Book publishers Osprey wing their way to the App Store with Battleplan: American Civil War

Hold the line, brave rectangles.

Much like you can tell the age of a tree by counting its rings, you can tell how deeply nerdy a history geek is by scanning his bookshelves and counting the Osprey books. Osprey is a publisher of lavishly-illustrated military history books covering any conceivable period and topic — from Spanish tercios of the 16th century to a biography of the H&K MP5.

Not content to stay in the famously lucrative book racket, Osprey are apparently branching out into games. Battleplan: The American Civil War has just been released on iOS, published by Osprey and developed by British multi-media agency The Mustard Corporation.

Battleplan is a real-time strategy game with a 10-battle campaign. The combat engine seems to model morale and supply, and given Osprey’s involvement I have high hopes for it. I’m a little surprised that a game associated with the famously art-oriented Osprey is so homely, though.

Watch the trailer below and find Battleplan on the App Store — there’s a free lite version to test out as well.

Thanks, Tanker.