errors

[cuttingedge]

reading the posts on the forum here, it seems already masses of errors have been found, particularly In the lists.
Is the PDF of the new rules available to edit as it seems the way to go rather than buy the book?

[Big Insect]

I'd hardly call what has been picked up as "masses of errors" ...  however, the intention is to correct a PDF copy and make those changes available.

Unfortunately, there were bound to be a few errors - despite nearly 3 months of proof reading/checking etc. by over a dozen independent reviewers and myself and Leon, some stuff has slipped through the net inevitably.

The main body of the rules seems to be working just fine ... the list however were always going to be a challenge, as WW2 produced so many different variants and many of these were often available in very limited numbers and in some instances were never actually deployed in battle in any volume.
The US M13 is a classic case - 583 were manufactured - however only 139 served overseas - with the largest deployment (numbers unknown) at the landing at Anzio with the VI Corps of the Fifth United States Army in January 1944. However, 3 months later it was replaced by the M16.

Likewise - Vickers Light tanks - the Dutch had an amphibious variant for use in the Dutch East Indies - nobody else appeared to have bought this option from Vickers - despite it being available in the Vickers catalog. Unfortunately, in my cutting and pasting I used the variant with the amphibious option in other lists. Amphibious special option actually makes no real change to the fighting quality of the Vickers light tanks - in fact records show that the changes to the front of the amphibious tank to make it perform in the water actually added an element of 'spacing' to the front armour giving the crew slightly better protection - but TBF at the scale we are playing at such a change is too small to make specific reference to in the rules.

The debate about Special Characteristics will rumble on (and on & on) no doubt - see the thread below on the unreliability of Panthers. Some of these are personal opinion and we each have our own thoughts and views. Are T26's any more or less reliable than the British Vickers 6-Ton tank which it was modelled on? My own view is that both were unreliable compared to most later war tanks but again not as notoriously unreliable as the Panther (for example).
Likewise - Restricted Visibility on a lot of Soviet tanks is because of the lack of space to operate the gun in the turret - and similarly in French Char-B tanks Restricted Vision is the best way to represent the fact that the Commander was also the gunner in the turret. Some of the characteristics are more about the effect they cause on play and also an attempt (based on feedback from BKCIII) to avoid too granular a level to avoid an over proliferation of single army specific Special Characteristics.   

By all means do please wait for the corrected PDF copy  - we'll be putting out a notice on this Forum to say when it is available - however - it wont be for a few months as we want to let a fair amount of game-play (& feedback) happen to allow as many errata to be picked up as possible.

We will also produce a PDF with all the errata, additions to the lists and any clarifications that surface, so you could download that to supplement your printed copy.

Hope that helps?

Mark

[Ithoriel]

Yeah, I'd agree with Big Insect. There are glitches and nit-picks but nothing game breaking IMHO.

[Prophaniti]

Yeah, I'd agree with Big insect.  The bulk of issues are the odds and ends that have crept through the army lists.  The basic rules are fine, with just a couple of fringe things getting missed.

[Zbigniew]

I think the lists are fine. I have never expected authors of any ruleset to be 100% experts on every theathre of war. While I a few omissions I am ready to use house rules when necessary. I have been playing Blitzkrieg Commander around winter 1942/43 Eastern Front for years. Although I now much about this period still I can hardly call myself an expert. The core of BCIV is exellent and I strongly recommend it.

[Leon]

reading the posts on the forum here, it seems already masses of errors have been found, particularly In the lists.
Is the PDF of the new rules available to edit as it seems the way to go rather than buy the book?

As the other guys have said, I think that the rules have been received really well with only a few niggles here and there with the lists, which is always expected for a period as extensive as this.  The few queries we've had so far can be put into less than a single sheet of A4 so compared to BKC-III I think that's got to be a win. 

[Norm]

Perception is everything and there have been a lot of posts here since publication about errata items, which may influence the thinking of the passer-by. Perhaps it would be better if such items did not keep on getting their own thread and there was one single thread for the development group to manage.

[Big Insect]

Good call Norm - as we have had a few duplication posts - not an issue as it is good to have as many views as possible..

I'll set up a new chat thread

Many thanks

Mark

[Dave Fielder]

EVERY rule set ever written from 1st edition to 75th will have errors. To err is human. It is better to live with a really good (IV) edition ruleset and simply sort out the small niggles on the evening with a dice roll, coin toss or punch in the face :-) 

[Kiwidave]

... or punch in the face :-) 

The Royal Marine guide to diplomacy... 

[Steve J]

Dave has the ability to be diplomatic ?

[Big Insect]

I'll make it a Special Characteristic in the next full rewrite 

Mark

[cuttingedge]

Can you confirm then whether the PDF of the rules can be edited once downloaded so that I can amend the stats etc myself?

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

I have to say most of the errors are minor. All can be fixed with application of common sense.

[cuttingedge]

Ok but still don't get the answer as to whether the PDF download of the rules can be edited by the recipient?