Siege & Fortresses

In the game of Warmaster it is possible to represent fortresses, walls, towers, castles and even entire cities on the tabletop by means of appropriately sized models. The scale of the game is ideally suited to fighting massive sieges with sweeping armies, mighty fortresses, lumbering war machines and towering engines of destruction.

In our Siege game system defenders and attackers will have to pay points for each part of fortification and Siege equipment and of course for their units, so that in the end it will be possible to play balanced Siege games with equal chances for all sides. Within those rules it should also be possible to play scenarios with small fortifications (like a watchtower, a traveller’s inn or a cemetery) without giving the defender too much of an advantage.

Big Sieges usually lasted weeks or even years, but these rules allow for actions like bombardments to take place within a single playing session. Warmaster is the perfect scale for uncomplicated Siege games.

That does not mean that longer Siege Campaigns cannot be supported by these rules. Special scenarios or campaigns might still follow.

Walls, castles and towers can be handmade from card, plastic, balsa or similar materials. The small scale of Warmaster models means that it is relatively easy to produce a fortress using readily obtainable items. For example, plaster of Paris and plasticine can be used to create wall sections, towers and even gateways. However, the easiest material to use is thick card, such as the mounting card commonly sold for picture framing.

When making walls or towers for a castle or fortress where troop stands will be deployed it is necessary to make sure that the walkways are sufficiently wide enough to take a stand (i.e., 20mm). Similarly, it is also a good idea to make sure that such things as bridges, gateways and roads between buildings are at least 20mm wide so that stands can move along them. The following Siege rules very much depend on dividing the fortress in sections between 40 to 50mm, so when building a castle you should consider either making sections of this width or at least think of a way of marking those sections.

Generally in siege scenarios the Breakpoint for both armies is ignored. The game will only end when either one of the generals dies or when the turn limit for the scenario expires. Occasionally a scenario will state otherwise, in this instance the specific scenario rules take precedence.

When deciding to play a siege game the defender selects their units, fortifications and siege equipment first. The attacker may then spend the same amount of points on their troops and equipment according to the scenario description.

Additionally, the defender’s maximum unit limits are determined by rounding up to the nearest 1000 points. For example, a 1500 points army would use the minimum limit for a 1000 point army, but the maximum limit of a 2000 point army. This represents the higher number of well trained troops, artillery and equipment that tend to be found in most fortifications.

When the rules refer to a wall, this means a wall section between 40 and 50mm wide. When they refer to a tower, this includes the entirety of the tower.

High walls, tall towers and substantial tall buildings are considered to block the movement of all but flying units. Troops are therefore obliged to use gateways, doors or gaps when moving into or out of fortresses.

Only standard infantry and artillery can man the ramparts of a fortress. Cavalry, chariots, monsters, machines and infantry based in the same way as cavalry cannot move onto ramparts.

Infantry and artillery stands can move up, onto, or down from the defender’s side of ramparts as normal. It is assumed there are sufficient internal stairs or ladders to enable them to do so regardless of what the fortress model may look like. Vertical distance is ignored as far as unit formation is concerned.

Wall sections or towers work like extensions of stands upon them. If more than half of a stand is on a wall section its control area extends to the ends of this section as long as the area is not yet occupied. Shooting ranges may be measured from the edge of the occupied section. It follows that enemy troops may use initiative to charge or evade from occupied wall sections.

Up to four units placed on adjacent wall sections or towers may be moved as a brigade, even if the units themselves do not touch each other. This includes units in the courtyard that touch the appropriate sections. This rule allows troops to be rearranged even in a crowded fortress – for example, a unit inside a tower may change places with a unit standing on the neighbouring rampart with only one command, even if the units aren’t touching each other. Keep in mind that units in fortified sections are limited to half-pace movement.

Infantry stands from an attacking force can move over a wall and onto unoccupied ramparts as long as they are equipped with ladders or similar to scale the walls. Infantry can also use a siege tower to move directly onto a rampart. From there they may be ordered to move further.

In most cases attackers will be forced to fight defending troops before they are able to move onto the ramparts. This is explained further under Assaults.

