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SATURDAY MEANS SIEGECRAFT
Now the REAL fun starts!
MISSILE WEAPONS
Get ready to be hit by anything that can be made to fly. There will be more projectiles of all types flying on this day than you have ever seen before. There will be arrows, ballista bolts, rocks, plague rats, dead cows, and other things best not thought about. If somebody can get it in the cup of a catapult, you'll probably see it coming over the wall.
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BOARDING DEVICES
Ramps and ladders are allowed in these battles, so mean, heavily armed people will land on top of you (or vice versa).
FALLING ROCKS
People will drop large rocks on you, and you can return the favor.
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EVERYTHING ELSE
Who knows? In the past the fort battles have seen war elephants, the war dillo, and obscene battering rams. If someone has a bizarre idea that would be a waste of time and resources anywhere else, it will probably turn up at the fort.
If you'd like to post ideas or information, follow this link.
THE ACTION
The exact number and length of the Saturday fort battles may vary from year to year. If the same rule is followed as Gulf War VII, they are to the last man standing inside the fort. In some cases in the past, attackers get inside the fort before the time is up, but the interior of the fort is still contested. In those cases, attackers still outside stood down, while inside inside slugged it out with the remaining defenders.
Most of the comments made in the page that covers the fort battles on Thursday still apply. The space inside the fort is limited and it will be crowded any place that attackers attempt a breakin. It is still legal to grab other people's shields and polearms, but be careful.
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In the past, Saturday fort battles have tended to break down into two phases. The first half was an attrition phase, in which the armies tried to wear each other down with missiles before coming to close quarters. In this phase, defenders are more vulnerable to missile fire because they are more tightly bunched.
Unlike the fort battles on Thursday, in which siege devices are not allowed, the fighting at all embrasures is hot and heavy on Saturday. Attackers tend to have their greatest success by coming over the wall using ramps. Attacks at the gate and breach tend to be less successful because of the restricted space; attacking on a broad front works better.
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TOWERS
USING
The towers are great for shooting from, but for that reason anyone who climbs a tower draws a lot of fire. Towers can be climbed any time in the battle. I have seen two men successfully climb into towers under fire.
Rocks can be dropped from the towers but I have not seen it done. One limiting factor is, the space at the top is a bit small for both rocks and a fighter (the towers are 4 feet square). A small person could fit in a tower with a collection of rocks, or netting full of small rocks can be strung around the tops, ready to be released when opposing fighters get close enough. A hit by any rock dropped from a tower is supposed to be called the same as a mace shot, regardless of the actual physical size of the rock. But, an occupied tower becomes an artillery target. The person trying to drop rocks from the tower has to wait until opposing fighters get close enough, and if he climbs the tower too soon it may be knocked down before he can do anything.
WRECKING
Towers can be destroyed by hits from large siege engines (catapults, trebuchets, but not ballistas); exactly how many shots are required may vary from year to year, depending on what siege weaons are in use. The negotiators have to check the weapons before they can make a decision. The decision will not be made and announced until just before the first battle Saturday morning. In Gulf War VII the rule was, destroying a tower required 5 hits from large (1-pound) rocks. No towers were destroyed in Gulf War VII, but in the past they have been brought down many times.
If a tower is destroyed, all fighters in it or within 3 feet of it are considered killed by falling rubble. And of course, a wrecked tower cannot be used again.
RAMMING
The front gate can be closed and barred in these battles, but it can be opened by a ram. The convention is that 10 strokes from the ram are required to force the gate. After that, the gate is unbarred and latched open for the rest of the battle. (You can see that the gate hinges are clearly torqued.)
DEFENSIVE WORKS
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Defenders can erect additional defensive structures inside the fort; in doing so they must remember that space will be limited. Additional works can be considered immovable, but there must be some means by which the attackers can get through them. They must be arranged so they leave an open space, or they must be so made that the attackers can bypass them or force them open.
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Hoardings and pavises can be destroyed by ballista bolts, and all structures except the wall can be destroyed by rocks from large siege engines. Hoardings and pavises that have been destroyed must be laid flat on the ground. Structures that are too big to be laid over do not have to be disassembled, but defenders cannot stand on them.
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BEING UNDER FIRE
If you have never been to an event the size of the Gulf War, then you may have never before been under missile fire as thick as you will see here. You have to keep your head up, stay alert and watch at all times for incoming projectiles.
Defenders need to put serious thought into protection from missiles; being more tightly packed than the attackers, they are more vulnerable. The safest area in the fort is the area within 15 feet of the inside of the walls. While the towers can be brought down, the walls are considered invulnerable. A fighter standing in this area can be hit with a direct shot only through one of the embrasures, a difficult shot from 30 yards. A fighter kneeling in this area is in the wall's dead ground; direct shots are not possible and firing a projectile on a trajectory high enough to land in this area would take a very good archer or engineer. On the outside, the safest areas are the ground under and behind the trees, which deflect projectiles.
EFFECTS -- The effect of rocks depends on their size. Generally, small rocks are single tennis balls; large rocks are tetrahedrons (3 or 4 balls taped together) or something of equivalent size. Hits from small rocks should be called the same as mace shots. Large rocks immediately destroy any hoarding, pavise, or body that they hit on the way down. Enough of them can bring down a tower. Ballista bolts destroy any shield or hoarding they hit, and also kill the man standing behind that obstacle. All projectiles have effect only on their first strike; bouncing projectiles can be ignored.
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Standing in an embrasure, you can usually see arrows coming in time to raise a shield, unless the archers are very close. Anywhere else in the fort, many arrows come in at flat angles that just clear the top of the wall, and there's little time to see them coming. If you're not in the dead ground behind the wall, you should keep a shield up, because they cover the distance from the top of the wall so quickly you may not have time to raise it. On the outside it's less of a problem; the distances from the walls to where the ranks will be drawn up should give you time to see incoming shots.
Catapult rocks and ballista bolts are much more dangerous, but they come in on higher trajectories so you have more time to see them coming. Most people call warnings if they see incoming projectiles, so you are alerted to look up. If you see a rock or bolt coming you should be able to dodge it with relative ease. Most rock and bolt casualties come when people just aren't paying attention.
Keep in mind the fact that siege weapons are fired from stands, so they often put following shots into the same general target area. If you dodge one shot, remember that means the shooter may have just gotten the range he wanted, and there may be more shots coming into the same spot.
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