Tell me about medieval border fortresses, please!

[Buttercup]

My players are on the way to a famous fortress that guards a vulnerable pass over the mountains. To the south of these mountains lies civilization, to the north...well, there are ravaging hordes of orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears and most frightening of all, elves. All the elves in this part of the world (indeed all the elves the PCs have ever heard of) are evil, bloodthirsty worshipers of Pelnar, god of death, pain and chaos. They drink blood. They eat babies. They capture innocent human women and use them for pleasure slaves/breeding stock, so they can have a supply of half-elf slaves. Mwahahahaha! Er, excuse me. I have all sorts of ideas for plots once the PCs get to Ice Eagle Fortress.

But what is a medieval border fortress like? How many in the garrison? How many support personnel, and of what sort? Would there be noncombatants other than blacksmiths, cooks and so forth, such as spouses and children? Should there be a village nearby? Should the fort send out sorties to the 'other side' or wait for the enemy to come to them? What would the tour of duty likely be? Anything else important that I've forgotten to ask? Do tell, please.

 

[Nifft]

Given the wide gulf between Medieval tech and D&D magic, I wouldn't bother. I'd wager that WW2 architecture would be a better comparison -- look at their bunker technology & blueprints.

As to forces, it really depends on the power level of your world. Sixteen mid-level Wizards could hold off an army alone (as could two or three high-level Druids), while it would take a significantly larger number of first level Warriors to accomplish that goal.

-- Nifft

PS: This means that I don't really know anything about Medieval border fortresses, but would like to help.

 

[Old One]

Try this site...

Buttercup,

Try this site:

http://www.castlesontheweb.com/

Pay particular attention to Welsh castles and fortresses on the borders between Wales/Scotland and England. These "Marcher Lord" castles have histories replete with siege and counter-siege...many changed hands numerous times throughout their respective histories.

Hope that helps!

~ Old One

 

[ForceUser]

If I were tackling this project, I would place the fort across or near the only passable route over the mountains. If raiders from the north were a real problem, I would garrison about fifty to two hundred heavy horse, fifty light calvary, three hundred archers, two to five hundred infantry, and a hundred seige engineers to build, maintain, and man the defenses (ballistae, catapults, pitch reserves, pots to dump boiling oil onto enemies with, pikes, pits, ditches, trenches, wall integrity, etc). Whatever final number of combatants I came up with, I'd double that number by adding a like amount of support personnel (cooks, servants, laborers, grooms, etc.). I'd decide whose benefice the fort falls within (probably a marquis because they are traditionally border lords), how powerful that lord is politically and militarily (likely very powerful because a king is entrusting him in the defense of a border), who his allies and enemies are, who he has appointed as castellan of the border fort, who his most trusted knights are (the most trusted is likely the manorial lord of the fort), how many spellcasters he can call upon for aid in a time of need, how many adventurers he can call upon or hire in a time of need, and which church has a chapel within the border fort's walls.

Remember that a highly defensible fortress needs fewer defenders and can withstand more lengthy sieges - about a hundred guys in the Alamo held off the entire Mexican army for several days.

 

[Buttercup]

OK, well here are the NPCs I have detailed at the moment.

Sir Norwin Vedris, 11th level human paladin. He's the commander, and serves at the pleasure of the church. Right now, and for the past 15 years, there pleasure has been for him to stay right where he is.

Lyris Cort, 9th level cleric. Also serving at the pleasure of the church. She's been there for 5 years.

Feltine Bosch, 8th level diviner (and the person the PCs want to talk to, incidently). Feltine's motivations are known to no one but her. It has suited her to stay at the fort for the past 3 years. When it no longer suits her, she'll pack up and leave. Sir Vedris trusts her. Lyris Cort does not.

2 units of halfling scouts, each containing 6 halflings.

Garris, a half elf former slave who Sir Vedris rescued 10 years ago during a raid into the elven lands. Garris is a 6th level warrior.

Feltine Bosch is considered a really powerful wizard. The party has a sorcerer and a bard, but no one has the 'book learning' type of magic. In fact, the only other wizard they've ever met was 4th level.

 

[Buttercup]

... I would garrison about fifty to two hundred heavy horse, fifty light calvary

I was wondering about heavy and light cavalry. It seems to me that there wouldn't be room for them to manuver in a mountain pass?

 

[Bregh]

Make the cavalry gnomish mercenaries and put them on dire goats!!!

 

[ForceUser]

I was wondering about heavy and light cavalry. It seems to me that there wouldn't be room for them to manuver in a mountain pass?

Given that you're in a defense role, calvary are good for two reasons: mobility and skirmishing. With good scouting, you can strike a mobilized enemy army while they are strung out in defense of their supply lines. Or, you can strike the supply lines themselves, forcing an army to retreat or starve to death. If a force against your walls has broken and ran, or simply retreated, you can send calvary to ride them down and harass their withdrawal. Unless your mountains are so rugged that it is impossible to ride several horses abreast or even ride at all, calvary is very useful.

 

[Khorod]

Heavy Cavalry is also good for a grand charge out the main gates to save someone under pursuit. Light Cavalry would probably be better for raiding though.

 

[clark411]

Is this fortress old, or new?

If it's new, most noncombatants like families etc will be beyond the walls of the fortress. A new fortress is built first and foremost to protect vs the initial swattings that any raider or foriegn nation worth it's salt would send at it, trying to destroy it or capture it before it has a solid defense.

If it is an older fortress, as in withstood the test of time, it either has a series of defensive positions (towers) dotted along its supply lines and has huge stores that can last a long long siege or it is in fact a city town, with walls encompassing most of the population required to support the military.

If it's an ancient fortress that requires a big big army.. well its' probably either a massive city or a network of smaller fortresses buttressed by really nifty magics.. It probably has underground networks specifically designed to counter sapping attempts, and all sorts of nifty things that a medieval castle wouldn't.

A realistic medieval garrison would actually not have terribly many men to it. The feudal system is, put simply, about the King calling upon armies here and there to defend specific points of interest. A castle needs to be able to fight off an enemy host long enough for the cavalry to arrive (the metaphor of reinforcements being called "cavalry" has a bit of historical accuracy). Usually, an offensive force had to commit about 3 men for every one man defending the place.. so a medieval lord would learn, through spy networks or simply losing and regaining a fort a few times, how large the opposing armies could get. That lord would then petition for more men. Figure out how big the last enemy army was, divide by three, and then add to that number to figure out the necessary defenders required.

The fortress' location on the mountain may actually hinder them more than help them, if your hobgoblins/orcs/goblin hordes are of the standard type in their affinity for mountains, and also in their ability to get ahold of a few giant helpers (like hill or stone giants, who will literally spend their months of service getting chiselled out bits of the mountainside to toss at the fortifications). Furthermore, any fortress that exists up in the mountains has to be near a ready water supply... usually with mountains that means springs, and rivers flowing from a snowcap. These produce disgusting amounts of subterranean tunnels that humans hate and goblins love.

As for sorties.. I'd say that they'd be extremely dangerous to pull off vs. goblins and the like. Standard horses work best on standard roads, and the horde probably has constant ambushes laid out for them. If the fortress could grab ahold of some nice giant eagles, owls, griffons, or even awakened animals devoted to the cause (there has to be at least one mountain druid around that doesn't want those elves around) they'd be better able to prepare. Also seeing knights moving around on Mountain Goat Warbeasts would be pretty awesome (not to mention seeing goblin foot soldiers flying up in the air from large goat head butts and kicks would be fun). Invariably i'd say mountain fortresses are about defense... if they have altitude advantages, it's great for catapults, and ballista.. not cavalry.