A more definite release date would be fantastic. Not that I expect FFG to depart from their usual anarchic, staggered and generally confounding release practices.

It is, however, good to hear you got some good rules in there No1, I have enjoyed your previous work (even as an 'anti-ork' gm I have enjoed your ork contributions from a mechanical and fluff perspective).

A big question i have is, has the editing of the book been improved relative to the SPAG error per page minimum of the other releases thus far. This is no troll and a completely innocent question - I understand that big hardcover releases are a massive undertaking to spell check, but the sheer quantity of massive copy paste laziness errors in into the storm (sp31 tyrant anyone?) just doesn't fly with the high price tag on any RPG hardcover.

Not that it will deter me from buying the product... Hear hear to the only source of 40k IP based RPGs.

Sokahrthumaniel said:

You should blame the community for that, in my opinion. FFG used to put up specific release dates, and then, as soon as a delay occurred (usually with the transport of the books, which isn't under their control), there were flame wars a-plenty with people decrying them. Since then, they just put up the quarter it'll be released, because that'll mean they are less likely to have people complain about missed release dates, because they haven't managed to miss releasing it in the intended quarter yet.

I'm just saying they have a pretty good reason for not putting up specific dates anymore.

True, i can appreciate that point, but at the same time surely sticking one's neck out in a fairly safe (give a longer date than expected by a factor of X) would help keep people a little more informed. As it is my group has been hankering for this book for months, and is starting to lose interest (the less knowledgeable concerning these matters writing it off as the book equivalent of vapourware).

Still, policy is policy I guess, and I am generally happy (with the exception of those point mentioned in my previous post) with the content of said products.

Looking forwards to the new material, and thanks in advance to those of you who wrote and tested it.

Looks like I may not have the book in time for my Monday game so quick questions for those who have the book and are familiar with the fan made rules for battle cruisers and nova cannosn that are up on Dark Reign.

Is there a great deal of difference between them, and the stats and performance given in BF Koronus? I permitted my players to get a big ship as a bribe for trying out Rogue Trader and am very interested in if I'll have to tone down the mars class any.

Also, what's the rarity of nova cannon shells and bombers in case I don't get my own copy by next session. No stats, just something on how they can be acquired. And if that's against board rules please ignore my request.

EDIT: Couple more questions.

Any guidelines in the book on getting ships like Kroot warspheres in your fleet?

Also, are there detailed vehicle stats like Into the Storm for the small craft or are fighter and bomber squadrons as detailed as things get?

George Labour said:

I did not read the rules on Dark Reign conserning Nova cannons but I did read those in BF Koronos (thx. to NO-1_H3R3).

Warspheres - yes there are "guidelines" how to include them in a RT sesssion and GM tips .

The Vehicles in the Appendix are every bit as detailed as the the Fury Interceptor, and squadron rules state how many there are in a squadron, and what you can actualy do if You command one (speed, rating squadron size etc.all for squadrons not individual craft). Ready Your players for Fighters, Bombers and Assault Boats. One thing makes me wonder, all Chos craft are "Iniquity-Pattern" so will we see a detailed description of this Chaos world/system/systems in Black Crusade or will there be a Rogue Trader book about that?

Thanks for the answers. Hopefully I can get my book before the group needs to fire their nova cannon. XD

AS for chaos fighters, I do beleive both the Hell Talon and Hell Blade are included in the Deathwatch book, Rites of Battle. Also has a few other chaosy toys and tau vehicles as well. Crossing my fingers that the Xenos book has eldar and ork stuff.

And could you perhaps be more specific about what the 'guidelines' are for xenos ships in your fleet? Is it just a blurb saying sometimes they might follow you, or are there actual rules for acquiring and arming an allied xenos ship?

Tequila said:

Iniquity is described in the Chaos Reavers section of Edge of the Abyss

I hope we get an example or two of really big Transports (cruiser-sized or larger) rather than the relatively small ones found in the previous books.

MILLANDSON said:

I don't agree. While i like the products of FFG, this does not excuse unprofessional behaviour like this. If it's something that went wrong in the past: that should be an impetus to get it right now. Their site still says "available soon". It does not say: available in country X, Y and Z in Europe (Belgium/Netherlands and amazon UK + GE still don't have it available), or with dealer X, Y and Z. As far as i can tell at this point: it's only available with two dealers, one in poland and one in germany. My normal dealer lists it as available at 31/5/2011. Amazon lists it as available at 08/03/2011 but despite that date being passed it's not available yet. Maelstromgames lists it as available at 26/03/2011, i found several sites with 23/03/2011 and it goes on and on.

I can fully understand that shipment is not entirely under control. What i cannot understand is why it may take another two weeks on top of the delivery date for at least some people in Poland and Germany for it to hit the stores elsewhere in Europe (or even Germany for that matter). I do not understand why it might take another 2 and a half months for it to hit the stores in the Netherlands. I do not understand why on earth they can't at least make the Ebook available already at the same time as the earliest hardcopies are being distributed. And i cannot for the life of me fathom why they can't at least tell us where we can get an early copy (if necessary with extra postage costs, it'll still be cheaper then any book i'm ordering from the US) if we want to.

Using a community outcry over previous problems to not be specific now just doesn't cut it for me. The current policy is akin to throwing in the towel alltogether. While i love the products (they drew me into 40k) and will continue buying them, i will not accept the excuse you advanced.

