Battle Masters simulates a battle between factions from the Warhammer Fantasy setting: on one side the forces of good, the human Empire; and against them the evil forces of Chaos, featuring a combination of units from Warhammer's Chaos army and Orcs & Goblins army.

The Chaos army has an Ogre Champion which can move three square and attack three times; however, the order in which it does each is determined randomly.

Units which survive a battle in a campaign gain an Elite Token which grants an additional Combat die.

Imperial Lords Chaos Warband An optional rule assigns a points value to each unit, allowing for players to build armies of equivalent strength.

In the December 1992 edition of Dragon (Issue 188), Rick Swan was initially impressed by the contents of the game box: "The dozens of plastic pieces, detailed down to the bolts on the war hammers and scowls on the goblins, are a miniaturist’s dream.

The enormous vinyl battle map, with nearly 25 square feet of green fields and azure rivers, may be the biggest playing area ever included in a board game.

Throw in a 5” plastic castle, a handful of skull dice, and enough odds and ends to bury the family dog, and it’s like a visit from Santa Claus."

He felt the rules were overly simplistic, "as if the designers were afraid that excessive decision-making might cause the players’ heads to explode."

Despite its issues, he pointed out that when he play-tested it with grade-school kids, "everyone one of them adored ... a game big enough to fill the living-room floor."

However, the reviewer found that the rules were far too over-simplified for adults, "but it is true that this is a board game aimed at a fairly young audience."

The reviewer concluded, "Before we mourn the fate of poor buyers who were dazzled by the profusion and quality of the material [...] the option exists to upgrade the rules system at your convenience.

In a 2022 interview, Battle Masters designer Stephen Baker reflected on criticisms that the game lacks strategic depth: There is more strategy to it than you realize.