Battlegroup

Battlegroup is sometimes used to mean a big military force, especially a naval unit, but Grand Army pedants point out that, in the GA at least, the term has a storied history and a relatively precise meaning, referring to a large formation (at least a reinforced regiment) specialized in specific types of operations and issued equipment suited specifically for that purpose. The concept was quite popular during the Great War as the GA fought in multiple theaters and environments. Budgetary pressures however put most of them on the chopping block; additionally, the Grand Army began to increasingly favor a highly adaptive approach to combat.

Operating Today

Airborne Battlegroup

Paratroopers. Conceived the turning point battles made a sustained Grand Army offensive a realistic possibility, the Airborne Battlegroup or ABG represented that the GA was quite willing to innovate late in the war. ("Hey, let's take some of our best troops, give them a bunch of extra training, and then they'll jump out of a freaking PLANE!") Modified Tacfortresses were used in the early drops. Although the biggest combat drop in the Great War was the initial landing in Transbaron (Operation Commencement), the ABG performed several large-scale drops in the Transbaron campaign. They also conducted a number of smaller-scale actions and raids across the Web. The ABG expanded their repertoire and innovated, and are now known to specialize in orbital troop insertion.

=Special Amphibious Group

The only battlegroup created post-Great War, the Special Amphibious Group (nicknamed "SAG" or "the Battletoads") is a Kriegsnavee unit. They are highly unusual in the Grand Army as a mecha-focused unit, as they operate the Kriegsnavee's amphibious and aquatic mecha, the Picon and the Canceron. SAG cross-trains with Grenadier regiments to practice amphibious assaults. A number of old Great War-era battleships have been taken out of mothballs and re-purposed as mecha support ships (with, you know, really big guns.)

Discontinued Battlegroups

Desert Korps

Unit specializing in desert operations, intended to be light, highly mobile, and largely self-sufficient. Typical Grand Army firepower placed too much of a strain on supply lines in the desert even for the GA's logistics wizards, so this unit was constructed from the ground up with a small "footprint". Although Kakkarans were the most numerous, the Korps included people from desert-dwelling countries across the known Web. The Desert Korps earned a victory in defending Figaro (at a time when GA fortunes were at low ebb), and also produced the famous Fremen Kremer. This twin successes allowed the Desert Krops to dodge budget cuts for well into the 40s, but eventually the axeman came for it.

=Shock Battlegroup

The Shock Battlegroup were siege specialists; the Dark Wrath had built a number of fortifications as part of Burzmale's "Fortress Transbaron" strategy. These were intended to prevent Grand Army tank troops from making sweeping advances and encirclements. The Shock Battlegroup was created in order to reduce these fortifications to rubble. Although this unit included assault troops and combat engineers, it was most notable for maintaining regimental sized formations of artillery. These artillery regiments had tens of thousands of large-bore guns at their disposal. Celiose, himself a former artilleryman, was reputedly quite fond of the unit. After the war most of this unit was broken up and distributed to various Grenadier and Regular units.

Mountain Division

As the name says, light troops equipped for warfare; the descendants of the ski troops Celiose used at the Battle of Frozen Bay. Ironically, the GA didn't have them on hand at Arderine Pass, where they would've been really useful.

In Other Armies

Very few armies can afford to maintain such special-purpose troops, and they were rarely called battlegroups; the Esper Union practiced it the most, maintaining regiment-sized formations for air-mobile troops, amphibious marines, and other specialists. Scande's Assault Engineers also qualify as a unit with a very particular set of skills.