Plastic Soldier Re-Stock Battlegroup Rulebook & New Supplement
December 13, 2015 by brennon
Plastic Soldier Company have added the re-stocked the Mini Ruleset for Battlegroup to their webstore so you can get your hands on the rules in a slimmed down format. This is a handy soft back version that contains the rules found in Battlegroup Krusk...
There have been a lot of good things said about Battlegroup as a rules set so it seems like a good idea to get stuck into the game with this rather cheap option and see what you think. In addition to that they also have the Battlegroup Overlord supplement for you to check out.
In this Overlord supplement yuo get...
"The first stand alone supplement for the Battlegroup game system, covering amphibious and airborne operations on D-Day and the battles inland to the Westwall of Germany. Thirteen detailed army lists including German Panzer, Eratz Panzer, Falschirmjaeger, US and British Armoured, Infantry and Airborne divisions.
Extensively researched background and comprehensive equipment data, including specialist equipment for amphibious assaults and 21st Panzer Division conversions. New scenarios and historical re-fights."
This all sounds rather awesome and I'd love to hear more opinions on this game going forward. Maybe we'll be able to feature it on our shows in some capacity?
What do you think of Battlegroup?
"There have been a lot of good things said about Battlegroup as a rules set..."
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It’s not a re-release, just back in stock after selling out, and Overlord I isn’t new it came out in 2013… and it’s sat on the BoW bookshelf.
Sorry yes thank you for the clarification – my mistake!
Trouble is Ben’s giant head is behind the BoW book shelf, he can’t see it 🙂
Oh, and it’s an ace game… but I would say that… 😉
I’ll second how good it is without bias. I don’t get to play nearly enough of it.
Battlegroup is, by far, the best set of rules for this style of game. I play it in 15mm, but it plays just as well in 20mm which was the scale I first saw it played in. I tried FoW a few times, but it was a bit a of a jumble for me. Too many books and things here-and-there. Battlegroup is all in one book, or pdf. The books are stunning quality. Heaps of awesome photos of minis and all the lists needed to play. Nothing else required. It has the best ‘mechanic’ for how the game ends. Check… Read more »
There are a lot of players of the same opinion.
I agree with @unclejimmy . I won’t bore everyone with repeating myself for the 100th time. I’ve used Battlegroup in two article series this year, it was used in the WWDDC, and been on the Weekender – http://www.beastsofwar.com/the-weekender/weekender-spartan-grabs-halo-license-bustin-ghosts-kickstarter/ (54:20) Anyway, in these articles, the highlights of the Battlegroup game design are outlined in greater detail. So it’s gotten coverage, just not enough. 😀 As to @iplay40k ‘s point on organization of the books . . . yeah, I can sort of guess what he’s talking about. As for me, the gun data being in one chapter and the vehicle data… Read more »
Yes, this is exactly what I’m referring too! And I do much the same, gathering all the needed vehicle, gun, and any other needed data by flipping back and forth and putting it onto a data sheet before a game.
Yer… I have been wanting to do a set of vehicle data cards for a while but it’s getting the time to do it. The online builder is good though as it’s printed army list has spaces to fill in the vehicle data.
I find I tend to know most of the stats for the regular vehicles but then I would!
Pre-made data cards would be very handy.
It’s an enjoyable WWII miniatures game. Although there are some errors in the books and they could be organized better, I like it quite a bit.
What are the errors?
If they aren’t in the updated rulebook and errata, let me know and I will add them.
Did this reprint of the little core book include any errata or clarifications, or is it the same text as before?
It includes some of the errata as in the PDF. Not all as some is in relation to supplements.
As for clarifications, what point is it you are looking for clarification on mate?
Most clarifications on rules get done via the forum as people ask questions, like with any rules, that means allows people to talk through any queries they have though most are answered by indication of parts in the rulebook.
Well, one thing is that nowhere in the book does it say how casualties in a squad are normally chosen. But when you read the sniper entry (which says the sniper’s controller gets to pick the casualty) it ‘implies’ that the defender is the one normally choosing which model to remove as a casualty. Another, measuring from squad to squad is a vague. I get the impression that you measure from roughly the center of the attacking squad to roughly the center of the defending squad when determining target distance? It’s imprecise (where is the actual center of this squad,… Read more »
Yes the players whose troops they are chooses the casualty unless it’s a sniper kill.
We just measure from the nearest member of the unit to one of the enemy. If a unit is strung out over two range bands we decide what range to shoot it at based on the majority.
Will check the 20mm thing, I know I had a query on that on the forum a couple of weeks back so will dig out my response.
