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Chainmail (game)
Encyclopedia
Chainmail is a medieval miniatures wargame
created by Gary Gygax
and Jeff Perren. Gygax developed the game with fellow Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association
(LGTSA) member Perren, a hobby-shop owner with whom he had become friendly, and the game was first published in 1971. The 1971 edition includes a fantasy supplement, and is one of the oldest sets of rules for fantasy miniature wargaming, the others including the New England Wargamers Association fantasy wargame called Middle Earth and Tony Bath
's Hyboria campaign. The supplement contains spells and monsters that reappeared in Dungeons and Dragons.
miniatures for medieval wargaming was promoted by Siege of Bodenburg
, which appeared in Strategy & Tactics
magazine in 1967. This motivated Jeff Perren to develop a few pages of his own rules for these miniatures. He introduced the rules to Gary Gygax
and the LGTSA
. Gygax expanded the rules to sixteen pages and published them in the newsletter of the Castle & Crusade Society
.
in 1971, becoming the publisher's biggest hit yet, selling one hundred copies per month. For this edition of the game, Gygax added rules for jousting
, man-to-man melee, and conducting battles with fantasy creatures. The man-to-man melee uses two six-sided dice (2d6
) to determine whether a kill is made and took account of the attacker's weapon and the defender's armor. The armor sequence is almost identical to that which would later be used in Dungeons & Dragons
.
Gygax wanted to capture the sort of swashbuckling action of Robert E. Howard
's Conan the Barbarian
books in a wargame. The fantasy creatures and spells exploited the contemporary popularity of The Lord of the Rings
and helped make Chainmail Guidon
's best seller. In a 2001 interview Gygax recalled that
Each of the fantasy creatures are treated as one of the six basic troop types. For example, halflings are treated as light foot and elves are treated as heavy foot. Giants are treated as twelve heavy footmen, and require twelve cumulative hits to kill. Heroes are treated as four heavy footmen, and require four simultaneous hits to kill. Wizards are not limited to fireballs and lightning bolts: they can cast other spells, and a stronger wizard can cancel the spell of a weaker wizard by rolling a seven or higher with two six-sided dice.
used Chainmail in his Blackmoor
campaign, and many elements of Chainmail were carried over wholesale into Dungeons & Dragons
(D&D) in 1974. In fact, the original edition of D&D
recommended that the reader own a copy of Chainmail. Gygax intended the Chainmail combat rules to be used in D&D, though he provided an alternative d20
attack option which eventually became standard.
Early D&D players could fall back to the Chainmail rules when conducting battles between armies, a situation where the D&D rules would be cumbersome. Improvisation was required, since D&D contained monsters and spells not covered in Chainmail. In Swords & Spells
(1976) Gygax tried to fix the problem by introducing a dice-free approach for large battles, which averaged each monster's D&D statistics. Swords & Spells was unpopular, and its rules were discarded in later editions of D&D.
acquired the rights to Chainmail and released the 3rd edition, which was printed as late as 1979. TSR then concentrated on role-playing game
s, leaving space for competition such as Warhammer
by Games Workshop
. In 1985, TSR released a successor to Chainmail called Battlesystem
; it went through two editions.
A game based on the d20 System
was available under the Chainmail name in 2002. It was replaced the following year by the Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures Game
, which made the switch from metal figures to pre-painted plastics, following the trend of competitors such as Mage Knight
.
Miniature wargaming
Miniature wargaming is a form of wargaming that incorporates miniature figures, miniature armor and modeled terrain as the main components of play...
created by Gary Gygax
Gary Gygax
Ernest Gary Gygax was an American writer and game designer best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons with Dave Arneson. Gygax is generally acknowledged as the father of role-playing games....
and Jeff Perren. Gygax developed the game with fellow Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association
Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association
The Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association was a prominent wargaming club active in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin during the 1960s and 1970s. Its membership included Gary Gygax, Terry and Rob Kuntz, Jeff Perren, Mike Reese, Leon Tucker, and Don Kaye. The organization usually met weekly in Gygax's...
