At Historicon last summer I saw a really interesting game. There was a group of very noisy, boisterous players crowded around a huge medieval castle. The attacking and defending figures were 40mm and there was lots of siege equipment laying around. Everyone was obviously having a good time and my only disappointment of the weekend was not getting into the game. The rules that were used were the Tactica Medieval set.

When I got home my usual gaming partner and I tried them out. The rules themselves had some excellent concepts in them but, after playing the first game I must say I didn't agree with many of the factors as presented in the rules. To their credit, the rule authors say right in the book "if you don't like how we have done something in the rules, just change it". it's only a game! With that in mind I set to work combining the original rules concept with my own ideas on how an assault on a castle would go.

For a castle I mounted my old Airfix Sheriff of Nottingham structure on a foam hill and dug a dry moat into the foam. The defenders were 30 Norman looking people. The attackers were 90 Viking types. All figures were individually mounted on steel washers and magnetic strips were mounted on the catwalks along the wall. This was to offset my natural clumsiness and it worked great!

The elements of the game that needed to be considered were: attacker's approach to the walls, passing the moat, raising ladders, missle fire, dropping rocks onto the attackers, melee, battering the gate, morale.

Approach

There are no rulers allowed in this game. Nothing sadder than seeing someone playing the role of a big violent viking measuring carefully the distance from his position to the target so he can calculate the exact distance and angle he should move to take maximum advantage of the rules. At each point where a ruler might be used, players are encouraged to pound the table and shout ODIN! The attacking player starts at a reasonable looking distance from the walls which is arbitrarily defined as "just out of bowshot".

Movement outside the walls is as follows: Starting point to base of hill = 1 move, Base of hill to outer edge of moat = 1 move. Passing the moat = 1 move. Inside the castle a man may move up or down 1 level, the length of 1 section of wall, or from any one point to any other point in the courtyard in 1 turn.

Passing the Moat

The real function of a moat was to break up the impetus and cohesion of an attacking force. The most determined men would be the least impeded. A big ditch makes a good excuse for slackers to hang back (My mom says I can't get my pants dirty). Here's how we determine who leaps into the dry ditch and scrambles up the other side and who stops on the safe side to think about it. For every group of up to 10 attackers, roll 1d6.

If the roll is less than the morale number of a man in the group he may proceed, otherwise he does nothing (except archers who may shoot, another great excuse). "Yah I stopped to shuute". Each group of up to 10 is identified by the attacker and can include any mix of types. 1 die roll serves the whole group so some will probably go on while others don't. People who fail on a given turn can continue testing during the pass the moat phase on each following turn.

Raise the Ladders

The attacker gets a dozen ladders to start with. There is room to place no more than 4 on any one side of my castle at one time. Of course, ladders can only be raised by those on the near side of the moat. For each ladder that the attacker is attempting to raise, he selects an escalade party of up to 4 men. Set the ladder against a crennelle. The attacker rolls 1d6 + the number of men in the escalade party. The defender rolls 1d6 + 1 for each man at that crennelle or an adjacent one. I should add that my castle wall has room for 1 man at each crennelle.

The walks are too narrow for 2 men across. The 2 modified die rolls are compared. if the attacker wins the ladder is up, if the defender wins it is not. Ladders that get tipped in this way can be set up again on subsequent turns. The defender wins all ties.

Escalade Morale

Now that you have the ladder up you have to persuade your attackers that going up is safer than standing there. For each escalade party of up to 4 (the same guys who raised the ladder) roll 1d6. If the roll is less than a given mans morale number that man can ascend in any order the attacker decides. If a given man's morale is = to or 1 higher than the roll he can still go up but only if a man in the party with higher morale goes first. Any member of the party who doesn't meet one of those two criteria simply stands at the bottom of the ladder trying to look busy (did Vikings have shoelaces that they could pretend to tie in moments of stress?)

Missile Fire

Roll 1d6 for each archer shooting. 6 hits. Anyone on the wall being shot at from outside the castle gets a saving throw of 1-4 if hit. This also applies to the defenders of the keep when the rest of the castle falls. My castle has those little arrow slits built into the wall itself.

