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I have written rules for a siege game of warhammer partly based on the old siege rules and partly of my own design, please let me know what you think.


Siege battle:

Armies: choose your armies as normal from the Warhammer rulebook. The attacker has twice as many points to spend as the defender.
Terrain: a castle is placed on the defenders side of the table making one of the table edges impassable terrain. Otherwise you may have as much or as little terrain as you wish.
Deployment: the defender sets up 1st placing any infantry or monstrous infantry models on the walls, towers or gatehouse of the fortress. Any models not of either of these types must be placed in the castle courtyard.
The attacker then places his units on the opposite table edge to the castle within 12” of the edge.
First turn: The attacker always goes 1st.
Game length: Game length: Starting at the beginning of turn 5 and rolling again in each players turn before anything else roll a D6 and add the turn number you are currently on, if your total is 10 or greater the game comes to a end.
Victory conditions: Both sides award themselves 3 points for controlling a tower, 2 points for controlling the gatehouse, 2 point for controlling a wall and 4 points for controlling the courtyard.
The attacker gains 2 points for every broken door within the castle and 4 points for breaking in the fortress gate. The defender gains 2 points for each destroyed battering ram and 4 points for each destroyed siege tower.
If the attacker scores highest they win, if the defender scores highest or they score a draw they win.

Special rules: many…:

- The attacking army may choose any of the following upgrades for any infantry or monstrous infantry unit that uses equipment (ogres, spearmen, archers etc can but war hounds, knights, giants etc can’t )
A ladder +50 points per unit.
Grappling hooks +5 points per model for infantry.
Grappling hooks +10 points per model for monstrous infantry.
Battering ram +100 points, only 1 allowed per 1000 points in the army.
Siege tower +250 points, only 1 allowed per 1000 points in the army.

- The defending army may choose any of the following upgrades for any infantry or monstrous infantry unit that uses equipment (ogres, spearmen, archers etc can but war hounds, knights, giants etc can’t )
Flaming arrows +10 points per model, only usable by troops with bow weapons.
Stones +5 points per infantry model.
Stones +10 points per monstrous infantry model.
Boiling oil +100 points, only 1 allowed per 100 points, only 1 allowed per wall, tower or gatehouse section.

- The castle gate is T10, W10, has a 1+ save and magic resistance (2).

- Any war machines able to fit may be placed in a tower.

- Any war machines unable to fit in a tower must be placed in the castle courtyard and may fire over the walls as long as they have a minimum distance in their range, they must however double and scatter rolls as they cannot see the enemy and must make more guesses.

- Any war machines able to move (either under their own power or by being pulled) must be placed in the courtyard and are able to pass through the castle gates, even if the model looks too big to fit.

- Any attackers unit with a model within 4” of the gatehouse may attack the gate in the combat phase normally. If the attacking unit has a battering ram only the 1st rank of the unit may attack.
Any hits against the gate hit automatically.

- A chariot may charge the gate if it wishes but any impact hits caused by the chariot on the gate are also caused on the chariot itself at it’s own strength.

- The gate is immune to killing blow, heroic killing blow and poisoned attacks.

- Units that belong to the player controlling the courtyard, or belonging to the defender if the courtyard is in dispute may move through the gate in their own movement phase reforming on the opposite side of the gatehouse but cannot move further that turn.
If any unengaged and non fleeing attackers are within double their movement value of the gate when the defenders pass through they may also pass through it by running after them before the gate can close.
If they are able to pass a initiative test using the units most common initiative to test on.
If they fail their test move them towards the gate at their normal movement allowance.

- The castle walls, gatehouse and towers cannot be damaged in any way by any attacks either magical or mundane, they are too heavily built and well protected by magical wards.
Only infantry and monstrous infantry may claim and defend a wall section.
Only infantry, monstrous infantry, beasts, large targets and flyers may attack a castle section.
The walls, gatehouse and towers grant anyone stood on them magic resistance (3) against spells from the other player as long as the spell caster is not also on the castle section with them.
Roll separately for each spell that affects them.

- Any models in the courtyard of the allowed type may move onto the walls and any unit on the walls may move into the courtyard in the last part of their movement phase.

