Siege Notes: (4) Leaguer - Continuing to Set Up the Game

We can now go back to my list of things you need to do to set up a siege game.

8.     Calculate the powder requirements (and reality) for the Garrison and the Besiegers

For the artillery purchased for each army, we need an initial Powder Store for the Garrison (which may be in Tons or Loads, as discussed, a Load being 8 tons, and of course when we say "powder" we include, by implication, all artillery ammunition); the usual arrangement for the Besiegers is that they arrive carrying enough powder for the first 2 weeks (4 turns), and expect to receive a shipment of powder each turn from Turn 5. 

This was described in excruciating detail in my previous post.

9.     Initialise Event Card Deck

This is quite interesting, I think. The Deck may be tuned to suit the period and the scenario, and brings some welcome colour to the narrative.

At the end of the Housekeeping phase of each army’s turn, the active player draws an Event Card. The Card deck uses 2 identical packs of playing cards, each having 2 jokers. To prepare the deck, before the game, remove all the court cards (J,Q,K), the Aces and 2s. Then combine the packs, and add back any of the removed cards which will be in use as Event Cards (note that there will be 2 of some of them). Leave all 4 jokers in the deck; any card not listed means no event this turn. Shuffle this very well - the success of the game pretty much hangs on the quality of the shuffle (no pressure then).

Some of the cards apply only to the side which draws them, some to the enemy, some to everyone; there is a mixture of positive and negative outcomes. 

It is worthwhile to include a couple of “Scenario Specials” for a given game, which involve actual historical events or what-ifs. Here's an example [The Specials included here are from my ECW Siege of Liverpool game in 2024.]

 

 

10.  If appropriate, set up siegeworks for deferred start of play

 

Especially for a Vauban-type fortress game, it is possible to get an accelerated start, by starting the siege with the 1st Parallel complete, and the 2nd Parallel dug, but without emplacements. The player(s) can decide for themselves how they should adjust the starting numbers for Resolve, Powder Stores, Local Support and so on. 

 

11.  Deploy Garrison’s forces in permitted areas

 

The Governor of the Garrison may place his troops anywhere which is not in advance of the edge of the fortress (which is normally the Covered Way, but mat also include an outwork). Within the fortress there is also a Safe Place, where troops may be rallied, guns may be repaired and everyone is concealed.  

 

12.  Deploy Besiegers’ forces in permitted areas

 

The Besiegers may be placed anywhere which is not nearer to the fortress than the heads of sap.  

 

13.  Play first Siege Turn (usually the Besieger goes first)

 

In the next post I shall start walking through the phases in a Siege Turn.  

 

Siege Notes: (3a) Time Out for Some Arithmetic and Head Scratching...

 I mentioned previously that there were a couple of areas in my siege rules where I was going to have to make some estimates - sometimes the generally accepted numbers seem unlikely, and sometimes supposed experts quote each other, backwards and forwards, and legends are established. There are two priority topics requiring a bit of work at the outset - consumption (and therefore supply) of gunpowder and the digging of trenches; I felt it might be a bit much to just go off on one while walking through the rules, so I shall attempt to cover these in a little time-out session, and then with luck I can use the results to progress the rules discussion more gracefully.

How Much Gunpowder?

The immediate problem is to work out how much powder the two armies in a siege will need. OK - so how much do they use?

Here are some preliminary facts: Vauban says that a weapon firing roundshot requires a propellant charge of one-third of the weight of the shot; a barrel of powder weighs 100lbs; 22 barrels to the ton.

A couple of other givens: I shall ignore the powder used by musketry, but will attempt to allow for the powder inside shells; I will also have to get around to allowing for powder used in mines and (maybe) petards; my starting intention is that the garrison has a known powder store at the start, and has to husband that during the siege, while the battering train normally carries 2 weeks' supply with them (that's 4 turns) and the visiting Commander will have to arrange for regular deliveries as the siege proceeds - this last bit will require some careful thought...

What do we know? Well, I've done a lot of reading (John Jones, John May, Alexander Dickson, B P Hughes, J V Belmas, David Chandler, Chris Duffy...) and I found a lot of numbers. 

For a start, it is widely quoted that experienced gunners could maintain a rate of between 20 and 30 shots an hour without problems. Oh really? For how long?

