Chainmail Play-by-Post
(Cross-posted from the RPG Blog)
In December I ran a Play-by-Post Kriegsspiel game and decided the next time I did something like that it would be Chainmail, and on a real table. Primarily because moving the minis around IRL would be more fun for me than using TableTop Simulator, and because I could also make videos of the turns and share them with you.
This Chainmail experiment is focused on two things that came up recently in online discussion:
How many Rounds of melee are in a Turn?
What does the game look like with massive units of 40+ figures?
Through many arguments, much rules-parsing, and a little archaeology, it was determined to my personal satisfaction that up to three Rounds of melee should be fought in one Chainmail Turn, based on the results of the Morale Rating procedure.
As for the second point, I don’t have enough actual figures, so I’m using cubes, but I think they are working just fine!
We started the play-by-post with four players, on two teams, in order to get some good input on this is supposed to work, and to make it more interesting.
The General Idea
(From the discord chat) We will be doing our very best to play strictly RAW, with 0-19 Melee Continues in the same Turn as an assumption.
We are also going to look at two methods of utilizing Light Foot in a skirmish role.
Finally, we'll be experimenting with LARGE formations, as it appears that no one has done this in something like 50 years.
If anyone finds any pictures of people playing Chainmail, feel free to share them in this channel.
Intro
Scenario Forces
Yellow
18 Light Foot - Archers
20 Medium Horse
40 Armored Foot
50 Heavy Foot
18 Heavy Horse
18 Light Foot - Archers
9x4 Light Foot - Skirmishers
Green
16 Light Foot - Archers
18 Heavy Horse
40 Armored Foot
50 Heavy Foot
18 Heavy Horse
24 Light Foot - Archers
3x12 - Light Foot - Skirmishers
Rules for the General Idea
Green begins with all units on the table, on the North side of the table
Yellow begins entering the table from the South, via a defile on Turn 1
4 Yellow Units may move in on Turn 1
The remainder of Yellow units may enter as ordered.
Each side should come up with a nomenclature for their units.
Each side has one SuperHero and two Heroes, counting as 8 and 4 figures, respectively
You may add the characters to any unit you wish
The SuperHero has a command radius of 12" (from the unit, not the model)
The Heroes have a command radius of 6"
The figures are 15mm cubes. One inch = 15 mm, we have a specially marked ruler.
There is no Pre-measuring.
The table itself is about 36 inches wide, and I will leave the white/red measuring stick on the far end of the battlefield to give you a way to estimate distances.
Fatigue
RAW for fatigue, will use tokens to mark actions
There is no rule for what happens when Fatigued beyond "-1 level of Troop type", do y'all have any ideas?
Orders
Written orders such as “Light Foot 1 to move 9 inches NNW, facing the central unit of blue skirmishers”
Please be as detailed as possible.
If there is a miscommunication, well...these things happen in battle!
Use your side's channel for communications between yourselves, green-force and yellow-force- Use your side's Orders channel for orders; green-orders and yellow-orders.
This is the pre-game setup, please feel free to move the units around in any order you like, just keep the line troops within 15" of the board edge, and Skirmishers 20" from the board edge.
You may also choose the weapons for your troops, such as Halberds, spears, swords, axes, etc.
No Pikes.
No Gunpowder.
Skirmishers may not carry longbows or crossbows.
I will record each turn's moves and combats, and upload to the Yootoob as "unlisted", so only we can see them, for now. I may or may not edit them in the future, prior to making them public.
If you want to pick fun names for your armies and their commanders, go right ahead.
Turn One
Yellow Force Turn 1
Yellow's AF enters the table from the South and marches in block formation 6" onto the board, taking up a position as close to the Western table edge as possible but no closer than 4". In other words, they are in the SW corner of the board. (edited)
Yellow's skirmishers enter the table from the South and stay in broken line formation (2" gaps between blocks) covering as much space as possible on the central battlefield. After marching 6" onto the board, the eastern half of the skirmishers continue forward another 6". The western half of the skirmishers then move forward to deploy in echelon stretching in a line from NW to SE. The furthest block is the NW block at 12", thence 10", 8" etc. (edited)
Yellow's LF w/heavy crossbows enter the table from the South. They are the furthest Eastern unit, moving to a position 12" to the north of the southern table edge and 6" from the eastern table edge.
Yellow's MH enter the table from the South. They are the next furthest Eastern unit. They move to a position 12" to the north of the southern table edge and align their front edge with the crossbowmen to their right. There is a 3" gap between the MH and LF crossbows when this move is done.
Orders for Yellow Move #1 COMPLETE
And as specified in the other channel, those LF crossbowmen are led by one of our Heroes.
Green Force Turn 1
All Green Force Heavy Cavalry, Attack the Light Foot Yellow Force at the eastern edge of the table.
All Green Force Skirmishers, form up in a combined block in the centre of the board, west of the central Green Force Heavy Infantry block.
Everyone else, hold your ground.
@Wargame Culture I believe D meant the archers not the skirmishers.
We can just roll with it though since its done already.
Wargame Culture —
Hmmm. The "move the army onto the table" part was absent, so I went with the layout from the initial pic.
There is still time for some maneuvering...
R: Ah gotcha. I thought we were on but they weren’t
The bottom Heavy Cav should 1/4 oblique toward the archers at the bottom/archers to setup for the charge
If @D agrees,. I'll let him make the call. In convention.
Turn 1 Video
Turn 1 final disposition:
The entire game is available, in turn-by-turn videos, on the yootoob channel.
The group who played this game is also playing another PbP game of Chainmail, this time with an alternate reading of the Melee & Post Melee Morale rules. Stay tuned for more information on this game!