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Showing posts from May, 2026

Chainmail (Gygax & Perren) - The Unsung Virtues

 It has been discussed to exhaustion how these medieval rules were a crucial influence in the genesis of Dungeons & Dragons. This is not the purpose of this post. I will focus on its virtues strictly from a wargaming perspective as a mass battles ruleset.  Chainmail contains a variety of rules. I will only discuss point 1 in the following list: Medieval mass battles rules Siege rules. Man-to-man (skirmish) medieval Jousting rules Fantasy additions to mass battles rules and sieges It is history of gaming how Dave Arneson meshed 3 with 5, added  Hit Points and created the concept of RPGs. There is plenty of books and articles discussing this. On the contrary, I will highlight 3 sub-systems of the mass battles rules that I think deserve more attention. WEATHER  This table in my opinion is pure genius. So simple, dynamic and elegant. It can be overlaid into any ruleset. I would only add perhaps the possibility of mist (reduced visibility) either in the cloudy or rai...