Special “Terrain” and Obstacles

Castles are designed so as to make it as difficult as possible for invaders to move, fight, and survive within their walls. Military architects, particularly in the Middle Ages proved to have fertile (and rather nasty) imaginations in this regard. Among their triumphs were such things as “killing passages”, spiral staircases, spikes, and trip steps.

Most castles have arrow slits and loopholes on the outside. Many, however, also had them on the inside. A common design-and one seen in more modern constructions, up to and including Alcatraz Penitentiary--was the double gate or “killing passage.” Once attackers had broken down a door or gate, they found themselves in a high-walled passage or anteroom. The only exits were the gate by which they’d just entered, and an equally reinforced gate at the far end of the anteroom. Set into the walls of the passage were many arrow slits or loopholes, through which the defenders, totally protected, could shoot down upon the invaders. The attackers could either turn tail, or try to breach the second gate while all the while suffering withering crossfire. To represent the close quarters, limited mobility and horror of a killing passage, troops trying to operate in such an area suffer a +1 penalty to their AR against missile attacks from the wall slits, and suffer a penalty of -1 to morale while in the killing zone.

Even such simple things as staircases could be turned into obstacles for the attacker and advantages for the defender. Psychologically, people expect that the riser of each step in a flight of stairs will be of about the same height. If one riser is significantly lower or higher than the others, the chances are good that someone who doesn’t know about this “trip step” will stumble or fall when they reach it. Historically, this was a very common trick, and trip steps can be found in many castles still standing in England (usually painted white or otherwise marked so tourists won’t break their necks).

In game terms, a unit must pay a movement penalty of 2” the first time it uses a staircase that includes a trip step. For each subsequent time that the same unit uses that stairway, there is no movement penalty. Defending units--who theoretically know about the trip step--pay no such movement penalty. In addition, any unit--invader or garrison--forced to melee while on a staircase that includes a trip step suffers a +1 penalty to AR (because it’s more difficult to concentrate on defending yourself when you’re trying not to fall over). This penalty is in addition to any other penalties (for example, due to lower elevation).

The vast majority of spiral staircases--even today--form a counterclockwise helix (that is, someone climbing the stairs turns left or counterclockwise). In fact, this convention is so pervasive that, when people use one of the few staircases that turns “the wrong way”, they get the feeling that “something’s strange” about the staircase, even though they can’t put their finger on the difference.

This convention developed from a conscious design decision of castle architects. They knew that most warriors were right-handed; they also knew that most invaders would have to fight their way up a staircase. That’s why a counterclockwise spiral makes sense: right-handed warriors will find their sword swings hampered by walls of the spiral. Defenders above have no such hindrance. To reflect this in game terms, units equipped with slashing or bludgeoning weapons (particularly long- or broad swords, maces, or hammers) who are fighting their way up a spiral staircase suffer a penalty: from each AD the unit rolls, subtract 1. Units using piercing weapons such as short swords suffer no such penalty.