Badlapje said:

With one exception, all of your queries and complaints should be directed toward the distributors, like Alliance. Once they send a book to the printer, publishers like FFG typically have essentially zero control over what happens to their product.

FFG does control when the pdf goes up on DriveThruRPG, though. To answer your question, they don't put it up immediately to avoid alienating brick and mortar stores. DriveThru already sells the books cheaper than most stores; if they sold the books earlier as well, then many stores might be discouraged from investing in FFG's product.

I'd honestly pay for the PDF & a hardcover book if it meant having the PDF a couple weeks before release. But then I have a group that kicks in some cash now and then so I can get the supplements for the games I run for them.

As for mass cargo conveyors I imagine those will be in Hostile Acquisitions. Unless they were so kind as to include troop transports or titan arks as either hulls or a component.

Me, I'm just waiting to see what a nova cannon does, and how difficult it will be to hit with the shell it fires. Anyone want to give some insight on how all that works?

Are there any battleship hulls or is grand cruiser the largest you can get?

Earlier poster said no battleships. Seems Battle and grand are as big as we get for now. Though I'd expect them to do some web additions, or at least include one in an upcoming book if there's enough interest. though that's really just me dreaming.

George Labour said:

Ah my bad.

However, what about NPC battleships? In Edge of the Storm we got an Ork battleship, hoping that there might be something of that sort in Koronus.

Also, what about vehicles? We have the Fury in Into the Storm, any chance of a list of vehicles that appear in the book?

Just checked back with my supplier. Official sales date in Germany: 14th of March.

I am happy to announce that Battlefleet Kronons has now appeared on the augers of HMS Great Britain

Or to put it another way it has been listed on the Esdevium Games list for 14th March, so that means it should be our hands from Tuesday onwards

DW

Nice, but does this mean I am the only one with the book? So a shippng error? Lest's leave it at that, you can check my posts Tuesday and see for yourself.

To answer some earlier questions Orks have ROK 's and a HAMMER BATTLEKROOZER but no Battleships. There are some big Transport hulls for the players, a GOLIATH-CLASS FACTORY SHIP and a UNIVERSE-CLASS MASS CONVEYOR (12 km long )

The new vehicles/toys are (AB Assault Boat, F - Fighter, B - Bomber): SHARK AB, STARHAWK B, SWIFTDEATH F, DOOMFIRE B, DREADCLAW DROP POD, RAK'GOL BLOODFURY ASSAULT CRAFT, DARKSTAR F, EAGE B, FIGHTA-BOMMA, ORK ASSAULT CRAFT - all have stats and rules like Fury from Into the Storm. Thank You N0-1_H3r3 my players love them (at least one eager Flight Marshall does ).

And the "Iniquity" pattern does not mena they are made on Iniquity (as the description of the SWIFTDEATH says). I was looking for a desciption of Iniquity like "Undred-Undred Teef" from EotA so I was not fully content with the Iniquitis description in that book. Maybe I will find it in the final adventure of The Worpstorm Trilogy? Who knows?

Tequila said:

Thank You N0-1_H3r3 my players love them (at least one eager Flight Marshall does ).

Minor point - I wrote the attack craft rules, in the sense that I wrote the rules for starships fielding waves of attack craft. The actual individual vehicle rules for those craft were the work of another.

MR Innes said:

Seriously? I don't see this problem with any other gaming company out there. So no, i don't accept that proposition. I also don't see many other companies take the same stance on the pdf's of the books they sell (though of course it is their prerogative).

Bottom line for me: the communication is seriously lacking, the approach to distribution seems very amateuristic for a company which makes such good books and so far i've only heard excuses for which there are ample examples in the same industry and beyond to show that they simply don't cut it.

Badlapje said:

Apparently the people who make WFRP and the 40k RP lines the 2nd and 3rd biggest selling RPGs currently out there think otherwise, because if they disliked it as much as you do, they wouldn't buy the games.

I've always found RPGs to be fairly unpredictable as to when they'll actually turn up in stores, given the much smaller customer base and much smaller printing runs for them, so I'm just used to it. As long as it arrives eventually, I couldn't care less when it shows up, especially if they turn up within the release time stated by the company (which all of FFG's stuff has been, since they instituted the new system for public release dates).

FFG current policy of not announcing the release dates is the best move they can make.

If you are unable to keep a release date it is best if you do not give one. It is a huge step up from huge mess ups like the RT will be released at gen con debacle.

That having been said there are countless examples of other companies being able to give and make release dates. Why FFG cannot is a matter for speculation though.

Sorry to sound terse, but I don't know how seasons work where you are, but here it's spring.

That's the last I will say on the matter, but colour me dissatisfied, as RT games require much more planning than the norm, and having erroneous release dates stated on multiple stockist websites is just a lot of red herrings for Gms busy with work or university + running long running campaign with a clear requirement for forward planning.

Again I must stress I find the product (bar spelling and blatant copypasta errors in editing) to be excellent, appreciate you playtesters and writers very much and am mostly belly aching (legitimately however) about a serious annoyance.

We can't live in a perfect world, but we shouldn't stop asking if it's possible .

Badlapje said:

So.....Nova cannons. Any hints on how they work? Do you pick a spot and it goes boom at the end of the turn, does it fire a beam of death ala macross, or do you have to make a to hit roll or something to see if it goes boom close to the target?

Could some of you guys that already own Battlefleet Koronus post list of its contents? = how many chapters are in that book and what is exactly included in each chapter and how many pages it has. Please also tell me if that book is worth of buying alone for fluff about Imperial Navy.