#siegecraft

i think a thing that some board games do that's brilliant and more rpgs should think about is a level of obfuscation between your actions and your goals

Siegecraft (Khans of Tarkir) - Viktor Titov

When the night before the battle for Sodden Hill, Yennefer enters a strange heat, Tissaia has no choice but to lend a hand - not that she’s all that opposed.

“Yennefer?” She’s spied a shutter lantern hanging from the rafters and it takes only a trickle of power to light the oil within. The glow cast by the one flickering flame is just enough to see by, but when she kneels next to Yennefer’s prone form, Tissaia doesn’t need any more to understand what’s going on.

“It hurts,” Yennefer gasps, hands pressed over her lower belly, “what’s happening to me?”

“You’ve entered a heat.” Tissaia places a hand on Yennefer’s forehead and that seems to calm her down a little. “I know it hurts, but try not to fight it, or you’ll make things worse.”

“This isn’t possible,” Yennefer grits out through chattering teeth. “Not since we—”

“It’s rare but not unheard of.” Tissaia explains, unclasping her cloak and draping it over her pupil’s shaking limbs. She is cold now, but will be overheating soon. “It’s called sympathetic heat. One of the girls in the camp must have entered hers, and your body mimicked it.” Not surprising considering what must be going on around the bonfires right about now.

“There has to be a potion,” Yennefer clutches at Tissaia’s cloak as if her life depends on it. “Or a spell you can use to—”

“I’m afraid there isn’t.” Tissaia smoothes ropes of sweat-soaked hair away from her brow. The scent of lilacs is almost overpowering now, and even though she’s not susceptible to it the way an alpha would be, it makes her lightheaded. She aches to soothe Yennefer’s pain somehow.

“You must ride it out, and before the battle too. I am sure one of the men will be happy to—”

“No!” Yennefer bolts upright, eyes blazing with outrage. “I will not whore myself out to ease something I didn’t even ask for.” She barks a laugh, short and harsh and brittle. “To think part of the reason we undergo our change is precisely to avoid this!” She laughs again, the sound shrill and high-pitched. “No,” she repeats, after her hysterics have subsided. “But you can help me.”

Go back and re-read the Ironborn chapter of WOIAF, because the Ironborn actually suffered multiple defeats of this fashion: when the First Men were living in the age of the Hundred Kingdoms, the Ironborn rode high, but then as the mainland began to consolidate under dynamic state-building dynasties into the Seven Kingdoms, they suffered a significant decline and lost the empire of Qhored the Cruel, even before the Andals came and technology transfers dramatically shifted the balance of power between island raider and mainlander. The Ironborn then had to build themselves back up through the New Way to get to the point where they could hope to launch a conquest of the Riverlands.

But even if we look at the time after Harwyn Hardhand’s conquest, we don’t see a huge transformation in Ironborn capabilities. They’re able to conquer one of the weakest and most divided kingdoms, but they still have to deal with constant rebellions. Halleck Hoare tries to take on the Kingdoms of the Rock, the Storm, and the Mountain and Vale, and is beaten each time - in no small part because Ironborn siegecraft isn’t that good and they keep trying to assault the Bloody Gate. And yes, Harren orders Harrenhal to be built…but I’d bet dollars to donuts that it wasn’t Ironborn architects who designed it, and we know it wasn’t Ironborn labor who built it.

Well, starving it out was working alright for Mace Tyrell and Paxter Redwyne except for the while Davos situation. This sort of question really involves context. If I have unlimited resources I can just keep sending people to storm it and wear them down eventually. If I have a lot of time starving them out is a wiser option. If I have Melisandre, a shadow baby and a demand to surrender is an effective intimidation tactic.

Thanks for the question, Anon.

Lots of History questions today. 

No worries I love it.

Generally, as a rule Viking raiders tended to avoid lengthy sieges. They were costly, and held them in place for long periods of time. Enough so that whoever they were besieging could call for help. 

However, as with all rules there are exceptions. Such as the Siege of Paris in 845, and the Siege of Paris in 885-886. During the latter siege several chroniclers noted that the Vikings did use mangonels, catapults and ballista, as well as rams, and towers.

However the most common weapon the Vikings would use, was simple starvation. Often they would encircle a town, and just wait, hoping either the town would surrender, or pay them off with a ransom. 

If they had to scale a wall, ladders would be used to get up and over, often striking at dawn. Or use grappling hooks to pull down the palisades, as stone worked walls were virtually unheard of during this period, and only placed around the most valuable of cities.

Finally their last weapon is their intelligence gathering. Vikings when you get down to it, were raiders. They were after the maximum reward, with the littlest risk, as such they carefully chose their targets, studied them, and planed out their routes to ensure both surprise, and a quick get away.