"What Do You Do with Castles?" Topic

Castles and sieges were an integral part of medieval warfare, yet comparatively few medieval wargame rules deal with them in any depth. Most concentrate on field battles, leaving castles as little more than attractive scenery or objectives.

How do you handle castles in your games?

Do you simply use them as terrain?
Fight actions around them rather than assault them?
Use a separate siege system?
Borrow rules from another set?
Or do your favourite medieval rules already handle sieges well enough?

I'd be interested to hear how others incorporate castles into their medieval games.

theminiaturespage.com‌

‌"TMP link Oh, ignore the 'Gold Napoleon'- that's the mock prize the winner gets.

At this Show game, using Lion Rampant, we had a castle as a centre piece but it took no part in the game: eye candy.
theminiaturespage.com‌

‌"TMP link

theminiaturespage.com‌

‌"TMP link

I play fantasy, specifically 2e BattleSystem Miniatures Rules for mass combat. They have rules for siege battles: rams, screws, siege towers, ballistae, catapults and trebuchets. They also address mining as a combat option. It covers battle platforms (chariots and the like), along with gunpowder (matchlocks, basically). It has conversion rules for things not directly addressed within the rules.

Even though 2e BS is a fantasy set of rules, it can be used for non-fantasy games -- just ignore the magic and mystical creatures.

Siege warfare was long and slow, taking up to multiple years to resolve. Since no one has that kind of time to play out a siege battle, 2e BS rules speed things up, dramatically.

Have I played 2e BS's siege rules? Yes, Virginia, I have. Game one (played locally); game two, at a small convention. Same battle for both battles 1 & 2, different players. Game Three, with a wooden fort and a battering ram; Game Four, castle for the defender, and ladders for the attackers; Game Five, the wooden fort defended by Hobgoblins (Tiger Pits in front of their infantry on both sides, catching the charging Dwarven Ram Cavalry unprepared -- it wasn't pretty for the Dwarven Cavalry, and it wasn't in the book, so I made up what I felt was a fair way to resolve the pits as a nasty attack killing multiple Dwarves and their Rams), with a Dwarven Army and a Human Army attacking the Hobgoblins (the Human and Dwarven Infantry were carrying ladders in addition to the Humans pushing forward with their Mantlets for their Heavy X-bowmen).

I have not played the mining rules yet. I have played the Ladder, Battering Rams, Ballistae, Catapults, and Trebuchet rules, however. They're fun. They add a lot of eye candy to the game, while being functional.

The castle is a force multiplier of around 5x: it takes 1/5 the number of defenders to man the castle compared to the attackers!

Even with the rules speeding up siege warfare, it is still a slow slog to knock down a wall, or to breach a gate. Still, it is fun to play, IMO. Cheers!

Castles? Why we lay siege to them of course.

How do you handle castles in your games?

I put all the castle pieces in boxes and shelve them to be painted later, and then they sit there for decades on end.

My favorite use of castles is as background terrain, like this.

I have played "assault the walls" games on occasion (starting with the Medieval Tactica "siege" rules back when it was brand new), but I'm not really a fan of these scenarios. They can look great and be huge fun to create, but so far I've never had a good time playing one.

I'm very interested in true siege games representing the full course of a siege from investment to capitulation, but I admit I've never run or played one myself. I love reading about the long move/counter-move campaigns punctuated by occasional sorties, assaults, relief attempts, political maneuvers, etc. that compose real historical sieges, and especially the sieges where some brilliant innovator tried new tactics or contraptions.

Naturally, it's my style to storm them! Having fun, of course!

Little bit of both. Sometimes it's scenery and sometimes it's a siege. Either way Castles are cool!

Storming. I have seige rules that are a pencil paper game, no need for miniatures.

Most castles would be too large for 25/28mm figures to besiege. I have two possible solutions (1) use 10mm figures (2) I am building a small Welsh castle based on Dolwyddelan and Dolbadarn, backing into a lake and surrounded by marsh and rocks so that siege engines can't get near. Walls are very thin so can't be very high, so that you can probably reach the top by standing on someone's back. It will fit on a 6x4ft table with room for the attackers !