Medieval Siege Tower & Trebuchet!

[mmcv]

 

[John Cook]

Very nice.  Can we expect something to besiege soon, such as a 10mm model of Jerusalem?

[fred.]

Cool - and very timely. Just added a Trebuchet to the order I placed yesterday.

[ianrs54]

Why would I want to chew a goat ?.....

Ah...OK. I've cleaned my glasses, now. 

Now genuine questions.
How DID they move those siege towers ?.......Or....How many men did it actually take to shift them ? They must have weighed a huge amount.
Did they construct them as close as possible to 'the castle/fortress'....Just out of range from bowshot, so there was the minimum amount of effort to get them to the walls ?
I note that Leon has mentioned horses being used to pull them into position.......How did they protect the horses ?.....A 'turtle shell of shields'. :-

Cheers - Interested of Wales.

I thought that chewing goat was comon in your area Phil.

As to moving seige towers - slowly and carefully. If possible they were made from unseasond wood and covered in wet hides (Smelly).

The trebuchet looks about right, these things were huge, do a google for reconstructions, there are several about.

[Ithoriel]

If you were looking to move the tower and to terrorise the defenders at the same time, you rounded up the local peasants and their families and offered the men the choice between pulling the tower and probably being killed by the defenders or watching their families die and then definitely being killed by the besiegers.

[Big Insect]

Now genuine questions.
How DID they move those siege towers ?.......Or....How many men did it actually take to shift them ? They must have weighed a huge amount.
Did they construct them as close as possible to 'the castle/fortress'....Just out of range from bowshot, so there was the minimum amount of effort to get them to the walls ?
I note that Leon has mentioned horses being used to pull them into position.......How did they protect the horses ?.....A 'turtle shell of shields'. :-

Cheers - Interested of Wales.

Trolls it's the only answer

[Orcs]

Very nice.  Can we expect something to besiege soon, such as a 10mm model of Jerusalem?

There has been an Ian Weekly model of Beaumaris castle  in 10on ebay a couple of time recently . It went for £100

[Leon]

Although the trebuchet looks . . . big.

What height's the platform on the tower?

They were quite chunky!  I'll double check the different platforms on the tower but it's about 80mm overall height.  This is a good vid of the working trebuchet at Warwick Castle, to give an indication of size:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN18I-RBVm4" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN18I-RBVm4</a>

One way to move a very heavy siege platform was to sink one or more posts into the ground by the castle walls and loop heavy pulleys and ropes around them. The platform was then attached to the ropes, and it could be moved forward by oxen walking away from the battle. The siege tower inched closer to the fortress walls, but the muscle power moving it only moved farther out of range.

That's interesting, I'd not found that info and it makes a lot more sense.  I'd read about manpower (loads of them and definitely more than the 4 we're supplying it with!) and horses pulling it, but of course the horses came into arrow range and were soon rather dissuaded from continuing in a forwardly manner...

Very nice.  Can we expect something to besiege soon, such as a 10mm model of Jerusalem?

No plans just yet but it is something I'd like to have a look at.  There's quite a few other companies making castles in 10mm I think, Kallistra has a lovely one and I think Blotz were making a modular set of walls/keeps?

[Leon]

What height's the platform on the tower?

The three platforms are at 30mm / 50mm / 70mm heights.

[madaxeman]

So... I've repurposed a couple of these lovely little things to use as Cyrus' Mobile Towers as part of a 15mm Early Achaemenid Persian army !







Full details (and a link to download the wallpaper!) at https://madaxemandotcom.blogspot.com/2020/12/festive-persian-siege-towers-ok-its.html

[ianrs54]

That conversion and paint job proves we are all insane. Excellent stuff....

[Steve J]

You've done a great job there !!!

[Westmarcher]

These siege towers look most impressive. I really like them. Great job!  
But someone needs to explain the horses to me (I'm not an Ancients era aficionado). The horse team is longer than the draw bridge so clearly they can't drag the tower right up to the city walls. Not only that, the horses have side protection but no overhead cover and with the besieged city walls being higher than the horses, the defenders will be shooting down on them. So clearly it would be best to unhitch the horses, etc. out of range and then manually push the tower up to the walls. But if you unhitch the horses out of range, then there's no need for the side protection. I don't get it.    

Bah Humbug!

p.s. Should the horse team be placed behind the tower to push it rather than pull it?  

[Ithoriel]

Westmarcher - Cyrus' towers were used on the battlefield.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thymbra

Lovely models. Though those are odd looking oxen pulling them

[madaxeman]

Though those are odd looking oxen pulling them

Cyrus' clearly didn't have the same stuff in his "bits box" as I did when he originally put them together in 1:1 scale