(LGTSA) member Perren, a hobby-shop owner with whom he had become friendly, and the game was first published in 1971. The 1971 edition includes a fantasy supplement, and is one of the oldest sets of rules for fantasy miniature wargaming, the others including the New England Wargamers Association fantasy wargame called Middle Earth and Tony Bath
Tony Bath
Tony Bath was a British wargamer who favored the ancient period. His Hyboria campaign, based on the Conan the Barbarian stories of Robert E. Howard, is sometimes cited as the first fantasy wargame. It is even said to have included role playing elements. The Hyboria campaign did not contain...
's Hyboria campaign. The supplement contains spells and monsters that reappeared in Dungeons and Dragons.
Early history
The use of 40 mm ElastolinElastolin
Elastolin is a trademark used by the German company O&M Hausser for the toy soldiers and other types of figures it manufactured from composite material and later from plastic....
miniatures for medieval wargaming was promoted by Siege of Bodenburg
Siege of Bodenburg
Siege of Bodenburg is a wargame developed by Henry Bodenstedt. It is one of the earliest sets of rules for conducting battles with medieval miniatures, and it influenced Gary Gygax, author of Chainmail and later Dungeons and Dragons....
, which appeared in Strategy & Tactics
Strategy & Tactics
Strategy & Tactics is a wargaming magazine now published by Decision Games, notable for publishing a complete new wargame in each issue...
magazine in 1967. This motivated Jeff Perren to develop a few pages of his own rules for these miniatures. He introduced the rules to Gary Gygax
Gary Gygax
Ernest Gary Gygax was an American writer and game designer best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons with Dave Arneson. Gygax is generally acknowledged as the father of role-playing games....
and the LGTSA
Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association
The Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association was a prominent wargaming club active in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin during the 1960s and 1970s. Its membership included Gary Gygax, Terry and Rob Kuntz, Jeff Perren, Mike Reese, Leon Tucker, and Don Kaye. The organization usually met weekly in Gygax's...
. Gygax expanded the rules to sixteen pages and published them in the newsletter of the Castle & Crusade Society
Castle & Crusade Society
Formed by Gary Gygax in 1968, the Castle & Crusade Society was a chapter of the International Federation of Wargaming dedicated to medieval miniature wargaming.Its membership included Gary Gygax, Rob Kuntz and Dave Arneson....
.
The Rules
In the core rules, each figure represents twenty men. Troops are divided into six basic types: light foot, heavy foot, armored foot, light horse, medium horse, and heavy horse. Melee is resolved by rolling six-sided dice: for example, when heavy horse is attacking light foot, the attacker is allowed to roll four dice per figure, with each five or six denoting a kill. On the other hand, when light foot is attacking heavy horse, the attacker is allowed only one die per four figures, with a six denoting a kill. Additional rules govern missile and artillery fire, movement and terrain, charging, fatigue, morale, and the taking of prisoners.The Fantasy Supplement
The rules first appeared under the name Chainmail when they were published by Guidon GamesGuidon Games
Guidon Games produced board games and rulebooks for wargaming with miniatures, and in doing so influenced Tactical Studies Rules , the publisher of Dungeons & Dragons. The Guidon Games publishing imprint was the property of Lowry's Hobbies , a mail-order business owned by Don and Julie Lowry...
in 1971, becoming the publisher's biggest hit yet, selling one hundred copies per month. For this edition of the game, Gygax added rules for jousting
Jousting
Jousting is a martial game or hastilude between two knights mounted on horses and using lances, often as part of a tournament.Jousting emerged in the High Middle Ages based on the military use of the lance by heavy cavalry. The first camels tournament was staged in 1066, but jousting itself did not...
, man-to-man melee, and conducting battles with fantasy creatures. The man-to-man melee uses two six-sided dice (2d6
Dice notation
Dice notation is a system to represent different combinations of dice in role-playing games using simple algebra-like notation such as 2d6+12....
) to determine whether a kill is made and took account of the attacker's weapon and the defender's armor. The armor sequence is almost identical to that which would later be used in Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
.
Gygax wanted to capture the sort of swashbuckling action of Robert E. Howard
Robert E. Howard
Robert Ervin Howard was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. Best known for his character Conan the Barbarian, he is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre....
's Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian is a fictional sword and sorcery hero that originated in pulp fiction magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, several films , television programs, video games, roleplaying games and other media...
books in a wargame. The fantasy creatures and spells exploited the contemporary popularity of The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
and helped make Chainmail Guidon
Guidon Games
Guidon Games produced board games and rulebooks for wargaming with miniatures, and in doing so influenced Tactical Studies Rules , the publisher of Dungeons & Dragons. The Guidon Games publishing imprint was the property of Lowry's Hobbies , a mail-order business owned by Don and Julie Lowry...
