"Local topography affected where a castle was to built as it assisted in defence as well as raising a commanders moral. Castles not only over looked nearby roads and bridges, their missiles also prevented movement along these routes. A longbow had a range of about 200m and a spring crossbow could fire its heavies armour piecing bolt some 400m in the hands of a skilled marksman. Catapults artillery had a similar range, both distance and striking power enhanced by gravity - the same natural force which was a disadvantage for archers down at ground level firing upwards."

"Nor can an invading army try to hurry past, accepting casualties but otherwise ignoring the fortress. There were often in Legion castles a garrison of knights ready to fall upon the rear guard and to bar the line of retreat. So the castle had to be captured. The invaders had to bring everything with them, or else waste time and effort foraging the countryside. Inside the castles were warm hearths, dry clothes, hot meals, a comfortable bed at night, proper sanitation. Outside was rain, snow, mud and wet feet and stones beneath the sodden blankets."

"One of the most popular ways of conquering a castle was to completely surrounding and thus stop and supplies reaching the defenders. One of the main advantages of this was that the attacking force's casualties was much lower. However, a siege like this could only be carried out if the attacker had the time to lay siege like this for a number of months, or even longer, waiting for the defenders moral to fall as well as their supplies. Many of Legio Mortis' commanders did not have this luxury of time and a number of processes were devised to speed up this process. Also, many larger castles had vast supplies which could last them a very long time."

"One of the most popular weapons employed during sieges was the trusty catapult, shown on the left here. These types of catapults, known as mangonels,  used the tension created by a wooden beam placed between twisted ropes or hair to hurl large tones through the air. Catapults where also used by the defenders sometimes, to destroy the siege weapons being used by the attacks, which due to their range, was also within bow shot. The three major types of catapults are the ballista, mangonel and  trebuchet."

"The ballista is the oldest form of catapults. It uses twisted ropes that held the 2 arms of a giant crossbow. Some early commanders used the tension of a single large bow arm. A winch or sometimes a wooden screw pulled back the sliding tiller to draw the cord. The ballista was an anti personnel weapon weapon and was useful to the besiegers in discouraging sorties against them as the ballista could easily be used to pick off the enemy attackers. The ballista was a favourite of defenders beers it could be mounted on  a unmodified tower. It was very accurate and had a long range, but was
limited to line of sight."

"One of the most common forms of catapults was the trebuchet. There were 2 types, the traction trebuchet and the counterpoise trebuchet. The traction trebuchet had a team of men, usually Legion recruits, hauling on ropes at the short end of the beam, so pivoting up the other end with its sling. This opened to release a large stone. The counterpoise trebuchet used a huge box of earth and stones instead of manpower to pull down the arm and send a missile flying into the air. The traction was a favourite method, and still is, for Legion officers to punish the men under his command."

"Sometimes severed heads of our enemies were thrown using the catapults to demoralize the defenders. This is a favoured method of our current Grand Master, Jasen, who has also been known to throw dung or dead animals to spread disease."

"Another favoured weapon employed during sieges was the battering ram. These have been used since the dawn of  Legio Mortis' creation and are still in use today. They are most often made from the trunk of a large tree and it time allows, a mighty bronze head in the shape of a ram is added. Using chains and/or ropes, it is then suspended from a wooded framed with a roof, which was covered to protect against boiling oil and fire. Once ready, it would be wheeled to the gate of the castle and used to batter it down. Sometimes the defenders use hooks to try and catch the head of the ram or lower mattresses to cushion the blows. Today they are used less often due to improvement in castle designs and the gate became the hardest  part of a castle to take, because of added towers, water obstacles, multiple gates behind the first and  many other deadly traps for the fool hardy that would take a gate with a battering ram."

"One of the most popular tactics used today is mining. This is where a group of Legionaries would tunnel under the walls to bring them down, or come up in the courtyard. Sometimes defenders might place bowls of water on the ground so that any tunnelling activity made the water ripple. Then they could dig countermines to break into the tunnels, leading to a fierce struggle underground."

"Only on rare occasions now would a commander order a direct assault over the walls. Scaling ladders are used to hook onto the battlements which was dangerous as the defenders could push them away with forked poles."

"The following are images of castles found in the realm known as the United Kingdom:"

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