The table has labels, yes. But there are no explanations of how to use the table in the context of the rest of combat. Who goes first, or in what sequence when written orders are compared? How many attacks do you get? How are spells and missile fire resolved in relation to the melee attacks -- the missile section implies all missile fire is done after melee, but what about spells? How does morale, referenced elsewhere in the rules, come into play in combat? Can you move in combat? The surprise section refers to an "extra move segment", which implies some move/attack relation ...
I assume you're in the camp that Chainmail is not just recommended, but required. To which I would agree. Same with Outdoor Survival. Lost and Pursuit scenarios as well as Food, Water, and Life Level Indexes are all incredibly useful to the game.
OD&D references were to man-to-man combat in Chainmail. But OD&D changed the die mechanic to the new non-6-sider d20, something quite revolutionary in any game up until that point.
Other things... the 3" combat range is about the rule for being drawn into melee when passing close by. Round segments started with move, initial missile fire, and pass-through fire. Later segments included: written orders ("initiative" as yet unnamed), artillery, missile, and melee segments. Combat could be either Move/Counter Move or Simultaneous. Both included split-moves, which is the move segment you're referring to.
Mind-blowingly, alignment, called "general line-up" was included in Chainmail for a couple dozen or so of the fantasy races. This being law, neutral, and chaos.
In fact, Chainmail simply has so much of the original combat rules I simply can't see why they didn't package it in the same box as they were the publisher.
If you feel otherwise, my challenge to you is this: explain how a combat containing melee, missile fire, and spellcasting is conducted using only direct references from the three volumes of the OD&D rulebooks.
Yeah, in my mind both OS & Chainmail are mandatory for the 3LBs. How do you play overland adventures without the first? Or combat on any scale without the second?
OS has rules for food, water, overland movement, terrain types, wandering monsters, and physical conditioning (LLI).
CM has rules for mass & skirmish battles, melee, missile, artillery (including magic), cover, facing with flank and rear attacks, formations (line, column, square), thrown weapons, catapults, gunpowder weapons, cannons, charging, multi-rank fighting, morale checks, fatigue, retreats and routing, contacting allied troops in a rout, missile fire into melee, weapon length and area control, rallying (reformation), prisoners and guards, cavalry charges, hedgehogs, army commanders, baggage camps, weather, unique troop examples from history, sieges with fortifications and defense values, siegecraft like bombards, towers, covered rams, mantlets, ladders, boiling oil, rocks, mining and countermining (sapping), and breeches. As well as jousting, tourneys, magical weapons, and 3D movement.
OD&D added a lot more than either of these, but it definitely needed the other two publications.
