Ultimate Battlegroup Guide: Comprehensive Rules Compendium

Welcome to my rather comprehensive guide for the best tabletop wargame out there for 15-28mm, Battlegroup! Whether you’re a seasoned veteran or a new player, finding the myriad of special and scenario rules scattered across numerous supplement books can be a pretty daunting or frustrating task. This article was written to be my go-to reference for finding the rules, compiling their location into one accessible place.

Why Collate the Special and Scenario Rules

Well, thanks to a wonderful medical condition, my cognitive and memory functions are a bit naff, some days more than others. For that reason I find having lists of rules or amendments really useful. Also the Battlegroup books don’t have glossaries (Why?!?!)

In the midst of a game I’ve often turned to posting rule clarifications to the Battlegroup Facebook Group, that never fails to return a useful answer very promptly.

Page Numbers but No Rule Description

I was going to make a summary of each special rule itself, noting down the mechanics and how it affects the game, without any historic flavour. But then it kinda just seemed like I was leaking all the rules – so no one would need to buy the books (there’s 99 other reasons why you still should), but eitherway I decided putting the content of the rule was a no-no, so I then thought I would put a rules prompt instead of a description.

Having helpful rules prompt after the name of each rule meant if you forgot what it was, a careful prompt might ease those brain cells back into action. That would work, and would minimise any negative impact for the wonderful authors and publishers.

Then after writing about 25 prompts, and no where near the end of the list, I decided it was such a mammoth task I would just note down the page number!

Man there are a lot of rules

The Importance of Knowing Your Special Rules

Understanding the various special rules is crucial for being good at Battlegroup, plus they’ve been carefully picked to enhance aspects of the game, or reflect certain quality or characteristics of a battle. These rules not only add depth and realism to your games but also offer diverse tactical opportunities.

By knowing these rules, you can enhance your gameplay, devise better effective strategies, and fully immerse yourself in the historical battles that Battlegroup seeks to recreate. That’s one of the ways Battlegroup is so much more nuanced than saying Bolt Action or Flames of War (IMHO).

How to Use My Guide

To help you quickly find the special rules you need, I’ve ltried to list them alongside their campaign or supplement book in which they appear, plus their page number. I just normally hit CTRL+F on the keyboard (Find on Page), then type the name of the special rule. The screen should auto scroll down to each matching entry.

Or just simply scroll through to discover new rules that you might not have encountered before. E.g. Do you know the Banzai Unpinning mechanic, where the Soviet PE-2 (Aircraft) special rules are, or the Rasputita listing?

Most recently I’ve turned to this guide for clarification over Schurzen Plates special rule, which I can never find when I need it.

Special Rules Duplication

Why are some of the rules duplicated, could I not just have listed them from the core rulebook and left duplicates out? Well yes I could have, but with three objections:

1. I didn’t know if the authors had tweaked them slightly for latter releases, or campaign specific details. I.e. Is ‘War Weary’ the same in the Rulebook, Fall of the Reich and Pacific War?
2. If I was only going to include one source of a Battlegroup rule, I would have to check word for word, if each source was implementing the rule the same. That would have taken a lot more time.
3. Lastly, I don’t know what books other people have. If I decide to list the Radio Communications Network rule as being only in the Overlord D-Day book, it doesn’t help you if you only have Tobruk

Scenario and Special Rules Compendium

Some people may find it more useful to use the Google Sheets version of my Battlegroup Rules Glossary.

Well done for getting down the page this far. That’s almost 600 rules listed above.

Is This all The Special Rules?

No, sadly this isn’t all the rules yet. Currently I’m a few books short, but if the funds become available, I’ll be sure to get them and update the rules page number table above. If you think this guide is a good resource, bookmark it, share it, and if you can, please drop a few quid over to me via Kofi (link, somewhere on the page).

Specifically I know I’m missing the new Bagration Book, Market Garden, Spring Awakening, West Wall and Beyond the Beaches.

What about House Rules

So my blog post about custom house rules seems to get a lot of traffic and a fair few positive comments or nudges. If you want to read about my Battlegroup House Rules, you can checkout the link. It includes:

• Custom Minefields
• Mortar Smoke Screens
• Tall Buildings mechanics
• Hidden Units
• … and much more

Special Rules Compendium Conclusion

By compiling all the special and scenario rules from the Battlegroup supplements I own, into one place, I hope it makes your gaming experience smoother and more enjoyable. Whether you’re stuck on games night, preparing for an upcoming battle or just curious about the wealth of rules available, this guide hopefully helps you out.

Remember, the key to any of us mastering Battlegroup and getting 100% out of it, lies in understanding the majority of these rules (and how they can be leveraged to our advantage!) Keep this guide handy as a quick reference during your games, and may your battles be both strategic and historically rich.

Happy wargaming!