's best seller. In a 2001 interview Gygax recalled that
Each of the fantasy creatures are treated as one of the six basic troop types. For example, halflings are treated as light foot and elves are treated as heavy foot. Giants are treated as twelve heavy footmen, and require twelve cumulative hits to kill. Heroes are treated as four heavy footmen, and require four simultaneous hits to kill. Wizards are not limited to fireballs and lightning bolts: they can cast other spells, and a stronger wizard can cancel the spell of a weaker wizard by rolling a seven or higher with two six-sided dice.
Use with Dungeons & Dragons
Dave ArnesonDave Arneson
David Lance "Dave" Arneson was an American game designer best known for co-developing the first published role-playing game , Dungeons & Dragons, with Gary Gygax, in the early 1970s...
used Chainmail in his Blackmoor
Blackmoor
Blackmoor is a fantasy role-playing game campaign setting generally associated with the game Dungeons & Dragons. It originally evolved in the early 1970s as the personal setting of Dave Arneson, the co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, first as a setting for Arneson's miniature wargames, then as an...
campaign, and many elements of Chainmail were carried over wholesale into Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
(D&D) in 1974. In fact, the original edition of D&D
Dungeons & Dragons (1974)
The original Dungeons & Dragons boxed set by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson was published by TSR, Inc. in 1974. It initially included the original edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game...
recommended that the reader own a copy of Chainmail. Gygax intended the Chainmail combat rules to be used in D&D, though he provided an alternative d20
Dice notation
Dice notation is a system to represent different combinations of dice in role-playing games using simple algebra-like notation such as 2d6+12....
attack option which eventually became standard.
Early D&D players could fall back to the Chainmail rules when conducting battles between armies, a situation where the D&D rules would be cumbersome. Improvisation was required, since D&D contained monsters and spells not covered in Chainmail. In Swords & Spells
Swords & Spells
Swords & Spells is a supplementary rulebook by Gary Gygax for the original edition of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.-Contents:Swords & Spells was a supplement of miniature rules, for use with the original D&D set....
(1976) Gygax tried to fix the problem by introducing a dice-free approach for large battles, which averaged each monster's D&D statistics. Swords & Spells was unpopular, and its rules were discarded in later editions of D&D.
Later Products
In 1975, TSR, Inc.TSR, Inc.
Blume and Gygax, the remaining owners, incorporated a new company called TSR Hobbies, Inc., with Blume and his father, Melvin Blume, owning the larger share. The former assets of the partnership were transferred to TSR Hobbies, Inc....
acquired the rights to Chainmail and released the 3rd edition, which was printed as late as 1979. TSR then concentrated on role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
s, leaving space for competition such as Warhammer
Warhammer Fantasy Battle
Warhammer: The Game of Fantasy Battles is a tabletop wargame created by Games Workshop. It is the origin of the Warhammer Fantasy setting....
by Games Workshop
Games Workshop
Games Workshop Group plc is a British game production and retailing company. Games Workshop has published the tabletop wargames Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000...
. In 1985, TSR released a successor to Chainmail called Battlesystem
Battlesystem
Battlesystem is a tabletop miniature wargame designed as a supplement for use with the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. It was first released in 1985, compatible with either Advanced Dungeons & Dragons or the Basic / Expert Dungeons & Dragons...
; it went through two editions.
A game based on the d20 System
D20 System
The d20 System is a role-playing game system published in 2000 by Wizards of the Coast originally developed for the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons...
was available under the Chainmail name in 2002. It was replaced the following year by the Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures Game
Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures Game
The Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures Game is a collectible miniatures game played with pre-painted, plastic miniature figures based on characters and monsters from the Dungeons & Dragons game. The figures are 30mm in scale...
, which made the switch from metal figures to pre-painted plastics, following the trend of competitors such as Mage Knight
Mage Knight
Mage Knight is a miniatures wargame using collectible figures, created by WizKids, Inc. The game was designed by founder Jordan Weisman along with Kevin Barrett. The game is the first to use Wizkids' Clix system, combining roleplaying and wargaming elements with aspects of collectible card games....
.