I'm going to look at the main siege weapons, 24pdrs. Let's assume they have shifts standing by to keep the rate of fire up. The guns require to be thoroughly sponged and cleaned out about every 30 shots, the shifts need a little time to change; the guns will not just be firing - they will occasionally be re-deployed, and the peak rate of fire will be when they are concentrating on creating a breach; at other times they may be used picking out tactical targets, to clear the area opposing an attack.

There is a very interesting account of some trials conducted at the Royal Arsenal (London) in 1813, in which guns were fired continuously - batches of 50 shot spaced at 3 minutes between shots. This experiment was to compare the difference in enlargement of various types of vent ("common" - cast iron? - wrought iron and copper). The guns involved in the tests would be standing calmly in the open, with master gunners, not under fire, and not constrained by firing through an embrasure. One thing that comes immediately from the tables is that the wear is significantly less when the shots are spaced at 4 minutes. These tests were with iron guns, which were regarded as more hard-wearing than brass and less likely to droop if they overheated, though they had a greater tendency to burst...

4 minute spacing gets us down to 15 shots an hour, and regular cleaning and other overheads might get us down to 10 - maybe that's a decent starting figure as an average. OK - so how long would they be firing each day? No doubt it varied, depending on the task of the day.

I found some interesting returns from the Peninsular War - artillery officers were obviously devoted to counting things. I spent some time looking at Wellington's "Second Attack" on San Sebastian. There are no analyses of shots fired each day, but Dickson dutifully records that the 24pdrs, of which there were 28, fired almost exactly 28000 shot during the 5 days of the main attack - they started battering the fort on 26th August 1813 and they stopped on 30th, in time for the infantry assault on the 31st. This average of 1000 shots/gun for the 5 days is so devastatingly convenient (!) that it did rather dominate my calculations thereafter! We know that 7 of the guns were in a separate battery, which was found to be ineffective, and were shifted to join the main effort against the breach, so some moving about was included in the 5 days.

Righto - let's take the overall numbers. 1000 roundshot per gun over 5 days gives 200 a day. My guessed average rate of 10 shots an hour (which already includes some maintenance and changes of shift) would require 20 hours for 200 shots. It's a long day, but maybe we are heading in the right direction.

A quick check with the rules: guns firing roundshot may opt to use what I have called "continuous" fire (better terminology probably exists) when they are really trying very hard (completing a breach would be such a time). Continuous fire gets you extra dice to fire with, but uses powder at a scary rate and also introduces the possibility of damage to the guns as they overheat, so the idea is that it is something you don't do if you don't need to. 

In my rules, a gun model represents a half-battery of 3 pieces, and a turn is a half a week (so 3.5 days). 

Let's see how our 200 shots a day figure average works out. Vauban's estimate of one-third of the shot poundage works very nicely with a 3-gun half-battery - a model 24pdr on the table will require 24lbs per single volley, which is very close to a quarter of a barrel, and therefore a full barrel every 4 volleys. A turn is 3.5 days at 200 volleys, which is 700 volleys, which works out at 175 barrels. Interestingly (convenience strikes again), at 22 barrels per ton, 176 barrels would be exactly 8 tons. 

Now I've been working with this system for a while, and, in the absence of better terminology, I've informally defined a "Load" of powder as "the amount of powder consumed by a model 24pdr firing for 1 Siege Turn", and I know that a model gun is really a half-battery of 3. "Load" is not a good word - perhaps it is short for a "Wagon Load" or something, but I know what I mean, and it's simple to work with. If (say) the Garrison is expected to hold out for 8 weeks (16 turns), then each model 24pdr will need 16 Loads in the magazines to last the duration.

My rules stipulate that a 24pdr (model) firing during a Siege Turn will  be marked with a "Puff" of cotton-wool. This indicates that it has fired, and at the end of the Firing phase the "Puffs" will be collected in, added up and converted into a deduction from the powder store; 1 Puff indicates consumption which requires to be replenished by the delivery of 1 Load of new powder to the 24pdr gun. My housekeeping calculations have been in Puffs/Loads, which are (interchangeably) the same amount. There is also a smaller size - a half-puff - which represents the consumption of half a Load [4 tons] of powder. 