Fortress walls, towers and gateways are sturdy constructions, impervious to arrows and light shot. They can only be damaged by shots from cannons and stone throwers. The Empire’s Steam Tank and Helblaster or Dwarf Gyrocopters fire a hail of small calibre cannon balls unsuitable for breaching walls.

To breach a wall or gateway or to collapse a tower you must shoot at it with a unit of suitable artillery or machines. Each 40 to 50mm long section of wall counts as a separate target. A tower is considered a single target unless it is very large (more than 50mm wide), in which case it must be divided into a suitable number of sections in the same way as a castle wall.

When shooting at a wall, gate or tower it is not necessary to shoot at the closest target, as is normally the case with missile fire, as the besiegers will generally pick a vulnerable point beforehand and concentrate their fire at that. If a player wishes to shoot at fortifications he can ignore the normal targeting rules and may shoot where he wants within the normal limitations of range and sight.

If you wish to shoot at troops on ramparts of walls or towers then the normal shooting rules apply and no account is made of damage on the wall or tower itself. Shots that are directed at the rampart can only cause harm to the troops and not to the fortification.

As fortresses are difficult to damage, a wall, gateway or tower counts as fortified (6 to hit) but has no armour.

Units on ramparts and towers can shoot over friendly troops on lower ramparts or the ground.

To resolve the effect of hits on a wall, gate or tower first roll to hit as normal. At the end of the Shooting phase make a Structure Test by rolling a dice for each hit inflicted on the building this round, plus one for each Destruction Token from earlier rounds.

If the result is higher than the Structure Resistance of the building it is destroyed. (This is similar to a Drive Rack roll, but without the movement of course.)

Otherwise, add a Destruction Token to the building. A maximum of one Destruction Token may be added for each round of successful shooting.

If there are Destruction Tokens on a building it must make a Structure Test at the end of the attacker’s Shooting phase, even if it took no hits in the current round.

Once a wall is breached the entire 40 to 50mm long section is destroyed and collapses. Any stand on the rampart is destroyed. Where practical, the wall section can be removed and replaced by rubble or, if you wish, by a specially made section of breached wall.

Once a gateway is breached, the gate is assumed to have been blown apart. A stand on a rampart above the gate is not affected as it is the gate that is the target rather than the surrounding stone.

As with walls, any stand on the rampart or inside a tower is destroyed when it collapses. Where practical, the tower should be replaced with model rubble to show that it has collapsed.

Walls, towers and gates can also be breached by means of Battering rams or similar. First the battering unit ‘charges’ the targeted part of the fortification by initiative or order. The defending units on the ‘battered’ section and the directly adjacent sections may use missiles or boiling oil according the normal assault rules, which means that if the battering unit loses one stand the assault is failed and the assaulting unit has to retreat 1cm for each hit they have taken. Otherwise, the battering unit may ignore the defending troops to batter the structure. Each ram automatically inflicts one hit in the shooting phase. At the end of the shooting phase a Structure Test is made for the particular piece of fortification. Of course the particular wall may not be shot at when assaulted by a battering unit (as the battering unit is in the way) but adjacent wall sections may be shot at.

If the wall or gate fails the test it collapses. In the following combat phase the battering unit may proceed as if it had destroyed its first unit in combat and may fall back or advance. In the case of an advance the battering unit may ignore fortified troops as they storm into the courtyard. Touching units on ramparts are not taken in account during the following combat as this fight happens on different height levels.

In the case of destroyed gateways, units defending from above may not use boiling oil or similar attacks against the battering unit anymore as they already have, but they may use them against any following units that try to enter through the gateway.

If the structure is not destroyed by the battering attack add another Destruction Token and fall back 10cm with the battering unit.

Giants can also batter a wall with their clubs but no other monster is sufficiently large to do so.

When a breach is caused, either by the destruction of a wall section or a tower, remove the destroyed part of the fortification (if possible) and replace it with a suitable marker or model.

In certain cases you will find that a breach caused in a wall or tower will destroy stands from a unit, possibly even destroying a stand in the middle of the unit, which would normally not be possible due to the Removing Casualties rules.

