Not to be confused with Trains.
The only realistic solution to breaking massive fortifications is to employ a formidable siege train which includes siege engines of gigantic proportions capable of smashing down the strongest walls, gates and towers quickly. These machines are so huge that they cannot easily be constructed in the field. Instead, they must be manufactured in advance, often in pre-fabricated sections which can be transported in wagons, on ships, or stored until needed in fortresses.[1]
Sections[]
The Giant Battering Ram - The giant battering ram is cut from the tallest and strongest tree in the realm and shod with a massive iron or bronze head. Hundreds of men are needed to pull the ropes that swing the ram to strike a gate or fortress wall. One blow will smash great oak doors like matchwood or crumble masonry into powder, collapsing towers and walls like sand castles. The hides of a thousand beasts form its canopy, protecting the operators from the arrows of the defenders.[1]
The Great Cannon - The great cannon is a cannon so big that a ruler would have to make special measures to get hold of enough metal to make it. All the bells in the realm or all the cannons of the fleet may have to be melted down to provide enough bronze to cast a single great cannon. It is so monstrous that hundreds of oxen are required to pull it.[1]
The Monstrous Stone Thrower - This is a catapult operated by a massive counterweight which swings a long shaft and hurls a boulder a very great distance. The huge boulder will smash any ramparts that it strikes. The catapult is made of thick timbers to withstand the stress and strain, but the parts can be transported individually on wagons and are lashed together into a catapult in the siege lines.[1]
The Siege Tower - Hundreds of wagons are required to carry the pre-fabricated timbers that make up the siege tower, and when these are put together the siege tower will be raised higher than any known wall. Bolt throwers shoot out of port holes on each of its many levels. A drawbridge or spiked corvus is ready on the top of the tower to be dropped on the enemy battlements allowing attackers to swarm across, constantly reinforced by a stream of soldiers.[1]
Festivity[]
Whenever a Siege train leaves for war, the city of Nuln has a parade, The Siege Parade. The train comes across the Great Bridge and into the Reik Platz where it travels either west or east, depending on its destination, along Commercial Way. Everyone turns out for these events, as the Siege train means a boost of income for the city.[2a]
Known Siege Trains[]
- Nuln Imperial Siege Train - The veteran gunsmiths of the Imperial Gunnery School of Nuln have built and maintain the Imperial artillery trains also known as the Siege Trains.
- Vedenza's artillery train - An artillery train made of brass and carrying cannons and bolt throwers operated in the Tilean city-state of Vedenza.[3a] However, it's unknown whether this is a train that travels on rails.