[It is possible that, in the interests of simplicity, I will continue to use the Puff/Load measurement system; the only new information coming from the calculations above is that I now know that a Load actually weighs 8 tons. There would be a touch of elegance in multiplying all the numbers by 8, and dealing in tons, which is a real weight which anyone would understand. I offer this simply as a matter of personal preference; you might even consider multiplying by 176 instead of 8, which gives the amounts in barrels, which feels even more authentic. The downside is that the arithmetic becomes more of a chore, the numbers less memorable - maybe the whole thing moves another step nearer to a clerical job rather than a pastime? With a little extra work, you could convert the amounts into buckets, or teaspoons, which would guarantee you a lifetime award of the Bruce Quarrie Medal for Spurious Accuracy (BQMSA). Sorry - I digressed a little there - this is entirely a question of what you like; personally, I consider that pocket calculators, like tape measures, are things I don't really wish to see on my tabletop.]

A 12pdr field gun will use half as much powder as a 24pdr, so that's a half-puff each turn; let's assume that a standard mortar uses the same powder as a 24pdr, if we include the powder in the shells, but only half that amount if it is firing stones; a heavy mortar will use 1-and-a-half puffs firing shell, but only 1 puff if firing stones; a little Coehoorn mortar, which fires short-range fragmentation grenades, is probably most likely to be used during a Tactical Turn, but in a Siege Turn would consume half a Puff. 

Let's add up the requirements, then, for a complete Garrison. We'll now talk in terms of models, not half-batteries, for simplicity. Say they have three 24pdrs, two 12pdr field guns and two standard mortars - the requirement for a turn, if everyone is firing, would be:

3 @ 24pdr                      3 Puffs
2 @ 12pdr                      1 Puff
2 @ Mortar                    2 Puffs
                                     -----------         
Total                              6 Puffs [48 tons] per Turn; 96 Loads for a 16-turn siege 
                                      [768 tons] 

Thus the Governor needs 96 Loads in his magazines; the preliminary audit should be adjusted by rolling 2D6 and applying the Randomizer table [mentioned in Section 3 of Siege Note (3)]; if the Governor is not happy with the result, he may choose to re-roll the Randomizer, but he must accept the re-roll.

That is quite straightforward, and is all settled (secretly, if necessary) before the siege commences. The powder store in the fortress will be depleted by each turn's powder usage (count the Puffs), and possibly by Event Cards and Espionage activity. Remember that artillery firing roundshot may opt for Continuous Fire in a Turn, which doubles powder consumption and also effect, but also risks overheating the guns.

Misfires, which don't hit anything, still consume powder as usual.

What about the Besiegers? For this same 16-turn siege, we assume that the train will carry 2 weeks' (4 turns') powder with them, and then a regular supply starts from Turn 5. At the start they arrive with

6 @ 24pdr                      6 Puffs
3 @ 12pdr                      1.5 Puffs
1 @ Heavy mortar         1.5 Puffs
4 @ Mortar                    4 Puffs
                                     -----------         
Total                              13 Puffs [104 tons] per Turn; 52 Loads for the 
                                      first 4 turns [416 tons], which has to be Randomized
                                      in the normal manner 

Subsequent deliveries:  The scenario may set conditions here, depending
                                      upon how hostile the surrounding countryside is, 
                                      how difficult the supply route. In this case, the 
                                     Besiegers should arrange a regular delivery of 13
                                     Loads each turn (Randomized on arrival); the scenario
                                    may also stipulate that a Randomizer roll of any double
                                    (or selected doubles) means that the delivery fails to 
                                    arrive. If the Digging Standard is currently 6 (or higher), 
                                    the shipment will not normally arrive. No-one said this 
                                    was easy.  

In all of this, the results should be secret for a competitive game, and the Commanders have the usual entitlement to a single re-roll (which is binding) for any Randomizer use.

That's certainly quite enough about gunpowder, but it will reappear when we get to the Firing rules.

 

Trenches - How Fast, and Who Digs Them?

 

Sapping - specialist work

 

The Vauban's Wars rules have all digging being done by Sappers, which doesn't seem right to me. What I have read suggests that the Sappers did the specialised digging of forward saps, but the main body of the labour of making trenches and redoubts was provided by the Poor Bloody Infantry (who else?), or else by gangs of civilian contractors (slaves?) - an alternative which I haven't managed to work into the game as yet.

