OD&D and Chainmail Combat: Movement Rates for Charging

In CHAINMAIL, different troop types are given a movement rate per round for a normal move, and a charge move.  I'll reproduce the relevant pages below:

 

 

Movement and Charge Moves for Player Characters

Most of the troop types in the initial example can be ignored for the purposes of D&D.  OD&D's "Encumberance" chapter gives us three movement categories: Light Foot, Heavy Foot, and Armored Foot.  From the above pages, we can tell the following:

• Armored Foot movement is 6" normal, and 6" on a charge
• Heavy Foot movement is 9" normal, and 12" on a charge
• Light Foot movement is 12" normal, and 15" on a charge
• What it actually says above is that Light Foot movement is the same as for Heavy Foot.  But there's enough evidence in OD&D Vol. 2 (such as the Berserkers entry) to suggest that lightly armored men have a normal move of 12" per round.  There are also a number of troop types in CHAINMAIL above with movement rates of 12", so I am going with those.

 It should be noted above that a number of creatures have no charge move at all.  Sprites and Pixies number among these, which is fair enough due to their diminutive size.  But Hobbits and Elves having no charge move is fairly significant given that they are player character races.  I'm inclined to go with this restriction, if only to nerf Elves a little.  It's a bit of a blow to Hobbit PCs, but they tend to do more sneaking than fighting in the source literature, so I'm good with it.

Elves, Dwarves, and Hobbits

I should make a note regarding movement rates for elves, dwarves and hobbits here.  The rules tend to assume that all PCs have movement rates of 12".  In Advanced D&D, Elves move faster than they should while wearing chain armour, while dwarves and hobbits move slower than they should given the armour types they wear.  There is some textual merit for giving elves a base move of 15", and giving dwarves and hobbits a base move of 9".  In OD&D, this can be handwaved a bit more, as movement rates depend more on encumbrance than on armour worn.  It's easy enough to say that elves travel light, while dwarves are loaded down.  And Hobbits in CHAINMAIL have a movement rate of 12 anyway.  I'm not entirely decided, but in the interests of simplicity I'm leaning towards giving every PC race a base move of 12.

General Trends from CHAINMAIL

Obviously, the pages above don't cover charge moves for all of the monsters in OD&D.  From the pages above, I have taken the following patterns:

• Particularly small and light creatures (pixies, sprites, hobbits, elves, etc.) do not get a charge move
• Humanoids (at least those up to troll/ogre size) get a +3" bonus when they charge
• Faster creatures with four legs or more (such as horses, wolves and dragons) get a +6" bonus when they charge
• There creatures that might be described as lumbering (ents) or slow-moving (undead wights/ghouls) that can still charge, but get no movement bonus for it

List of Monsters and Their Charge Moves in OD&D:

Using the above trends, I've extrapolated charge movement for every monster in OD&D, using CHAINMAIL and the original D&D boxed set (as well as some forward knowledge of later editions...):

