"Supplement V" appears nowhere in the actual product, but it is commonly known to all fans of OD&D by that description. This product is an attempt to close the circle back with D&D's origins in Chainmail by providing an updated set of rules for fantastic miniature battles. The rules for D&D combat are referenced as being the standard for 1:1 figure fights, and the full range of spells from D&D is available to wizard and cleric figures, but other than that this product has little to do with D&D. As such I don't have much commentary on it.
TSR obviously still felt that wargaming and roleplaying went hand in hand at this point. It's understandable - if the purpose of roleplaying is to play characters like those found in fantasy novels, it would make sense that players would want to recreate not just the individual fighting they do, but also the large scale battles these kinds of characters often participate in, such as the Battle of the Five Armies or the Battle of Helm's Deep. However, we stand at the cusp of history here. With AD&D a year or two away at this point the hobbies are about to diverge forever (although TSR would continue to try to tie the two together with the Battlesystem rules).
We have quite a few Dragon issues to go through now, as we're a year away from the next D&D product - the classic Holmes Basic Set, which was intended to be an introduction / bridge to AD&D, yet ironically ended up splitting the game into Basic D&D and AD&D. It's an interesting milestone in the history of the game, and I hope you'll stick around to see it.
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