Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2007 12:14:57 GMT -6
Woohoo! Glad to have found you guys.
I've got some questions.
Someone at Dragonsfoot was kind enough to direct me to this, the only known Chainmail forum on the intarweb.
Forgive me if you've already read and/or answered my questions on another site.
A Bit of Background:
I've watched with great interest as Paul S resurrected the Chainmail game at the Lake Geneva Gaming Convention, bringing some of the original players together to recreate the Battle at the Moathouse, etc.
This summer I got a chance to play one of those scenarios at LGGC3, and that experience (a very good one!) got me interested in incorporating this sort of play into my AD&D group, to represent some "off-screen, away from the party" events that are taking place in our campaign world, and also to fill up the odd session here and there when one of our players can't make it for whatever reason.
I've read through the Chainmail rules a few times (and also Swords & Spells, BTW, which I've rejected for the moment due to excessive complexity) and I'm still trying to wrap my head around some of the basics. I've also started gathering minis of the sorts relevant to the first conflict I had in mind - hobbitses, men-at-arms, militia, a couple of knights, archers, wizards, zombies, skeletons, etc.
Questions about Chainmail:
What is the sweet-spot for army size? How many figs and/or how many men?
I realize that the game can handle anything from a handful per side up to thousands, but I'd be very curious to hear from those with experience about what sort of army size makes for the best experience.
Morale seems to be a huge factor - do you generally use ALL of the morale rules?
I see morale checks for all of these cases:
withstanding a cavalry (or pike) charge
post-melee, based on losses and remaining troop counts
when unit size drops by a certain % due to losses
The first one seems relatively straightforward. Those thundering horses must have spooked quite a lot of footmen, throwing them back in disarray. I'm not sure how to handle the fantasy troops under these conditions, but some thought and comparisons to the listed troop types should work that out (I hope?).
The post-melee checks seems rather complicated and time-consuming, but I understand what's happening here. Losses taken by each side, and how many troops are left to fight will certainly impact heavily on the outlook of the remaining soldiers.
The morale check due to casualties is a bit tougher for me to understand. Perhaps I'm just a bit thick...
When casualties exceed a certain percentage of a unit's original strength (% varies be unit type), we check morale. Fine so far.
If the unit succeeds (remains stable), it need not check morale again until such time as it suffers losses to the stated percentage of it's original strength, but at such time it must be removed from the table for the duration of the game.
What does that part in italics mean?
For example, Light Foot = 25%. So a Light Foot unit must check morale when it 1/4 of the unit is lost. When do they check again? When another 1/4 is lost? Or when the unit has been reduced to 1/4 of its original size?
And the rule gets fuzzier (for me, anyway) when you consider Heavy Foot (33.3%) or Knights (50%).
Do these only perform the one morale check due to casualties, and then never again?
I'm sure there will be more, but my fingers are tired...
Thanks in advance for any input.
I've got some questions.
Someone at Dragonsfoot was kind enough to direct me to this, the only known Chainmail forum on the intarweb.
Forgive me if you've already read and/or answered my questions on another site.
A Bit of Background:
I've watched with great interest as Paul S resurrected the Chainmail game at the Lake Geneva Gaming Convention, bringing some of the original players together to recreate the Battle at the Moathouse, etc.
This summer I got a chance to play one of those scenarios at LGGC3, and that experience (a very good one!) got me interested in incorporating this sort of play into my AD&D group, to represent some "off-screen, away from the party" events that are taking place in our campaign world, and also to fill up the odd session here and there when one of our players can't make it for whatever reason.
I've read through the Chainmail rules a few times (and also Swords & Spells, BTW, which I've rejected for the moment due to excessive complexity) and I'm still trying to wrap my head around some of the basics. I've also started gathering minis of the sorts relevant to the first conflict I had in mind - hobbitses, men-at-arms, militia, a couple of knights, archers, wizards, zombies, skeletons, etc.
Questions about Chainmail:
What is the sweet-spot for army size? How many figs and/or how many men?
I realize that the game can handle anything from a handful per side up to thousands, but I'd be very curious to hear from those with experience about what sort of army size makes for the best experience.
Morale seems to be a huge factor - do you generally use ALL of the morale rules?
I see morale checks for all of these cases:
withstanding a cavalry (or pike) charge
post-melee, based on losses and remaining troop counts
when unit size drops by a certain % due to losses
The first one seems relatively straightforward. Those thundering horses must have spooked quite a lot of footmen, throwing them back in disarray. I'm not sure how to handle the fantasy troops under these conditions, but some thought and comparisons to the listed troop types should work that out (I hope?).
The post-melee checks seems rather complicated and time-consuming, but I understand what's happening here. Losses taken by each side, and how many troops are left to fight will certainly impact heavily on the outlook of the remaining soldiers.
The morale check due to casualties is a bit tougher for me to understand. Perhaps I'm just a bit thick...
When casualties exceed a certain percentage of a unit's original strength (% varies be unit type), we check morale. Fine so far.
If the unit succeeds (remains stable), it need not check morale again until such time as it suffers losses to the stated percentage of it's original strength, but at such time it must be removed from the table for the duration of the game.
What does that part in italics mean?
For example, Light Foot = 25%. So a Light Foot unit must check morale when it 1/4 of the unit is lost. When do they check again? When another 1/4 is lost? Or when the unit has been reduced to 1/4 of its original size?
And the rule gets fuzzier (for me, anyway) when you consider Heavy Foot (33.3%) or Knights (50%).
Do these only perform the one morale check due to casualties, and then never again?
I'm sure there will be more, but my fingers are tired...
Thanks in advance for any input.