Chainmail
Rules for Medieval Miniatures

The Middle Ages is probably one of the best known but least understood periods in history. We do not pretend that these wargame rules will add significantly to anyone‘s knowledge, albeit they do reflect medieval warfare reasonably well, but they have a secondary purpose: besides providing you with an exciting and enjoyable battle game, we hope that these rules will interest the wargamer sufficiently to start him on the pursuit of the history of the Middle Ages. Such study will at least enrich the life of the new historian, and perhaps it will even contribute to the study of history itself.

The LGTSA Medieval Miniatures Rules were developed primarily for use with Elastolin and Starlux figures, which are 40 mm tall. However, they may be used equally well with any scale – including the inexpensive Airfix „Robin Hood“ and „Sheriff of Nottingham“ 1:76 scale plastic figures. Although the rules have been thoroughly playtested over a period of many months, it is likely that you will eventually find some part that seems ambiguous, unanswered, or unsatisfactory. When such a situation arises, settle it among yourselves, record the decision in the rules book, and abide by it from then on. These rules may be treated as guidelines around which you form a game that suits you. It is always a good idea to amend the rules to allow for historical precedence or common sense – follow the spirit of the rules rather than the letter.

The ratio of figures to men assumed is 1:20, the ground scale is 1:360 (1 inch = 10 yards), and one turn of play is roughly equivalent to one minute of time in battle. The troop ratio will hold true for 30 mm figures, but if smaller figures are used, it should be reduced to 1:10.

Contents

• Title: Chainmail – Rules for Medieval Miniatures
• Period: Medieval and medieval Fantasy
• Type: Tactical Wargame
• Time Scale: 1 turn = 1 minute
• Ground Scale: 1:360 (1 inch = 10 yards)
• Troop Scale: 1 figure = 1, 10 or 20 men
• Authors: Gary Gygax, Jeff Perren
• Illustrator: Don Lowry
• Format: 44 pages, spiral bound
• Language: English
• Publisher: TSR Rules
• Published: 1975 – 3rd Edition
• Download: The Compleat Chainmail

Evaluation

Chainmail is a classic medieval simulation game. The layout is typical of wargame rules from this early era: for example, the “Melee” chapter does not begin at the top of a new page, but on the last five lines of page 14. Chapter headings are hardly recognizable as such, and difficult sections are not explained with examples. Misunderstandings and misinterpretations are possible, which is why Gygax and Perren call for a certain degree of critical cooperation from the players right from the introduction.

The authors provide a surprising number of useful rules for medieval battles, which are at least as good as those of modern rule sets. However, there are also some pretty nonsensical sections such as the “Fatigue” rule, according to which a unit is classified as “fatigued” after only five minutes of marching. Once fatigue has set in, there appears to be no chance of recovery. The only option available to the player is to march for four minutes and then rest for one minute so that fatigue never sets in. The bookkeeping effort is immense, which is why the fatigue rule is unlikely to be used in earnest.

Chainmail also offers rules for man-to-man combat, where each figure represents a single soldier or knight, tournament rules based on the rock-paper-scissors game – but with eight different attacks and six possible defenses – and fantasy rules for playing with halflings, spirits and pixies, dwarves, goblins, elves, orcs, ogres, giants, heroes, superheroes, wizards, and magical weapons.

In addition, there are rules for sieges and magical sieges, in which war machines and mines, or dragon fire and magic attacks are used against towers or castle and city walls until they collapse, leaving a breach ready to be stormed.

Wargamers who are not put off by 16 pages of text with typewritten tables, who are adept at using text markers and sticky notes to add a little structure to this sea of small print, will find Chainmail a useful tool for medieval wargames. Chainmail is of course interesting and valuable, because it led to the famous Dungeon & Dragons.

Wargame Rules