CHAINMAIL, a miniatures wargame

[Deleted]

Just wondering, how many folks here have actually played CHAINMAIL as a genuine miniatures wargame?

For my money, it's still my go-to historical medieval miniatures wargame.

[Sean Michael Kelly]

I haven't. I have been looking for an inexpensive way to build some armies and try it though!

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[thorswulf]

Paper minis are cheap, easy to make up, and super easy to store!

[cooper]

Lego blocks, wood blocks, or cut peices of cardboard, look at the combat examples from swords and spells as inspiration. One unit of human spearmen (one man, ten, or twenty men depending on your scale) would be 5/8thx5/8th inch block. An ogre would be 1"5/8"x1"5/8".

Draw an arrow on them so you know the facing--viola. I like chainmail with swords and spells scales.

[Deleted]

Jan 1, 2012 18:10:46 GMT -6 cooper said:

I like chainmail with swords and spells scales.

Interesting...why? I've played a boatload of CHAINMAIL and am curious as to what lack you found.

[DungeonDevil]

Just small stuff to try out the rules. This year I plan on making a truckload of paper flats with which I can finally run a full-scale battle.

[Deleted]

Jan 4, 2012 2:00:16 GMT -6 DungeonDevil said:

Just small stuff to try out the rules. This year I plan on making a truckload of paper flats with which I can finally run a full-scale battle.

Don't overlook the point system... it works. We used to play 200 or 300 point per side pickup games, or 250 normal, 100 fantasy per side.

Sadly, when you do that, the fantasy is pretty much limited to wizards, dragons, and superheroes. That's just the most effective way to spend 100 points.

(I seem to remember you can get a superhero, magic sword, magic armor, and magic arrow for 100 pts.)

[cooper]

well, 100 points is one well equipped superhero, or 250 elves, 25 units of elves can be much more effective than a lone hero in the right circumstances, useless against magical foes, which is where the hero shines, but 25 units of elves isn't something not to consider for spending 100 points. That also buys 6 ogres or 2 giants. Two giants are equal to 24 heavy foot (48 pts) and 2 catapults (40 pts), whereas the tricked out superhero is only as good as 8 men. The 100 points also buys you one unit (1:10) of direwolves or ghouls.

If my enemy had a dragon, I definitely want the superhero with the magic arrow (100 point figures are quite balanced it seems), but there are good reasons to take other fantasy figures in the right circumstances.

As to why I like the basing of S&S, it gives different bases for men with spears vs. men with 2 handed swords, sizes for hobgoblins as well as ogres. I mean they're almost the same, what I should really have said was I like the presentation of basing in S&S as I found it easier to read and understand, especially the chapter on facing and formation since S&S had pictures to go along with them.

[Deleted]

I see, I read it as "ground scale," not "base size." CHAINMAIL doesn't actually specify base size if I remember rightly.

[rsdean]

I used the man-to-man rules for medieval skirmishing for a while in the 90s, but it's been since it was new that I tried it for mass combat. These days I use home rules for medieval skirmishes, Armati and Warhammer Ancient Battles for massed ancients in a couple of sub-periods, and Hordes of the Things for massed fantasy. The most recent time I broke out a fantasy skirmish, I used Knights and Magick (Heritage Games, early 1980s).

[mightycthulhu]

I played in a 12 player scenario at Gen Con last year. It was a blast. The rules were surprisingly easy and fun!

[Sean Michael Kelly]

Since my last post on this thread I have finally gotten to play Chainmail and my 10yo son and I loved it. We used Games Workshop Battle of Middle Earth set and a few other mini-figs and had some ranks of orcs, elves, and men of Gondor. Can't wait to do it again!