-The side that controls the castle section has +2 to their armour save and gains the always strikes first special rule on the turn they are charged by a enemy using grappling hooks, ladders, the courtyard stairs or possessing the large target special rule but not from enemies attacking from a siege tower.

- Combats on the walls are fought by any models within 2” of a enemy or within 4” if they are equipped with spears.
Tests for psychology such as fear, terror and stupidity are taken normally by each side but break tests are not taken as the defenders have nowhere to run to and the attackers are too busy to even consider a retreat.
The only way to enter a tower is through the doors on the battlements, by flying models and by grappling hooks if the attacking model has a unmodified strength of 5 or greater.
Defending characters may pass through the doors without restriction in the same way as units passing through the castle gates but may not move further in the same turn.
Attacking characters can only pass through the doors after they are destroyed or they pass their initiative test to follow a defender.

- Tower doors are T6, W4 and has a 4+ save. Doors are immune to killing blow and to poisoned attacks.
Heroic killing blow may be used to smash them open if the attacker has a strength of 5 or greater.

- The courtyard is the open section of the castle behind the gatehouse.
Models of any type may fight in the courtyard but models with the large target special rule cannot pass through the gatehouse unless they also possess the fly special rule.

- Models entering play after the battle has begun either by flying, digging, being created, being summoned or any other means cannot be placed on any castle section but may arrive in the courtyard if the owning player wishes them to do so.

- Flaming arrows may be equipped to any model with any form of bow. Hits from flaming arrows are of course flaming attacks.

- Stones may be equipped to any infantry or monstrous infantry model on the walls, gatehouse or towers as long as they are normally allowed to carry weapons of some kind. Stones count as throwing weapons from page 91 of the Warhammer rulebook.

- Boiling oil can be bought for any unit of infantry or monstrous infantry on the walls or the gatehouse but not the towers.
Only 1 cauldron of boiling oil may be placed on each castle section and can only be moved if 4 infantry models or 2 monstrous infantry models are within 2” at the start of their movement phase.
To use the boiling oil their must be 2 infantry models or 1 monstrous infantry model in base contact at the start of the shooting phase.
The boiling oil may be used as a charge reaction if you wish but the firing unit may use no other missile weapons on the same turn.
Place the large round template at the base of the castle section in front of the cauldron and roll the scatter dice to see how close it is to the target, if you roll a misfire you have failed to pour the boiling oil this turn.
Any model under the template takes a automatic S5 hit which ignores armour saves which causes D3 wounds per successful wounding roll.
The boiling oil is a one use only item.

- Ladders may be equipped to any infantry or monstrous infantry normally allowed to carry equipment.
The ladder requires 4 infantry or 2 monstrous infantry models to carry it.
The ladder is raised when the attacking unit is in base contact with the castle section.
One model may immediately climb the ladder onto the battlements of the castle and begin to fight the defenders, for each wound the attacker causes in the combat phase he may bring 1 monstrous infantry or D6 infantry models onto the battlements with him.
If the attacker is slain by the defender or he fails to cause any successful wounds he is placed back in his unit and may try again in his next turn.
If the attacker is forced to return to his unit the defenders may try to push away the ladder at the end of their own turns combat phase as long as they are not in combat with any other enemy by taking a strength test for each model within 2” of it.
If they pass the test the unit carrying the ladder is mover directly back D6” and takes D3 S2 hits from the falling ladder but may attack again in their next movement phase if they wish.
If a ladder is raised onto a empty wall section the attacker may claim it and bring up D3 monstrous infantry or 2D6 infantry models in each of his movement phases until they are all up or a combat begins.

- Grappling hooks may be bought for any unit of infantry or monstrous infantry normally allowed to carry equipment.
When the unit is in base contact with the castle section take a unmodified strength test for each model in the front row, each model that passes is immediately placed onto the wall.
Any attacker that fails to cause at least 1 successful wound is placed back into his unit at the end of the combat phase as he is fought off by the defenders.
Those that fail their tests are left at the base of the wall, the front rank is filled in from models coming from the rear rank.

- If you have a unmodified strength of 5 or greater you may attempt to use your grappling hooks to sale a tower instead using the same rules as above.

