March 10, 2025
Or: How I play Chainmail on graph paper
Mark out a roughly 24 x 24 area. Drop 6 d6s on the area’s center - if any dice go outside the marked area, they are presumed to be at the edge.
Check each die:
| d6 | Feature |
|---|---|
| 1-2 | Regular Terrain (Terrain of the hex you are on) |
| 3 | Hill (d6: 1-2: Gentle 3-4: Average 5-6: Steep) |
| 4 | Rough |
| 5 | Water/Quicksand (d6: 1-3 Stream 4-6 Area/Pond) |
| 6 | Extreme Terrain (Dense Wood, Sheer Hills/Mountains, etc) |
Roll for the monster appearing as per OD&D.
Maximum HD is equal to Xd6, where X is the distance from the nearest settlement in hexes. There is always a minimum of 1 creature, but if a HD lower than the encounter’s is rolled, the solitary encounter has an extra 1-in-6 chance of being surprised.
1” = 10 yards
Surprise distance = d3” Non-Surprise distance = 4+2d6*2”
To determine a random location, roll 2d6+6 for the X and Y axis separately. If the location is in any feature, place it in the nearest featureless square.
If one side is surprised and the other is not, randomly determine the surprised party’s location. Place the other party in the most advantageous possible spot, given a minimum surprise distance. The party that initiated the surprise gets to go first before initiative is rolled for the first time.
If neither side is surprised, place the party anywhere without a feature, and randomly determine the encounter’s location. Keep in mind the minimum non-surprise distance, moving the encounter away as necessary.
For both sides, it is important to know what they attack or defend as.
| AC (Defense) | Class (Attack) | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 7-9 | Magic Users | Light Foot |
| 4-6 | Clerics | Heavy Foot |
| 3- | Fighters | Armored Foot |
For humans/characters:
For monsters, check the bestiary for movement rates.
For simplification, non-fighters cannot use ranged weaponry.
Example: Erik the fighter, wearing leather armor, would defend as Heavy Foot but attack as Armored Foot, and move 6” per round.
Rough terrain, climbing of average hills and traversal of other tough terrain take double movement.
Climbing of steep hills takes triple movement.
Ponds cannot be crossed.
| Attack | Modifier |
|---|---|
| Rear | +2 |
| Flanking | +1 |
| Higher elevation | +1 |
| Lower elevation | -1 |
| In tough terrain | -1 |
Modifiers are added as extra dice to melee and as direct modifiers to ranged.