Combat Grounds is a new Battlefield 2042 20v20 event series in which four factions compete in weekly matches to conquer and control regions on a strategic real-world map. Over six weeks, they battle to dominate the most regions and claim victory.

Players can sign up alone or with a friend, and matches take place every Sunday at 2 pm EDT / 8 pm CEST.

• The Basics
• How Matches Work
• The Event Schedule
• How Factions Work
• How to Sign-up

• What’s the Goal?
  • Four factions fight to dominate 24 regions over 6 weeks. The faction that controls the most regions at the end wins!
• Who’s Fighting? Meet the factions:
  • Free State Militia: Ex-soldiers building a new order; the green team.
  • Reclaimers: Civilians rebuilding their lives; the red team
  • Black Market Syndicate: Smugglers profiting from chaos; the yellow team.
  • Vanguard Collective: Tech rebels creating a digital future; the blue team.
• Where?
  • Each season takes place in a different real-world location. Season 0 is set in Madagascar, split into 24 regions.
    • Regions are identified using an alphanumeric grid system. This simple coordinate system uses a combination of a letter (A-D) and a number (1-6) to identify each region.
    • Regions can all be identified by both their names and coordinates.
    • Examples:
      • Ampisaraha Fields – B2
      • Antanimenakely Ridge – C2
  • Each faction starts with six regions under its control.
• When?
  • Lore-wise, this event takes place in 2043, after all the official Battlefield 2042 lore. This is our story to add extra fun to the event and is not considered part of the official lore.
    • Every week, our No-Pat News Network (NPN) correspondent will update the War Journal with audio and text about how the Battle for Madagascar of 2043 is evolving. The prologue is already available!
  • Sign-ups for you, the player, are open for roughly three weeks, and the first official matches are on Sunday, June 8th, 2025. You’ll find more information down below.
• What Game Mode?
  • The game mode being played in Season 0 is Conquest.
• Who?
  • This event is open to players from all platforms (PC, PS5, XSX) who live in North America or Europe. The servers used for this event will be a mixture of EAST US and EU, and players must be able to play on both servers to join.
    • We hope to expand our offering to other regions for future seasons if there is enough interest.

• Weekly Match-ups:
  • Every week, each faction plays one match against one of the other factions.
  • One faction picks who to attack first. The other two factions face off.
    • Factions can only attack the territory of another faction linked to their own.
      • The complete event ruleset, which will be released in the second week of May, will contain more details and specifics.
  • Weeks 1–4: Factions take turns picking first.
  • Weeks 5–6: The faction with the most regions picks first.
• Matches Explained:
  • A match is made up of two maps played back-to-back:
    • Map 1: The region being attacked (e.g., C2).
    • Map 2: The attacker’s region (e.g., B2).
  • On each map, teams play both sides (US and RU) for fairness.
    • This means that each match is made up of 4 total sides played.
  • In Conquest, scoring is based on overall tickets. The team with the most tickets left at the end of both sides wins the map.
    • Example: If Team A wins US side 150-0 but loses RU side 0-140, the final result for the map will be Team A 150-140 Team B. Team A won the map by 10 tickets.
• Winning Regions:
  • Win a map, control that region.
  • You might take their region, lose yours, or both—it’s all about strategy!
• Match Example:
  • The Vanguard Collective attacks C2 from B2. The Black Market Syndicate controls C2.
  • Each region will have a map assigned to it. Teams play both maps in their match.
  • Here are the four possible outcomes:
    • Both factions successfully win their maps, and they both keep their regions:
      • 
    • The Vanguard Collective wins both maps; they now control both regions.
      
      • 
    • Each faction wins its opponent’s map, swapping region control.
      
      • 
    • The Black Market Syndicate wins both maps; they now control both regions.
      
      • 

Sign-up window:

• Players have close to four weeks to sign up for Season 0.
• Opens: Saturday, May 3rd, 2025
• Closes: Sunday, June 1st, 2025

Match Schedule:

• Each Faction plays 1 match every week. Both matches happen at the same time.
• All matches take place every Sunday at 2 pm EDT / 8 pm CEST.
• Match Days:
  
  • Matchday 1: Sunday, June 8th, 2025
  • Matchday 2: Sunday, June 15th, 2025
  • Matchday 3: Sunday, June 22nd, 2025
  • Matchday 4: Sunday, June 29th, 2025
  • Matchday 5: Sunday, July 6th, 2025
  • Matchday 6: Sunday, July 13th, 2025

When you join a faction, you will be assigned one of three base roles:

• Command Team Members
  • This is the leadership group that oversees faction operations.
    • Three infantry leaders.
    • One Armor Leader
    • One Air Leader
  • They are responsible for all tactical decisions for their faction, including but not limited to:
    • Deciding which maps must be assigned to each region at the event’s start.
    • Deciding which factions and regions to attack throughout the event.
    • Deciding on the strategies to use on each map.
    • Deciding which operators will be playing each map.
• Company Commanders
  • This is the mid-tier leadership of each faction.
  • They are responsible for leading each squad of operators in-game and ensuring that the specific strategies are used on each map.
• Operator
  • The heart of each faction. The soldiers that get it done, whether on the ground, in armored vehicles, or the air. Without every operator, there is no faction.
  • Their job is simple, yet the hardest. They have to show up to each match and give it their all!

 

• During sign-up, you can select the faction you’d like to represent. We’ll do our best to accommodate everyone while balancing the factions.
• If two players sign up together (mentioning their names in the form), we guarantee that they will end up in one of the factions together.
• There are limited spots available. Signing up doesn’t guarantee a spot. Spots will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis.

20v20 CONQUEST EXPERIENCE CODES:

The Battlefield Portal experience codes will be available starting Thursday, May 8th, 2025.

• Map Order 1: AA1C4Y
  • Haven / Arica / Manifest / Stranded / Kaleidoscope / Orbital
• Map Order 2:
  • Orbital / Kaleidoscope / Stranded / Manifest / Arica / Haven