point rather than BKC-II we will still end up with a set of rules that I for one will be reluctant to use.

Just my tuppence worth.

Cheers Paul
T13A Out!

toxicpixie

Cheers Leon, I might look out for them at WMMS in March then :)
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smallchild139

Add one to previous sentiment, what I feel is really needed is BKC 2 updated rather than BKC 3 fixed up.  I think that will give a better set of rules.  There was not too much wrong with BKC2.

Mark

Ithoriel

I'd have to admit to a preference for a revised BKC2 rather than a fixed BKC3 but if Pendraken have an electronic version of BKC3 and not of BKC2 then I'd be OK with a fixed BKC3 in light of the likely extra time and expense required to generate a clean copy of BKC2 to edit.

If that all makes sense!
There are 100 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who can work from incomplete data

Leon

We've got both versions in electronic formats, but putting the BKC-II text into the BKC-III document will mean a lot of time in formatting and layout changes.  Likewise, editing the BKC-II document will be just as time consuming to make it look like BKC-III.

Quote from: T13A on 12 November 2017, 09:35:43 AM
Hence my worry that by using BKC-III as a starting point rather than BKC-II we will still end up with a set of rules that I for one will be reluctant to use.

Quote from: smallchild139 on 12 November 2017, 07:59:17 PM
Add one to previous sentiment, what I feel is really needed is BKC 2 updated rather than BKC 3 fixed up.  I think that will give a better set of rules.  There was not too much wrong with BKC2.

One of the main problems we've got at this stage is that we're between a rock and a hard place when it comes to the revision.  If we don't change enough back to BKC-II, then folks like yourselves won't be getting the set of rules you were wanting.  But if we move most of it back to BKC-II then that'll be great for you guys but those who liked some of the BKC-III changes won't be happy.  And making a BKC-II+ version will result in people asking why they should buy a set of rules that's not that different to BKC-II. 

At this point, no matter what we do with the revision work, people aren't going to be happy with the result.  I do think it's worth mentioning again though, despite all of the vocal feedback we saw online, there are still a large number of people out there who liked some of the changes.  It's too easy to just write the whole thing off as a bad job based on the initial response we saw, but we've got to look at it objectively and decide whether each change was good or bad on its own merit.

It's not going to be easy, but we're going to do the best we can to give as many people as possible what they want.
www.pendraken.co.uk - Now home to over 7000 products, including 4500 items for 10mm wargaming, plus MDF bases, Battlescale buildings, I-94 decals, Litko Gaming Aids, Militia Miniatures, Raiden Miniatures 1/285th aircraft, Red Vectors MDF products, Vallejo paints and much, much more!

BeeKiller

Can you consider releasing the electronic PDF version of the (now finished) lists for those who already bought them (or for those wanting to buy them as an electronic format) ?

It will act as a stop-gap for those who liked (most of the new additions) of BKC-3

Thx

Leon

Quote from: BeeKiller on 13 November 2017, 10:44:31 AM
Can you consider releasing the electronic PDF version of the (now finished) lists for those who already bought them (or for those wanting to buy them as an electronic format) ?

It will act as a stop-gap for those who liked (most of the new additions) of BKC-3

It's certainly something we can look at, although we've not ironed out the special abilities yet so there might be some clashes with the rules.  I'll see what we can work out on that for you.

You mention liking some of the new additions, have you got any more info on that and have you played any games with BKC-III?
www.pendraken.co.uk - Now home to over 7000 products, including 4500 items for 10mm wargaming, plus MDF bases, Battlescale buildings, I-94 decals, Litko Gaming Aids, Militia Miniatures, Raiden Miniatures 1/285th aircraft, Red Vectors MDF products, Vallejo paints and much, much more!

walburgrif

I'm also plugging for BKC2 as the base.   Please don't choose an option just because its easy for editing and a consistent look & feel.   We don't play games for those reasons.  Listen to those who have been playing BKC a lot. Their experience about playability and historical accuracy is not to be underestimated. 

BeeKiller

You mention liking some of the new additions, have you got any more info on that and have you played any games with BKC-III?

Hello,

I have played some BKC-3 games but using BKC-2 lists because of the inaccuracy of the newest. However it is a bit puzzling because you need some adjustments like new off board arty being cheap because you don't need to buy ammunition assets for the prescheluded fire. So in this case we also use the bkc2 need to purchase ammunition assets.

We liked from Bkc3 the Recce simplification calculations, the terrain chart, the simplification in visibility in cities (but we need to break big settlements in small areas), and above all the unit perks except the limbering (which make some vehicles useless in an attack role), and (good armour which doesn't allow to take profit of flanking). We also like form BKC-3 lists the need to include core units per 1000points and the re-arrangemnt of unit types. But we don't like the loss of historicity that BKC2 did have about the specific number of units you may deploy,even less the loss of the entry month a unit was available from/to. Now it is simplified in just 3 categories. In fact we loved the game because of the accuracy of the army lists and we even played other game rules using that lists.

