Battleplan (magazine)

"(For the television series, see Battleplan)"

Battleplan was a magazine devoted to providing variants, scenarios, and articles on game strategy for wargaming products by a variety of publishers. The first issue appeared in March/April 1987, with the last issue, Number 9, appearing in 1989. The first six issues had been published by Diverse Talents, Inc. (DTI also published "Fire & Movement" and "Space Gamer" at that time) until DTI was bought out by World Wide Wargamers (3W), who continued to publish the magazine for three more issues.

The magazine had low production values, being printed on low grade newsprint rather than high quality paper like its sister magazines of the day.

Major features of the nine issues (list is representative, not exhaustive) are as follows, giving an idea of the range of publishers and games covered by this ambitious but low quality periodical:

Issue 1 - March/April 1987

*Two "Squad Leader" Scenarios
*Solitaire Scenario for "Up Front"
*Variant for Avalon Hill's "Fortress Europa" (including counters)
*Scenario for SSG's "Carriers at War"
*Rules variants for GDW's "A House Divided" (first of three part article)
*Political variants for Avalon Hill's "Russian Campaign"
*Scenario for Task Force's "Armor at Kursk"
*Variant situation cards and weather effects for Jedko game "Field Marshal" (including cards)
*Escalation variant for Yaquinto WWII card game "Combat Cards II"
*Tournament scenario contest for Panther game "Warlords of the World"
*Assorted small variants for "World In Flames", "Third Reich", "Operation Konrad"

Issue 2 - May/June 1987

*Two "Squad Leader" Scenarios
*"Supremacy" Variants
*Scenario for SSG's "Battlefront"
*Rules variants for GDW "A House Divided" (part 2)
*Scenario for "Cobra"
*Variants for "Cobra"
*Variants for Avalon Hill's "Luftwaffe"
*Japanese Jet variant for Avalon Hill's "Dauntless"
*Strategy article on "Stratego"
*Fallschirmjäger variant for "Ambush!"
*Decline and Fall: 1944-45 Campaign Game (new scenario) for "World in Flames"
*4th edition corrections and optional rules for "World in Flames"
*Variants for Avalon Hill's "Bismarck"
*Variants for Avalon Hill's "Wooden Ships and Iron Men"
*Assorted small variants for "War at Sea", "Napoleon's Last Battles", "Hue", "Op Badr", and "Dunkirk 1940"
*New aircraft for Avalon Hill's "Richtofen's War"

Issue 3 - July/August 1987

*scenario for "Third Reich"
*review of "Mission Grenada"
*variants and optional rules for "Mission Grenada"
*two scenarios for "Squad Leader"
*"Squad Leader" abbreviations Defined
*rules variants for GDW's "A House Divided" (part 3)
*alternative "Risk" rules
*"Axis & Allies" variants (including cards)
*"Empires in Arms" variant
*SPI's "War in Europe" variant
*scenario for "Remember the Maine" (Strategy & Tactics game
*extras for GDW's "Trenchfoot"
*variant for "War at Sea"

Issue 4 Sep/Oct 1987

*"Shogun" editorial
*"Squad Leader" scenarios - based on Guy Sajer's book "The Forgotten Soldier"
*"Panzers at Kursk"
*"Blue Max" variants
*"Ambush!" scenario
*"Battlewagon"
*"Fortress America"
*"Battle for Moscow"
*Avalon Hill's "Midway"

Issue 5

*two "Squad Leader" scenarios
*"Russian Campaign II" changes and strategies for expansion kit
*new scenarios for "Assault on Singapore"
*additional campaigns for "Top Gun"
*two new scenarios for Omega Game's "Victory in Europe"
*optional rules for "A World in Flames"
*scenario for Victory Games' "2nd Fleet"
*variant for "Guns of August"
*interview with Rodger MacGowan
*short variants for "Duel in the Desert" and "North African Campaign"
*strategies and errata for "Last Panzer Victory"
*variants for the "Battle of Debrecan"
*"Shanghai Trader" Tournament Rules

Issue 6 - June/July 1988

*"Midway" Random Events
*"1066" review and addendum
*"1066" variants, strategies and tactics
*"A House Divided" variant with counters
*"Central America" scenario
*"Axis & Allies" variant
*"strategies in "Russian Campaign"
*"Sniper! (board game): Special Forces" scenarios and variants
*"World in Flames" variant
*scenario for "Armor at Kursk"
*"Air War" realism variant
*"Empires in Arms" strategies

Issue 7 - Aug/Sept 1988

*complete minigame "Zulu War"
*West End Games' "Tank Leader" scenarios
*variants for "Shogun"
*"Ancients" scenarios
*"Battle for Moscow" mini-campaign
*GDW's "Great Patriotic War" errata and new variants
*"Fireteam" scenarios
*"4th Edition World in Flames" preview
*strategies in "World in Flames"
*scenario for Game Design Workshop's "1940"
*scenario for "Rommel in the Desert"
*Milton Bradley's "Fortress America" variant
*Extra firefights for "Platoon"
*variants for B-17, Queen of the Skies
*variant for "Okinawa" (game included in The Wargamer issue 55)
*extra teams for "Team Yankee"
*"Last Victory"
*"Raid on St.Nazaire" variant
*"Red Star/White Star" scenarios
*variant for "The Last Victory"
*variant for "Winter Storm"

Issue 8 - Jan/Feb 1989

*variant for "Eastern Front Solitaire"
*variant for "Zulu War" (last issue's minigame)
*"Bismarck" House Rules
*scenario for West End Games' "Druid"
*"Drive on Frankfurt" variants
*"Axis & Allies" scenario
*rules for combining "Nuclear War" and "Risk"
*Empires in Arms strategies
*aircraft for TSR's "Air War"
*variants for "Fortress America"
*US aircraft for GDW's "Blue Max"
*variant for Yaquinto's "Carrier"
*scenario for "Up Front"
*variant for "FireTeam"
*variants for S&T game "Kanev"
*"Third Reich" variant with map and rules
*scenarios for "Third Reich"

Issue 9

*"Duel in the Desert" errata
*"Remember the Maine" scenario
*"World in Flames" variant
*"Axis & Allies" variants
*campaign game for "Rolling Thunder"