In that case count the number of wounds the lost stand had and proceed as if the unit had taken that many wounds by shooting. For example, a unit with three hits discounts two due to being fortified but the attacker may roll the last dice to determine drive-back, and the defender may still choose which stand he removes according to normal rules (even if that means that an intact wall section is left unguarded and a stand is put into the breach). The unit is driven back directly away from the wall no matter where the shooting came from.

Units attacking units in a breach are not drawn into combat with any units on adjacent standing wall sections. The reverse is also the case, in that troops assaulting a wall section do not count as attacking troops in adjoining breaches. This is one instance where corner-to-corner contact does not count. In addition, this means that units attacking breaches or wall sections in this way only have to spread out and maximise contact with adjacent troops that are on the same level as the attacked unit.

A breach in a wall or collapsed tower can be moved through by infantry, cavalry or monsters. Any unit wishing to cross the breach must stop before it; either to fight any defending units or to wait for another order to move through – the area is too difficult to march straight through. Machines, artillery and chariots cannot move over the debris at all. The wreckage caused by a collapsed wall or tower counts as cover to defenders in the same way as a low wall or barricade. A breach can therefore be defended by troops on the other side once the wall or tower itself has been knocked down.

It is possible for infantry to attack an enemy on the ramparts of a fortress’ walls but not enemy on towers, as these are too high to reach. Depending on the construction of the model’s fortifications it may be necessary to designate some high walls, gateways or towers as being ‘too high to assault’. This is left to the players’ discretion.

Infantry can also attack a rampart from Siege towers as discussed later. In both cases this is called an assault. Only infantry can assault. Except for the odd examples discussed later, cavalry, chariots, monsters, artillery and machines cannot assault a fortress because they cannot attack fortified stands. Assaults are different from ordinary combat in several ways.

Infantry units can make an assault by charging up to the base of the defended fortress walls. The assaulting units do not have to form a battle line as in case of normal charge. The two sides then fight a round of combat as if they were touching.

As fortress models will never exactly match the size of a base it is necessary to adjust the normal rules concerning base to base contact in assaults. For our rules to work it is important that no rampart section is more than 5cm wide.

If a wall section is assaulted, the nearest units on adjacent wall sections may make stand and shoot attacks (even if the units on that section do not directly touch the attackers). They also count as being in corner-to-corner contact with the attackers in the following combat.

Units in towers are a bit different. As towers are built to provide extra defences, all units in a tower may stand and shoot at enemy assaulting adjacent wall sections, even if they won’t be in combat afterwards due to their higher position. Still they may only do that for the adjacent wall section that was attacked first. If the tower itself is being assaulted afterwards, units in it may stand and shoot as normal again. Have a look at Figure 1.

Towers may also use their special “Stand and Shoot” ability against attackers with Sows, Siege Towers or Battering Rams. Those attackers benefit from the better armour roll their siege equipment provides. If an assaulting unit loses a stand by shooting or boiling oil attacks, the assault has failed and the unit retreats 1cm for each hit taken.

During an assault, no account is made for the effect of supporting stands for either side. In the dangerous, cramped and confused melee of an assault it is impossible for troops to support each other as they do on the open battlefield. Also, as units fighting on ramparts can hardly maintain a coherent formation, there is no need for stands to direct their attacks primarily to the front.

Missile armed defenders can shoot at troops making an assault in the same way as at troops making a charge. Any hits inflicted are carried over and count as if struck in the assault.

If the attackers win the combat round, their assault has succeeded. Beaten defenders must retreat down from the ramparts and away from their enemy. Measure all retreat moves horizontally. No account is made of the distance moved up or down (otherwise a stand could end up halfway down a wall!). Artillery stands are automatically destroyed if forced to retreat.

Victorious units automatically move stands onto the empty ramparts. If the unit won’t fit on the ramparts, some stands must be left at the base of the wall. Because combatants will be separated, the combat ends. No pursuit combat is fought during an assault.

In the event of a draw, the combat is deemed unresolved and carries on in the next combat phase. The assaulting units invested too much effort to scale the walls to simply fall back.

If the defenders win the combat then the attackers are thrown back and must retreat in the usual manner. The defenders remain in place. Defenders will not (and cannot!) pursue over ramparts.