- Battering rams require at least 8 infantry or 4 monstrous infantry models to push them into battle.
The battering ram is T6, W6, A-D3+1 for each model in the units front rank within 4” of the gate, has a 3+ save, magic resistance (2), +2 armour to the unit pushing it and is flammable.
When you attack the castle gates with a battering ram you add +2 to your strength (+4 on the charge) and cause D3 wounds per successful wounding roll.
Any missile hits against the unit are resolved in the same way as a ridden monster on page 105 of the Warhammer rulebook, hitting the battering ram on a 1-4 and a unit member on a
5-6.
At any point in your movement phase you may choose to disregard the battering ram and continue on without it, if you do so any other unit (friend or foe) with sufficient models of the correct type may take control of it by coming into base contact with it.
The battering ram cannot be taken through the castle gates once they are destroyed.

- Siege towers require at least 12 infantry or 6 monstrous infantry models to push them into battle.
The unit pushing the tower cannot march unless it contains at least double the required number of troops to push the tower.
Up to 8 infantry or 4 monstrous infantry models may be placed in the towers top at the start of the battle or at any point during the owning players movement phase, the warriors in the towers top may charge onto the battlements (but not towers) of the defenders castle during the charge portion of their movement phase.
The defenders gain no bonus defences to attacks from troops attacking in this way.
Once the troops on the towers top are on the battlements you may place the same number again in the top from the pushing unit ready to charge in their next turn.
The tower has T8, W8, a 2+ save, magic resistance (3) and is flammable.
If the defenders manage to kill all of the troops attacking the battlements in the attackers turn and all of the troops waiting in the towers top as well in their own combat phase they may choose to make a free move into the tower top themselves in which case they gain the normal defence bonuses against attacking models coming up the towers ladder as if it were a ladder onto the battlements with the exception that far more models are able to attack them in each turn.
If the number of defending models in the unit is 8 or less they must abandon the wall if they wish to enter the siege tower.
Only defending models in the tower top are able to attack the tower itself from the battlements.
Any troops on the ground and in base contact with the siege tower may choose to attack it as long as they are not in any other combats at the time (live enemies are more important than a moving tower).
Any models in the towers top when it is destroyed must pass a initiative test or suffer D3 hits at their own strength or their own strength +1 if their save is 4+ or better.
Place any survivors back into their unit afterwards.

- Flying models can attack any castle section they wish and the defenders gain no bonuses against them.
Flyers cannot claim castle section unless they are infantry or monstrous infantry able to fly for some reason.
Any model possessing both the fly and large target special rules must use the rules for flyers.
To represent the efficiency of flyers attacking castle sections the attacking army must pay double points for any units able to fly and add 200 points to the cost of any monsters able to fly.

- Any models with the large target special rule may attack defenders on wall sections and the gatehouse as long as it is in base contact with the castle section.
The defenders gain their normal bonuses when fighting a large target.
Any defenders on the wall section may be attacked by a large target.

Defenders on the wall may attack a large target as long as they are within 4” of it or they were attacked by it during the attackers turn.

- Castle sections are controlled if they are occupied by only infantry or monstrous infantry models from one side.
If models from both sides are on any section it is in dispute and cannot be claimed by either side.
The courtyard uses the same rules as the other castle sections with the exception that all unit types may fight to claim it.

I think you got rules overload. When people propose new units with like 3 new Special Rules, people balk and say it's too many.

I think you have about 3000. So it's extremely difficult to tell...well, anything. If it's balanced or not.

You may just have to playtest this, it's too many rules (IMHO) to simply look at and see if it's going to work.

There are a lot of rules but there need to be to cover something like a siege. Many of the rules are from the old warhammer rulebook and have just been updated

I think the gate is a little too tough unless the attacker has cannons.

T10 means only cannons can reliably wound it and 10 wounds means only cannons can reliably put multiple wounds on it. make it T8 at most, that will make it a little better.

I would also reduce the save to be a 4+ ward save and make the gate Flammable. 4+ ward makes more sense as if you do manage to wound it you should be able to make it keep those wounds.

The problem is that some races are inherently better at siege than others. The Skaven for example have almost infinite man power and the Screaming Bell which can destroy structures.

Wood Elves on the other hand usually rely on multiple small units surrounding a foe so they would have a difficult time storming a gate.

