I am running the Battle of Humber, Year 516 of the GPC this weekend for my group. For the night battle when the foreign kings surprise Arthur's army, I figured I would have the PKs start unarmoured in their pavilions. They can then choose to fight unarmoured (Reckless and Valiant checks, +5 to weapon rolls) or spend time having their squires help them don their armour and so miss some / all of the fight. I was thinking of allowing the PKs to make a squire roll to help them don armour quickly [Critical - don all 10 pts armour in 1 melee round; Success - don all 10 pts armour in 2 melee rounds; Failure - don only 5 pts armour in 2 melee rounds; Fumble - "Squire? SQUIRE!? Where the devil are you?"].

I'd be interested to hear how others have handled similar situations? How long should it reasonably take to get into chainmail armour?

I wouldn't fret too much about such details, just keep it simple. Your solution sounds fine. The GPC also provides an example;

GPC p.53, The Battle of Terrabil
"If they do not run off, they can do one of two things with their squires’ help: either arm, or prepare a horse. Both require a full round for the squire. As they perform one of these two things, they hear the battle coming closer and they see camp followers panicked, some wounded, rushing past them. After one round, ask whether each knight wishes to rush to battle or to perform the other possible action (i.e., either horse or armor). If they wish to prepare for a second round, they can be both armed and mounted. Get their answers, but then inform them that before they have a chance to complete the second action, they are attacked. Those knights who chose to rush to battle this round are prepared and can fight back, while the others are unprepared and suffer a –5 modifier to combat skills for being unprepared (this round only)."

Note that the example Sir Pramalot mentions is talking about battle rounds. Those last considerably longer than melee rounds...

Regards
Luke

Thanks. I had forgotten the Battle of Terrabil reference. That's helpful.

I'm curious. Would a second squire make it possible to don armor faster, or would he just get in the way and be of no real help?

Would a second squire make it possible to don armor faster, or would he just get in the way and be of no real help?

In theory, yes. You can't get much more of an increase in speed past that point, though. A knight with multiple squires prepares for combat faster because one or two arm him or her while the others prepare his or her mount.