Battles for Empire 1870-1914

Battles for Empire 2 is a comprehensive miniatures rule set for fighting battles set in the second half of the nineteenth century as the imperial powers of Europe sought to expand and secure their empires around the globe and indigenous peoples fought to stop them. The game uses bespoke movement and morale tables for each army to give each a distinct character while using the same simple mechanics of play. Zulu, Sudan, Afghan, and Boer campaigns are catered for and playsheets that address Italian and French colonial wars in north Africa are also provided.

This is a "battle" game, not a skirmish game although its scaling is flexible: game units are assumed to be company stregth - 80-150 soldiers -- for the imperial armies and about double that for native armies. Scaling up to battalion-units requires no change to the game rules. There are "skirmish" rules that drop the scale down to platoons or sections. We have played both Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift using BFE2.

BFE was first published in 1999 followed by BFE2 in 2013. It remains a popular choice for players that want to play larger actions without single based figures. Any figure scale can be accommodated.

Description for the 2025 edition

Battles for Empire 1870 - 1902 Rules and Scenarios for British Imperial Warfare in Miniature.

From the back of the rule set:

Is a complete rules system for recreating the battles of British imperial conquest in miniature. Players command units of British regulars and trained colonial recruits, or fight against these invaders with Dervishes, Zulus, Pathans, or Boers.

Battles for Empire gives you the following:

• Rules are easily learned but tactically subtle.

• No mandatory basing Scheme required.

• Integrated movement and morale system makes ambitious plans difficult to coordinate under fire.

• Quick play is facilitated by a concise turn sequence and efficient mechanics supplemented with specific rules to represent the fighting character of each army.

• Includes optional rules for ambushes, commander heroics, and hidden deployment.

-Includes simple rules for gunboats, dhows, and attacking building and battlements.

Includes four historical scenarios: Khambula, Zulu War. Tamai, Sudan Campaign. Ahmed Kheyl, Second Afghan War. Colenso, Boer War.