BKC Update - April 2018

Started by Leon, 13 April 2018, 12:01:56 AM

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Leon

13 April 2018, 12:01:56 AM Last Edit: 13 April 2018, 12:04:39 AM by Leon
Right then, with Salute almost upon us it's time for an update regarding Blitzkrieg Commander and it's both good and bad news.

The revision group have spent the past 3 months going through a 60-page document containing all of the issues and feedback we received when BKC-III launched.  For each problem they've examined and playtested to come up with a recommended fix, but unfortunately in most cases the advised resolution was to revert to BKC2 instead.  The overall concensus was that BKC2 was a better ruleset, more historically accurate and most importantly, more fun to play.

Now we could attempt to pull out sections of BKC-III and replace them with BKC2 but this would result in a potentially messy mashup of the two sets with a lot of clashes and no real flow.  This is too much of a risk to take at this point.

So, the end result, and the bad news, is that BKC-III is dead.  We don't want to take a gamble on something which might not be up to standard a second time, so we think it's better now to draw a line under BKC-III and move on.  I know a lot of people have had this same conclusion over the past 12 months but we had to make sure for ourselves before reaching this decision.

And so we move on to the good news.  We've spoken to the group and they're happy to work with us to create BKC-IV.  This will be a proper evolution of Blitzkrieg Commander, done by a group of players with over 10 years of experience with the Commander series of rules.  There won't be the same level of changes that we attempted with BKC-III, instead this will be more of a gentle progression to tidy up and clarify whilst retaining the identity of the original rules.  

Now we are extremely aware of how long this whole process has taken and we apologise to everyone that has been sat waiting for nearly a year now.  The playtest group have advised us that a 3-6 month timescale is definitely achievable to have a new BKC sorted out and ready to print, so we're looking at the end of September as a deadline.

For everyone who bought a copy of BKC-III, nothing has changed as regards our promise to you.  Everyone who has BKC-III will automatically get a copy of BKC-IV, whether it's a physical book or a pdf.  We'll also see what else we can do to thank you for your patience throughout this process.  However, if anyone doesn't want to wait any further then we will refund your original purchase, no problem.

No doubt there'll be some questions on this, so let us know and we'll get them answered as best we can.  We're away at the Salute show from Friday to Sunday night, so we might not be able to reply to you until we're back.  Also, we won't have any information on BKC-IV at this time, we'll need to give the revision group a little time to start formulating a plan for moving forward.  We'll advise on that process as much as we can along the way.

And finally, thanks to everyone for their understanding and patience with all of this.  We take a huge amount of pride in our products, our service and our reputation and we're going to keep our word and make this right for everyone.
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Rubenmegido

This are suprising news but I guess it´s wiser to call it a day rather than forcing changes into a system that was already quite good. I would prefer BKC4 to be a more polished BKC2 so please, go ahead. We could wait a few months more :)

As a suggestion I would say that that you should try to keep a similar layout as the one used in BKC2 book. Reading BKC3 was a bit disorienting as the fonts, layout and look of the tables was very different to previous books and that, apart from the changes, give me the feeling that I was reading a totally different ruleset.If you plan BKC4 to be a gentle evolution, the layout of the book should be similar to previous one. That would make it part of the same family :)
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petercooman

Didn't see that coming!

Anyway, good luck with bkc IV !

fsn

I'm sad to hear this, after all the efforts you've put in to BKCIII. I think it shows great character to have taken the decision you have, and consideration of the customers. You could just have put out addendums (at £5 per pop) as some other rule purveyors undoubtedly would have done, or just ignore the comments (as is the practice of one rule merchant of my ken).

I do hope this nobility won't come at too high a financial cost. Dammit, I may even break my own law about not buying any more rules and buy a set of BKCIV myself.

I'm sure members of the forum would be pleased, nay eager, to assist in any way possible. I will start the line and offer to review lists of vehicles etc for completeness.

Good luck.
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Zbigniew

Good decision.

The good news is that BCK IV will be what I hoped for BCK III to be. Just polished BCK II with enriched army lists.

Bad news is obviously the delay.

Genom

This is what most of the community I think was expecting to begin with so all good news there, but likewise I think most are willing to wait for the right product so all good there as well as far as I'm concerned.

slugbalancer

A brave & good call.

Are you still up to taking in my copies of BKC3 at Salute tomorrow?

smallchild139

I agree with the general consensus on here that this will be a good thing in the long term, and I must say that this is what I was really expecting BKC 3 to be in the first place.  Happy to wait and well done again to Pendraken for taking another difficult decision.  Really looking forward even more to BKC 4 now.

Mark

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T13A

Hi

Just wanted to say that I think this is the best news I have heard for some time (wargaming wise at least). Well done for coming to what must have been a difficult and painful decision. However, I am sure it is the right one.

Already looking forward to BKCIV, now exactly what extra figures do I need.......

Cheers Paul
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Ithoriel

Sounds like BKC-IV will be what I'd hoped/ expected BKC-III would be so I'm looking forward to the next iteration and grateful for the time and effort being put into this.

As the sign at work used to say "Cheap, Quick, Good - Choose One!" Happy to wait for good :)
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Norm

Brave, understandable and ultimately sensible decision - though the hit that project has caused the Pendraken coffers is regretable.

Hopefully the project can now tread an easier path and please a wider audience.

Lord Kermit of Birkenhead

Well you cant say you wernt told that all wuz needed was a tidy up of the writing !
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paulr

A brave and bold decision totally focused on your customers, well done Pendraken =D> =D> =D> =D> =D> =D>
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sunjester

I echo the above sentiments.  =D> =D> =D>