Also I'm not sure how I feel about the rules for flyers. I don't think Warhawk riders will ever be efficient enough to warrant an 80 pt per man price.

The rules for battering rams, siege towers, ladders and grappling hooks make any army able to attack a castle and the number of points the attacker gets more than compensates for the increase points of flyers.
Anyone using wood elves should be sat in a corner wearing a dunce cap anyway instead of attacking a castle. lol.

I like this but a siege is something that goes on for weeks . I think that each turn could be a week and you'd also have to roll for illness lack of food and morale.

But Sieges also include the assaults to try and break into the defenses. This would obviously only pertain to the actual assault and not the weeks of waiting around/


You could have, at the start of the game, require the defender to roll a D6 for each unit. On a roll of a 1, they are suffering from Disease and/or starvation, making them less able to defend themselves. Enemy models attacking Diseased/Starving units will gain a +1 bonus to hit them in CC.

Grey Templar wrote:But Sieges also include the assaults to try and break into the defenses. This would obviously only pertain to the actual assault and not the weeks of waiting around/


You could have, at the start of the game, require the defender to roll a D6 for each unit. On a roll of a 1, they are suffering from Disease and/or starvation, making them less able to defend themselves. Enemy models attacking Diseased/Starving units will gain a +1 bonus to hit them in CC.

Thats also a good idea

lord kryz wrote:The rules for battering rams, siege towers, ladders and grappling hooks make any army able to attack a castle and the number of points the attacker gets more than compensates for the increase points of flyers.
Anyone using wood elves should be sat in a corner wearing a dunce cap anyway instead of attacking a castle. lol.

That's me.

Here is an idea that might work for creating the 2 armies.


Attacker: 25% Lords, 25% Heroes, 25% Core(minimum), 50% Special, 25% Rare.

Defender: 25% Lords, 25% Heroes, 15% Core(Minimum), 50% Special, 25% Rare.

Defenders points are half of what the attacker gets.


Walls: Obstacles that provide Hard Cover for the units defending them. Attacking units never count their rank bonus when attacking a Wall and cannot be Steadfast. Units attacking and defending walls may never persue a fleeing opponent, the wall is too tall to quickly scale and give chase. A unit defending a wall is always Stubborn while it is defending it.

In order to move on top of a wall, a unit must have either started its movement phase in base contact with the wall. The unit may then be placed on top of the wall, it may not perform any other movement that turn. To move off of a wall, the unit does the same thing. It uses up all of its movement that turn to move up or down off of a wall. A unit may also be placed on top of a wall if it defeated an enemy unit defending the wall. after the combat is resolved, place the attacking unit to occupy the space its vanquished foe once did.

All units are presumed to have grappling hooks, Ladders, or a natural ability to scale walls. So no need to represent this equipment.

A Wall section may be given any of the following upgrades:
Rocks 10 points. This wall section has had a great number of hand sized rocks stored on top of it for the defenders to inconvienience the enemy with. Any unit defending the Wall gains the following weapon while manning the wall.

Rocks: Range 12", Str: As user, Quick to Fire, Armor Piercing.

Braziers: 10 points. This wall section has flaming Braziers for the defenders to set their projectiles alight. Any shooting attacks originating from the wall section have the Flaming Attacks special rule.


Towers: Buildings that may only be attacked and exited from an adjoining Wall section OR from a modeled access point on the ground.

A tower may be upgraded with one of the following upgrades:
Bolt Thrower: 25 points
Stone Thrower: 35 points

Bolt and Stone Throwers are part of the tower and are operated by its defenders. They may not be destroyed unless the building is also destroyed. The defending unit must have 3 of its members nominated as the crew of the warmachine, the machine may be fired using the chosen Crew's ballistic skill as normal. The Warmachine may fire at a seperate target from the unit inside the Tower.

The Tower may also take the following:
Rocks: 10 points
Braziers: 10 points

lord kryz wrote:The rules for battering rams, siege towers, ladders and grappling hooks make any army able to attack a castle and the number of points the attacker gets more than compensates for the increase points of flyers.
Anyone using wood elves should be sat in a corner wearing a dunce cap anyway instead of attacking a castle. lol.

lol