 

According to Chris Duffy, work parties of infantrymen would advance after dark to the site where the digging was to be done (eye witnesses say that these gangs might be up to 3000 men, but 1200 is mentioned as a sort of average - handily, this is about 2 battalions in my game...). The location would be at the current heads of sap, and the men would carry fascines (to mark out the line of the new trench) and digging tools. They would place their fascines as instructed by the engineers, would form a line about 2 paces behind the fascines, with 2 paces between each man, and would start digging, excavating a trench about 1 metre deep, and piling the spoil up between the forward edge of the trench and the fascines. There was an obvious motivation to get this work to a stage where the diggers were in cover before the sun came up!

This is all fine, but I need a few numbers to see how it works. The hexes on my battlefield are 200 paces across, which implies a line of 100 men stretched across, digging furiously. In such a line, a battalion could theoretically attempt a trench on a ridiculous front - 6 hexes - 1200 paces. No - such a sparse line would be very vulnerable to a night-time raid, the men could not dig for much more than a couple of hours at a time - maybe less than that. I've adopted a system where a battalion (600 men) placed in a hex would at any moment have 100 men digging, and 500 waiting to relieve them, carrying stuff about and (importantly) standing guard. In fact, half a battalion could probably handle a hex-width of trench like this.

One of my Siege Turns represents half a week, so the working crew have the dark portions of 3.5 days to complete the digging, tamping down, widening and reinforcement of a section of the parallel. Normal practice was to replace them with another regiment at the end of each shift. Is it simply a foregone conclusion that they will finish the work? Well, very bad weather might stop them, as might some initiative on the part of the Garrison. The fortress gunners could put up a star-shell, and then fire on the working party - if they can afford the powder, and for as long as the star-shell burns. After the embryonic trench reached about 2 feet deep, the diggers could lie down and be in cover - it would be an interruption though. If the diggers had lots of armed friends, they could probably see off any kind of sortie or trench raid.

A number of rule sets make completion of a trench section automatic if you get the diggers into the right place. I've thought my way back and forwards on this. One argument against guaranteed success for me is that my Vauban forts all look pretty similar, and the standard approach to conducting the siege might often look similar too. Suppose all my Louis XIV period sieges consist of

* Dig 1st Parallel 1200 paces from the Covered Way
* Send forward 3 zig-zag saps
* Dig 2nd Parallel 800 paces from the Covered Way 
* Add emplacements for heavy guns to eliminate the Garrison's guns
* Add emplacements out to one or more flanks, to provide ricochet fire to enfilade the faces of the bastions adjacent to the intended breach site
* Etc

At this stage, the only differences between this siege and the last one I played out might be the chance variations in fire effect, and maybe the odd Event Card. The idea of always getting to the same situation horrifies me, first because it isn't necessarily authentic, and second because it makes the game rather pointless. Having thought about it (again) I am currently back in favour of having a chance element in the completion of the siegeworks - that produces some extra variety. The soldiers succeed by beating the current Digging Standard (DS) with die rolls (and they get extra dice if they have an Engineer handy); they'll probably manage it - especially if the DS is low, but if they don't they are left with a section of the trench which is incomplete - it may be a botch-up of gabions and whatever they have to hand, but if the end of the Siege Turn shows that some of the trench sections are in this state, then the soldiers in them will be only in soft cover, and potentially in trouble. They will attract a lot of attention when the Garrison gunners have their turn.

 

Digging Standard die clearly on view in an ECW siege

 I'll talk about this again when I walk through the Digging rule. 

To finish off this time-out note, I'll mention Duffy's Sandhurst Kriegspiel Society game, as described in his Fire & Stone book. Under those rules, forward saps were advanced at a prodigious speed, and a party of infantry, with an officer present, would be crammed into the sap, where they would be fired upon by the garrison artillery. Provided the officer and at least 50% of the infantry figures survived, they could then be placed in position to dig a section of parallel, and the new trench would be placed along their length. The detail of what was going on is maybe not how you or I might have played it, but it attaches a chance element to progressing the siegeworks; as I sit here today, I am in favour of this chance element. Anyone who has had the experience of seeing landscape gardeners arrive in the morning, and then coming home after work assuming that everything will have gone well, may appreciate my preference.

 

 

 

 

  

Hooptedoodle #495 - Joseph Spence Revisited

I still own a lot of CDs, which I am told is very 1990s. I don't care - they are mine, and I love them (most of them), and I can play them whenever I like, in super quality, without asking anyone, without leaving my personal details all over the web and without watching someone's bleeping adverts.

