Castle Matherst Siege Continues
Much to King Long Shanks delight, the Beersteiners have a foothold in the castle and the fall of night does not stop the fighting. Swords clang in the courtyard and Hill Men axes rise and fall on the battlements. A Bogavanian knight holds his ground on the battlement between the hill men and the vulnerable lightly armoured archers. The archers are still waiting for an attack on the gate. The boiling tar is ready and the arhers peer into the gathering gloom, preparing for the Hill men battering ram. Are the Hill Men waiting for darkness or will the join the attack via the other wall with the ladders in place and the siege tower doing its job? That path is already jammed with Beersteiner knights and Hill Men but it is a safer route.
Below: Beersteiners begin a secondary assault, this time on the Eastern Wall.
The Assault on the Northern wall has been a success as more Beersteiner knights and Hill men pour over the wall.
On the Northern wall the attackers extend the Western battlement and down to the courtyard.
On the Western wall a lone Bogavnian knight, Hernold Wrathhammer, beats off an imposing giant of a Hill Man and kills him.
The great Swords, known, from their flag as the Fighting Purple Cocks, join the other attackers on the battlements.
Treachery! The Hill man spearmen endeavour to change sides, no doubt lured by rumours of Bogavanian gold coffers! However, the Hill Men axe men get word of this and wade in with their axes. Having sustained casualties from Bogavanian archers they want revenge on the castle defenders and are in no mood to switch sides. Two Spear Men survive and are led away; they might soon wish that they lay among the blood soaked corpses!
Lord Wrathhammer fells a Great Sword before falling himself to another of the mercenaries.
The attackers open the gates to allow the axemen in and others wade into the armed peasants sheltering in the tower, However, the peasants put up a fight and kill some of the attackers.
A single Bogavanian archer, Will Smilson, fills the space left by the slain lord Wrath Sword. Amazingly he kills the plate armoured foe, before being slain by another Purple Cock.
Will a small force under King Maxfield from the Bogavanian capital, Bogod, arrive to relieve the besieged? The besieged hope in vain as the king no longer commands a sizeable force.
On the Eastern wall Bogavanian warriors defend a lone maiden but as more Beersteiners descend through a tower they are beaten back.
Bogavanian archers turn and fire at the opposite battlement. A number of assaulting hill men and knights perish, but this enrages others to press the assault.
The archers are caught in melee,
After almost continuous fighting for two days the castle falls. Twenty five Bogavanian peasants and archers surrender as their leaders and lords all lie dead. Although many are dead on both sides the attackers' casualties are similar to the defenders and so testify to skill of the assault as normally the attackers casualties would be much higher.
MECHANICS:
At the start of the game we rolled on a percentage dice to see if their were any secret tunnels or spies - there was a 15% chance. None occurred. As the attacker I could have elected to delay assault and just bombard the castle until a breech was made. My siege weapons did not face a door so there was no weak spot to aim for. Little damage was being achieved. In any case, each move from move two I had to roll for the loyalty of my mercenaries which could be compromised on the roll of a 1. As the great Swords had previously proved themselves there roll was on a 12 sided dice instead of a six sided one. If a one was rolled a second roll was made on a chart including options of unaffected, refuse to move, march off the board or march to join the enemy. A whole unit of Hill men marched off the board early in the game and another marched to join the enemy but was cut down by the other Hill Men! With the last outcome the turn coats come under enemy control on reaching their lines but can be pre-empted on the new employer rolling a 5 or 6. The same roll on the other die meant there was awareness of their intentions and counter measures could be taken.
Mercenaries are worth half points but are still a risky proposition.
