Battlegroup 2.0 Coming Soon

By Tom Gall

Battlegroup is a WWII set of miniatures rules by Plastic Soldier Publishing. Written by Warwick Kinrade and first published in 2012, there have been many source books released over the past 14 years covering all parts of the war from early on with Blitzkrieg, Barbarossa, North Africa, the Pacific, Italy, D-Day, Market Garden, the Bulge, to Berlin when the war is all but over.

For a creative work 14 years young, you might be happy to hear that there is a 2.0 version of the rules brewing with a number interesting adjustments. While I’m not at liberty to disclose the exact set of changes, I can talk about the nature of the name game play and in this article we’ll do so by looking in on a test game played on March 1st, 2026 at Gamez and More in Rochester, Minnesota.

You’ll be very happy to know that none, and I really mean it, NONE of the source books will change, just the rulebook. While other systems might change their rules and then go through a rework of their source books, that is not going to happen with Battlegroup.

Bill and I decided to utilize the Stalingrad book, for a January 11, 1943 battle involving an action outside of the city.  Hungarians on the defense with a Soviet Rifle list on the attack using Delaying Action as the mission. The fun part about this mission is you have nine turns to get the job done as the attacker or the defender wins.

Bill happened to have some historical maps of the area, which showed the operational responsibility of the Hungarians along with the Germans for this sector. We felt it made for great inspiration to make it into a game. While loosely based in history the concept of a Russian Rifle formation backed by T-34s and T-70s is spot on accurate. Likewise, Hungarian ground forces backed by 38ts hoping for German air support while they try and hold the line happened.

The Hungarians decided to concentrate in the bombed out village and deploy their defense trenches on the left and right flank to help defend the 4 objections that were on the table in various spots.

The Soviets started with 4 of their scout units on table plus after rolling a 1, a whole single unit to enter as the turn one reinforcement. The Soviets decided to have their FO move onto the table.

With the Hungarian 38ts a bit off in the distance, the Soviets decided to kick their BA-10 armored car forward to try out the change to the machine gun rules involving vehicles. The hope being some of the infantry in the town could be suppressed which the dice gods disagreed with. One of the scout platoons also moved forward to lay down some suppressing fire but that also failed. The Soviets were lacking anything effective to dislodge the Hungarian defenders across the line so the tactic shifted to suppressing fire until more units could arrive to mount an adequate attack.

The very next Soviet turn featured yet another roll of a 1 for reinforcements so the Soviets decided it was time to bring on a single T-34, very scary for 38t tanks, least that was their hope, as given the Soviet lack of numbers there wasn’t much else to be impressed about. The Soviets tried to range in some 120mm mortars and failed. With a bunch of Hungarian infantry out there, would they have any anti-tank grenades to try out that new part of the rules?  Seems not.

The Hungarians for the most part stayed in their trenches and solid positions. The Soviets would be coming to them.  Only the 38ts moved up in anticipation of getting in some shots.

 

By turn 3 certainly the Soviet misfortunes with reinforcement numbers and calling artillery would improve, right? They didn’t improve, a single unit was rolled again and the communications check for the 120mm mortars failed yet again. You’ll be glad to know that the mechanics to call in off board artillery hasn’t changed in 2.0. On board however has changed!

Worry started to build on the Soviet side of the lines that the chances to defeat the Hungarian delaying action were growing slim. Two T-34s can only do so much when not backed up by infantry and with but 6 turns to go….

The Hungarian reinforcement roll pulled in a captured Zis-3 gun towed by a truck. The Soviets were able to hit the truck but the crew was otherwise unscathed so we ruled they were able to grab the gun and prolong it forward to take a shot. For the Hungarians this and a single Marder were their best AT assets. The 37mm gun on the 38ts and the Pak36s are not very effective against T-34s. From the Soviet point of view that made the captured Zis-3 and the Marder top priority targets. “Hey Yuri, how many HE rounds did we pack?”

On turn five, finally the Soviets started to receive some reinforcements in numbers. Two T-34s working the left flank and one T-34 on the right flank, however it was immobilized by a mechanical breakdown chit. The Soviets brought on two squads, a Maxim MG, and a short barrel 76 infantry gun to try and get rid of the 81mm mortar on the far right flank. Onboard HE such as mortars work a bit differently now fitting into the direct fire HE rules, definitely a change for the better in our experience.

Pressure is on to break into the town while the T-34s on the left flank need to deal with the Zis-3 gun and a couple of pesky 38ts.  And as it turns out the Soviet 120s decided to come in and land on the far far hill taking out a couple of units who were out in the open. One, was the Hungarian spotter, thus curtailing their ability to use their off board artillery.

Another view from a slightly different angle taken about the same time. The middle is solidly in Hungarian hands for the flanks look to be Soviet opportunities.  You can also see in the very middle of the picture a Marder that had come down the road only to be taken out by a T-34. While it might be harder to see units that don’t move or fire, a six is still a six!

Just a few more turns until turn 9, again the Soviet 120mm mortars came in, nearly taking out the Hungarian radio truck. On the Soviet left flank, with the dug in Pak36 pinned down the recently arrived Soviet T-70s decide to roll past. The Hungarian mortar on the hill is taken out by the Soviet short barrel 76 and the Soviet infantry try their best to move forward as a wave, if they’re lucky and some suppression fire is effective in town, they might be able to get in for an assault. Luck was not with them.

Getting down to the wire, chits aren’t quite flying out of the bag but the Hungarians are taking a few losses as are the Soviets. The attack into the town is blunted by fire from the town. Bad rolls trying to suppress as well as distractions elsewhere leave the Soviet infantry by themselves to force the town. On the Soviet right flank a T-34 is able to take an objective before it is pinned and then unpinned.

At this point the Soviets are realizing they could get a few tanks off the far edge but that is about it. The infantry in the town will not be easily dislodged and precious time was lost with the lack of reinforcements for the Soviets on turns 1-3. The captured Zis-3 gun is take care of, and on the right flank the Hungarian are pulling infantry squads back to the objective to see if they can annoy the T-70s and single T-34. The Hungarians are effectively down to their last 38t, and their Pak36 guns aren’t very effective against T-34s but regardless the Hungarian lines are holding and the majority of Soviet infantry forces are unable to move forward.

The last 120mm Soviet mortar barrage is unable to pin any of the Hungarian infantry in the town once again.

The last picture in the series, one T-34 has moved off behind Hungarian lines, another would follow but the end of the game is neigh, while the Hungarians have effectively held the Soviets at bay their moral has broken on turn 8. The toll of having to unpin their own forces as well as loss of tanks and units on the hill that the Soviet 120s managed to hit twice added up. Additionally with the new rules which makes HE a bit more effective for onboard guns helped result in some key Hungarian losses.

All in all we gave portions of the new 2.0 rules a good shake down. We were happy with changes over all and felt that some of the things that needed to be addressed were, and nothing that we felt was already solid was changed. We feel that Battlegroup 2.0 is going to be a solid evolution of the game.

It’s hard to say how soon everything will be bundled up in a book that you’ll be able to purchase but when it does you’ll want to pick it up!  Keep a close eye on https://www.battlegroup.uk/