Combat Rules for Buildings and Fortifications

Combat rules apply to figures fighting from, within, against, or upon fortifications, and to figures and war machines attacking the fortifications themselves.

Shelter from Missile Fire

If the figures in a unit are in a building or behind a wall, they can take shelter from enemy missiles. All figures within a building can claim such shelter. Up to one rank of figures may shield itself completely behind a wall; additional ranks may be subject to indirect fire.

Enemy missile troops can take indirect fire shots over a wall in the hope of hitting a target beyond. After all other modifiers are made, such attacks suffer an additional 1/2 AD penalty. After the fire is resolved, hits are divided evenly among all target units within the range of the attacker. The defender decides which units take the extra hits when the division results in a remainder. The defender then rolls armor checks and removes any casualties.

Troops that are under a roof, or the first rank of troops against a wall that separates them from the missile troops, cannot be struck by indirect fire.

Fighting at Narrow Passages

Only as many figures as could pass through a narrow opening at one time can fight to defend that opening. This usually means a single figure at a door, window, or other bottleneck. If the figure fighting at a passage is slain, it can be replaced by another figure in its unit if that other figure is not in contact with an enemy unit. (To simplify this procedure, simply remove the casualty from a rear rank of the unit.)

Scaling Walls

Units equipped with grapples or scaling ladders can attempt to gain entry into a fortress over the top of its walls. However, defenders holding the wall have a considerable combat advantage over the attackers.

Melee combat can occur between figures that have climbed ladders and grapples (see the rules on movement in the previous section) and reached the top of a wall. Both sides are considered to be at the same elevation.

However, the defender gets the AR benefit (-2) of being protected by a wall and the attacker does not. In addition, the attacker suffers a +4 penalty to his AR when on a ladder. An attacker on grappling lines is not allowed to make any armor checks; every hit on the unit counts as a casualty.

When casualties are inflicted on a scaling unit, losses must first be removed from figures that have made the climb. When all figures on ladders or grapples are eliminated, excess losses are applied to figures on the ground below.

Bashing Doors and Gates

Doors and gates in a building have a certain number of hits, much like a figure in a unit. When a door or other physical feature loses all of its hits, it ceases to be an obstacle.

Typical Hits ratings for structures and parts of structures are given below, though these numbers will often be modified by the details of a certain scenario.

Hits of Building Features

2	shutters on a typical door or window
3	heavy door
5	fortified door
10	typical cottage
15	iron door
20	wooden house
24	small gate
30	stone house, section of wooden palisade
40	section of earthen wall
50	large gate
60	section of stone wall up to 20' thick
80	section of stone wall greater than 20' thick

Targets and Defense Values:	Point Value
Bastions and round towers	40-60
Gatehouses, square towers, and gates	30-45
Curtain walls and stone buildings	25-40
Ramparts and earth-filled gabions	20-30
Wooden structures and palisades	5-15
Cannons and large catapults	5
Small catapults and movable mantlets	3

Small-sized troops can inflict damage on physical features having 20 hits or less. Humans and other man-sized troops can damage objects having 30 hits or less. Troops of larger than man-sized creatures can damage objects having 50 hits or less. Objects having more than 50 hits can only be damaged by giants or other creatures of similar size (dragons, large dinosaurs, titans, etc.).

Only one figure can attack a building feature, unless the feature is wider than the figure's base. (But see the following section on the use of battering rams.) As many figures as could fully touch an aperture or wall can attack it during a turn.

To bash a physical feature, simply roll an attack for the figure(s) that are trying to break it down and total the number of hits. Hits scored on physical features, just like excess hits scored on a unit, are cumulative from turn to turn. Physical features do not make armor checks; every hit does damage. Often it is easy to keep track of hits scored by placing a die next to the physical feature, but for objects with more than 20 hits it is more convenient to keep a tally on paper.