Because they are so tall, Giants can attack troops on ramparts. However, they are too heavy and clumsy to scale the walls of a fortress and the people of the Warmaster world have sufficient sense to build their walls high! A Giant can just about reach sufficiently high enough to bash any enemy on the ramparts of the wall with his club. Towers and anything higher than a normal fortress wall are assumed to be out of his reach. If your model fortifications are such that there is doubt whether a Giant can reach them or not then the players should ideally agree beforehand which walls are out of reach.

A Giant can fight against an enemy unit on the rampart of a fortress wall but can’t pursue should the enemy retreat. Although he can clear the ramparts of foes, he can’t take and hold ramparts as infantry can.

Giants can use their clubs to batter in the same way as a Battering Ram. A Giant can only do this if there are no troops on the ramparts that he can fight, otherwise he must fight the defenders instead. When attempting to batter walls, each Giant inflicts one automatic hit and damage is calculated in the same way as for Rams.

Towers are usually the most important element of any defensive structure. They are very tough to knock down and incredibly difficult to assault, whilst providing an ideal position to pour missile fire onto the attacking army. A tower may only be assaulted from either the courtyard or from the ramparts of adjacent wall sections. This is because a tower is generally much too high to assault with even the longest ladders or tallest siege towers, so the only way in is through the doors.

The number of stands that a tower can hold is determined by its base area. The standard tower as defined in the defender’s fortification list has around 40–50mm edge length and may hold up to three stands or at least one unit of troops (but not more than two units). Towers with more edge length cost double points and may hold up to 3 units but no more than 6 stands. This represents units not only being positioned on the roof of the tower, but all throughout its height, probably stationed at gun ports or arrow slits.

Free-standing lone towers only have one facing that can be attacked in this way. Whichever facing this is must be declared by the defender before the start of the battle. This facing is assumed to be the one with the door in, whether it is on ground level or high up with a removable ladder.

Towers that are part of larger fortifications are assumed to have an entrance at every facing and level linked to another fortress section. So towers always have an entrance to the courtyard and to each rampart that touches them no matter if the actual model has one displayed.

Missile units in towers count as having a 360° fire arc. This means that they must target the closest eligible enemy unit to the tower if they wish to fire their missile weapons. Distances are measured from the edges of the tower. In addition to this, all missile units in a tower may stand and shoot at units that attack any facing of the tower they occupy as long as the shooting stand is not yet in combat. They may also shoot if they are not taking part in the assault themselves. The only stands that cannot do this are those that are already engaged in combat with another unit that has charged the tower.

When assaulting a tower in this way only one stand may attack each facing of the tower (usually only one or two are eligible in this way). These must be from different units and the defender may also only defend with one stand per facing (although they must defend with one stand on multiple facings if there are insufficient defending stands). Defending stands never count as being flanked.

When charged, the defending stands in a tower count as fortified. If the attacker wins the first round of combat it is assumed that troops could make their way into the tower. The attacker and defender continue to fight with one stand, but the attacker will gain the normal pursuit bonus. The defender has defended status in the following rounds of combat. Defenders of a tower can never be driven out of a tower – all units in a tower must be destroyed before the attacker can occupy it.

In the case of a tower that holds more than one unit, the defender chooses which unit takes the attack. This unit handles all attacks until it is either wiped out or the attackers are driven off. If the tower is attacked by more than one unit the defender may choose which unengaged defending stand or unit takes the attack. However the following combat will count as one big combat.

If the attacker manages to wipe out the first defending unit he may advance once into the next defending unit and the whole assault begins anew with the defender being fortified.

If the attackers lose a round of combat they are placed outside the tower’s wall as if it would have been the front edge of the attacked unit. So a unit losing by 2 is placed 2cm away of the attacked wall.

Other than this, all the normal rules regarding attacking fortifications stand. For example, if by some miracle the attacking troops do manage to wipe out all the defenders in a tower, then they do not receive any advance charge move. The only option available to them is to consolidate their position and occupy the tower.

Gateway towers are exactly like all other towers with the one exception that a gate leads through it. The gate may be attacked on its own and the defenders manning the gateway tower are not part of the combat that follows, but they may use boiling oil or stand and shoot against the attackers.

