Battlesystem Archives - Vintage RPG https://www.vintagerpg.com/tag/battlesystem/ The Art & History of Tabletop RPGs Sat, 24 Aug 2024 14:46:45 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://www.vintagerpg.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/cropped-Icon-1-90x90.jpg Battlesystem Archives - Vintage RPG https://www.vintagerpg.com/tag/battlesystem/ 32 32 Battlesystem (1985) https://www.vintagerpg.com/2023/12/battlesystem-1985/ https://www.vintagerpg.com/2023/12/battlesystem-1985/#respond Fri, 08 Dec 2023 10:01:00 +0000 https://www.vintagerpg.com/2023/12/well-it-was-bound-to-happen-eventually-this-is/ A deluxe box set with a focus on miniatures, released just as TSR shuttered its miniature production.

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]]> Well, it was bound to happen eventually. This is Battlesystem (1985), the box set of mass combat rules TSR spent decades trying to shove back into D&D, even as D&D was mostly leaving its wargame roots behind.

This is a craaaaazy product for the time. A two-inch box set packed with a rulebook, a scenario book, roster sheets, reference cards, piles of chits, a booklet of cardboard fold-up terrain, two metal miniatures and a guide to painting miniatures. This was obviously meant to entice players. If the contents of the box weren’t enough, the Jeff Easley cover featuring barbarian cavalry on triceratops-back at least makes a compelling case. The thing was a full-blown wargame, though, requiring lots of stats and math and resolution charts. Even if the various watered down introductions to Battlesystem (like those in the Dragonlance modules) convinced folks to try the full Battlesystem rules, they’d be crushed in an avalanche.

My favorite part of the boneheadedness of Battlesystem is that it doesn’t actually require miniatures. That’s why there are all those cardboard chits in the box. But why? Didn’t TSR play dirty with the Grenadier over the license for official D&D miniatures to found their own official miniature forge? Yes, indeed, they did. And the miniatures were so bad, production so agonized, that TSR shuttered the miniature division…just before Battlesystem hit shelves. Truly, the game wizards.

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]]> https://www.vintagerpg.com/2023/12/battlesystem-1985/feed/ 0 Battlesystem https://www.vintagerpg.com/2022/09/battlesystem/ https://www.vintagerpg.com/2022/09/battlesystem/#respond Mon, 12 Sep 2022 04:00:00 +0000 https://www.vintagerpg.com/?p=7457 Born from wargames, return to wargames.

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]]> Chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarge! This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we look at the Battlesystem, TSR’s mostly failed attempt to shoehorn wargaming back into the Dungeons & Dragons experience. We also talk a bit about TSR’s failed foray into making miniatures. Mess after mess. But at least it gave us that amazing Jeff Easley painting!

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