We like from BKC-3 being able to initially deploy hidden units and fire templates from Arty and Air look less generic than in BKC-2

We don't like the oversimplification of battle scenarios and the fact that you don't need to buy Defensive terrain. We use BKC-2 rules for seting up scenarios. Also the way the minerollers remove mines was more accurate in BKC2 (cleaning the width of the vehicle rather than cleaning the whole mine field)

To sum up I personally don't like simplification in the "preparation of the game" (lists, scenarios) because you usually have enough time at home to prepare whatever, but I welcome any aid / automation during the game play (LOS, less recce measurements)

I agree with many that tweaking a game with some complexity like BKC is time consuming and must be really play tested. These are bad ingredients for hard copy books and I think you should consider releasing several beta versions of BKC-3 in electronic format to betatesters until the final version.  

I also think the army lists + perks explanations should have an entity on their own (although it may also be included  if the future book) because they can appeal to both BKC-2 die hard fans as well as BKC-3 or even gamers from other rules.

Finally, I also agree with Pendraken that rules "needs news, updates". Not because the earlier were bad, but because human mind like new things (ok maybe it depends on the age of the subject...). And new means curiosity and appeal, and that in turn, means need to buy, and that means new money for the owner, and finalla that means invest and support to the subject that allows to earn money:  the game (in any of its forms), thus closing the circle of the product life.

Game aids are always welcome. Electronic army builders are very appealing (be them Excel or (web) applications). Our world is trending to a service model based business. Miniatures are physic but the gaming experience with them could benefit from some sort of electronic aid. Be it in the game preparation or in the way rules are updated or available for local service printing.

Count with us if you're considering beta testing. We usually play one game per week / 2 weeks at 15mm (we multiply x1.5 all measurements on the rules if we are lucky to be able to play on two "standard tables") and 1000 or 2000 points per side (BKC-2 costs). We even can promote the game in public events just for the sake of gaming (we had already done that in a local hobby shop, but the BKC-2 / BKC-3 impasse is really hindering our efforts). People in Barcelona have a lot of 15mm miniatures because of FOW, and they like to diversify and test "something new" to play with. Overall everyone enjoys the game, but we need an starting point (the hobby shop needs to know what to sell about BKC) to promote the game, to go further and even make tournaments (they are willing to hold so, but with an stable, soldable and brand new version)

(Sorry for beating about the bush, and the not so good English)

petercooman

Quote from: Leon on 12 November 2017, 09:13:38 PM
 It's too easy to just write the whole thing off as a bad job based on the initial response we saw, but we've got to look at it objectively and decide whether each change was good or bad on its own merit.


One thing to note, if you only keep some changes and revert others, be wary of the consistency of the rules.

No matter how good a new rule is/works, if it doesn't fit the overall 'feel' of the rules it will stand out.

also a little care will be needed when reverting some rules, as in the bkc III book there seems to be a lot of cross-referencing. when reverting rules it should be reverted everywhere to further enhance the consistency.

Good luck on the revision! Been a while since i have used the bkc III rules, but i must admit a few changes have found their place in our bkc II games so there are some things that could be used!

Leon

Quote from: BeeKiller on 15 November 2017, 09:53:40 AM
Count with us if you're considering beta testing. We usually play one game per week / 2 weeks at 15mm (we multiply x1.5 all measurements on the rules if we are lucky to be able to play on two "standard tables") and 1000 or 2000 points per side (BKC-2 costs). We even can promote the game in public events just for the sake of gaming (we had already done that in a local hobby shop, but the BKC-2 / BKC-3 impasse is really hindering our efforts). People in Barcelona have a lot of 15mm miniatures because of FOW, and they like to diversify and test "something new" to play with. Overall everyone enjoys the game, but we need an starting point (the hobby shop needs to know what to sell about BKC) to promote the game, to go further and even make tournaments (they are willing to hold so, but with an stable, soldable and brand new version)

Thanks for all of the info, that is very helpful.  We will take all of this onboard as we work through the revisions.

Quote from: petercooman on 15 November 2017, 10:30:35 AM
Good luck on the revision! Been a while since i have used the bkc III rules, but i must admit a few changes have found their place in our bkc II games so there are some things that could be used!

Thanks Peter, which of the changes did you guys find useful?
www.pendraken.co.uk - Now home to over 7000 products, including 4500 items for 10mm wargaming, plus MDF bases, Battlescale buildings, I-94 decals, Litko Gaming Aids, Militia Miniatures, Raiden Miniatures 1/285th aircraft, Red Vectors MDF products, Vallejo paints and much, much more!