Battlesystem

Battlesystem is a tabletop miniature wargame designed as a supplement for use with the "Dungeons & Dragons" role-playing game. It was first published in 1985 and was usable with either "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" or the Basic/Expert/etc "Dungeons & Dragons" (see editions of Dungeons & Dragons). The game was promoted as a successor to "Chainmail" and thus as a return to the wargame roots of "Dungeons & Dragons". ["With the BATTLESYSTEM game, the AD&D and D&D games go back to their roots" (Niles 1985a:1)]

In a Battlesystem game each miniature represents multiple troops (10, 5, or 2, depending on the troops' level or hit dice) or a single hero or commander. [(Niles 1985a:2)] There are no statistics in the game for any troops or characters, instead all are derived from the relevant "Dungeons & Dragons" publications. This means that any creature from the "Monster Manual" or similar publications can be used as 'troops', with their in-game point cost based on the XP reward listed for killing the creature. [(Niles 1985a:31)]

First edition

The first edition of Battlesystem was sold as a box set which contained: [As listed on box and in Game Parts section (Niles 1985a:1)]

*32-page rule book
*24-page scenario book
*16-page guide to miniatures
*2 Player Aid Cards
*2 Metal Miniature Generals
*3-D Adventure foldup Figures
*Army Roster Sheets
*801 die-cut counters
*2 Balls

The Rulebook is divided into four parts that allow three levels of play. Part 1 is an introduction. Part 2, The Basic Game, covers the basic rules of movement and melee combat. [(Niles 1985a:8)] Part 3, The Intermediate Game, adds missiles, artillery, cavalry, individual Heroes, special formations and terrain effects. [(Niles 1985a:16)] Part 4, The Advanced Game allows for Magic, flying, weather, night battles and special monsters as well as introducing campaign rules that allow for integration of Battlesystem games into a role-playing campaign. [(Niles 1985a:20)] The game can be played either with or without a Dungeon Master, though use of a referee is strongly recommended if using certain magics such as invisibility or illusions. [(Niles 1985a:1)]

The Scenario Book contains 4 scenarios. Three of the scenarios form a linked campaign in a generic Fantasy setting, one for each level of the game. The fourth is an Advanced Game scenario for Dragonlance, "Battle of Qualinost", that takes place during the time period of "DL2 Dragons of Flame" while the heroes are in Pax Tharkas. [(Niles 1985b)]

The game rules state that it was designed to be played with either 25 mm or 15 mm miniatures. However although the game did not require a certain size of miniatures, the official Battlesystem miniatures that were released at the time, except for the two in the box set that were 25 mm, were all in 15 mm scale. Also at the time many companies producing 25 mm figures were starting to make larger figures, sometimes even officially called as 'Heroic 25 mm' or 28 mm, that were hard to fit on the official Battlesystem base sizes.

econd Edition

The second edition of Battlesystem, for use with 2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, was available in the form of two books "Battlesystem" (1989) and "Battlesystem Skirmishes" (1991)

One significant change was the move to assumption of using 25 mm miniatures as standard. 15 mm could still be used according to the rules, but the base size was increased to allow for larger 25 mm miniatures and all photographs in the rule book were of 25 mm miniatures.

The game won the 1989 Origins Award for "Best Miniatures Rules of 1989". [cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =1989 List of Winners
work =
publisher =Academy of Adventure Gaming, Arts & Design
date =
url =http://www.originsgames.com/awards/1989
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2007-03-17 ]

Notes

References

*cite journal
last =Dobson
first =Michael
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =From first draft to last gasp
journal =Dragon #100
volume =Vol. X
issue =No. 3
pages =96–98
publisher =TSR
year = 1985
month = August
url =
issn =0279-6848
*cite journal
last =Musson
first =Roger
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =Notices: Battlesystem
journal =Imagine
volume =
issue =No. 30
pages =43
publisher =TSR UK
year = 1985
month = September
url =
issn =
*cite book
last =Niles
first =Douglas
authorlink =Douglas Niles
coauthors =
title =Battlesystem Rulebook
publisher =TSR
date =1985a
location =
pages =
url =
doi =
isbn = from "Battlesystem: Fantasy Combat Supplement" Boxed set.
*cite book
last =Niles
first =Douglas
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =Battlesystem Scenario Book
publisher =TSR
date =1985b
location =
pages =
url =
doi =
isbn = from "Battlesystem: Fantasy Combat Supplement" Boxed set.
*cite journal
last =Niles
first =Doug
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =The chance of a lifetime
journal =Dragon #100
volume =Vol. X
issue =No. 3
pages =86–94
publisher =TSR
year = 1985
month = August
url =
issn =0279-6848
*cite book
last =Niles
first =Douglas
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =Battlesystem
publisher =TSR
date =1989
location =
pages =
url =
doi =
isbn = 0-88038-770-X
*cite book
last =Nesmith
first =Bruce
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =Battlesystem Skirmishes
publisher =TSR
date =1991
location =
pages =
url =
doi =
isbn = 1-56076-141-5
*cite book
last =Winter
first =Steven
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =The Art of Three-Dimensional Gaming
publisher =TSR
date =1985 from "Battlesystem: Fantasy Combat Supplement" Boxed set.
*cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =Battlesystem
work =
publisher =The Miniatures Page
date =1999-09-04
url =http://theminiaturespage.com/rules/fan/battlsys.html
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2007-03-17