My rules use tables similar to Warhammer but condense the to hit and to wound and save into one score on a 12 sided dice. In melees the first two ranks are rolled for or three in cases of spearmen. A certain score is required depending on troop type and some have higher initiative and so go first - Hill Men , horse men and heroes have high initiative, followed by foot knights and so on. It is hardest for a peasant to kill a mounted knight. For battle in the castle we changed the combats to rolls for individual figures and the winner would move into the space for the fallen warrior. Figures could detach from units to move down ladders, through doors and so on as it became a free- for- all. Rather than a highest score kills it was based on a particular score so in some cases no-one in a one on one was killed that move or the two figures killed each other! Two handed axes and swords go last but get a plus 2. Halberds get a plus one. A unit which hits first also gets to go first regardless of initiative. heroes get two dice rolls and have two wounds. On a wound infliction they get a second chance of 50% on a dice roll to ignore the wound. In caes of more than one figure onto one each figure got a dice roll so a multitude of inferior warriors would have an increased chance of bringing down a superior one. there were no armour saves from melee or shooting as this was allowed for in the score. However there were cover saves. Someone shot at behind a battlement got a 4+ save on a 12 sided dice or a 3+ if shooting from a window. Four archers could shoot form a window. I probably should have been only two for narrow windows.
Normally units roll for leadership/morale when they get down to a certain number and on a fail are either removed or we roll to see their reaction - if in melee it is surrender, get wiped out or run away.
We dispensed with this for inside the castle but agreed that when one side got down to low numbers it would roll on highest leadership to see if it continued fighting. The highest leadership left was of the archers, which was not especially high so leading to a surrender.
Below: Beersteiners begin a secondary assault, this time on the Eastern Wall.
The Eastern wall is gradually taken by Beersteiners as Bogavanian archers succumb to the armoured attackers.
On the Eastern wall Bogavanian warriors defend a lone maiden but as more Beersteiners descend through a tower they are beaten back.
Bogavanian archers turn and fire at the opposite battlement. A number of assaulting hill men and knights perish, but this enrages others to press the assault.MECHANICS:
At the start of the game we rolled on a percentage dice to see if their were any secret tunnels or spies - there was a 15% chance. None occurred. As the attacker I could have elected to delay assault and just bombard the castle until a breech was made. My siege weapons did not face a door so there was no weak spot to aim for. Little damage was being achieved. In any case, each move from move two I had to roll for the loyalty of my mercenaries which could be compromised on the roll of a 1. As the great Swords had previously proved themselves there roll was on a 12 sided dice instead of a six sided one. If a one was rolled a second roll was made on a chart including options of unaffected, refuse to move, march off the board or march to join the enemy. A whole unit of Hill men marched off the board early in the game and another marched to join the enemy but was cut down by the other Hill Men! With the last outcome the turn coats come under enemy control on reaching their lines but can be pre-empted on the new employer rolling a 5 or 6. The same roll on the other die meant there was awareness of their intentions and counter measures could be taken.
Mercenaries are worth half points but are still a risky proposition.
My rules use tables similar to Warhammer but condense the to hit and to wound and save into one score on a 12 sided dice. In melees the first two ranks are rolled for or three in cases of spearmen. A certain score is required depending on troop type and some have higher initiative and so go first - Hill Men , horse men and heroes have high initiative, followed by foot knights and so on. It is hardest for a peasant to kill a mounted knight. For battle in the castle we changed the combats to rolls for individual figures and the winner would move into the space for the fallen warrior. Figures could detach from units to move down ladders, through doors and so on as it became a free- for- all. Rather than a highest score kills it was based on a particular score so in some cases no-one in a one on one was killed that move or the two figures killed each other! Two handed axes and swords go last but get a plus 2. Halberds get a plus one. A unit which hits first also gets to go first regardless of initiative. heroes get two dice rolls and have two wounds. On a wound infliction they get a second chance of 50% on a dice roll to ignore the wound. In caes of more than one figure onto one each figure got a dice roll so a multitude of inferior warriors would have an increased chance of bringing down a superior one. there were no armour saves from melee or shooting as this was allowed for in the score. However there were cover saves. Someone shot at behind a battlement got a 4+ save on a 12 sided dice or a 3+ if shooting from a window. Four archers could shoot form a window. I probably should have been only two for narrow windows.
Normally units roll for leadership/morale when they get down to a certain number and on a fail are either removed or we roll to see their reaction - if in melee it is surrender, get wiped out or run away.
We dispensed with this for inside the castle but agreed that when one side got down to low numbers it would roll on highest leadership to see if it continued fighting. The highest leadership left was of the archers, which was not especially high so leading to a surrender.
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