Recently I've been making an effort to tidy things up a bit, get rid of stuff I don't want any more, spot old discs which are starting to degrade (and rescue them if possible, if it's worth it), and do some serious-quality rips that I can play in the car. I've had some interesting reunions with a number of voices from my past.

 

Joseph Spence

(1910-1984)

During this latest period of avoiding the news I spend a lot of time listening to Finzi, Ravel, Fauré and odd-bods like George Butterworth and John Jeffreys, so it was a bit of a culture shock to meet up again with Joseph Spence.

Joseph was a pipe-smoking stonemason in the Bahamas, who had a fearsome local reputation as a guitarist and entertainer. Word sneaked out in the late 1950s, when he was visited by collectors and the Folkways people and was recorded in his home. He became something of a celebrity, was recorded again, more professionally, and was booked for a tour in New York and Boston in 1964. This didn't go wonderfully well. His family were very religious, and did not approve of drinking or songs about inappropriate behaviour. Thus he was allowed to travel to the US only on the understanding that he was accompanied by two women members of his family, who monitored his behaviour very carefully, and appeared on stage with him, singing hymns. 

This is why you have probably never heard of Joseph, in the same context as you have probably heard of Blind Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt, Rosetta Tharp and others from those days. However, the fact remains that Joseph was a self-taught phenomenon - wildly gifted and completely unfiltered. His guitar playing is remarkable (he was a noted inspiration to Ry Cooder, Tommy Emmanuel and all sorts of people), and he sort-of sings along (deedle deedle), coughs and mutters his way through performances. Most importantly, his music is happy - it is very difficult not to smile at his work.

After the failure of the Newport Foundation tour, Joseph returned to live in peace in the Bahamas, and disappeared almost completely, though I am sure that he was still the life and soul of the spontaneous building-site parties, and that his sisters still disapproved of the rum. 

And I'm sure he wasn't a bit bothered.

 

 

Siege Notes: (3) Leaguer - Starting to Set Up the Game

 

Much of what follows is of my own devising, some is influenced by (or borrowed from) the ideas of many individuals, with or without permission, including Christopher Duffy, Tony Bath, Ron Miles, Stuart Asquith, Henry Hyde, Jock Ramsay, Bill Protz, Allan Gallacher and Eric Burgess. Thank you, gentlemen.

Assuming you have the terrain, figures and artillery equipment you need, here is a checklist of things that you need to prepare for a siege:

1.     Scenario notes, fortress layout and Size Number

2.     Set the Local Support level* for the Garrison

3.     Calculate food supply* for Garrison (and citizens)

4.     Determine the strength of the fortress* (walls; bastions; odd bits)

5.     Set the initial Digging Standard, and decide whether mining is feasible for this siege

6.     Purchase troops, officers, “named individuals” and equipment for each side

7.     Set Resolve number* for each side

8.     Calculate the powder requirements* (and reality) for the Garrison and the Besiegers

9.     Initialise Event Card deck

10.  If appropriate, set up siegeworks for deferred start of play

11.  Deploy Garrison’s forces in permitted areas

12.  Deploy Besiegers’ forces in permitted areas

13.  Play first Siege Turn (usually the Besieger goes first)

* If this is to be a “competitive” game (rather than solo or collaborative), items marked with an asterisk are secret…

I do not propose to wade through this lot in detail, but some quick descriptions will get us started, and in some cases (usually because I found them interesting) I may say a bit more about how these indicators are managed during Siege Turns. If the scenario stipulates it, some of the set-up may be based on historical fact rather than calculated from tables and dice rolls.

1. Scenario notes, fortress layout and Size Number

We need a thorough scenario, with detailed background story. This is vital - the armies must know why they are fighting, why they should keep on, when they should stop. If possible, there should be some criteria which indicate what success looks like; for example, a garrison which is ordered to hold out for 8 weeks might be considered completely successful if it manages to do this; an army which storms an enemy citadel and captures it despite suffering heavy losses may be considered victorious, but less so than if it had persuaded the fortress to surrender without the storm - it all depends on the context, on the scenario notes.

A fortress layout - in most sieges, both commanders would know a lot about the fortress – armies maintained libraries of such knowledge. The Size Number of the fortress is mainly of use in setting the Purchase budgets and the size of the respective forces. It is measured by the number of bastions on the table; if this is not the sort of fortress that has bastions, then some other property - a medium sized medieval fortress with a couple of gun batteries and a big fortified gate might be rated as equivalent to a 3-bastion modern fort. The Size Number implies the number of heavy guns which the garrison may have permanently mounted, so any additional demilune or hornwork, or (part of) a citadel which will support a heavy gun may be regarded as equivalent to a bastion.

