Blitzkrieg Commander Review
After answering a classified advert for rules playtesters, I discovered that Pete Jones, the author, lived reasonably near my home. During one of our frequent mails about the rules we agreed to meet for a game, and since then Pete and I have become pretty good friends. I went on to build up a medium-sized force for BKC (as it is affectionately known), but have since passed them on to Pete, as my main interest is 28mm. Obviously I still play games using the rules, but rather than duplicating the effort of collecting terrain in two scales, I decided to let Pete do the small-scale stuff, while I stick to collecting larger figures.
Anyway- BKC is a derivative (after a LOT of work) of Warmaster. It is a deceptively simple system, and the rules are very intuitive. After a few turns, most people will be able to remember the rules without referring to the book, and after a game or two without even referring to the QRS.
The rulebook contains the usual introduction to wargaming, along with an itemised step-by-step guide. There is even a nice, easy campaign system. The real value of the book, though, is the fact that the book is a self-contained system. The rules themselves are only 42 pages, and the rest of the book contains army lists. 43 of them. They cover all the major participants of the period 1936 to 1945, and even quite a few of the smaller ones. Pete has managed to get a set of really well-balanced lists, and in the time I've played BKC, I've used many of them. There is none that "oh, the Russians are just pre-programmed", or "the Germans are just superior to all of the other armies". Each army is equally well-thought out, and is equally playable. The way each army is designed tends to reward historical play.
The rules have just been reprinted, but the changes are minor- the adverts in the back have been removed, and typographical errors have been corrected. One or two small changes have also been made- mainly clarifications to certain rules. The amendments can be downloaded from the official website for free.
Pete has also created (apart from the Yahoo group) a forum where a number of utilities can be used or downloaded, as well as posting regular battle-reports, which I am fortunate enough to participate in.