diff --git a/game-app/game-core/src/main/java/games/strategy/engine/data/GameData.java b/game-app/game-core/src/main/java/games/strategy/engine/data/GameData.java
index c4c76191596..980b6c362d3 100644
--- a/game-app/game-core/src/main/java/games/strategy/engine/data/GameData.java
+++ b/game-app/game-core/src/main/java/games/strategy/engine/data/GameData.java
@@ -395,6 +395,14 @@ private void fixUpNullPlayers() {
     }
   }
 
+  @RemoveOnNextMajorRelease
+  public void fixUpNullPlayersInDelegates() {
+    BattleDelegate battleDelegate = (BattleDelegate) getDelegate("battle");
+    if (battleDelegate != null) {
+      battleDelegate.getBattleTracker().fixUpNullPlayers(playerList.getNullPlayer());
+    }
+  }
+
   public interface Unlocker extends Closeable {
     @Override
     void close();
diff --git a/game-app/game-core/src/main/java/games/strategy/engine/framework/GameDataManager.java b/game-app/game-core/src/main/java/games/strategy/engine/framework/GameDataManager.java
index 9a03b8a44e8..7eb257c1f25 100644
--- a/game-app/game-core/src/main/java/games/strategy/engine/framework/GameDataManager.java
+++ b/game-app/game-core/src/main/java/games/strategy/engine/framework/GameDataManager.java
@@ -74,9 +74,7 @@ public static Optional<GameData> loadGameUncompressed(final InputStream is) {
       final GameData data = (GameData) input.readObject();
       data.postDeSerialize();
       loadDelegates(input, data);
-      data.getBattleDelegate()
-          .getBattleTracker()
-          .fixUpNullPlayers(data.getPlayerList().getNullPlayer());
+      data.fixUpNullPlayersInDelegates();
       return Optional.of(data);
     } catch (final Throwable e) {
       log.warn(