I'm not that familiar with the Pendragon chronology, so I have some questions on some of the rules variations and which ones are considered to be the "latest and greatest".

Is The Book of Battle meant to wholly replace Appendix B in the Pendragon 5.1 rulebook? What about the Skirmish rules in Chapter 6 of Pendrgon 5.1? Said another way, if I have the BoB, are there times when it would make sense to use either of these other systems in the core book?

Same thing with "The Book of the Manor": are the Winter Phase rules therein meant as the "ultimate" version, meaning I can disregard the Winter Phase rules in Pendragon 5.1? or the expansion in The Great Pendragon Campaign?

Finally, are the "Defense Value" and "New Skill: Siege" rules considered valid for Pendragon 5.1?

Since I bought all of these books with in a couple of weeks of each other, and seeing how I'm new to the system, I sometimes find myself going in circles, with these various sub-systems.

Thanks!

T.

The Books of Manor/Battle/Armies etc were published after KAP5 and are meant to supersede the relevant sections of it. KAP5.1 is just a republished version of KAP5 with some errata and some slight changes included; it’s the basic rulebook, and all the Books of X provide advanced rules superseding the basic rules if you wish to go beyond them.

That said, anything you want to use is valid for your game. DV and Siege are certainly “canon”, if you so want, at least as far as I know. (I do not own the Book of Battles, so someone correct me if the rules for these two have changed.)

Good question!

As system designer, I am grateful for this opportunity to make a statement of intent.
Before starting, I want to be clear that any designer's intention is irrelevant to your experience with it.
As designer, a portion of my artistic pleasure and success is when your experience matches my intent.
But I see we need to answer this question someplace.


I'm not that familiar with the Pendragon chronology, so I have some questions on some of the rules variations and which ones are considered to be the "latest and greatest".

This is unanswerable because it is personal to each gm.
Many people hate the economics section, for instance; others find the tournaments to be stupid.


Is The Book of Battle meant to wholly replace Appendix B in the Pendragon 5.1 rulebook? What about the Skirmish rules in Chapter 6 of Pendrgon 5.1?

Quick answer: No. "Meant to" indicates (to me) that something is necessary.
King Arthur Pendragon, ed 5.1 is intended to provide everything needed to play the game.
It provides the gamemaster with the widest possible options to personally interpret the legends in any Arthurian setting.
No other supplements are needed to play.


Said another way, if I have the BoB, are there times when it would make sense to use either of these other systems in the core book?

New to the system? Use the rule book for early battles. After all, BoB is vastly more complex, with some important errata. It is sometimes hard to visualize this new, strange setting. It will take longer for a new gm to figure out. Give yourself a break on the learning curve!
OTOH, BoB is far more accurate, and much, much more fun. It follows the same clear game system--trust the book (with the errata) and see if you prefer to use it.
I think that people who use BoB ditch the battle system in the core book.


Same thing with "The Book of the Manor": are the Winter Phase rules therein meant as the "ultimate" version, meaning I can disregard the Winter Phase rules in Pendragon 5.1? or the expansion in The Great Pendragon Campaign?

Yes, again like BoB. If you use it, it replaces the core book system. BoM includes a method for the knight who doesn't give a whit, another for those who like being stewards.


Finally, are the "Defense Value" and "New Skill: Siege" rules considered valid for Pendragon 5.1?

Yes.


Since I bought all of these books with in a couple of weeks of each other, and seeing how I'm new to the system, I sometimes find myself going in circles, with these various sub-systems.

Does this clear it up?
In general, the latest version of something always supercedes any conflict with earlier versions.
With the adventures available, for instance, an occasional "error" might show up, because they were largely written for 3rd and 4th eds. They will make no difference to an informed gm (and you are hereby so informed ;) ) and if there is a problem, use the latest rules.

Thanks, Greg. It is all much as I suspected. Just wanted to be sure.


Best,


T.

Thanks, Greg. It is all much as I suspected. Just wanted to be sure.

You are welcome.
Keep it up.
I see most questions are answered by others, which I love to read.
I am as thankful for the opportunity to acquire proper errata.

Thanks, Greg. It is all much as I suspected. Just wanted to be sure.



Also, consider that you can mix and match within the same campaign.
You might use the battle rules from the Core rules for many battles, and use the ones in the Book of Battle purely for major, set-piece sessions. Likewise, some players might not want to deal with the econonics in book of manor, so you might just use the simple Your Own Land solo for them, and let the other players use the expanded Manor rules. Or maybe, if players have multiple characters (often the case later in the campaign), you might just use the expanded manor rules for one of their characters, and not the 'backups'.

Basically, the supplemental rules are just that - supplemental - you can choose on a case-by-case basis whether to use them or not, within the same campaign.