A medium sized fort might have a Size Number of 3 or 4; an ECW-type siege of a fortified house might rate 2 or even 1. Some of the smallest sieges may be capable of being completely depicted on the table, but it is more normal for a portion of the town/fortress to be placed on one edge of the table – in which case the Size Number reflects how many bastions are on the table, not how many the place has altogether.

2. Set the Local Support (LS) level for the Garrison

LS is an indicator of the level of support the townspeople provide for Garrison troops. If there is no civilian population, then LS is zero, and any reference to LS in the game thereafter is ignored.

LS counts towards the garrison’s Resolve score (of which more later) – any change in LS will be immediately tracked in the garrison’s Resolve. LS is affected by some Event Cards (whoever draws them), and by the incidence of fires in the town caused by enemy mortar fire.

LS may be increased as part of the Governor’s housekeeping tasks – he may “negotiate” with the citizens by means of a D6 roll; 5 or 6 means increase LS by 1, but a roll of 1 drops LS by 1. [If LS is currently greater than or equal to zero, the town Mayor may carry out this negotiation on behalf of the Governor, which avoids the Governor having to be in two places at once during Housekeeping].

LS will also be impacted by changes in the management of the Food Supply (of which more below).

Values of LS may range from +3 (which, in effect, means that the townspeople are prepared to endure hardships and fight on the battlements, alongside the soldiers) to -3 (which means that the townspeople wish to overthrow the garrison and open the gates). Descriptions are given in the table below. LS levels of zero or less will require the garrison to divert manpower and effort into policing the populace. There is also a theoretical level of -4 for LS, but if this is reached the garrison must surrender.

+3 is extreme – an example might be Sarragossa. If not specified in the scenario, initial LS is set by rolling 2D6 of different colours – say white is positive, red negative. For each die, half the score and round, half up [I’ll call this ½D6 in these rules – if you have a better name, you call it that]. Subtract the red ½D6 from the white ½D6, and the answer is the LS.

Example:  2D6 turn up 5 (white) and 2 (red); ½D6s are 3 and 1 respectively; LS = 3 – 1 = +2.
If the Garrison Governor is not happy with the result, he may re-roll, but he must keep the re-roll result.

LS	Description	Policing Requirement
+3	completely supportive; will require no policing effort; if necessary, will be prepared to help man the defences or volunteer as replacement sappers	None
+2	actively supportive; as +3 but will not fight – can still volunteer as sappers	None
+1	generally favourable; as +2 but no new volunteers for sapping work	None
0	docile; some resentment of garrison; policing the civilians now needs…	½ a battalion
-1	sullenly hostile; policing needs…	1 battalion
-2	openly hostile;  policing needs…	1½ battalions
-3	violently hostile; likely to collaborate with the enemy, given the chance. Population is held in check only by policing by…	2 battalions
-4	this level exists only on a theoretical basis; if the LS level falls below -3, the garrison is defeated, since either they will be forced to surrender, or the townsfolk will implement a Coup de Main, or simply open the gates.

For solo games I use an oversized D6 and a “fudge” die (marked + or -) to indicate the current LS.

3. Calculate Food supply for Garrison (and citizens)

This is done very simply; we do not care how many citizens there are, the Governor requires that there should be sufficient provisions for troops and civilians for a number of turns (Siege Turns are half-weeks). Provisions means food and drink and fodder and any other non-ammunition consumables, but we shall call everything Food, for simplicity.

At this point, we introduce a simple device called The Randomizer, which requires a roll of 2D6 to calculate a value between 75% and 125% of what was required. This is used to give a randomised figure for the supply of Food and Powder.

2D6>>	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
%>>	75%	80%	85%	90%	95%	100%	105%	110%	115%	120%	125%

Percentage results are rounded to the nearer unit, with an exact half being rounded up.

Example: our scenario requires the Governor to hold out for 8 weeks (16 turns); he is informed that the Food store in the fortress is maintained at 16 turns supply. When he knows that a siege is about to start (and the fortress is cut off), he requests a definitive audit of what is actually is in store. He rolls 2D6 for the Randomizer…

The number of turns of Food required is 16; the 2D6 roll gives 5; the Randomizer gives a factor of 90%; the actual amount in store is thus 90% of 16, which is 14 turns.
If the 2D6 roll had been 11, the result would have been 120% of 16 = 19 turns.