As I recall, your ‘gut feeling’ is that it should be Very Light HE (as per the entry, with the chart being wrong), but you were going to ask Warwick for his opinion and nothing more was said.
@piers How do you and Warwick handle this situation?
An attacking squad shoots at a target squad. The target squad is completely behind a building and cannot be seen except for two soldiers (the rest are completely out of sight of any attacker). The attacking squad gets 4 casualties on the target squad.
Does the target squad take 2 casualties because that is all that is visible to the attacking squad, or does the target squad take all 4 casualties?
…guess they got past me then!
Don’t get me wrong, it’s only a few minor things. It’s definitely a good game for platoon/company level WWII action. I’ve only played a couple of games so far, but I’ve enjoyed what I’ve played and I hope to play more soon.
I would love BoW to cover Battlegroup. Even though I don’t play many wargames these days, I do find it fascinating to see how different people and companies come at the same conflict and how they design rules that enable you to fight in them.
I’ve heard lots of good things about Battlegroup and would love to know more!
defiantly a game worth looking in to.
I love this game, i have all the suplements even though i only tend to play overlord. The books are really nice. The only critisism is the lack of the planned suplements on my bookshelf right now. Seriously guys hurry up!
Well we only do one a year… and there is only the two of us to do all the work (and do that real life sillyness)!
😉
Blitzkrieg was this year, Desert is next April…
What about ‘BG: Wacht am Rhein’? Should be any time now, yes?
Dunno you’d have to ask Woz if he has finished laying it out since his Apple Mac died last month…
But that’s not a full supplement, it’s a campaign guide for use with Overlord rather than a stand alone theatre supplement…
Any word on Dispatch #3? =)
That’s not good. Hope he didn’t loose all his hard work.
Yer I have plans for Dispatches 3… But it’s developed into alot of good stuff and I’m toying with the idea of it actually being another campaign book…
Thankfully we didn’t lose anything, apart from nearly two months working time, which is a bit annoying and throwing us a few problems… but it’s one of those things for a small gang like us you just have to deal with.
I would happily buy a little supplemental book that covers the parts of the early war that were left out of BG: Blitzkrieg.
Likewise, I would happily buy a little supplemental book that covers the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939.
Of course, I’m looking forward to Dispatch #3, whatever it may contain in the end.
Although a big bummer, I’m glad you didn’t lose anything but time when the computer died.
1 a year! You guys need to stop doing other stuff then. Go on a diet that should shave half an hour, stop showering theres 20 mins. Looking forward to desert war, most of my favorite tanks fought in the desert. Might have to step outside the hedgerows of normandy for the first time.
You think we shower?
Never stand down wind of Ironfist…
Desert will be interesting all right, especially if I finally get the Crete part finished in time!
This is one of my favorite things about your books. I have no idea what happened at crete, and only the vaguest idea what happened elsewhere, or where elsewhere was. But all the information i need is right there in the book!
It’s nice to hear that.
People have criticused us for including the history, telling us that they know it and “don’t need it”.
To which I ask them, what if they didn’t know the history or its context?
Not every gamer has a vast knowledge of WW2.
Definitely keep the history and equipment sections. Maybe some people don’t need it, but I certainly appreciate it.
That’s what makes it a complete book. Rules, lists and history – everything you need for a game and no additional books required. Perfect.
now it made very interested whats all the fuzz about battlegroup and I bought the pdf version of the rules to have a look at them but the email with the pdf haven’t arrived yet :/ well I have to wait but it sounds interesting and I’m planing to do a British tank army maybe I will give it a go with the armoured guard 😀
British are a good choice since they fought against the axis for all but the earliest part of the WWII.
I’m putting together an 1/72 early war German force to battle against my friend who is putting together a 1/72 early war Polish force. We will be using BG: Blitzkrieg and doing some battles for the invasion/Defense of Poland =)
BoW @warzan should invite Piers Brand @piers and Warwick Kinrade over to film a demo game/interview/how to play video thing for the Battlegroup game system and explore 1/72 scale miniatures.
Well we are willing as I have mentioned to the BoW lads before, but they are ferociously busy chaps.
Luckily I’m only a couple of hours drive away so logistics ain’t an issue.
This is what we play at our club when playing WWII.
…good choice!
I’m curious how this rule set works with 28mm. I’ve been playing Bolt Action and like it but I also like what I’ve seen and heard of Battlegroup as well. I get that it’s geared more towards 15mm and 20mm but is it doable with a good experience still at 28mm? I do have 20mm collections for Vietnam and “Modern” conflicts so doing 20mm at some point for WW2 wouldn’t be totally out of line.
Check out our recent podcast discussing Battlegroup and updated QRS at historytowargames.com