"No, you dont get to go blowing things up right away, ya wet pants recruit! You have to earn your way up to “banger”, as we call it. Theres a lot more to the job than just lightin a fuse and runnin for cover. Ill explain it to you again, and this time pay attention! First you start as a crossbowman, picking enemies off the walls who are trying to kill our boys. You stay behind your pavise and watch, learn, and shoot. And if the enemy sallies out, you and that pavise are the first line of defence, so keep your sword sharp! -- When youve learned that job, you move up to Sapper and down into the tunnels. You dig under the walls, rigging em so we can bring them down or sneak our boys into the castle, or sometimes youre digging a covered ditch so the assault troops can get close without worrying about rocks getting dropped on their heads. Just keep your head about you down there. It can get rough if you run into enemy Sappers — or worse, know what I mean? Squeak-squeak. -- If you survive all that, you might get to be a “banger,” or “artillerist”, as they like to call themselves. They get to play with them trebuchets, hurling rocks and even bombs to bust holes in the walls and smash the gates, or make life miserable inside. When the Sapper has dug his tunnel, its the banger who makes the whole thing go BOOM. Just try to be out of the tunnel before it goes off."
- —A veteran siege specialist advice to the recruits[1a]
A crossbowmen of Braganza's Besiegers, a renowned unit of siege specialists from the Tilean city of Miragliano. This crossbowmen is outfitted in plate armour and protected by a pavise so that he can provide covering fire for sappers and miners.
A siege specialist is a military engineer skilled in the assault of fortified castles and settlements. Though besieging fortified places is common throughout the Old World -- an art Men learned from the Dwarfs -- it has reached its highest refinement in Tilea, whose siege specialists even Dwarfs will grudgingly admit are passable.[1a]
Sieging became an art in Tilea during the age when cities and towns threw off their princes and needed to find ways past the castle walls of defiant rural nobility -- or the walls of rival city-states. Simply camping outside until the defenders starve or surrender risks being caught in the open by a relief force, or seeing disease ravage one's own army.[1a]
But storming a fortress almost inevitably means heavy casualties among the besiegers, something every commander wants to avoid. Skilled troops are expensive to train and maintain, and a captain who gains a reputation for bloodthirsty assaults soon finds it hard to recruit replacements. The siege specialist allows an army to shorten a siege at a reasonable cost in lives -- the other sides. At the same time, the daunting prospect of specialists outside the walls creates a need for specialists inside, ones who can intercept the enemys tunnels before the walls collapse.[1a]
In the Empire, siege specialists are mainly Dwarfs, thanks to their long shared history. Why hire anyone else, when you can have the best? But Tilean siege specialists are almost as good -- and less expensive -- and so are hired more and more by lesser nobles and freistadts who dont want to pay Dwarf rates.[1a]
Quotes[]
"As they approached our hearts sank. Braganzas men never lost or fled and we knew we were doomed. Our captain began to explain how safe we were behind the walls until a bolt took him through the throat. No one wanted to be next."
- —Gunter Friesheim, on the Capture of Schloss Adlerberg[1a]
"Arrows are useless against a castle — you can only win by using heavy wall-breaching equipment, which is why Dwarfs are superior in siege warfare. If you are the besieger, you cant hit anything worthwhile at all. If you are inside the castle, you might think arrow fire would be effective from the towers, but what would you prefer to be hit by — a pointy stick or a thirty-pound rock?"
- —Berndt Lavaspear, -1778 IC[1a]
"Remember when you build a wall to shelter behind you are also building a trap. If the wall is strong and flanked by towers the enemy will be trapped — but if the wall is carried then the other walls will hem in your defenders and leave them ripe for massacre."
- —Attributed to Magnus the Pious, 2302 IC[1a]
"The only possible way an attacker can carry one of those accursed stone forts is to advance under the heaviest barrage of missiles possible. This is where Elf forces achieve their greatest successes. The defenders, unable to spread out, are ripe for slaughter beneath a cloud of arrows, and cannot deploy much effective missile fire of their own, hampered by the limited arcs of fire within their walls."
"It is your job to bring down castle walls and to keep others from doing so. Let other poor fools storm the walls — you’ll provide cover, or a more subtle way in."
Notable Siege Specialist Units[]
- Braganza's Besiegers - During his campaign of conquest, Borgio the Besieger desired a new model of regiment. He demanded marksmen that could pick off defenders from rampart walls whilst withstanding missile fire aimed in their direction. He wanted the same troops to be able to hold castle ramparts in defence of attack, provide covering fire for sappers and miners, man siege towers, and prove hardy fighters in the event of an enemy sally. Braganza's crossbowmen, equipped with heavy plate armour and pavises, proved fit for the task -- though their extensive expertise is reflected in their expensive rates.[1a]
Sources[]
- 1: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Up in Arms (RPG)
- 1a: pp. 46-47