Few sets of 18th century rules make adequate provision for siege warfare. This is unfortunate since sieges played a vital part of the warfare of the period, Ply own interest In the subject was developed by Christopher Duffy's excellent book, Fire and Stone. The rules described below were inspired by the tantalizing wargame included in this work.

1. Except where specified, combat Is resolved using Brigadier General Peter Young's and Colonel James Lawford's wargame rules entitled, CHARGE or How To Play Wargames.

2. Only one face of the fortifications need be represented on the table. Two bastions joined by a curtain wall, a ravelin and a covered way should do it.

3. Besieger and besieged each designate half of their men to occupy that portion of the works represented on the table. As far as possible, complete units should be used. The exact number is computed at the beginning of each turn. Different units can be used in different turns.

4, There are two types of turns; SIEGE and ACTION. One campaign month equals 16 Siege Turns. At the end of any Siege Turn either side can call for an Action Sequence of 12 tabletop moves conducted vie the Charge rules. This sequence of moves does not count towards the 16 Siege Turns. The first side to run out of units as described in Rule (9) loses.

5. There is one engineer/sapper group for every 100 men up to a maximum of 5 for the besiegers and 1 for the besieged. In a Siege Turn each of these groups can perform one of the following actions: Construct a sap, parallel or battery, dig a mine or explode a mine.

Saps (zig-zag approach trenches) are 12" long as the crow flies until within 12" of the covered way, then halved each turn until down to 1". Parallel trenches accommodate up to one "CHARGE" style regiment. Batteries accommodate a 2 gun section and crew. A mine destroys 4" of wall and everything on it. A countermine has a 50% chance of destroying it's target (remove on entire turns work of one engineer/sapper group). Engineers working on something that gets destroyed must make a saving throw of 5 or 6 or they are lost. When a side runs out of engineer/sapper groups, it can still construct one work per turn.

6. Turn Sequence. (These actions are not considered simultaneous)

a) Attacker lays out his new works.
b) Defender lays out his new works.
c) Attacker places his troops anywhere in his works regardless of the position they occupied last turn.
d) Defender places his troops.
e) Defender explodes mines.
f) Attacker explodes mines.
g) Defender fires cannons.
h) Attacker fires cannons.
i) Defender fires small arms.
j) Attacker fires small arms.
k) Either side can call for an ACTION sequence of 12 turns.

7. Besieger's guns firing during a Siege Turn can fire at fortress walls, enemy troops in the covered way or guns. Fire against fortress walls ran only be mode from batteries placed at the edge of the covered way. Besieged batteries may fire at batteries, parallels or saps. Each gun rolls once per Siege Move. Action Sequence firing is (lone as in the Charge rules.

Siege Move fire effect: Defending gun destroys one turns worth of sap, battery position, or 1 gun on a roll of 5 or 6... and a parallel plus one die worth of troops on a roll of 6. Attacking gun destroys defending gun or one dice worth of troops but no positions on a roll of 5 or 6 if within 12", or a roll of 6 if not. Guns or troops not in position are twice as easy to hit.

Each attacker's gun firing from the edge of the covered way or the gorge of a ravenlin at the main wall or a ravenlin does one dice worth of damage. Thirty points of accumulated damage will cause a 4" breach in the well.

Infantry of either side can, of course, fire if in range. Besieging infantry fires at the next lowest class.

8. Once the main wall is breached, the two sides may choose to discuss terms. If no agreement is reached, go back to the turn sequence until someone is beaten or talks resume.

9. When a unit has fallen below half strength it may no longer be posted in the active front of the siege (that half of total forces that are placed on the tabletop). Guns destroyed in previous turns can be rolled for at the beginning of each turn. A 6 on one die indicates that the gun is repaired and ready for service while a 1 indicates it will never be repaired - do not roll for it anymore.

10. If human life means nothing to the attacking general, he may attempt an escalade. He will have two ladders for each regiment. Each ladder holds up to 3 men at a time. The thoughtful defender will wait until all 3 are on the ladder and will then tip it over on a roll of 4-6. If it tips, the escaleders have a 50% chance of being rendered hors de combat. If the ladder does not get pushed away, the top man fights one defender whose die roll is doubled for a foothold on the well. If a foothold 1s gained, the other two men on the ladder automatically gain the wall. Each subsequent turn of melee that the defenders fail to wipe out the foothold, 7 more attackers will gain the wall.

11. The defenders may launch sorties to inconvenience the attacker. The troops making the sortie are placed just outside the most advanced works currently held during the Action Sequence. They then play 12 turns under the Charge rules modified as follows: One figure can spike a gun on a roll of 4-6 (3-6 if on engineer or gunner), maximum of one roll per gun per turn. One day's turn worth of parallel, sap or battery can be destroyed by twenty men working for one uninterrupted turn. At the end of 12 turns, the Action Sequence ends regardless of the relative position of the troops.

This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com