If the Governor is unhappy with the audit result, he may re-roll, but he must accept the re-roll value.

This gets us started; the further progress of Food stores will be considered in the Housekeeping rules, later.

4. Determine the strength of the fortress (walls; bastions; odd bits)

This is an assessment of how many points of damage (denoted by stone chips of 3 different sizes – 1, 5 and 10) must be inflicted to breach a component of the fortress.

The fortress strength may be specified by the scanario

Typical values might be:

Feature	Pts for Breach
“Modern” Vauban-style walls, backed with earth embankments and concealed behind a glacis	40pts
Medieval stone wall (targeted at base / targeted at higher level to collapse and fill ditch)	30pts / 35pts
Bastion, gatehouse, tower	50pts
Masonry hornwork, ravelin	45pts
Earthen “fausse braye” embankment or turf wall	20pts

Note that walls can only be breached by artillery if the gunners can see the base of the wall, apart from the option given for medieval structures.

The damage required for a breach was well understood by the participants, so Strength figures can be taken straight from the table; alternatively, the figure for each relevant feature type may be approximated using the Randomizer (see under #3 above). If the Governor is not happy with any particular Randomized result, he may re-roll (just once, as above).

5. Set the initial Digging Standard (DS), and Decide whether Mining is Feasible

Whether mining as allowed will normally be set out in the scenario. Mining may be impossible if the ground is marshy, or the siege site is next to a river, or (common in Flanders) at or near sea level. The commanders will need to know at the outset whether they must recruit a miner (or two) during the army Purchasing phase (see later).

The DS is displayed on a special die somewhere in view on the edge of the table. The DS is in the range 1 to 6, and is the score which must be beaten by diggers to complete a section of work in that turn – it is, if you like, a simple, rather bovine abstraction of weather and other imponderables which make shovelling earth more or less difficult. The higher the DS, the more difficult and slower will be the spadework. If DS reaches 6 (which means torrential rain), no digging or engineering work is possible until it falls again; DS reaching 6 also has implications for current fires burning in the town, and may result in flooding of existing works

To set the initial value of DS during the preparation work, the Commander of the Besieging force rolls 2D6 and sets DS equal to the lower of the two scores. In subsequent turns, the DS will be reviewed during the Besiegers’ Housekeeping phase; it may also be affected by Event Cards. Management of DS will be described later under the Digging rules.

6. Purchase troops, officers, “named individuals” and equipment for each side

It may well be, especially for a historical siege, that much of the set up information is provided by the scenario notes. Otherwise, the armies are selected by Purchasing units, for which purpose each Commander is given a budget (in Budget Points!). The respective budgets are set by the fortress’s Size Number (see earlier); the Garrison is allowed 15 times the Size Number, the Besieging force is allowed 25 times the Size Number.