• Animal, Large or Small
• Varies
• Ant, Giant
• normal 18, charge 24
• Ape
• normal 12, charge 18
• Ape, White
• normal 12, charge 15
• Balrog
• normal 6, charge 9
•  Basilisk
• normal 6, charge 12
• Bat
• normal 24, charge n/a
• Bear
• normal 9, charge 12
• Bear, Cave
• normal 9, charge 12
• Beetle, Giant
• normal 6, charge 12
• Black (or Gray) Pudding
• normal 6, charge n/a
• Caveman
• normal 12, charge 15
• Centaur
• normal 18, charge 24
• Centipede
• normal 15, charge n/a
• Centipede, Giant
• normal 15, charge 21
• Chimera
• normal 12, charge 18
• Cockatrice
• normal 9, charge 12
• Crab, Giant
• normal 6, charge 9
• Crocodile
• normal 9, charge 9
• Crocodile, Giant
• normal 9, charge 9
• Dinosaur, Brontosaurus
• normal 9, charge 9
• Dinosaur, Pterodactyl
• normal 3, charge n/a
• Dinosaur, Stegosaurus
• normal 6, charge 9
• Dinosaur, Triceratops
• normal 9, charge 15
• Dinosaur, Tyrannosaurus Rex
• normal 15, charge 21
• Djinni
• normal 9, charge 12
• Doppleganger
• normal 9, charge 12
• Dragons (all)
• normal 9, charge 15
• Dragon Turtle
• normal 3, charge n/a
• Dryad
• normal 12, charge n/a
• Dwarf
• normal 6, charge 9
• Efreet
• normal 9, charge 12
• Elemental, Air
• normal n/a, charge n/a, fly 36"
• Elemental, Earth
• normal 6, charge 6
• Elemental, Fire
• normal 12, charge 15
• Elemental, Water
• normal 6 (18 in water), charge 6 or 18
• Elf
• normal 12, charge n/a
• Ent
• normal 6, charge 6
• Fish
• normal n/a, charge n/a, swim 30
• Fish, Giant
• normal n/a, charge n/a, swim 30-50
• Gargoyle
• normal 9, charge 12
• Geletinous Cube
• normal 6, charge n/a
• Ghoul
• normal 9, charge 9
• Giants (all, inc. Cyclops)
• normal 12, charge 18
• Giant, Titan
• normal 15, charge 21
•  Gnoll
• normal 9, charge 12
• Gnome
• normal 6, charge 9
• Goblin
• normal 6, charge 9
• Gorgon
• normal 12, charge 15
• Gray Ooze
• normal 1, charge n/a
• Green Slime
• normal n/a, charge n/a
• Griffon
• normal 12, charge 18
• Hippogriff
• normal 18, charge 24
• Hobbit
• normal 12, charge n/a
• Hobgoblin
• normal 9, charge 12
• Hog (or Boar), Giant
• normal 12, charge 18
• Horse, Draft
• normal 12, charge 18
• Horse, Light
• normal 24, charge 30
• Horse, Heavy
• normal 12, charge 18
• Horse, Medium
• normal 18, charge 24
• Horse, Mule
• normal 12, charge 15
• Hydra
• normal 12, charge 12
• Insect, Large or Small
• varies
• Invisible Stalker
• normal 12, charge n/a
• Juggernaut
• normal 6, charge n/a
• Kobold
• normal 6, charge 9
• Leech, Giant
• normal 6, charge 6
• Lion
• normal 12, charge 18
• Lion, Spotted
• normal 12, charge 18
• Living Statue or Golem
• normal 9, charge n/a
• Lizard, Giant
• normal 15, charge 21
• Lycanthrope, Werebear
• normal 9, charge 12
• Lycanthrope, Wereboar
• normal 12, charge 15
• Lycanthrope, Weretiger
• normal 12, charge 15
• Lycanthrope, Werewolf
• normal 15, charge 18
• Mammoth
• normal 12, charge 15
• Manticore
• normal 12, charge 18
• Mastodon
• normal 15, charge 18
• Medusa
• normal 9, charge 12
• Merman
• normal 12, charge 15, swim 15
• Minotaur
• normal 12, charge 15
• Mummy
• normal 6, charge 6
• Nixie
• normal 12, charge n/a
• Ochre Jelly
• normal 3, charge n/a
• Octopus, Giant
• normal n/a, charge n/a, swim 9
• Ogre
• normal 9, charge 12
• Orc
• normal 9, charge 12
• Pegasus
• normal 24, charge 30, fly 48
• Pixie (and Sprite)
• normal 9, charge n/a, fly 18
• Purple Worm
• normal 6, charge 6
• Rat
• normal 15, charge n/a
• Rat, Giant
• normal 12, charge 18
•  Rhinoceros, Wooly
• normal 12, charge 15
• Robot, Android or Cyborg
• varies
• Roc
• normal 6, charge n/a, fly 48
• Salamander
• normal 9, charge 12
• Scorpion, Giant
• normal 15, charge 21
• Sea Monster
• normal n/a, charge n/a, swim 12
• Shadow
• normal 12, charge 12
• Skeleton
• normal 6, charge 6
• Snake, Giant
• normal 9, charge 15
• Snake, Giant Sea
• normal n/a, charge n/a, swim 20
• Spectre
• normal 15, charge 15, fly 30
• Spider
• normal 6, charge n/a
• Spider, Giant
• normal 12, charge 18
• Squid, Giant
• normal n/a, charge n/a, swim 12
• Tiger
• normal 12, charge 18
• Tiger, Sabre-Tooth
• normal 12, charge 18
• Titanothere
• normal 12, charge 15
• Toad, Giant
• normal 6, charge n/a (but can hop)
• Troll
• normal 12, charge 15
• Unicorn
• normal 24, charge 30
• Vampire
• normal 12, charge 15
• Weasel, Giant
• normal 15, charge 21
• Wight
• normal 9, charge 9
• Wolf
• normal 18, charge 24
• Wolf, Dire
• normal 18, charge 24
• Wraith
• normal 12, charge 12, mounted 24, mounted charge 30, fly 24
• Wyvern
• normal 9, charge 15, fly 24
• Yellow Mold
• normal n/a, charge n/a
• Zombie
• normal 6, charge 6