Flyers may attack fortified targets in the same way as infantry, hitting on 6s with no charge bonus. They may never occupy fortifications and thus if they win a round of combat against troops in fortifications, they may not pursue them for a second round of combat and may either stand their ground, or fall back. The defenders, however, do still have to retreat.

Flyers are unique in that they are the only units that can actually attack units stationed in a tower without having to do so from the courtyard or adjoining ramparts. The normal rules for attacking towers still apply though, so the defenders will not retreat and all missile-armed troops will be able to stand and shoot at the attacking flyers.

Walls, ramparts and towers are difficult terrain for flying creatures so if they are attacked and lose a round of combat or if they are pushed back they are destroyed.

Of course if flyers try to assault fortifications, boiling oil attacks cannot be used against them.

As commanders are too valuable to risk their lives uselessly it is not allowed for them to enter fortress sections unless they are part of a unit. They are allowed to be placed on unoccupied fortress sections or onto sections that are occupied by their own troops.

If a character is on a fortress section when it is touched by an enemy unit it must join a friendly unit within 30cm. The buildings or the height of the walls do not restrict the movement of the character, regardless of any mount.

Fortress builders are wise to the ways of wizards and sorcerers, and use powerful magic-sapping incantations and carve protective runes into the walls. It is not possible to use magic that crosses the ramparts or walls of a fortress.

However, it is allowed to use magic spells on units that are assaulting a wall as well as in a combat that takes place there. So for example an assaulting unit may get extra attacks by “Rage of Chaos” and these extra attacks will stay as explained in the rules even if the unit crosses the ramparts. “Raise Dead” will also work on or even behind the walls of the fortress as long as there is enough room to place the raised unit and the raised unit touches any units in combat.

No besieging army would be complete without siege towers and rams with which to pound the enemy’s fortress to pieces. Some races have developed their own versions of these devices but all function in more or less the same fashion and have equal effectiveness.

Concerning Victory Points, destroyed or lost Siege Machines immediately give the opponent their victory points no matter if the unit carrying them is destroyed or not.

Siege Machines like Siege Towers, Battering Rams or Sows may use initiative to attack the nearest wall section (towers may be ignored).

Shooting: Range 90cm, 4 Attacks + bounce

For siege use only! May not move once it is deployed. Must be deployed before any other unit.

Shooting straight ahead: Other than normal shooting units the bombard has a very restricted view. It can only draw line of sight to targets that lie in the corridor that extends straight ahead from the front edge. So the bombard only has a 2cm wide corridor of sight. For targets outside this corridor it must be ordered to turn. If the order is failed it does not fire that turn.

Any Hits caused by the Bombard allow no save. In addition, fortified targets only count as being defended (5+ to hit) and defended targets count as being in the open (4+ to hit).

The Bombards shot bounce like a normal cannon’s. This does not apply when shooting at walls/towers as the stonework will obviously stop the cannon ball and prevent it bouncing. Bombards cannot shoot at charging enemy units.

Bombards may not be used by Elves or Bretonnians.

There are three distinct siege equipment lists; the fortification list, the siege equipment list and the siege artillery equipment list. These lists work in the same way, but access to them is dependant upon the specific restrictions of a particular scenario. The scenario special rules will specify exactly which lists may be used by which side.

Earthworks are available to both the attacker and the defender, as are siege artillery.

All equipment is available to all armies of all races in Warmaster for siege battles unless stated otherwise. No army may ever have more than two wallbreaching artillery per 1000 points. Remember that also cannons and rock lobbers count as wall breaching!

†1 Cannon like – shots from a Bombard bounce like cannons and get +1 when shooting at defended or fortified targets. May not be used by Elves of any kindred, or Bretonnians.

†2 Wall Breaching artillery – no army may ever have more than two wall breaching artillery per 1000 points. All of the following count as wall-breaching artillery: Mangonels, Bombards, Tribocks, Cannons, Skull-Chukkas, Rock-Lobbers, Trebuchets and Earthshaker Cannons.

†3 Shooting straight ahead – may only draw line of sight in the corridor that extends straight forward in the width of the front edge.