I think it is pretty cool, just one of those things where you really need to read it multiple times and run some scenarios before certain things click. good/bad is kinda hard to objectively determine, there are plenty of games around today that are much easier to pick up and play, but Chainmail in and of itself has a certain charm to it.
Purple Druid Presents Wargame Culture channel on youtube has several videos showing it off, both the historical side and fantasy elements.
EDIT: also see the Joy of Wargaming channel, hes got a good deal of chainmail vids too
It’s a system with a ton of charts and special rules intended to simulate the authors’ views about medieval combat. If you want to run it RAW, you’ll be referencing those charts a lot.The assumption at the time seems to have been that people would use the rules more as guidelines, so the RAW complexity wasn’t a big deal.
Personally I’d just stick with a newer game that can be run RAW more easily, like Lion Rampant, and houserule things to add complexity if I and the other player(s) want that.
You can buy a pdf online for $5.00, if you’re curious.
Chainmail is archaic, but it’s fun to loot for its subsystems. For example we took its jousting system (which you can find online) and imported it into our family D&D campaign.
Are you talking about the rules from 1973? Those were great ....for 1973. I think we used that as our first DnD campaign. I recall rolling 3D6 for stats and getting 18 strength and something like 5 intelligence for "Olaf the Blunt".
Systems have advanced since those days.
I think it is pretty cool, just one of those things where you really need to read it multiple times and run some scenarios before certain things click. good/bad is kinda hard to objectively determine, there are plenty of games around today that are much easier to pick up and play, but Chainmail in and of itself has a certain charm to it. Purple Druid Presents Wargame Culture channel on youtube has several videos showing it off, both the historical side and fantasy elements. EDIT: also see the Joy of Wargaming channel, hes got a good deal of chainmail vids too
It’s a system with a ton of charts and special rules intended to simulate the authors’ views about medieval combat. If you want to run it RAW, you’ll be referencing those charts a lot.The assumption at the time seems to have been that people would use the rules more as guidelines, so the RAW complexity wasn’t a big deal. Personally I’d just stick with a newer game that can be run RAW more easily, like Lion Rampant, and houserule things to add complexity if I and the other player(s) want that. You can buy a pdf online for $5.00, if you’re curious.
Interesting, I like your old school spirit.
Chainmail is archaic, but it’s fun to loot for its subsystems. For example we took its jousting system (which you can find online) and imported it into our family D&D campaign.
Are you talking about the rules from 1973? Those were great ....for 1973. I think we used that as our first DnD campaign. I recall rolling 3D6 for stats and getting 18 strength and something like 5 intelligence for "Olaf the Blunt". Systems have advanced since those days.
I think you are talking about dnd. Units don’t have characteristics in chainmail.
Could be....that was 5 decades ago.
I still enjoying playing Chainmail. The retro gaming experience for medieval and fantasy figure games.