Men firing from behind them can't be hit by return fire. My Vikings don't use mantlets (cover is for sissies) but if you do you might allow them to be cover similar to that enjoyed by the defenders of the walls. Men who moved at the last opportunity can't fire. People who are not active on the walls can't be shot. Becoming active counts as movement.

Drop Rocks

There are 2 possible targets for a dropped rock. one is any attacker standing in the moat or on the near side of it. The other is an attacker ascending a ladder. There is an unlimited supply of rocks available to the defenders. Defenders may only drop them on people standing directly beneath them. No throwing at people at the other end of the wall. Rocks may only be dropped by a man who is not shooting and did not move at his last opportunity. A 6 on 1d6 is a hit on a target standing on the ground. To drop a rock on an escalade party roll 1d6. 1-4 kills the first man up the ladder. if he is hit then 1-3 kills the second and so on until the rock misses a man or the escalade party is all killed.

Melee

If 2 men are fighting both sides roll 1d6 and add their melee factor (see below). If one is more than 1 greater than the other the other is dead. If just one greater or equal the melee continues. If 2 men are fighting one double their roll. If the single man wins he chooses which of the 2 he kills. More than 2 men on one is not allowed. A man fighting for a foothold on a wall gets a -1.

Batter the Gate

Forward the bread crumbs! Bring up the milk and eggs .... No wait. Not like that. The Vikings have uprooted a smallish tree and may choose to try to knock the gate off its hinges. If they decide to go this route they must first fill the moat immediately in front of the gate. Only an Irish tribesman would charge the gate with a ram without considering what would happen when he reached the moat.

To fill the moat is a tedious business. Each man who reaches the outer edge of the moat directly opposite the gate without being shot may drop in a basket of earth and debris (Why, no sven. I thought you brought the basket). Roll 1d6 and note the number. When you reach 50 that part of the moat is filled and the ram may be brought up. Men may return to the start line and spend one turn getting their baskets refilled.

The ram takes a minimum of 4 men and a maximum of 10 to handle. Any men shot during the approach can be immediately replaced by friends within 2". At the ramming part of the turn sequence roll 1d6 and add 1 for each man over 4 working the ram. When the cumulative total reaches 30 the gate is down. The ram can be brought inside the castle to deal with keep and tower doors. These are less stout and can be broken down with totals of 15 and 10 respectively.

Morale

At the end of the first turn in which the attackers have lost 1/3 of their original strength a morale test is made. Another is made at 1/2 strength and another at 1/3 strength and at the end of every turn after reaching that point. At 1/3 losses a 1 or 2 causes the attackers to return to their boats and go home. At 1/2 a 1-3 does it, and at 2/3 a 1-4. The defenders are fighting for their lives against a merciless foe with no way out so, while they do test at the same loss levels as the attackers they will never flee. Instead, a failure will cause a -1 on all subsequent melees to represent despair. If a subsequent morale test passes they will regain their original melee factor to represent the courage of despair.

As a twist to cause the Vikings to think twice before using the slow but relatively bloodless "fill the moat & ram the gate" gambit I suggest the possability of a relief force. Play out the first 6 turns normally. At the beginning of each subsequent turn roll 1d6. If a 6 is rolled a relief force is on the horizon & the attackers withdraw back to their boats.

The defenders- 3 knights with a melee factor of +3, 6 spearmen with a melee factor of +1, 9 archers with a melee factor of 0, and 12 militia with a melee factor of 0.

The attackers- 9 berserks with a melee factor of +3 and a morale* factor of 6, 18 huscarls with a melee factor of 2 and a morale factor of 5, 27 archers with a melee factor of 0 and a morale factor of 4, 36 otherwise undistinguished vikings with a melee factor of 1 and a morale factor of 4.

Note: The viking morale factor is used for checking to pass the moat and climb the ladders.

Turn Sequence

At the beginning of the game: Attacker sets up anywhere out of bowshot. Defender sets up anywhere inside the castle.

Each turn:

Attacker moves
Defender moves
Test to pass moat, dump debris
Raise Ladders, tip ladders, ram gate
Escalade morale
Drop rocks
Melee
Check morale and relief force if called for.
Note: Archer fire takes place during movement.