Item	Price	Notes
Heavy gun	4	These are “demicannons” or 24pdrs, and only these may damage stone structures. Garrison are allowed a max of 1 “Fortress Gun” per Size No; Besiegers allowed max of 2 “Siege Guns” per Size No. Heavy guns may not be fired during Tactical Turns.
Field gun	2	These are “quarter-cannons” or “sakers” or 12 pdrs. They cannot damage fortress walls or earthworks
Heavy mortar	2	These may fire explosive shells, which are useful for setting fires in a town, for compromising cover for enemy troops, or battering turf or earth walls (see Firing rules, later). They may also be loaded with stones for anti-personnel use. If firing shell, there is a risk of misfires, which (prior to 1730) may involve the catastrophe risk of the shell exploding in the mortar.
Mortar	1
Infantry	1	This is the cost of a battalion.
Elite infantry	2	Each side is only allowed one battalion of these – normally grenadiers. These have advantages in Tactical Rules, and also for carrying out (and opposing) Trench Raids in Siege Turns.
Sapper team	2	The Garrison is allowed max of 1 per Size No (apart from repairing damage and building barricades, they also control fires, and may be brought up to strength with civilians if the LS is above a certain number); the Besiegers are allowed max of 2 x Size No.
Commander	2	Each side is allowed 1; for the Garrison he is referred to as The Governor. Important for rallying troops (removing hits), for encouraging citizens, and he is the only person who can replace, promote or fire Named Individuals
Other Senior Officer	1	Garrison is allowed 1 of these; Besiegers allowed 1 per Size No. These also help with rallying, and are needed to take over if Commander is hit.
Spy	1	Each side may have a max of 2. They should be given code names (important fun ingredient); their ability is unknown until they are sent on a mission. If a second spy is needed once the game is under way (or a replacement for an existing spy sacked or lost in action), he/she may be purchased at the cost of 1 Resolve Pt. Spies may attempt to obtain information about the enemy, or to carry out acts of sabotage. The rule on Espionage will give a lot more detail. [If a spy fails on a mission, he/she may be lost and/or be forced to reveal information about their army].
Miner	3	Each side may have up to 2, if Mining is permitted. A second miner (or a replacement) may be purchased at a cost of 3 Resolve Pts once the game is under way.
Engineer	1	Garrison may have 1, Besiegers may have up to 1 per Size No. Engineers help a lot with getting digging work completed. They may not be replaced if lost.
Named Individuals	1 each	There is a variety of these: Security Officer (Chief of Police or Provost Marshal, who helps limit the effectiveness of enemy Spies); if the fortress has a civilian population then the Garrison will require a Mayor, who can act as an extra Senior Officer if the LS remains high enough. Other odd bods may be nominated by the scenario – preachers, political representatives, specialists in experimental weapons – whatever. If any of these require to be replaced, they may usually be purchased for 1 Resolve Pt each during the Commander’s Housekeeping phase.

 

The budget cannot be exceeded; any surplus remaining in the budget may be added into the army’s initial Resolve calculation. [Resolve is the key attribute, which is gradually whittled away as the siege proceeds – anyone reaching zero Resolve in in big trouble]

Let’s run through an example, hopefully to clarify this procedure, which is (admittedly) fiddly, but only needs to be done during set-up. We’ll look at Purchasing, then proceed to calculate the Resolve figures for each army.

Example: For a Size 3 fortress, the allowed purchase budget is 45 for the Garrison, 75 for the Besiegers. Mining is possible. The Commanders need to spend their budgets wisely, and also need to count the number of combat units (which should be obvious from the table) to produce the Resolve number. In this example, the Local Support (LS) has already been assessed as +2.

Item	Price	Garrison buy	Cost	Units	Besiegers buy	Cost	Units
Heavy gun	4	3 fortress guns	12	3	6 siege guns	24	6
Field gun	2	2	4	2	3	6	3
Mortar	1	2	2	2	4	4	4
Infantry	1	4	4	4	7	7	7
Elite infantry	2	1	2	1	1	2	1
Sapper team	2	3	6	3	6	12	6
Commander	2	1 Governor	2		1 Commander	2
Other Senior Officer	1	1	1		3	3
Spy	1	2	2		2	2
Miner	3	1	3		1	3
Engineer	1	1	1		3	3
Security Officer	1	1 Chief of Police	1		1 Provost Marshal	1
Mayor	1	1	1		n/a	-
TOTAL			41	15		69	27

 

7. Set Resolve number for each side

 

Resolve is what we need. For a solo game, I set up the old billiards scoreboard, and count down to ruin

 Thus the Garrison have 4 unused budget pts, the Besiegers 6; add these to the number of fighting units for each army, then add 2D6 for the Garrison and 3D6 for the Besiegers, and finally add the Local Support score (which may be negative) to the Garrison figure. This gives the raw Resolve Score for each army, now have to roll 2D6 for each army and consult the Randomizer to get initial Resolve – LS is given as +2 at commencement.

Let’s work this through:

For the Garrison, 15 (fighting units) + 4 (budget surplus) +2 + 4 (2D6) + 2 (LS) = 27; for Randomizer (described in #3 above), Governor accepts roll of 2D6 with total 8 gives starting Resolve as 105% x 27 = 28.

For the Besiegers, 27 (fighting units) + 6 (budget surplus) + 1 + 4 + 6 (3D6) = 43;  for Randomizer, 2D6 total is accepted as 10 gives starting Resolve as 115% x 43 = 49.

If this is a non-solo game, the commanders should keep these figures secret; if it’s solo, remember that this is one example of information which the armies do not know about each other (unless the spies find out…)

That’s quite enough to be going on with. In the next Siege Note I hope to push on with the initial set up, then move on to Siege Turns, starting with the Housekeeping routines.