Welcome to A Whiff of Grapeshot2026! : a two-day Bataille Empire event held at Battlefield Hobbies over Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th January 2026.

Version 2 of the Bataille Empire Ruleset will be used for this tournament.

The figure scale will be 15mm or 18mm figures with a UD of 3cm.

The standard BE basing conventions will apply eg. Standard Infantry Battalion of 4 bases, Cavalry 2 bases, Artillery Battery 1 base etc.

All figures used should be painted and based to at least a basic wargaming standard. All figures should reasonably represent the unit depicted.

Standard size units must have a frontage of between 6cm - 8cm in line and 3cm - 4cm in column.

This is an open event so any army from the army lists in the rule book is welcome.

Players must build a ‘legal’ 220 point army list. From this 220 point list players must then form a  45 point maximum scouting force – This is probably made up of 1 division but could potentially be 2. This is to be made up of any light or medium cavalry that are in the 220 point main list. It can be commanded by any of the list’s Divisional Commanders. NOTE : this force may be a cavalry division that is already in the main army or may be formed by picking light and medium cavalry from various divisions within the army.
Nominate one of their divisions to be the ‘Vanguard’ division – this can be any division they choose up to the value of 90 points (including CIC). It can have Corps reserves added to it but the max point value is to be 90 points, including CIC. Some army lists have Vanguard or Avance Guard type divisions – the player does not have to use these divisions for this role if he/she does not want to – but they are generally a good fit for this role. Please note that the divisional commander for this 'Vanguard Division'  may not be the same commander used for the 45 point Scouting force.

Army lists should be submitted by 3rd January 2026 to :  roddytrimble@mail.com

Army lists can be submitted in any format eg Word, Excel etc but must show the army name, page number from the rule book, points for each unit/division/army. It must also show any special abilities each unit has eg : Elan / Rifle / Good Shooter etc.

Once people have registered their intention to play and paid their entry fee they will receive a form form Roddy on which they must show what units and comanders are in their Scouting Force and what division will be utilised as the Vanguard Division and whether any Corps reserves are being attached to it (for game 2 only)

The duration of game one will be 1 hour 45 minutes, game 2 will be 2 hours in duration and each remaining game will be 3 hours in duration  and every effort must be made to play to a conclusive result or  7 turns whichever is acehived soonest. Be aware that the end of turn 7 is a hard stop - no further play therafter.

 Once the tournament organiser has called time the current game turn should be completed as speedily as possible.

Tables will be 120cm x 80cm and will be set up by the tournament organiser prior to game 1 commencing on Saturday. The tables will be reset after game 3 on Saturday so there will be no possibility of playing the same table twice. - Other than games 1 &2. (please contact me if you are able to supply a table for the tournament)

Game 1 will use the Surprise Mission. Game 2 will use the Refused Flank Mission. For games 3 to 5 the tournament organiser will draw randomly  for the mission to be played prior to each game. All players will therefore play the same mission. Once a mission has been played it will be removed from the allocation pot therefore no mission will be played twice. Missions to be used on games 3 -5 - Encounter / Battle / Attrition.

Players should bring with them : their army, at least 1 printout of their army list, the form detailing their Scout Force and Vanguard division, measuring apparatus, tokens to indicate attrition, casualties and disorder, dice, tokens to indicate objectives and tokens to indicate divisional orders. 

Referees : TBC. Please try and come to a gentlemanly / womanly agreement amongst yourselves on any rules disagreement or interpretation.  If you cannot come to agreement and a referee has to make a decision this decision will be final right or wrong, please respect this.

All National Characteristics as detailed in the army list section of the rule book will be in play. 

Any current official clarifications  and errata documents will be used and considered part of the rules. 

Table Allocation & Match Making :

The First round draw will be entirely random matching Coalition army's vs Empire Army's. The same players will contest game 2.  A modified Swiss tournament format will determine the draws for rounds 3, 4 and 5 - pairing players with similar tournament rankings ( eg highest placed Coalition player will play highest placed Empire player etc). No player should play the same player twice (dependant on an 8 player minimum turnout).

Upon being allocated an opponent and table players will play the mission called out by the tournament organiser. All players will play the same mission each round. Five separate missions will be played over the weekend.

On game 1 players will then follow the procedure in the rule book to ascertain attacking player and table sides for each player. Game Two's attacking player and table sides are determined by the results of game1. For games 3 - 5 the attacking player will be the player from the side that has accumulated the most tournament points.

Tables and terrain will be pre set by the tournament organiser and will be reset after game three. 

Scoring:

At the end of the game tally up victory points for each side and establish the level of victory / defeat (as per page 82 of the rulebook)

Using the score sheets provided enter the level of victory / defeat for each player 

Note : If one army has reached breakpoint and is routed the game is always scored as a crushing victory for the opponent (with the exception of Game 1)

Tournament Points will be calculated as follows :

Crushing Victory : 7 points to the winner 1 point to the loser
Decisive Victory : 6 points to the winner 2 points to the loser
Marginal Victory : 5 Points to the winner 3 points to the loser
Draw : 4 points each player