Defending the Hill

[jbook]

If under siege from Orcs or any other foe, what would some of the best ways to defend a small village from attack? If I were to build a village I would build it within and around the walls of a hill-fort or stockade.





Any thoughts on what your troop movements and strategy would be if under a long siege?

[Peter Remling]

What are the walls made of stone or palisaded timber ?

Orcs generally (from my personal experience ) arn't up to long sieges. They are more of the hit and run kinda guys.

I'd bring the huts closer together and reduce the circumference of the wall. Less wall means less men are needed to defend it. Keep just enough to protect the huts and a small amount of area to herd the livestock that was brought in ahead of the orcs. Chickens and dairy cows were common in a town up to 1900 so you'd have some huts, coops and small cow stalls.

As long as you can keep the orcs at bay for 24-48 hours they should loose interest and look for easier pickings, such as the abandoned homesteads and farms outside the town/village wall.

[jbook]

Alright, lets up the attackers to a more formidable foe. The Uruk-hai. What would be you first move?

Once everyone was safely inside (assuming I had scouts further away from the settlement to warn us of the arrival of the enemy) i would send out my fastest runners to bring further intelligence of the size of the army approaching.

I would place archers out away from the stockade a fair distance. They would begin to launch arrows once the enemy was in range. I would have them maintain their line as long as possible and retreat to a second line of archers and then a third until they would finally retreat to the stockade.

Once inside I would have archers placed on the walls with axemen below to take down attackers as they come over the walls.
At the gate I would place axemen several ranks deep. This is all assuming that I have at least 50 to 75 men at my disposal.

I would take the main house and place my best swordsmen and a few archers to protect the woman and children if the walls are breached. This would also be a point to fall back on.

When I say axemen they would be armed with these. They are usually about 6 feet in length. They are called Lochaber Axes.

[Peter Remling]

I'd alternate archers and spearmen on the walls. The archers would have melee weapons in addition to their bows. The spearmen would impale any attackers climbing the wall and the archers would use their melee weapons to finish them off.

I might suggest message birds over runners. Runners deplete your defense force and sending out a bunch of birds at the same time will almost ensure at least some will get through.

Lochamber axes, always a favorite of mine.

[Willrett]

I agree with spear-men also being on the wall. Are you able to add any large weapons to the walls at corners and above the main gates? Also building small walls for switch backs up the main road will slow any approach and also make the use of a large ram really difficult. Also depending on the hill size and shape it could be dug out to make the sides almost impossible to scale leaving only one way to attack.

[Rhys ap Ieuan]

Along with the in-town defenses you are describing, I'd want a small, highly mobile force outside the wall to harass the main body on its way in, and and their log train after the main body arrives at the settlement. They would employ hit-and-run tactics to inflict small casualties on the enemy and complicate their supply issues.

I would also send riders or birds to other similar settlements in the area with whom I have pre-existing mutual defense pacts, in order to put a time limit on the bad guys vacation plans.

Those settlements badly need some wells inside the walls.

[Odigan]

Firstly, the design of the hillfort should be a hybrid of the two images provided, or else an entirely different plan. You would want either a round wall (which has the greatest ratio of interior space to exterior area) or a square one (with corner towers, permitting far better arc of fire). The structures should be close to the wall, to avoid as much as possible being struck by arrows and artillery, leaving an open centre plan both for market stalls and as a place to array your own counter-artillery. The earthen moat or ditch could be further reinforced with punji stakes/pit traps/thorn hedges within and an embankment on the far side (as suggested in the second image) or multiple ditches and embankments. The gates could be protected by a clavicula or titulum style barrier (ditch and berm of similar length to the gateway, placed about sixty feet in front of it, or otherwise an extension of the wall that wraps around the front of the gate) to prevent direct assault and hinder rams and the like.

A secure water supply s of course a must, as well as laid-up stores of food and a well stocked armoury, but no matter the amount any fortification will always be subject to protracted siege unless an outside force can come to one's aid. If siting permits access to an ocean or river, this may be employed for resupply, reinforcement, or escape. And don't forget to dig a lined pit beneath some significant landmark or cultural/religious monument into which you can store your valuables if you must flee!

[Jon]

How many people would live in my village?

[dwayne davis]

Firstly i agree with having archers along the walls,inside. looking at the ilisrations i would dig out the banks untill they were vertical at the base of the walls say three to four feet then a steeper slope down to the bottom of the ditch, this would make the wals harder to reach by the orcs or uruks for that matter, perhaps also a deep and very wide ditch several feet infront of the main gate, with literal draw bridge that could be pulled back into the fort by man and horse or just man power. with spear men inside to stand guard at the gates if /when they find a way across. as far as signals go, carrier birds are one way, we could take a page from tolkien and have a beacon system set up if settlements are close enough to employ it. also if we have access to some type of flamible liquid then fire grenades/aka molitoff cocktales could be thrown down on the advancing force from the walls. clay vessles could be made in advance to use for that purpose, tey would work against infantry as well as seige engins. as stated before scouts could be used to harrass the enemy and cause them to break off small groups to go after the scouts. the name of the game is controll they lay seige to our home but in the process fix themselves in place, making it possible for us to controll their actions to a degree.

[dwayne davis]

Also if its possible a tunel leading out of the fort ending in nearby woods would be a major asset,and well worth the work required to build it.

