Siege Weaponry

**Siege weaponry** or **siege engines** are a category of weapons or devices that are designed to break or circumvent heavy castle doors, thick city walls and other fortifications. This was especially prevalent in the Third Civilization Area and Outside the Civilized Areas of the New World.

## Overview

Since ancient times on Earth and in the New World, there has always been a need to break through the defenses of the opponent, normally the fortifications of the enemy base. This was initially done through waves of infantry and wars of attrition. This was known as a siege. Normally the one who was able to outlast the other would be victorious. However, as defenses became thicker and harder to get past by mere human power, invaders began to think of more efficient ways to overcome these defenses. Hence the invention of siege weaponry.

## Types of Siege Weaponry

### Siege Tower

A special type of siege engine that is constructed to protect the invaders and ladders from defensive fire and allows them to scale high walls. They also provide a 'high ground' for the invaders to shoot down on the defenders. They are normally constructed from wood and stone and may have protective metal plates against enemy arrows and fire-projectiles. They are normally on wheels and are either dragged or pushed into position. The main drawbacks to the siege tower are that they are difficult to build, hard to maneuver during combat and provide a very large target for the defenders to aim at.

### Battering Ram

This is a brute force weapon that is meant to break down the front gates with kinetic force. It is mainly a very large log or column of steel that is either hung on a frame or carried by a group of soldiers. The battering ram is repeatedly struck against the gate or wall until it collapses. Naturally the defenders will do whatever they can to prevent the battering ram from reaching their walls and will rain down arrows, boiling oil or whatever else they have on hand on the group manning the battering ram. Sometimes the battering ram and frame are covered by some kind of protective overhead to shield the crew from retaliation.

### Projectile Weapons

An alternative to physically breaking down the walls is to either shoot at them or over them and into the enemy camp. This can be achieved through either direct or indirect fire. Ancient weapons include the Catapults and old-style cannons. In the New World, Magic Cannons are the weapons of choice as they not only provide physical kinetic force, but also explosive magic. When gunpowder came into use on Earth, the catapult and other ancient siege weapons became obsolete and three different types of field artillery was created. The gun had a long barrel and was a direct fire weapon. The howitzer had a shorter barrel and could adjust its angle of fire. The mortar had a short barrel and was designed to shoot at high angles, ie: over the walls of the defenders.

### Undermining

Undermining was a method of siege warfare in which the invaders would dig a tunnel underneath the walls of the defenders, then destroy the supports with fire, causing the tunnel and the wall above it to come collapsing in on itself. With the introduction of gunpowder and high explosives, undermining became even more effective during the Civil War and World War I.

### Bunker Busting

This is the modern term for siege warfare as a **bunker buster** is a type of munition that is designed to penetrate hardened targets or targets buried deep underground

## Siege Warfare in the New World

### Third Civilization and Outside the Civilized Areas

Since this region is still within the medieval levels of technology, their siege weapons still consisted of ancient engines such as the siege tower and catapults. However, the Parpaldia Empire did have more advanced weapons such as the Flintlock muskets, magic cannons and living tanks called Land Dragons. They also had the advantage of a Wyvern air force, allowing them to bombard their opponents within their walls.

### Second Civilization Area

Due to the invention of the machine gun and field artillery, the old horse cavalry was rendered useless and nations such as Mu, had adopted a new type of defensive tactic, Trench Warfare. However, this would quickly prove useless against the Gra Valkas Empire as they had the solution to trenches, which was the Tank.

### Gra Valkas Empire

In addition to having field artillery and the tank, the Gra Valkas military also included naval bombardment to their inventory of siege weapons. This was extremely effective in bringing down the Leifor. They also had the ability to strike from the air with their Antares Fighters and Dive Bombers.

### First Civilization Area

Not much is described about the nations in this region in terms of siege weaponry, but one could presume nations such as the Holy Milishial Empire to use their magical cannons and aircraft in much the same manner as the Gra Valkas Empire and Mu.

### Japan

Japan uses its 21st century technology and the methods of bunker busting in order to overcome an enemy stronghold. During the Pacification of Jin-Hark, the Type 99 155 mm Self-Propelled Howitzer was used to assault the castle walls while the Type-90 Main Battle Tank used HEAT Rounds to break down the main gates. The JSDF also has a wide variety of bunker-busting ordinance to destroy targets from a distance.