I've become aware the costs of siege equipment in 5e Pendragon is non-existent, so I've delved into older books and threads on this forum. Since I'm playing during the Anarchy period and my group is considering attempting to break castles, they want to buy a few select siege equipment, but found the cost $10 per DV absurdly costly, and is expended with each use.

Considering the costs, what would be a good ballpark value for Anarchy period siege equipment using the rules found in the Great Pendragon Campaign using the 5e calculations? Should the siege equipment costs be designed to take down a fortress cost as much, if not more, than the fortress? Should all of the equipment be expended?

Sir Gravy, my group is in a similar situation. We're at Year 499, and all the PCs have reached the point of being powerful bannerets in the service of the Countess. We've integrated most of the content from Book of the Warlord, and the more adventurous lords have been saving every livre that hasn't been used to fortify Sarum or pay tribute to Saxons (grrrrr...), intending to invest in infantry and siege equipment (or lawyers) to further grow their holdings. In particular, they see the hundreds not held by Salisbury as fruit ripe for the picking.

So I'm doing two things - summarising the siege rules (protracted (from GPC) vs. assault (from BoB), and trying to determine cost and effect of the various seige equipment. There are no prices anywhere that I can see. Some effects are listed for battering rams, scaling ladders and light ballistae. That's all I've been able to find.

Anyone else developed or found anything?

before Arthur you get you're choice of assault gear (ladders, hooks and arrows) or Battering Ram. assault gear gets used up. i suppose you could reuse a Ram but it'd weigh down the troops or more likely the supply train. maybe simulate that by downgrading the travel by one grade i.e. local road count as paths ect.

as for cost IMG assault Gear 1L per conroi PER TURN/ Siege roll/week and provides 1SE per conroi to counter DV. my Rams are 1L per SE with a max of 3 as well as 1/5/10 L to cover the knifemen to bear 1t 10 needed for the 1se / 50 needed for the 2se/ 100 needed for the 3se

Most siege equipment would be "free", made from materials (wood, rope, hides) local to the invested stronghold. Ladders, rams, mantlets, housings. You wouldn't even really need a siege engineering expert to build them, just a workforce (which would be assumed to include a blacksmith for the necessary metal bits, the raw iron of which would also be scavenged from the locality). When you start getting into the advanced stuff, first you need someone who knows how to build a treb that doesn't shake itself to bits in half a dozen shots and shoot the things. Historically, this was rarely the Noble in charge; it was a pretty specialist craftsman role, so I'd be comfortable saying the knights' Siege skill doesn't cover that far up the tech tree unless Siege is their "thing".

The siege engineer would be bringing/needing a wagon load or three of rope and chain and iron parts and leather/hide springs and other bits and bobs to build his engines on-site. The bulk materiel (wood, mostly, but raw hides for fire resistance on roofs and mantlets and towers) for construction of the engines would be locally sourced once you'd mured up your opponent: you don't lug wagon loads of 30' timbers around to build siege towers and trebuchets. Some bits, small engines (Ballista mostly) and the occasional "knock down" medium engine (Mangonel, baby Trebs) might be broken down and transported as part of the siege train, and I'd say if it was something you'd bought ahead of time, it would need to be transportable, which would imply you could dismantle it after one siege and move it to the next. It might need some maintenance and replacement parts, but would basically be reusable. Anything built on-site would be pretty much one-use. Green timbers won't last.

Having someone build siege engines to break into your castle would be terrible for your Manor... It'd be logged and your herds culled, even if they didn't ravage the land explicitly.

I agree with womble. in my opinion, Siege just tells the lord where to put his camp, where the weak spots are and how many men he would need to take the castle with as few losses as possible. Cesare Borgia or Richard the Lionheart didn't seem the be the ones designing the siege equipment....

Not arguing that, but not just anyone can knock together a mangonel or an onager, so that capability will cost the warlord something. True, he can forage for most of the raw materials, but it'll cost labour and expertise to make it happen. The question is more 'How much for a mangonel with a trained crew?'

I also expect the for most Anarchy Period assaults it'll be archers trying to wear down the defenders on the walls while the poor bloody infantry bring up the battering ram and scaling ladders. Probably not much more than that.

Oh, do not forget setting fire to the wooden defenses!

No wonder the Saxons like axes so much! Just charge up to the bailey palisade and chop it down!

;D

Not arguing that, but not just anyone can knock together a mangonel or an onager, so that capability will cost the warlord something. True, he can forage for most of the raw materials, but it'll cost labour and expertise to make it happen. The question is more 'How much for a mangonel with a trained crew?'
"Mangonel with a trained crew" doesn't really exist. You only need one man trained in using the thing, the rest of the crew is muscle to drive wedges, haul on capstans and heft stone (and the mangonel probably doesn't come into being until you're half a mile from the target. Cost would, I'd think, be based on the same sort of costs as hiring any "expert" in things knights "wot not of"... But multiplied up a bit per month because it's only of use for a few months a year, generally. Pound a year to have a Steward look after your manor... Stewards are ten a penny compared to knowledgeable siege engineers. But the commoner shouldn't command the same stipend as a household knight. Call it a pound. But you have to find the man first.



I also expect the for most Anarchy Period assaults it'll be archers trying to wear down the defenders on the walls while the poor bloody infantry bring up the battering ram and scaling ladders. Probably not much more than that.

I'd say most sieges in any Period would go that way and as castles become stronger, the reason sieges tend to be more investment and starving-out: not every feuding Noble can afford to spend the treasure and time finding an artillerist.