About Phantasmal Force

I must confess that I've had a number of issues with the phantasmal force spell over the year, largely due to the mental and linguistic contortions I've gone through to try to understand exactly what the spell name means: what exactly is a "phantasmal force"?

I've been somewhat embarrassed recently to learn the answer, which is stunningly obvious in hindsight and which also eliminates all such issues.

Phantasmal Force is a spell that came right out of D&D's wargaming roots, going back as far as "Chainmail". And what it creates is the illusion of a force - that is, a body of troops. So a "phantasmal force" would be an illusionary unit of pikemen, or of archers, or whatever.

D'oh!