[Jon]

I'd like to think that my village would be a motte and bailey style, with maybe 200 people living there. I would have a well and hopefully a good supply of food. The livestock would be brought in of course and there would be plenty wheat in the mill.


I might have, say 15 trained active soldiers and maybe I could form a militia with another 60 of the guys from the village? I think about half my men would know how to use a bow from hunting, etc and the other half could be given spears, or other weapons if we had the time to make them (if we were forewarned of the enemy coming, and the village blacksmith was good enough). Maybe 10 of my guys would know how to ride a horse, but I would not want to use a mobile force outside the walls, cause I don't think it would work very well, especially if the orcs/uruks had bows.

In terms of the defense of the village, it would be on a hill, have a moat or a series of moats, hidden stakes (if my guys had enough warning), etc... The drawbridge could be lifted and the second drawbridge to the keep could also be lifted. The only way to approach my village with siege engines would be to build a walkway across the moat for the ram or ladders, which would take a long time and workers would be under constant fire.

I would place my archers on the walls, and my infantry down below, where they could go to any breach point. Archers can look after themselves, and I'd have the women constantly making arrows during the attack, so that the arrows keep coming. Wherever they breach the walls, they would be confronted with a mass of spears. While they hold the breach, I retreat all my archers and other guys into the second line of defense, the keep, and repeat. The keep is a lot harder to attack, and very difficult to get a siege engine to the walls. It is also quite a bit smaller in diameter, so easier to defend with my few remaining men.

If the siege was starving us out, not much I can do, might have to provoke them into attack somehow. If it was an assault however, I could hold out indefinitely and hope they don't think about burning the walls. If the assault lasted a long time, a would put my soldiers on 12 hour shifts.

I should be able to hold until help arrives, or I die, but not without taking hundreds of them with me!

[R.D.Metcalf]

I would be very worried about fire if defending a palisade. I would also be somewhat worried about night attacks...The attacking force will likely outnumber us they can fight in shifts with the exhausted falling back to rest while fresh troops press the attack. Your men will have to fight harder and longer....

The opposing force also has the option of not fighting at all, simply keeping you penned while staying out of range of your arrows. Inaction would destroy faith in your leadership and defections eventually would rob you of man power. While any attempt to fight would only find you in open country against superior numbers.

A stronghold is a great thing, but I would rather rely on preliminary intelligence brought in by good scouts and the harrying of enemy supply lines by skirmishers, as well as small scale engagements on advantageous terrain in attempts to demoralize my enemy before he stands at my gate in force...Lest my fortress becomes my pyre.... Like the wolves I'm so fond of, I want to isolate a target, weaken the target, and then eliminate the target.

[R.D.Metcalf]

More-so generally than weapons,I would be thinking about a network of communication through good runners and riders, as scouts would not have to march all the way back to the settlements to report simply linking up with their relays at set points to relay intelligence and muster the warriors. The outlying settlements could then be more prepared for the threat, and populations could either prepare for battle or fall back as the thegns saw fit.

Once the eored started prowling I would order every ford, pass or other choke point be watched while mounted scouts relayed info on the approaching force simultaneously harassing the supply train, stragglers and other targets of oppertunity straying too far from the main column. Once the enemy committed to crossing one of the afore mentioned kill zones, the eored ,then dismounted, would be obliged to engage, but not commit, bringing up the horses to retreat as the enemy pressed the advance. IE. one wolf engages the horns while another wounds the flanks.
All the while making every effort to lure him on to that one spot where the ground was right, where his numbers and will to fight were diminished, where my eoreds and foot would meet en masse for the decisive battle.

[GreyWatcher]

So far everyone has a slightly different idea of what the village has. Based on my thoughts, I don't believe there would be that many horses available to do a lot of skirmish attacks or even a lot of message runs.

I don't think desertions would be a major issue if we're dealing with orcs outside the village, humans yes, they would appear to see the big picture and follow orders better than orcs. Orcs are too undisiplined, if I was inside, with orcs on the outside, I'd never believe orcs would allow humans to quit the village safely.

A palisaded village would have the 100 yds or so immediately around the village completely cleared of crops, trees etc. so a handful of archers would go a long way to reduce the enemy force. Most primitive
palisades have an overlapping entrance so some arrow loops on the inner wall of the overlap would give another tactical advantage.

[R.D.Metcalf]

I was talking in terms of the big picture, from the perspective of the overlord or king responsible for a collection of settlements, not just this one. I mean no disrespect to you, but the stronghold would be untenable with the numbers specified. Tolkiens orcs are very similar in many ways to the Mongols,with the glaring exception of their discipline. I would certainly not put it past them to lure out defectors with good terms even if , as the mongols did, they cut their throats later.

My point is that cut-off with limited resources it would be wiser to destroy the village and get moving rather than subject the population to withering starvation and eventual slaughter. The salvation of helms deep and Gondor came from outside the walls, if this village is so remote and small it will sadly not be a priority to a general beset by war....So with no help coming, only a few trained soldiers, few horses....Its timeto burn what cant be carried, get the innocent folk to safety and fight as guerillas until we can link up with a regular force. The safety of the folk is the first priority, once they're clear we can nibble at the enemy as fate allows.